Answers to the top 5 fitness questions every beginner asks
When it comes to answering fitness questions for beginners, the internet provides a lot of confusing—and conflicting—information.
Every website gives you a different answer.
When you are getting started with exercise, distinguishing between helpful and unhelpful, healthy and unhealthy, and productive and unproductive information can be more daunting than it seems.
How do you know what the best advice is for a beginner?
How do you distinguish the difference between good and bad advice?
And how do you know which one is best for you to apply?
1. How often should I exercise?
For optimal health benefits, the goal is to reach over 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity cardio or 75 mins of high-intensity cardio a week, combined with 2-3 days of full-body strength training.
However, optimal may not be practical for your schedule, fitness level, goals, or overall commitment, and that’s ok.
Instead of looking for a specific number of times a week to exercise, take a close look at your goals and your schedule.
1) Analyzing your goals.
Do you want to lose fat? You want to shoot for a minimum of 3 days a week of strength training.
Do you want to build muscle? You want to shoot for 2-4 days a week strength training.
Do you want to build endurance? You need 3-4 days of cardio each week.
These are the minimal optimal training requirements, but your schedule may say otherwise, and how much time you can devote to exercise will vary.
Check out the image below to set yourself up for success.
Therefore, before you determine how many days you need, it’s important to make time in your schedule for exercise and plan for the days and time you actually have available.
A great place to start is 30 minutes of either cardio, strength, or a mixture of the two, 3 days a week for the next 3 months. This is known as the “rule of 3s” and helps you build on your consistency.
This is your first goal to achieve when beginning to exercise.
Once you reach this, then change it up and add another day, increase the amount of time, or add to your intensity until you can reach more than 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity cardio or 75 minutes of high-intensity cardio a week with an additional 2-3 days of full-body strength training.
2. Is strength training better than cardio?
The most effective exercise plan as a beginner is the combination of both.
From a disease-prevention stand-point, having good cardio fitness is more important.
However, from a fat loss and muscle-building perspective, strength training is better.
So, while cardio is more important than strength training for being healthy and living longer, strength training is important for independent living and mobility.
Ultimately, finding a healthy balance of both is better than focusing on one over the other.
But, as a beginner, which one should you start with?
The answer to this will vary from person to person.
As you’re getting started, choose the one you will be most consistent with that will help you reach your goals.
🚶♂️ If you are beginning your fat-loss journey and want to lose fat, focus on strength training 3 days a week with at least a 30-minute brisk walk daily.
🏋♂️ If you want to build muscle or strength, focus on strength training 3-4 days a week. As a beginner, this would be ideal since you can make the most gains when you are first starting.
🚴♂️ If you want to improve your endurance, prioritize 4 days of cardio.
It might be optimal to get started with both, but when in doubt, pick the one you enjoy the most that will help you reach your goals.
It is better to be consistent with one than to inconsistently implement both at the same time.
3. How important are rest days?
Is rest important?
Rest days, rest between sets, and rest time between workouts are super important for your health, recovery, cellular repair, and strength.
However, most people take too much rest and don't work out hard enough, while few work out too hard and don’t rest enough.
So, here is what you need to know to properly apply rest to help you on your health and fitness journey.
🧘♂️Rest days.
Rest days do not mean “be sedentary.”
Proper rest is making sure you are hitting your steps, going out for a walk, hydrating, eating enough protein, getting quality sleep, and taking time to stretch or do mobility work.
Resting is actively participating in your health and recovery, not pigging out or being sedentary all day.
This sounds counter-intuitive, but when you put effort into being restful, you actually help your body rest.
Research shows that active rest is more restful than pigging out and being sedentary all day.
Rest is time to move your body in healthy ways that prepares your body for movement again.
🛌 How often should I rest?
Generally, 24 hours is more than enough recovery time for cardio and working out separate muscle groups.
If you did less than 5 miles, you can go run again the next day,
but keep in mind, this run should not be at the same intensity, switch up the pace, or get on an elliptical or bike.
If you are lifting, you want to give your muscles 48-72 hours of rest before working out the same muscle group, depending on your soreness.
For example, if you did legs on Monday, you don’t need to take Tuesday off.
You can work out your upper body on Tuesday.
The goal is to give the same muscle group rest but still work out a different muscle group.
Now, if you worked out your full body, then you would want 48 hours of rest before working out your full body again.
And even if you are working out twice a day, resting for 5-7 hours in the same day can be enough.
This provides you with enough days of exercise while still giving you enough rest throughout the week.
🏋♀️Rest between sets should be rest
You should work out hard enough to need rest. If you are shadow boxing, doing abs, or cardio during your "rest", you did not work out hard enough.
Rest time is needed to see improvements in strength and muscle mass.
Generally, 1-2 mins of rest is more than enough, but if you are lifting super heavy and hard, then you could rest 3-5 mins.
When it comes to rest, it does take practice and some knowledge, but when properly applied, it can be a tool that takes your training and exercise routine to another level.
4. Can I exercise when I am sore?
When you exercise as a beginner, it can be common to question whether you should work out when you are sore.
But not every time you work out will you feel sore.
DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) usually happens after vigorous exercise that your body is not used to or a new repetitive movement that your body is not used to.
DOMS is that sore, stiff, and heavy feeling you get 24-72 hours after training.
It is not bad for you (unless it is overdone), but depending on the level of soreness you feel and the type of exercise are are doing, you should still be able to train.
DOMS can make your legs feel stiff and heavy; therefore, doing explosive movement or plyometrics when your body is sore may increase your risk of injury.
So, DOMS can affect the speed at which you exercise and cause your muscles to have a delayed response if they are severely sore.
You will want to avoid doing two heavy or high-intensity workouts back-to-back.
But sometimes, some soreness can make you feel good and strong.
On the other hand, if you are only a little sore and doing machine work at the gym or have a lighter lift, you will be able to jump right into your workout without any issue.
In addition, you are still able to switch up your routine and focus on muscles, which will not be as sore or may not be sore at all.
Bear in mind:
DOMS ≠ a good work out
DOMS ≠ greater muscle growth
DOMS ≠ great muscle strength
It strictly means you either did something your body is not used to, worked out way too hard (if it’s severe), or worked out slightly above what your body is used to.
While soreness is not an indicator of a good workout, you do want to feel slightly sore.
However, if you don’t feel soreness after every workout, that’s ok; it does not mean it was less effective.
Because soreness can be due to “newness” with an exercise, the more consistent you are and the more fit you are, the less susceptible you may be to feeling sore.
But as a beginner, the best advice is to exercise around your soreness, eat a lot of fruits and vegetables to reduce soreness, and workout muscles that are not as sore.
5. How much weight should I lift?
When you are beginning your fitness journey, it can be challenging to know how much weight to lift.
Unfortunately, the answer is unsophisticatedly simple: choose a weight that feels “heavy” for you.
When you choose a weight for strength training, there is objectively heavy weight and subjectively heavy weight.
“Objectively heavy” is weight that is heavy to lift regardless of who you are, but can be easier to lift for others.
For example, for you, lifting 300 pounds might be heavy, but for the the strongest person in the world (who lifts 1,185 pounds), it would not be too heavy.
In the same way, for you, lifting 20 pounds might be easy, but for a cancer survivor undergoing chemo, 20 pounds might feel heavy.
Therefore, the goal is to choose what feels “heavy” for you.
Only you can decide objectively what that is. However, there are some guidelines to know whether it is too heavy for you when starting out.
1) You should be able to complete all reps in a set with proper form and technique.
2) You should be able to lift the weight and have to push yourself to finish the last 3-4 reps of each set.
3) If you could easily do 15-20 reps, it is too light for you and you need more weight. You should not be able to do more than 15 reps. On the other hand, if you’re struggling to do 6 reps, it is too heavy.,
4) You should always immediately stop if your form is starting to get worse.
Remember, your safety is always more important than getting one extra rep, and if you can’t lift the weight with proper form, then the rep doesn’t count.
How can I get started?
The best way to begin is by taking action, and for that, we have designed 10 steps to getting started:
📅 Look at your calendar and realistically figure out how many days a week you could go for a brisk walk.
⌛ Establish the minimal amount of time you can slot in a brisk walk, and determine what’s the maximum amount of time.
🤓Get help: ask, join a class, or get a plan.
📈 Work your way up to the full amount of time. Try to give yourself 2-3 months to achieve this goal. The longer you work at it, the more consistent you will be.
❌Do not rush the process; focus on consistency. Give yourself the next 2-3 months to work on this goal
⚡Increase your intensity to the point where you can talk but not sing, OR see if you can sustain that walk at your minimal target heart rate.
👉Click here to get your free work out plan today.
All the exercises in the plan are chosen for you to exercise safely and are quick and easy to do, with most requiring no equipment, so you can work out from the comfort of your own home.
The plan also includes a movement tutorial, so you know how to properly do each movement and don’t have to question whether you are doing it right or wrong.
Lastly, you will get free access to an exercise physiologist in case you have any questions and always make sure to consult your doctor or physical therapist when getting started with exercise.
Click here to get it downloaded for free today 💪
