Are you looking to begin your fitness journey and have no idea where to start? Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered with these 23 workout tips for beginners at home!
Have you been thinking about starting your own fitness journey and feeling overwhelmed? I know it’s cliche, but we all have to start somewhere! Nobody has ever walked into a gym and totally crushed it without having some background in the act of working out. It can be really intimidating to figure out how to get your body in motion while trying to look like you know what you are doing. That’s why I’m going to walk you through the tips I wish I knew when I started working out as a beginner!
This post is all about the best tips and tricks for working out at home as a beginner.
23 Workout Tips for Beginners at Home
Before I get started, I should say that I have a childhood background in dance and gymnastics. While I wouldn’t exactly call myself an athlete – I have always enjoyed bodyweight strength training workouts because those were the exercises that I grew up doing. With that being said – I still hadn’t worked out in over 4 years when I decided it was time to move my body again. Today can be your first day ever or your first day after a long hiatus from working out. Either way, these 23 workout tips for beginners will have you excited to get moving at home!
1. Ease into it - 30 min or less
When you’re first starting on your fitness journey, it’s important to start slow. Know that what you’re doing is hard and your body will “adjust” as you get stronger. I would recommend finding an online workout that is 20-30 minutes. Never underestimate the power of a quick workout. Even 20 minutes is enough to get the heart pumping while you work a variety of muscles!
2. Stay Hydrated
While that 20-30 minute workout may not seem like much, I guarantee you will be working up a sweat! Be sure to stay hydrated throughout your class with little sips of water. Too much water while working out can make you feel sick! After class, be sure to refuel with electrolytes to help replenish your body with all the minerals you lost while working up a sweat. My favorite electrolytes are the Blue Raspberry Hydrate Sticks by Isagenix. Just mix with water and you are in business – perfect for on the go! Staying hydrated will also help your muscles not be as sore the next day!
4. Perfect your Form
Ok, aside from stretching, I am a stickler for form as well! If you are ever in a workout class and feel like an instructor is rushing you, take a moment to regroup and correct your form. While speed can be beneficial while working out, it won’t matter if your form is incorrect. Without proper form, you really risk getting hurt. If you are a beginner who is working out at home, be sure to watch your instructor and practice your form with a mirror (I use the reflection from my TV). You can find YouTube videos with the correct form for every type of exercise. NEVER compromise your form for anything – I promise, you’ll thank me later.
3. Stretch!
If you have read any of my other posts, you know that I am a STICKLER to stretching! Be sure to stretch before and after your workouts. By stretching before your workout, you prepare your muscles for the hard work they are going to do. Make sure to keep these stretches brief so that you are continually moving your body. Stretching after your workout is equally as important to cool down your muscles after working so hard. This is where you can take those longer stretches to really lengthen your muscles and prevent them from stiffening up.
5. Try different activities and workouts
When you are first starting to work out, you may not like what you’re doing. Try different workouts to find what you like! There is yoga, pilates, barre, cycling, running, kickboxing, CrossFit, karate, strength training, HIIT workouts, dance classes, and more! You can really do anything and everything if you want. Heck, I even tried pole dancing when I started my fitness journey! If you don’t love something, don’t make yourself miserable! Try something new! When I started working out, I bought a 5-class pack on Groupon for a few different studios. After, I moved on to ClassPass so that I could work out at many different gyms across the US (and the world) without feeling restricted! I love ClassPass because it allows me to continue to try new studios and workouts when I am traveling or visiting my parents. I highly recommend signing up for a month just so you can check out the different studios and gyms in your area. Maybe you’ll even buy a membership with one that you love the most!
6. Schedule your Workouts
I LIVE by my calendar and encourage you to put your workouts on your calendar as well. It helps hold you accountable if you write it down. Even if I don’t want to go for a run at 6pm on Tuesday, I know that it’s scheduled for that time slot so I should just do it anyway. Signing up for classes holds you accountable because no one is trying to pay the cancelation fee that is charged when you back out last minute. However, when you are working out at home on your own, it’s much easier to quit on yourself. Write it on your calendar and stay committed to yourself! Sometimes just putting on your gym clothes is half the motivation you need to stick to your schedule!
7. Try classes online (youtube, peloton, etc)
There are SO MANY classes online that are perfect for any beginner starting to work out at home! I LOVE Sydney Cummings for her upbeat personality and dedication to providing free fitness classes on YouTube for everybody. YouTube offers a variety of workout classes across many different categories so you are sure to find something or an instructor that you love. The Peloton App is another great way to get connected to a community to make working out at home more fun. The app costs about as much as your monthly Netflix account charge. The best part is that they don’t just offer cycling classes, they offer strength, HIIT cardio, Bike Bootcamp, yoga, meditation, shadowboxing, running, walking, barre, stretching, dance classes, and more! I highly recommend the Peloton app over Youtube if you’re looking for something a bit more community-oriented that keeps you committed to milestone goals. My favorite instructor is Callie Gullickson- her love for Trader Joe’s and eating all the good foods is parallel to mine. She always makes me laugh during my workouts!
Related Post: Sliders Workout with Sydney Cummings
8. Stay Committed to yourself
Always easier said than done, right? We often stay committed to others while we break the promises that we make to ourselves. Chose a small workout-related goal each week. It can be anything from “I will run 2 miles one day this week” to “I will stick to my schedule of workouts this week”, or even “I will take a 30-minute class instead of a 20-minute class one time this week.” All of our achievements in life start with our commitment to the bigger goal ahead. The commitments come in the form of small tedious habits that over time achieve whatever it is that we set out to do! YOU CAN DO THIS!
9. Re-fuel
After your workout, be sure to drink water, have your electrolytes, and a post-workout to aid your muscles in the repair process and feel less sore tomorrow. I’ve been using Amped Repair by Isagenix for 3 years now and I wouldn’t leave a run or heavy strength session without it! Aside from replenishing your body with electrolytes and post-workout, be sure to have some protein within an hour of working out to also aid in the muscle-building process.
10. Rest Days
Rest days are just as important as the days you actually work out! When you start working out, maybe try working out just twice a week. You don’t want to dive headfirst working out 4-5 days and then be burnt out and exhausted the next week. Start slow and build your way up to more days. Most importantly, always listen to your body! If you’re muscles hurt, you pulled a hamstring, or you’re just feeling exhausted, you’re better off skipping your workout than pushing through it and risking an injury. I typically workout 3-5 times a week now, but when I started working out it was once, maybe twice per week. Give yourself the grace to allow your body proper recovery time. Working out is NOT easy, especially in the beginning. You also don’t need to go crazy with your workouts, respect your body and move in a way that feels good for you each day!
Related post: 30 Self-Care ideas
11. Decide why working out is important to you
In conjunction with point number 8, when you start on a fitness journey it’s important to know why you want to start working out. The reasons will vary from person to person, but make sure you are working out for yourself. It’s important to me to work out each week for my mental health. With so much going on with work, family, friends, and even the world, it’s important for me to prioritize a habit that helps keep my mind clear. Aside from that, I also want to keep my endurance strong as I am training for a ½ marathon right now as well. Whatever your reasons are, keep them in the forefront of your mind and you’ll be sure you attend most (if not all) of your workouts!
12. Workout with Friends
What makes any workout better? Working out with friends of course! By making plans with friends to work out together virtually or by attending a class together, you are locked in and committed to attending your workout. I highly recommend finding a gym buddy. It’s human nature to find it harder to quit on others than ourselves. And hey, if you’re going to die during your workout, you might as well have a friend there to exchange painful glances with to make the class feel a little easier!
13. Don’t skip out on the warm-up and cool-down
You already know how I feel about stretching! Be sure to take a warm-up and cool down before any workout. When I run, I love to walk home from my finishing point to get my heart rate back down and t0 allow my muscles to start to relax. Upon returning home, I stretch it out. By warming up and cooling down, you are relieving the stress on your body of jumping directly from one activity to the next.
14. Master the basics (Think Form!)
You may find that some of the exercises are very difficult in the beginning. This is completely normal! They should be hard – you’ve never done them before! Check out YouTube to make sure you have the correct form for every exercise you are doing, especially squats, deadlifts, and kettlebell swings. You should not be feeling anything in your lower back! Perfect form is crucial to any workout because without proper form, you really run the risk of getting injured. Once you have mastered the basics, you can add in a more advanced move or pick up the speed!
15. Don’t Compare Yourself
I know that is this ALWAYS easier said than done. However, it is important to remember that everyone has to start somewhere on their fitness journey. That girl next to you in class could have been working out regularly for 5 years. Or that fitness instructor on Youtube with the rock-hard abs could have been working in the fitness industry since they graduated high school. It’s hard, but remember to stay in your own lane. Your only competition is who you were yesterday. Keep moving forward and you’ll get stronger each day. Before you know it, you’ll be the pro in class!
16. Know Results Don’t Happen Overnight
As much as we all wish, you cannot just workout out for an hour tonight and wake up with abs tomorrow. You can, however, wake up feeling stronger and more confident tomorrow! Whatever you are hoping to gain (or lose) on your fitness journey, I hope you remember to stay the course. Everything takes time. You might not see the effects of working out today, but I promise you will see the progress you have made each month, quarter, and year if you stick with it!
17. Set ATHLETIC Goals
Goals are great to help you stay on track. Instead of saying I want to lose X amount of weight, try saying I want to be able to do 20 push-ups on my toes without stopping. By setting athletic goals, you are pushing yourself without fueling negative body image. I always encourage people to go after becoming STRONGER which in turn, helps build confidence. Maybe your goal is to run a mile without stopping or to be able to do 50 sit-ups. Whatever your goal is, you will feel accomplished after completing it and the endorphins that come from that are insane!
18. Establish a Routine
This goes hand in hand with scheduling your workouts. If you want to create new habits, you need to stick to them and be bigger than your excuses. Maybe you create the habit of working out by squeezing it in after you get home from work, but before you cook dinner. Or maybe you like to work out in the morning and wake up an hour earlier three times a week to work out. Whatever you decide, it’s important to stick with it. It’s easier to build habits when you already have another habit ingrained in your mind that you can “stack” onto. Your routine might be working out Tuesday and Thursday as soon as you get home from work, and going to a run on Saturday mornings when you wake up. Whatever you decide, make sure you aim to stick with it each week to help make it a permanent habit.
19. Hire a professional trainer (if want to workout in a gym)
If you decide you want to work out at a gym and are a total beginner, I recommend hiring a personal trainer. Typically when you sign up for a gym membership, they offer personal training. If you are brand new to working out, a personal trainer will teach you how to use each machine, what their specific benefits are, and most importantly – watch and correct your form. This can be extremely beneficial in the beginning so that you don’t get hurt! Professional trainers will also work with you to understand your goals and set a path for you to run on to get there.
20. Play with TIming
Some people LOVE to work out in the morning, in fact, they love to work out at 6 or 7 am. This is a great way to jumpstart your day and feel accomplished before you even head to work. Other people (like me) enjoy sleeping in until the last possible second and prefer to work out after work when they have plenty of water and proper food in their bodies. Maybe you prefer to workout out during your lunch hour for a little pick-me-up and break during the day. You just have to play with your workout times to see what you prefer. There is no right answer here, just listen to your body!
21. Nutrition is Key
Make sure you have a well-balanced diet to work synergistically with your exercise plan. Carbs and protein are two major components to keeping you fueled. Carbs before working out can fuel your muscles and give you a little energy boost to work harder for longer periods of time. Make sure to have protein within an hour of working out to help your muscles repair themselves, recover, and ultimately build more muscle mass.
22. Don’t worry about buying equipment
If you’re a beginner who is strictly working out at home, you might think you need to buy a Bowflex set or kettlebells in every weight. That is far from the truth my friend! Grab a couple of sets of weights to start, maybe 5 pounds and ten pounds. This way you can see what feels right. If you’re looking for something cheap, try Facebook marketplace or TJ Maxx, you’d be surprised what you can find. You can also work out on a yoga mat to get started. If that feels too thin, I swear by my Cambivo Largo Yoga Mat from Amazon! It is 6 feet long x 4 feet wide, the perfect length if you are laying on the ground! It is 1/4” thick to give you some cushion as well. While we keep ours out all the time as an area rug in our small apartment, you can roll it up and put it in a case after each workout. Most workout classes on YouTube and Peloton just require some weights while you can find many bodyweight-only classes. After you become more comfortable, you can buy more weights or bands as you see fit!
23. Just Start!
The hardest part of doing anything new is taking the first step, that leap of faith, and just starting! Once you get going you won’t stop! While some workouts will be more challenging than others, it’s important to just do it! Put on your workout clothes and try something new. It might be scary or nerve-wracking at first, but once you jump in, you’ll keep going. Enjoy the process and take it all one workout at a time!
This post was all about the 23 best workout tips for beginners at home!
I wish you the best of luck on your fitness journey. The start can feel overwhelming and sometimes a bit scary, but I hope that now you feel well-equipped and ready to start working out! Remember that working out should be fun, not stressful or something that you dread. If you need a little extra motivation, a cute workout outfit never hurt anybody! Good luck and please let me know which tips helped you the most!
