How To Start Exercising When Out of Shape

Exercise is important. How important? Studies have shown that moving just a little bit each day, taking a half-hour walk, for example, can lead to a small amount of weight loss and increase cardiovascular health.

The more you move, the better you’ll feel. The benefits are numerous: more energy, weight loss, muscle gain, and generally feeling better about yourself. However, it can be tricky to start an exercise routine when you’re out of shape and more used to spending time on your couch than on your feet. How can you start a new exercise routine?

Here are some tips from our experts.

Starting a New Routine

There are many hurdles to overcome with starting a new exercise routine. The more time you spent relaxing, the tougher it can be to get up and start moving. Thankfully, there are some things that you can do to ensure you’re successful.

Whether your doctor pointed out that you need to take better care of yourself or you just want to reap the benefits of being fitter, this is how you can get started:

Begin Slowly

Since you’re just starting your exercise routine and are out of shape, you won’t automatically jump into running a six-minute mile. It takes time, and you need to start slowly. This means setting small goals.

For example, walk around the block once a day. If you have a dog, take them on a daily walk at a natural pace. Don’t push yourself too hard, or you may injure an ankle or knee and end up right back where you started.

You don’t need any exercise equipment or gym memberships to start moving more. Instead, you just need to find a trail to walk on, such as at a nearby park, or just walk around your block or up and down your street. These small things can quickly add up to larger ones as you go along.

You’ll even see your muscle tone starting to improve!

Make a Habit Out of It

Did you know it can take up to 21 days to create a new habit? Once you reach that point, exercising once a day will be second nature, but until then, you’ll have to motivate yourself to get moving.

There are several ways to do this:

Set Aside the Time – Schedule a half hour every afternoon or evening to walk. Unless you’re extremely disciplined, trying to get up early to exercise before work may be challenging, and you may turn off your alarm and sleep in. (Don’t worry — you’re not alone in this!)
Bribe Yourself – Is there a certain meal you look forward to but don’t eat very often? Or something nice that you want to buy yourself? Tell yourself that if you walk daily for a month, you’ll have earned that reward. It helps to have something in mind when you want to start a new habit!
Go With a Friend – Find a friend or loved one who also needs to move more. Set up a time each day to go for a walk with them. It will be harder to come up with excuses not to go if you know someone is waiting for you.

These are just a few examples. Feel free to come up with your own ways to start that routine and keep it going!

Set a Goal

Having a goal in mind can help you start your new exercise routine. What are some of the most effective goals?

Sign Up for a 5K – Since five kilometers is a little over three and a half miles, this is a distance people who are just starting with their fitness routines can handle. Remember that you can walk a 5K at a comfortable pace and still finish, so there’s no need to push yourself to jog or run before you’re ready. What will help is earning that medal at the end, no matter how long it takes you to finish.
Do a Virtual Run – If you don’t feel comfortable signing up for an in-person race, choose a virtual one. These can be handled on your own, whenever you have the time. For example, you can choose a Saturday to do your “virtual run” at a local park. Track your distance and time; you’ll have earned that medal at the finish line. There are also longer virtual runs that you can tackle a little at a time, allowing you to log your distance as you go.
Set an Effective Goal – Setting a goal with a time limit (as in, it’s scheduled for a certain time) can be a good way to motivate yourself to get up and start an exercise routine. After all, you want to complete that 5K successfully, right?

Be Prepared for Small Gains

Another thing to keep in mind is that small gains matter. The first few times you get up and walk for half an hour or more, you’ll probably feel out of breath at the end. This is normal. Your cardiovascular system isn’t used to movement, so building up your stamina will take some time.

You might also feel some aches and pains, particularly in your legs. Once again, your muscles aren’t used to movement, so these small aches will take some time to go away. Don’t let this stop you, though! The more you move, the better you’ll feel.

Before you know it, you’ll be able to walk around the block at a quick pace without getting out of breath or hurting afterward.

Best Exercises To Start With

When starting an exercise routine from scratch, you don’t need fancy equipment or a gym membership. You just need some comfortable walking or running shoes, appropriate clothing for the weather, and a little bit of willpower.

Here are some of the best exercises to start with:

Walking

Walking is the ideal exercise for people who are out of shape. It doesn’t require a lot of cardiovascular fitness but can help that system improve. You don’t even need to start at a fast speed-walking pace. Instead, you can move at whatever speed feels the most natural to you.

The benefits of simply walking are numerous. It will help build up your muscles, strengthen your ligaments and joints, improve your cardiovascular fitness, and even help prevent osteoporosis since it’s a weight-bearing exercise. Any movement matters, so you might as well start with a nice walk.

Jogging

If you feel as though walking is too slow, or are in slightly better shape than you thought, try jogging. Jogging allows you to set your own pace, much like walking, only you’ll be moving a bit faster.

It’s definitely easier on the body than a full running pace and can help you get into good physical shape more quickly. The more you jog, the faster you’ll eventually go, and you’d be surprised at where you’ll end up.

That said, if you choose to jog, stretch well beforehand and cool down properly at the end of your workout to prevent injuries.

Yoga

Finally, there’s yoga. A good beginner's yoga class can help you get into shape, and it fits into the exercise category, even though it doesn’t require you to walk or run.

Instead, yoga requires participants to go through a series of movements, one flowing into the next. It can strengthen your body and put your mind into a good meditative state. Overall, it’s a good option and something you add to your exercise routine a few times a week. It will help you in more ways than one!