Are you new to fitness?

 

How should you prepare for your workouts?

If you are a beginner-level fitness enthusiast, you should consider a few things before you start your fitness journey. Remember, you can't just get away from your work desk and begin exercising like a gym trainer. You need to prepare your body first. By preparing, I mean the following:

1. Stretch all the tight muscles.

2. Eliminate all your posture imbalances.

3. Re-align your posture.

4. Strengthen your core.

5. Master your basic movements.

 

 Did I scare you? I apologize if I did. It might not sound easy, but it just means a smooth and safe transition into fitness. You will already feel and see the first positive changes during this preparation stage.  

 Why do we do this?  We do this to avoid injuries and have a gradual progression. It's important not to skip stages and to increase exercise intensity at the right pace. Injuries will be a part of your life if you don't follow this rule.  While working out, you are not supposed to feel any pain (and if you ever do, you must stop immediately).   You should also not generally feel discomfort except for when you're exhausting your muscles and experiencing muscle fatigue. 

 Every exercise has a simpler/easier mode as well as a more advanced/difficult mode. As a newbie, you should pay more attention to the simpler/easier ones. It's better to be undertrained than injured.

 Following these rules will prepare you for a safe and effective fitness journey. Now let's learn about stretches and how we do them. Follow me in the next article: How Do We Stretch?