Congratulations on deciding to take that first step towards healthier lifestyle! It only gets better from here. Boosting overall fitness means better sleep, good gut health and good energy level throughout the day. With improved physical and mental health, you should be able to achieve all of this and more. But before you embark on your journey, it is important that you start right to redeem maximum benefits from your fitness journey.
So without further ado, let’s begin!
Table of Contents
Medical Check-Up
The first thing you should do is consult a doctor and get medical check-up done. It is an assessment of your current health status and you will get to know if anything needs your attention. It can not only help you tracking your vitals but also detect some diseases early on. You should ideally do medical checkup annually.
Body Measurement and Photographs
This is applicable only if you are looking for losing or gaining weight. Trust me when I say this, you will want to see and compare your old photographs and measurements. There is nothing more satisfying seeing how far you have come one year later.
Important thing is not to get carried away and start documenting everyday. Progress is often slow and non linear so photographing and measuring yourself everyday may actually have opposite effect. My advise would be to do it once a week or twice a month.
Identify Your Allergens
Your gut health is extremely important when it comes to overall fitness level. If digestive system is not working properly, it will keep you distracted all day long.
If you feel bloated often, it may be because you are allergic to a particular food group. A simple way of identifying your allergens is taking a note of what you ate before you started feeling bloated and uncomfortable. Eliminate it from your diet for a week and if your bloating goes away, bingo! You have identified allergen. Lactose (present in milk) and gluten are two common allergens.
Related Post: Easy Healthy Indian Meal Plan for Vegetarians That Actually Works
Set Your Fitness Goals
Working towards a goal keeps you motivated. Make sure your goals are SMART or specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time bound. Let’s not forget that we are talking about overall fitness here. Some examples of goals that you can have are
- Stay off sugar for 7 days every month for next one year.
- Do one chin up till end of the year.
- Go to bed before 11 PM for at least 20 days this month.
- Journal or read book everyday continuously for 30 days.
- Improve pace of 5km run by 1 minute in six months.
- Lose 2kgs weight in next one month.
Make Working Out Easy
It is important to make working out as easy as possible, especially when you are starting out. For you to workout consistently and not fall off the wagon again and again, you want to minimise effort before and after working out as much as possible.
- When I started, I used to just play workout videos on YouTube in my room and follow. POPSUGAR Fitness and Joanna Soh Official are the two channels I usually went to when looking for workout videos.
- Another thing you can do is keep your workout clothes ready for next mornings workout.
- I would also suggest working out for just 20-25 mins to begin with. You can gradually increase intensity and duration.
- Another great way of staying consistent is either joining a group class or working out with a friend. It gives you something to look forward to you can keep each other in check.
Find Your Fitness Jam
If you are just starting out, chances are you haven’t tried different workouts yet. In todays day and age there are so many options to choose from. I would suggest trying out a few and see what you like. Working out doesn’t have to be painful and stressful. Just find your groove and have fun with it. Better yet, if you enjoyed something as a kid, it’s time to go back to being that kid again. Some of the workouts you can try are:
- Running
- Weight lifting/ strength training
- Yoga
- Dancing
- Swimming
- Cycling
- Hiking
- Play a sport you like
- Joining group fitness class
Conclusion
Always remember that you are in it for the long haul. Start small but steady and gradually you will start seeing improvement in your overall health. Don’t forget to have fun while you are at it.