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Home » Exercise Programs » Five Simple Exercise Programs for Beginners : zen habits

Post written by Leo Babauta. Follow me on Twitter.

Ive been exercising regularly for a few years, with tremendous improvements in my health, and whenever someone asks me how they should start out in exercise, I tell them to just get moving!

Try to get moving every day whether its walking, running, strength training, sports, running around with the kids, swimming, paddling, or whatever works for you. If you can do that, youll get healthier and fitter over time.

And it does take time. Any exercise program that promises results in a week or three or even a month is either lying to you, or not worth it youll just gain it back in a short amount of time, because you havent changed your lifestyle or habits. So no, you wont see quick results if you get active, but youll see long-term results if you stick with it. Have fun along the way and things will be great.

And what you eat is just as important. Make small changes over time to your diet drink water instead of soda, or eat leaner cuts of meat (or go vegetarian), cut out fried foods, eat more fruits and veggies, cut out processed grains, changes like that and youll be well on your way to a healtheir lifestyle and a fitter you.

But these generalized recommendations never seem to be enough. People want specific programs. And while Im not a certified trainer or an expert in any way, I have found some simple exercise programs that work for me and others I know, and can recommend them. As always, if you have health problems, check with a doctor before getting into any kind of exercise program.

One last note: take it slowly. Your body needs time to adapt to the exercise, and if you overdo it you can injure yourself or burnout, and neither is good if youre trying to stick with it long term. Progress gradually, in small steps, and youll stay injury-free and see great long-term results.

Program 1: Intervals for Beginners

Intervals are a great way to get intense exercise in without overdoing it. And they can be a lot of fun if steady-state cardio bores you to tears.

Start out with some steady-state cardio, though, at least for a month while you get used to moving more. Walking is a great way to start out, especially if you havent exercised in awhile and/or youre pretty overweight. If youre in decent shape with not too many extra pounds, start with some slow, light jogging.

After a month or so of doing this at least 3 times a week (4-5 is even better but not everyone has the time), you can add some light intervals. Warm up for 5 minutes first to prevent injury and to let your heart adjust to beating faster, before starting the intervals. For beginner walkers, just pick up the pace for 30-60 seconds, and then walk at a normal pace for 1-2 minutes to recover. Dont overdo it at first. You can repeat this 3-5 times during your normal walk.

For people in slightly better shape, try walk/run intervals. Again, warm up for 5 minutes, then jog for 30-60 seconds followed by 1-2 minutes walking for recovery. Repeat 3-5 times and then cool down.

For those in even better shape, do jog/run intervals, where you jog slowly, pick up the pace to a steady run (not sprinting and not too fast) for 30-60 seconds, then back to a slow jog for 1-2 minutes recovery. Again, repeat 3-5 times.

After doing this workout for 1-2 weeks, add more intervals slowly until youre up to about 6-8. Once youre used to this, slowly increase the length of your intervals. Instead of 30-60 seconds, do 60-90 seconds. After a couple weeks of longer intervals, increase the intensity of the intervals a faster walk, or a jog instead of a walk, or a faster run, depending on what youve been doing so far.

Intervals are a great way to burn calories and fat (assuming youre eating fairly healthy and not overeating), strengthen your leg muscles and core, and just get healthier overall.

Program 2: Sports

This is one of the easiest programs on this list, and also one of the most fun. Basically: play a sport you like, or even a new sport youve never tried before, a few times a week. Again, the idea is just to get moving, and to have fun while youre moving.

It can be any sport where youre moving around a lot (golf, bowling, darts, and the like are great but dont count) just choose a sport to start with and give it a try. If you already love a sport but havent been playing it in awhile, do that its important that this be fun for you. Do it 3-4 times a week. Or try a new sport if youve always wanted to try soccer, or rugby, or rowing/paddling, or cycling, do it now! Find someone who knows how to play it, or join a club or group that will show you how its done, and give it a try! It can be difficult at first, but go easy when you start and really try to learn the rules and skills. Think of it as a fun challenge. You might be a little sore when you first start out.

Start with 30 minutes and progress gradually to 45-60 minutes a day, at least 3 days a week. Try to get to 4-5 days a week if you can.

After a month or so of one sport, switch to another to keep it fun and challenging. Keep doing this for a few months. After youve tried at least 3 sports, start to mix it up do basketball on Monday, for example, then soccer, then swimming, then rowing whatever you feel like, whatever seems fun, whatever it takes to stay active. The more you mix it up, the better.

Program 3: Circuits

This is a fairly traditional sort of program, but great nonetheless. Basically: you do one exercise followed by another and another and so on until youve done the whole circuit of exercises, rest for a couple minutes, then repeat the whole circuit. The exercises can be strength exercises, cardio, or some combination. The circuit format keeps things interesting, and keeps your heart-rate up so you burn more fat than if you rested in between exercises.

For beginners, remember to start slowly it can be easy to overdo it with a program like this. I recommend you start with just 4-5 exercises, and rest 10-30 seconds between each at first. Later you can cut the rest period down until youre not resting between exercises, only between circuits.

To start out with, choose 4-5 exercises such as: bodyweight squats, jumping jacks, pushups (you can do them against the wall instead of on the ground if necessary), jump squats (squats with a jump at the top), burpees (basically jump squats combined with pushups), dips, lunges, side lunges, wall climbers, pullups, jump roping, jogging in place, bicycle crunches. Some of these are tough, so if you have trouble with them start with easier ones or modified versions so theyre not so hard. Do a YouTube search if you dont know how to do the exercises properly.

Do 30 seconds of each exercise, rest for 10-30 seconds, do the next exercise, and so on until youve done all 4-5 exercises youve chosen. Rest for 2 minutes and repeat.

When you first start, just do 2 circuits. Then after a week or two, add a third circuit, and then after another week or two add a fourth. When youve adjusted to that, add additional exercises (feel free to switch out new exercises whenever you like). Gradually shorten the rest period between exercises until you dont rest at all during the circuit only between circuits.

Program 4: Crossfit Light

One of my favorite exercise programs is Crossfit, because its an all-around program that focuses on your entire body, and all parts of fitness. If you do Crossfit, youll be in shape for just about anything, from sports to the military or law enforcement to any physical challenge you can think of.

However, Crossfit is not for beginners. Its tough. If youre in decent shape already, you should start Crossfit by doing a modified version of their Workout of the Day (WOD), which is posted daily on the main website. Modified meaning an easier version. After a few months, you should try to progress to the full version of the WOD.

However, complete beginners should start with an even easier version lets call it Crossfit Light. There isnt any such program, but its basically modifying the WOD so that beginners can do it without killing themselves. An example of the past week of WODs:

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday Rest

Sunday

Monday

So you can see that instead of going for intensity, the light workout is much easier and more relaxed. Again, its just for starting out youll want to make it tougher as you progress.

Program 5: Triathlon Light

When I trained for a triathlon last year, I felt fitter than ever before, because I was training for three sports (running, cycling, swimming). My body was getting an amazing all-around workout. However, if youre a complete beginner, youll want to start out lighter than normal.

So you can start with three sports perhaps walk/running, swimming or rowing, and cycling or the cycling machine. Substitute whatever sport/exercise works better for you.

Start out by doing each sport once a week (15-20 minutes a day to start with), and gradually increase over time until youre doing each sport twice a week. Then increase the duration of your exercise until you get to 30 minutes a day.

Eventually, try to do the real three triathlon sports, as they have amazing health benefits, especially when you mix them up like this. Be sure to always take at least one rest day a week. If you liked this article, please share it on del.icio.us or StumbleUpon. Id appreciate it. 🙂

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Five Simple Exercise Programs for Beginners : zen habits

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Home » Exercise Programs » Five Simple Exercise Programs for Beginners : zen habits