Its not hard to look back at your beginning fitness journey and wince at all the things you did “wrong”. There is so much to learn about fitness, and if you specialize in something unrelated, its like studying a whole new field! While its a learning curve for everyone, here are my 5 primary tips for beginners who want to start on the right track:

1. Consistency over perfection – Make sustainable choices.

Often, those jumping into fitness tend to do just that – jump in. It’s great to have a hard work ethic, but it’s even more important that you can be consistent in your efforts. If you’re going from getting up at 8am to getting up at 5am, chances are it’s going to be hard to sustain. A better choice in an instance like this would be to get up 45 minutes early and do a shortened workout, then ease your way i to your long-term goal. Find the medium and work towards the hard!

2. Everyone in the gym is there for themselves. They aren’t looking at you!

Think about it- when you go to the gym, you don’t go to there to watch other people. You go there to better yourself! Others are likely thinking the same. Don’t be ashamed for making a good choice. 

3. Weight loss, weight gain, whatever your goal is… You NEED TO EAT.

Undereating/eating the wrong amount of the right things is one of the biggest issues I see with beginning fitness enthusiasts. Fueling your body to have the energy for workouts is very important, and undereating can mess with your metabolism and therefore results. 

 4. Instagram workouts are okay for a while… but hire a coach. Get a plan!

Skipping all over the place is a problem, primarily because of one term: Progressive overload. This involves continually increasing the demands on the musculoskeletal system to increase muscle size, strength, and endurance. If your workouts aren’t continuously getting more difficult, you’ll see progress for a while, but likely plateau. 

5. More cardio does not equal more weight loss… Or how you get a defined body shape.

I find this to be the most prevalent fitness myths to date. If used too frequently, cardio can actually be a deterrent for weight loss- you may notice large jumps in progress at first, but eventually, most reach a plateau. This is because the body eventually adapts to this style of training. In favor of resistance training, the more muscle gained = raised metabolism = raised amount of calories burned while living daily life. Cardio is not the only way to burn calories!

Above all, have fun and be healthy!

AUTHOR: Megan Keysor, ACE certified personal trainer & online fitness coach

Instagram: @megmadewell_

Facebook: Megan Keysor – CPT and Online Fitness Coach

www.megkcoaching.com