How to Start Working Out at Home: What You Need to Know Before You Begin.

Almost everyone knows exercise improves your health. However, a lot of people aren’t aware of all the benefits of exercise.

Top benefits you can look forward to when you start working out:

• Reduced risk of chronic disease
• Better mood & mental health
• Balanced energy levels throughout the day & better sleep
• Slowing of the aging process
• A boost to brain health
• Positive effect on the micro biome
• A boost to sex life

HOW MUCH EXERCISE IS RECOMMENDED WEEKLY FOR HEALTH BENEFITS?

The general exercise recommendation is:

• Cardio (minimum amount of activity): At least 150 minutes of moderate cardio throughout the week. It can be replaced with at least 75 minutes of intense cardio throughout the week or a combination of both.
• Strength training (highly recommended): Exercises involving major muscle groups on two or more days a week.
• For extra health benefits: Minimum cardio should be increased by an additional 300 minutes per week (moderate) or 150 minutes of (intense) cardio per week (or a combination of both).⁽⁷⁾

While it may sound like a lot, the good thing is that you can adjust this to your schedule and even do them as part of a home workout plan. As long as the cardio activities are performed for at least 10 minutes, you can divide your active minutes into as many workout sessions you like per week. Whether you do strength or cardio first depends on your goal.

TYPES OF EXERCISE

What are some common types of exercise?

• Cardio: Anything that raises your heart rate and makes you breathe faster can be considered cardio. However, it usually refers to activities aimed at improving your endurance and stamina such as:

• Moderate cardio: Brisk walking, dancing, jogging, cycling, swimming…
• Intense cardio: Running, fast cycling, brisk walk up a hill, swimming laps
• Strength training: Any type of activity that uses resistance to build muscular strength. Using your own bodyweight as resistance has many benefits!
• Flexibility & mobility training: Exercises focused on maintaining and improving passive range of motion (flexibility) and active range of motion during movement (mobility).
• HIIT: HIIT or high-intensity interval training consists of intense bursts of exercise (strength or cardio) followed by rest intervals, aimed at keeping your heart rate elevated. Find out more about the difference between low-intensity, steady-state cardio, and HIIT cardio.

What is the best type of exercise to lose weight?

Any type of exercise that requires high effort (for you) will have a similar effect – especially for beginners.⁽⁹⁾ So the truth is, it doesn’t really matter! Find activities that you enjoy and can imagine doing for more than just a month or two. In the end, weight loss is about calorie deficit. So make sure to adjust your nutrition for best results.

EXTRA TIPS FOR BEGINNERS

CHECK YOUR HEALTH

It’s always good to get advice from your doctor or physical therapist before making big changes to your lifestyle, such as starting a new workout routine – especially if you are over 45, suffer from any chronic illness, or had injuries in the past.

DON’T EXHAUST YOURSELF RIGHT AWAY

No pain, no gain? Should you really be pushing yourself as a beginner? Yes, but only for the sake of consistency.

HOME WORKOUTS & TRAINING PLANS

• Abs, total body, foam rolling: 6 different bodyweight workouts
• Booty & abs: 21 minute HIIT workout
• Total body: Tabata workout in just 15-minutes
• Wake up workout: 7-minute energizer workout to start you day
• Abs: 4 core-focused workouts to do at home
• Yoga, recovery, abs…: 7 indoor workouts you can do during winter
• Low impact workout (no jumping) for people with bad knees

Extreme 10-minute full body workout challenge