Getting in good shape and maintaining a high level of fitness not only allows you to look and feel better in your clothes, it’s also crucial for keeping you healthy, strong, and well in the long term.

If you’re not used to fitness and exercise, however, knowing how to get started can be overwhelming and intimidating. In this guide, we’ll help set you on the path to fitness and wellness.

Why Get In Shape?

Improving your fitness offers a huge number of benefits, including:

• Improving heart health – Staying in good shape keeps your heart strong and healthy, reducing your risk of heart disease and other illnesses.
  
  
• Improving cognition – Regular exercise also benefits your brain and can improve concentration, focus, and memory.

• Reduce stress – Getting out and moving every day reduces your levels of stress, keeping you happier and reducing your risk of illness.

• Improve sleep – Research has proven that regular exercise also helps improve the quality of your sleep, which has numerous benefits for your health and wellbeing.

Getting started with fitness will look different for everyone, but with just a few short steps, you can be on your way to a whole new you.

1. Define Your Motivation

One of the most important elements of getting in shape is defining your motivation. Why do you want to improve your fitness? This is one of the most crucial steps in your journey.

Your motivation will be what keeps you going when you are battling through that last rep, running the last few feet, or hitting the gym after a long day at work.

Your motivation is personal. It may be fitting into a perfect dress, being able to compete in a challenge or race, or simply having more energy to run around after your kids. Having this in mind will keep you going when things are tough.

It’s a good idea to have some visual representation of your goal placed somewhere prominent as a reminder of why you started this journey.

2. Find Your Activity

Getting in shape doesn’t have to include hours at the gym. The key to a long-term lifestyle change is to find an activity you enjoy doing. This will help your workouts feel less like work, and more like fun.

It can take some time to unlock your preferred activity, so be prepared to try plenty of new things. From running sprints and marathons to rock climbing or line dancing, the ideal form of exercise is out there – you just need to unlock it.

3. Track Your Progress

The scales are not always the most helpful thing when you’re trying to get in shape. Tracking your progress in other ways can be very useful.

Record how far you run each session, how many reps you do, or your heart rate and cool-down period. Over time, you will start to see real gains and improvements, and these are very motivating.

Final Thoughts

Getting in shape should be approached as a long-term lifestyle change, rather than a short-term aesthetic goal.

This means that you’re far more likely to stay on track and see the real benefits. By setting a personal motivation target, finding a workout regime that works for you, and tracking your progress, you’ll soon discover that you have more energy, better sleep, and more vitality in your daily life.

One thing is for sure: you will never regret the day that you decided to get in shape.