Workouts help the body to fight obesity, maintain a healthy cardiovascular system and good shape. Therefore, if you've not started working out, it's high time to think about it. Today, there are many at-home workouts for beginners that you engage in. Before you start working out, it's essential to have a well-developed workout plan so that you can meet your fitness goals. All kinds of exercises, whether intense or not, are much better than exercise. For better results, you can also incorporate some healthy meals and supplements into your workout plan.
Benefits
Beginner workouts can bring positive impacts on your physical and mental health.
Below are some top benefits of at-home workouts for beginners:
- Weight loss
- Boost mood
- Better sleep
- Enhance confidence
- Improve cardiovascular health
- Reduce stress and anxiety
- Improve bone density
- Improve energy levels
Regardless of the beginner workout you engage in, you need to keep in mind the frequency, time, and intensity. This will make it easier for you to begin seeing positive outcomes on your weight, strength, and endurance.
How do I lose weight?
With the changing lifestyles among people, weight management has turned out to be a matter of concern. People find the best ways to lose extra pounds while maintaining a healthy body by strengthening their bones and reducing the chances of developing chronic illnesses.
Generally, three broad and straightforward steps can help you lose weight, as explained below:
1. Increase intake of protein, vegetables, and healthy fats
This really helps in losing weight quickly. It's advisable to include proteins, vegetables, and healthy fats in your diet. Proteins help in increasing muscle mass while improving cardiometabolic risk factors and maintaining healthy body weight. Studies show that proteins also have a satiety effect and reduce food cravings by at least 60%. Some best protein sources include meat, eggs, fish, and legumes.
On the other hand, vegetables also play a crucial role in weight loss. They're rich in several nutrients and have low carb levels. Some of the best vegetables you can incorporate into your diet include spinach, cabbage, cucumber, broccoli, kale, tomatoes, Swiss chard, etc. Lastly, healthy fats, including avocado oil and olive oil, coconut oil can also make a difference.
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2. Reduce intake of refined carbs
If you want to lose weight faster, you must reduce the intake of carbohydrates and sugars. This reduces your hunger levels and this triggering the fat burning process. It would be best if you replaced these refined carbs with whole grains. Whole grains are rich in fiber which slows down the digestion process and keeps you full for long hours. Most low-carb diets have a satiety effect which results in low-calorie intake. Several studies are being conducted to ascertain the impact of these diets in the long run.
3. Body workout
Workouts can help you in burning excess calories by improving your metabolism rate. You can start with beginner gym workouts to lift weights. However, it's essential first to consult your doctor to get a gym workout plan for beginners. Additionally, you can also engage in other low-intensity cardio workouts such as cycling, jogging, swimming, walking, and yoga.
How do I gain muscle?
The reason why most people consider beginner gym workouts is to gain muscle. Muscle growth workouts are known as hypertrophy. To gain muscles, you don't need to engage in heavy training. You can even take part in light workouts and still get good results. What matters a lot is your consistency. To quickly gain muscle, you need to do the following:
a. Select the best workout
The secret to gaining muscles is challenging your body. Workouts that'll help you gain muscle should challenge your muscles and joints. Some of the best beginner workouts include pull-ups, squats, bench presses, and deadlifts.
b. Have a workout schedule
Having a workout schedule will prevent you from overtraining. Your schedule should state the kind of exercise you'll perform and the number of sets and repetitions. This will make it easier to stick to your workout and thus maximize your muscle-building potential.
c. Ensure there's consistency
Repeating muscle building workouts plays a significant role. The frequency in which you undertake these workouts will also determine how long you'll take before you start gaining muscle. The number of target repetitions will depend on your strength and general body condition. For muscle strength, you need 1-5 repetitions. For muscle growth, you need 6-12 repetitions, and finally, for muscle endurance, you need 12-20 repetitions.
d. Lift the right weight
Selecting the right weight to lift is essential if you want to gain muscle. Only lift weights that will make you stay within your repetition target. For instance, if you're going to perform 20 repetitions, the weight should be perfect such that when approaching the 19th rep, you're unable to exceed the 20th rep.
e. Eat more
In addition to workouts, you need to incorporate more healthy meals into your plan. Specific foods help in muscle building, such as soybeans, tuna, beef eggs, etc.
How do I get stronger?
Getting stronger isn't impossible so long as you know what to do. However, it requires patience and dedication. Before you get started, you need a well-designed program that'll help you track your progress from time to time. To get stronger, you need to do the following:
1. Resistance training
Before you start any exercise, you need to start by warming up. Take at least 5 minutes to jog, run, or cycle. This will make your muscles lose. You can then start lifting weights. Ensure you lift the correct weights to avoid straining your muscles or tearing them. You can start with low weights and gradually increase the weights based on your strength progress.
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2. Proper nutrition
It's essential to consume nutrient-dense foods if you want to get stronger. Eat healthy meals before and after working out to nourish your muscles. Additionally, it would help if you also drank plenty of water to stay hydrated always and get enough sleep.
3. Bodyweight workouts
Performing exercises that enhance full-body workouts can help you get stronger. You can start with simple push-ups for your chest, biceps, and triceps. For beginners who find push-ups to be hard, they can start with wall push-ups. As you continue improving your strength, you can advance to crunches and plank exercises.
4. Resistance bands
If you want your arms to get stronger, you can perform bicep curls in sets using dumbbells. For your abs, legs, and glutes, you can perform simple squats. For the back and hamstring, consider barbell deadlifts.
How do I lose weight and gain muscle at the same time?
Some people think that it's not easy to lose weight and gain muscle simultaneously.
The truth is that it's possible.
However, it can be a bit tricky and confusing, especially for beginners. Losing weight refers to getting rid of both muscle and fat in the body. The trick here is that to lose fat, you need reduced calorie intake, and to gain muscle, you need to increase calorie intake.
To lose weight and gain muscle at the same time, you need to do the following:
1. Increase protein intake
Eating protein-rich foods can help you lose weight and gain muscle simultaneously. Proteins are essential for building lean muscle while eliminating the extra pounds due to their satiety effect.
2. Reduce intense cardio
Performing intense cardio exercises is healthy for the body. However, some studies have shown that intense cardio can result in lean tissue loss. To lose weight and gain muscle simultaneously, experts recommend walking as opposed to running. Running strains the body and results in increased water retention in the body and also increases appetite.
3. Lifting weights
If you incorporate heavyweights in your workout plan, it becomes easier to lose weight and gain muscle simultaneously. Studies show that resistance training works wonders if you include progress overload (gradual increase in weights or repetitions).
4. Reduce intense strength training
As earlier mentioned, strength training workouts have a lot of benefits. If you're looking forward to losing weight and gaining muscle, high strength training isn't recommended. However, if you must do it, it's recommended to use light weights and increase the target repetitions.
A perfect workout structure for beginners
If you want to stay motivated and stick to your workout plan to get the best results, you must develop a good workout structure. If you decide to work out without any schedule, there are higher chances of underworking or overworking, which won't give the desired results.
Below is a guide on how to develop a perfect workout structure:
- Form a consistent schedule for working out and resting days
- Only include workouts you're interested in performing
- Incorporate active recovery days in your structure
- For consistent progress, increase the intensity gradually
- Keep records to track your progress
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What should I eat?
Most people struggle to figure out what to eat while working out.
There are certain foods and supplements that you can eat before, when and after a workout.
Before workout
Before you start working out, you need to fuel your body. The human body resembles a car. You can't start a car without fuel. Two hours before you begin any workout, you need to eat carbohydrate-rich foods like whole-grain pasta, vegetables, low-fat yogurt, brown rice, and fruits. You should also avoid saturated fats and drink plenty of water.
During workout
When working out, you'll have a short break. During this short session, you should drink water to hydrate your body as much as possible. You can also take bananas, raisins, or low-fat yogurt.
After workout
Your body needs refuelling immediately after a workout. It will help if you start by drinking plenty of water or juice, followed by carbohydrate or protein-rich foods. The carbohydrates and proteins will help in muscle growth and recovery. After a workout, some foods to eat include fish, nuts, beans, and brown rice.
When should I eat?
As stated above, you need to eat before, during, and after a workout. Studies show eating before, during, and after a workout can enhance your overall performance. You'll be able to perform as many repetitive workout sets as possible because the body will get more energized.
Warming up: Is it necessary?
Warming up before exercising helps the body in some ways, as listed below:
- Reduces muscle tension
- Improves performance
- Improves flexibility
- Increases blood flow to the muscles
- Reduces injury risk
- Improves range of motion
Is stretching important?
Stretching before you start working out is very important. Most at-home workouts for beginners incorporate stretching due to some reasons as follows:
- Promotes better posture
- Reduces muscle tension and lower back pain
- Enhances muscular relaxation
- Reduces injury risk
- Prepared the body for workout adequately
- Improves coordination and makes movements easier
Regardless of the kind of home workout you're going to perform, fitness experts recommend that stretching should be done after warming up.
Which supplements should I use?
Working out requires a lot of energy that helps you to remain active throughout the session. The common challenge faced by most people when working out is the lack of energy.
This is becoming a thing of the past today since many workout supplements in the market can help in boosting energy. These supplements contain different ingredients and suit different workouts.
Typically, all workout supplements don't work the same. Some are made to boost power, strength, and endurance. Some of the best workout supplements include creatine, BCAA, whey protein, EAA, and Pre-workout.
All these workout supplements assist in reducing muscle soreness, fatigue, promoting muscle growth, and improving endurance.
Final Thoughts
Workouts play a significant role in the body. Regardless of the type of workout you engage in, be sure to get the desired results provided that you're consistent, take healthy meals or supplements.