Introduction to fitness for beginners

Establish exercise habits, understand basic movement patterns, avoid injuries, and go through the adaptation period before talking about other things. This is the lowest-cost entry path recognized by fitness enthusiasts of all genres and levels.

Not long ago, I met a kid in the gym who had just finished the college entrance examination. He grabbed the season card he had just applied for and jumped into the strength area on the first day. He deadlifted 80kg with his cousin who had been training for half a year. That night, his waist hurt so much that he couldn't stand up straight. For the next half month, he even struggled to walk normally. The card was thrown to his sister, and thousands of dollars were wasted. This kind of thing has really happened too much. The enthusiasm of a novice is the most precious when they first come up, and it is also the easiest to be consumed by wrong "efforts".

When it comes to movement patterns, there is a lot of noise on the Internet. Bodybuilders say that you have to isolate the force and hit the target muscles accurately every time. Don’t use force.； Powerlifters say that you need to use the entire force, lock your core, stabilize your trunk, and lift as hard as you can. Who do novices listen to? In fact, you don't have to stand in line at all in the first month, just focus on one core: it doesn't hurt when you do the movements, and you can feel the target muscles exerting force. For example, when practicing push-ups, don't slump your waist and push your butt down. Even if you are kneeling on the ground, you will feel your chest muscles being pulled when you go down, and your chest muscles will be tight when you get up. This is considered to be done correctly, and it is 10 times better than doing 20 substandard push-ups with your arms shaking. When I first started practicing bench press, the empty bar was shaking when I pushed it. After taking a video in the mirror, I realized that my shoulder muscles were almost hunched to the base of my ears. It took me two full weeks of adjustment to find the feeling of exerting strength in my chest muscles. At that time, I felt more sore when I pushed 20kg than before when I pushed 40kg. By the way, don’t ignore the role of eccentric contraction, which is the slow process of action playback. For example, slowly lowering the dumbbell when curling has a much better effect than throwing it down with a bang. Novices are most likely to ignore this, which is equivalent to half of their training.

Many people set KPIs for themselves when they first come out. They have to practice 6 days a week for 2 hours each time. Within two weeks, they are so tired that they want to give up. There are also two completely different opinions here. One group says that novice muscles recover quickly and require high-frequency stimulation to quickly grow muscles. ； The other group says that novices have no foundation in sports and will be easily injured if they practice too much. In fact, there is no standard answer to this matter. If you usually sit at work for 10 hours every day and can't even get out of breath when climbing the third floor, then practice three times a week for 40 minutes each time. Take one day off after practice. Even if you run for 10 minutes every time and practice two movements before walking, it will be better than lying down at home. In order to lose weight, my friend used to soak for 2 hours a day as soon as he applied for the card. He practiced throwing up for a week. Later, he changed to going every Wednesday and Saturday. After each practice, he could buy a glass of iced Americano. Now he has been persisting for almost a year and has lost 8% of his body fat. He is much better than those who disappear after a month.

Don’t think that the harder you train, the better the effect will be. I went through this pit last year. I trained my chest for a week in a row in order to achieve a bench press PR (personal maximum weight). As a result, my acromion directly hit me. It hurt for two months and I struggled to lift my arms and put on clothes. Muscles really don’t grow in the gym, they grow when you sleep and rest. When you train, you just tear the muscle fibers, and they only become thicker when you recover. There are also different opinions on the recovery time. Some people say that each part should rest for 72 hours, while others say that novices can recover as quickly as 48 hours. In fact, you can make your own judgment: If the part you have practiced is only slightly sore the next day and does not affect normal activities, then you can continue to practice other exercises. ； If the pain is so severe that you can't even hold chopsticks, then just rest at home and don't try to find a "sense of effort."

Many novices ask me if they want to buy protein powder, take creatine, or boil vegetables after just two days of training? It's really not necessary. Supplements are supplements. They are used when your daily diet is not enough. If you can eat 2 eggs, half a kilogram of milk, and a palm-sized piece of lean meat every day, and have enough protein intake, you don’t need to spend that wasted money. Don’t listen to people’s nonsense that protein powder is a hormone. They are all made up by people who have never been to a gym. There is no need to be too hard on yourself when it comes to diet. I have seen too many people boil broccoli every time they start working out. After three days of eating, they eat hot pot and barbecue in retaliation. Instead, they gain two pounds. It’s better to take your time. First, change the daily milk tea to sugar-free, and eat fried chicken from three times a week to once. Slowly adjust, and I still have one indulgence day every week, eating a burger or ice cream. It does not affect the progress at all, but makes it easier to stick to it.

In fact, after all, fitness for beginners really doesn’t have to be so fancy. Don’t be intimidated by the “30-day workout” and “perfect plans for beginners” online. Get moving first. Even if you only use a treadmill for the first time in the gym, it’s not in vain. After you have practiced for two or three months and you know whether you want to build muscle lines, increase strength, or just want to lose some weight and climb stairs without being out of breath, it is not too late to choose a training method that suits you. After all, fitness is to make your body more comfortable and your life happier, not to find a new KPI for yourself, right?