At the beginning of every new year, millions of people see this time as a clean slate. A clean slate can be a state where you feel like starting over or turning over a new leaf. Clean slates are powerful foundations for people to build new habits. This makes perfect sense as millions of people across the globe create New Year’s Resolutions at the start of the new year.

The most common resolutions people make are exercising more. In fact, 59% of people stated that exercising more was their number one goal for 2019. The next closest goals were eating healthy and losing weight at 54% and 48%, respectively.

However, all of these goals fall into the same category when it comes to starting your fitness journey. While maintaining your resolutions is difficult on its own, starting your fitness journey can be just as or even more difficult.

Many people want to make changes in their lives, and a lot of that comes from having a consistent fitness routine. However, for those that are new to fitness, they may not know where to begin. That’s where we come in. Fitness Nation is here to help you start your 2020 fitness journey in the best way possible.

Assess Your Current Fitness Level

Before you even step foot into a gym, take some time to asses where you’re at physically. You probably already have an idea of how fit you are and what your body can and can’t do. However, it’s still beneficial for your journey to record where you are starting. This lets you measure your progress. Before the start of your fitness journey, consider recording:

• Your weight
• Your body mass index (BMI)
• How quickly you can run a mile
• How high your heart rate is before, during, and after a workout
• Your level of flexibility
• The circumference of your waist

These measurements will give you a baseline to build your fitness journey. It is important to remember that it takes time to see results. Do not expect to see changes in your weight, BMI, or mile time in just the first few weeks.

Set Goals

After you have measured where you are physically, it’s time to set some goals for yourself. Everyone is different. Some people may want to be stronger, while others want to lose weight. It’s important to set specific goals for yourself. Far too many people simply start the year saying they want to exercise more or lose weight. However, these goals are far too broad.

Before you set out on this journey, set concrete and specific goals. How much weight do you want to lose? Do you have a goal weight in mind? Do you want to run a sub eight-minute mile? How much weight do you want to squat? Starting a fitness journey is difficult, but it is even more difficult when you don’t have any goals.

Create a Fitness Plan You Enjoy

Again, everyone is different. One person may prefer weight training, while another would rather do HIIT. This is your fitness journey. You don’t have to go to a gym, you don’t have to run miles at a time, and you don’t have to work out like crazy. All you need to do is exercise, preferably three to five times a week for at least 30 minutes.

Exercise is extremely beneficial for not only your physical health but your mental health. However, if some part of you doesn’t enjoy the workouts that you are doing, you won’t be able to experience all the benefits. Ask yourself what you enjoy. Do you prefer group exercises over working out alone? Do you enjoy yoga? Just because you don’t like weight training or cardio doesn’t mean you can’t have a good workout.

There are plenty of fitness options available. Choose the one that you enjoy the most. If you have fun while exercising, you are more likely to continue down your journey.

Get a Coach

Even after you have set goals and a fitness plan for yourself, you may still struggle to start. This is perfectly normal. Beginning your fitness journey is an intimidating task. Having a fitness expert motivate you and train you at the beginning might be just the thing you need to kickstart your journey. These experts and coaches not only help motivate you, but they also teach you the proper ways to complete exercises without hurting yourself.

Yes, you can hire a personal trainer, but you can also joy group classes where an expert teaches a group all at once. Or, if you are worried about money, you can take advantage of the many fitness experts who post their training videos online.

By employing the help of a coach, you can slowly build up your confidence and skill level as you progress.

Start Small

This is very important for all beginners. Yes, being physically active is incredibly important, but for those with little experience, it can also be quite dangerous. If you don’t know your limits or don’t know the proper form for some lifts, you put yourself at risk of suffering a serious injury. Not only that, but your confidence can also take a hit if you aren’t lifting the weight you think you should be doing.

Many people have anxiety about going to the gym. A lot of that stems from comparing what you’re doing to others. You may see the weight someone else is lifting and feel self-conscious about what you’re lifting, but you can’t let others affect you. After all, you’re on this journey for you, not for anyone else.

Start small. Do exercises you feel comfortable with. When those exercises begin to feel too easy, you can start increasing the difficulty level. Remember, doing something is always better than doing nothing. The beginning of a new year is the perfect time to start your fitness journey. However, starting that journey can be quite daunting. At Fitness Nation, not only do we have all the equipment needed to help you accomplish your fitness goals, but we have the staff and knowledge to help you kickstart your fitness journey. Give us a call to get started.