Fitness introductory plan for beginners

There is no need for beginners in fitness who have no basic knowledge to search for dozens of pages of differentiated training plans, nor to buy customized courses worth hundreds of dollars. The most suitable introductory plan for 90% of ordinary people is to "train three times a week for 45-60 minutes each time, follow the sequence of warm-up - strength training - aerobic - stretching. Strength is given priority to three types of compound movements: squats, chest presses, rowing/high pull-downs. If you insist on it for 3 months, you will see obvious improvements in posture and physical fitness."

Hum, I am too experienced to say this. When I first entered the gym, I grabbed the "7-Day Quick Vest Line Plan" I found online. On the first day, I ran for 40 minutes and practiced 10 sets of abdominal exercises. On the second day, I couldn't stand up while squatting on the toilet and holding on to the wall, so I rested for half a month. Only then did I understand that novices should avoid greed for more and seek speed.

Speaking of this, someone must be making a fuss, saying that I see bloggers recommending novices to practice pushing and pulling legs into three-thirds and five-quarters. How come you have to do it three times a week? This is really not nonsense. The two ideas correspond to different groups of people: three-part and five-part training only trains one part at a time. The stimulation of a single part is really sufficient. It is suitable for students or freelancers who can spare more than 5 days of training time per week and have strong recovery ability. However, if you are an office worker who works 996 every day and has to ask for leave in advance from the leader to squeeze in 3 days of training every week, if you train once and rest for 4 days, the muscles will have long since recovered, and there is no training effect at all. It is not as cost-effective as training the whole body every time. There is no right plan, only a plan that you can stick to.

Don’t get on the treadmill first when you enter the gym. This was the biggest pitfall I ever stepped on. I was sweating profusely from running and was running out of energy. Even holding a 5kg dumbbell behind me was a useless exercise. Spend 5 minutes to warm up first. Just do shoulder circles, lunge twice, and move your wrists and ankles. Don't worry about it. Last month, I saw a young man deadlift 100kg. His waist flashed and he was pushed out by two friends. He didn't come to the gym for half a month. It was not worth the loss.

For the strength part, don’t focus on those fancy isolation movements, such as triceps pressdowns and dumbbell lateral raises. Newbies have poor nerve control. After practicing for a long time, they will only use force to shake their arms, and there will be no effect at all. Let’s start with three compound movements: Squats with body weight or light weight for leg training, chest presses with fixed equipment for chest training, and high pull-downs or elastic band rowing for back training. Do 3 groups of each movement, each group of 8-12 times. Rest for 1 and a half to 2 minutes between sets. Don't rest for too long and watch short videos and forget about training. Don't be so out of breath that you just start the next set. Choose a weight that you just don’t have the strength to do the 13th after you have done 12 reps. Don’t push a heavy weight to show off your strength, and don’t swing a 2kg dumbbell for half an hour. That’s rehabilitation training, not fitness.

Oh, yes, there are also many coaches who recommend that novices practice isolation movements first to find a sense of strength. This is no problem, as long as there is someone nearby to correct your movements. If no one is there to correct your movements, compound movements will still have a high error tolerance. Even if the movements are slightly flawed, they are better than just doing isolated movements in front of the mirror.

After strength training, do aerobics for 20 minutes. It can be done on the elliptical machine, brisk walking, or jogging. Don’t just run for 40 minutes. Your muscles will almost be lost by aerobics. If you are here to lose fat, add 10 minutes at most, which is really enough. Finally, spend 5 minutes stretching your legs and patting your shoulders, and then you can pack your things and go home. You don’t have to spend two hours in the gym to impress yourself.

Don't believe the nonsense on the Internet that "newbies must strictly control their diet and eat 1.6g of protein per kilogram of body weight." You can't remember such complicated standards at first. Just eat more eggs, drink more glasses of milk, and order less spicy takeout. Don't just eat boiled vegetables. I've seen several newcomers give up on fitness after eating boiled vegetables for three days. It's totally unnecessary. It's much more important to take your time than to be perfect all at once. Don’t be in a hurry to buy supplements. You should eat well first and get enough sleep. Creatine is better than any protein powder. I once had a colleague who bought supplements worth more than 1,000 yuan, but stopped after two weeks of training. The supplements were not opened even after they expired.

I have been arguing about whether to hire a personal trainer for many years, and I will tell you the truth: if you have enough budget, it is better to find a reliable personal trainer to take 10 classes to understand the movements thoroughly, so as to avoid making detours on your own; if you don’t have enough budget, just learn from reliable professional bloggers, make videos while practicing and compare yourself with the tutorials, or meet a good guy at the gym and hand him a bottle of water and ask. Most people are willing to give you a few pointers. It is really not as embarrassing as you think. There are people around me who practice both methods with good results, so there is no need to argue about who is right and who is wrong.

I used to take care of a friend who worked in operations. He worked overtime until nine o'clock every day, and could only squeeze in an hour each on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday nights to go to the gym. I followed this plan and practiced. In the first month, he could squat 40kg and could squat 60kg of his own weight for sets. The fat on his waist was reduced. I used to be out of breath when climbing the third floor. Now I can ride a bicycle home for 40 minutes after get off work without any difficulty.

Really, to put it bluntly, fitness is a long-term habit. There is no need to pursue a perfect plan. Even if you practice twice a week for 30 minutes each time and persist for half a year, it will be better than if you have saved dozens of G of tutorials and never used them. Don't think too much, just put on your sportswear and go downstairs for two laps today, it's the start, right?