What are some tips for beginners to get started with fitness?

After practicing for four to five years, I have seen hundreds of novices fall into traps. To be honest, the core entry-level skills are not to memorize movement standards and calculate caloric gaps. It is to first stabilize the habit and then focus on the details, and to move first and then chase the intensity. Don’t be scared off by the complex training system and strict dietary requirements when you first start. Don’t blindly follow the plans of the masters to push the weight. More than 90% of novices give up or get injured due to this.

I just met a freshman boy who had applied for an annual pass a while ago. He followed the Internet celebrity's five-point training and gave him a hard fight. On the first day of leg training, he squatted 60 kilograms. That night when he went down the stairs, his legs became weak and he fell down the stairs. It took him half a month to recover. The card was thrown into the dormitory to collect dust. He said that fitness is just for free. Think about it, a newbie in fitness is like a child who has just learned to walk. If you don’t let him stand firm first and urge him to run when he comes up, won’t he fall easily? At that time, even if he went to the gym for 40 minutes at a time, started with the elliptical machine and fixed equipment to find a sense of strength, and adjusted the weight to the point where he was just a little sore after doing 12 times in each set, he would not have suffered this problem at all.

Nowadays, there is a lot of quarrel on the Internet about "should newbies hire private tutors as soon as possible"? In fact, there is really no standard answer. If you have a sufficient budget and can find a reliable instructor with complete qualifications who doesn't trick you into buying dozens of classes right from the start, it will indeed save you half a year of detours by getting you started. At least you won't wear out your rotator cuff or injure your lumbar spine due to incorrect movements. But if you have a limited budget, there is no need to panic. The "Public Fitness Action Guide" issued by the General Administration of Sports was compiled by national team coaches, and the explanations are more standardized than most half-hearted personal trainers. One of my former colleagues followed this and taught himself, practicing for 40 minutes three days a week. He usually replaced the milk tea in the afternoon tea with sugar-free oolong tea. In three months, his body fat dropped by 7 points, which was much more efficient than the 10 private paddling lessons he bought for 3,000 yuan.

Don’t take fitness too seriously. You have to go to the gym for two hours a day for it to count. If you usually walk two stops for 10 minutes on your commute, or get up and do 10 bodyweight squats every hour when you sit in the office, you are helping your body establish exercise habits. It is better than if you set too high a goal for yourself and give up without feeling guilty after failing to achieve it. By the way, there are still many novices who save money to buy supplements such as protein powder and nitrogen pumps when they first start. In fact, it is really unnecessary. You must first ensure that you can eat protein in grams similar to your body weight every day. For example, a 130-pound person eats 130g every day. Almost two eggs, a piece of chicken breast as big as your palm and a carton of pure milk will be more effective than any supplement you take.