6 steps to working out at home – Part 1 – A complete guide for beginners.
Anybody can follow this guide if you are an exercising newbie , it is not constricted to conservative women. No prior knowledge about workouts or equipment needed.
How is this guide different from others all over the internet?
Answer: Yes, You can find n-number of “how to” guides on the internet but none is designed for Conservative Indian Women.
No, the term is not demeaning. I am one myself in certain ways. It is difficult for some to get a gym membership, some to jog around the park and the majority of us don’t even have a park. So I thought why not write about what worked for me. I also wanted to communicate with like-minded Women.
This is my way of empowerment.
I would recommend you to read my About page to get a clear vision of Brains & Beans and if you are into workouts then Redefining and Refocusing post is a must. Link will open in new tab, no worries.
This post is segmented into short pages for easy reading.
These are the six steps to follow to get ready for the amazing workout journey ahead
- Current Health Condition
- Harris–Benedict equation
- Types of Exercise, to choose from
- Equipment – there isn’t any, don’t worry.
- Workout Timings
- Food Choices
I will be discussing the first three steps in this post. Tomorrow, the next three.
One of the reasons you could be here,
- Workout video suggested by a friend that didn’t quite workout(pun intended)
- Watching workout video tutorials on YouTube which is completely irrelevant Or,
- You stumbled upon this FB post. Ha ha.
Some of the reasons why exercising at home didn’t work for you in the past
- Procrastination
- Laziness
- Excuses
- Not enough motivation
- No relevant videos to follow
- Confusion as to what to follow
- No time
It’s normal, we have all been there.
You would have bookmarked or downloaded a video or two thinking of working on it this weekend. And when the weekend arrives, you would have completely forgotten about it.
A few weeks later, the same circle begins not remembering you already have plenty of workout tutorials in the hard drive.
In some case, you remember about the videos crystal clear and yet chose to ignore them. Not out of arrogance, but because of timing, doubts, questions and worst of them all, fear. The fear of whether or not you will succeed. This happens to every aspect of life, isn’t it?
All these things result in the Why question tag.
Why didn’t I start earlier?
Why didn’t I start it last year?
Why didn’t my new year’s resolution work?
The reason is simple. You didn’t have any plan.
You did not execute the idea you had.
So, turns out The wizard of Menlo Park was right after all.
“The value of an idea lies in the using of it”
-Thomas A. Edison
That’s alright, you can always start now. That’s why you are here
Click ‘next page.’ Thanks!
Honest talk
Procrastination won’t work this time. This is not a semester, you cannot by-heart the night before and ace the paper, exercising is a long process.
It is not Maggi, dump it into a bowl of hot water and ready in two minutes.
No, sir, I hate to break it to you. Workout is a lifestyle adjustment/change that you commit to seven days a week, four weeks a month, 12 months a year.
Because approaching it any other way would result in waste of all those energy and time you put into sculpting that body go down the drain. There are lot to working out than shedding some weight.
Other amazing benefits of exercising,
- Alleviates Depression
- Cures Insomnia
- Produces happy chemicals in brain – Dopamine, Oxytocin, Serotonin and Endorphins.
- Increases Productivity
- Increases Attention Span
- Clears skin and gets rid of toxins in the body
- Flexibility
- Mindfulness
The list goes on and on. So, if you are approaching workouts with only one intention in mind then think again.
Don’t worry, I am not asking you to think about it every minute of the day. I was being honest. It’s the Brain talking, not the Beans who likes to lick spoons of Pineapple smoothies. yum yum
I am trying to tell you that if you want to commit then you have to commit 100%, you cannot set foot here and there, and expect miracles to happen.
Often, quick results are neither healthy nor does it bring the needed satisfaction. Also, stop starving yourself. Do you know more food equals more fat burning? Of course, You have to choose the ‘good’ food groups. We will discuss that in the next post. Be sure to check it out.
If you are someone who wants to better themselves, not because of social pressures or comparisons but because you want to feel, look and be awesome then be ready.
Have you ever read this amazing quote anywhere?
“You have fat, you are not fat. You have fingernails, that doesn’t mean you are nails.”
So, here are the six questions and steps you want to ask yourself before deciding to start working out and be beautiful. Please click ‘Next page.’ Hustle, hustle!
#1: What is your current health condition?
In general, of course nobody has the right to tell you what to do and what not to, but when it comes to health at least listen to,
- Mothers. When she has a good enough reason, obviously. Sometimes she might try to discourage a workout. Only because she might not know that you have this thing figured out. Explain her about the research(Actually do it!) you have done. Assure her. The objection might just be from the overprotective self that she is.
- Authorised persons like Doctors, Physicians, your baby who is peacefully sleeping inside your womb and your common sense.
Depending on your current state of health you can choose what type of exercise is suitable for you. You don’t have to jump in the cardio band wagon like everybody else.
Just like you tailor clothes to better fit the body, you have to choose the right workout that is both beneficial and good for health, mind, body and sometimes, your soul.
Word of caution: If you read my About page then you’d know I speak from experience and not from technical perspective. This workout guide is not for Heart Patients, pregnant women, someone with lung and kidney complications, person who was recently operated on and many others. You get the idea, don’t you? In other words, this is only for healthy humans.
Always consult your physicians if you even have the slightest of the doubt whether or not a particular type of workout suits you.
I am guessing now you have asked yourself if you have any critical health conditions. Let’s move on to the next step.
#2 Harris–Benedict equation
Although, it won’t be widely used if you decided to following me but it’s always good to know the basics.
The Harris–Benedict equation (also called the Harris-Benedict principle) is a method used to estimate an individual’s basal metabolic rate (BMR) and daily kilocalorie requirements. To know more about this, read the Wikipedia page of the same.
Calculate using the formula:
For Women: 655 + (4.35 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) – (4.7 x age in years)
For men: 66 + (6.23 x weight in pounds) + (12.7 x height in inches) – (6.8 x age in years)
Example: Jane is a 5 feet 2 inches twenty-five year old woman who weighs 50kg.
Step 1: The calculation would be [655 + (4.35 x 110.231) + (4.7 x 50) – (4.7 x 25)] = 1252.005. Let’s call this BMR(Basal Metabolic Rate)
Step 2: Multiply the above BMR result with the appropriate numbers below. For example, If Jane is not working out then multiply 1.2 with her BMR. We get 1502.406, is the daily calorie Jane needs.
Step 3: If Jane workout three to five days a week(moderate exercise) then her daily calorie intake is 1940.608.
To loose weight, she should minus 300 or 500 calories from her daily intake.
To gain weight, 300 to 500 calories maybe added.
To maintain the same weight, no changes are needed.
My advices are not for overweight or obese women because I cannot say for something I have no knowledge of. But you can always start slow and have a routine at hand.
This is only an overview, an idea and it does not stop right here. You have to do a lot of work beyond this and do a research on your own so that you can understand the world of exercising.
#3 Type of Exercise
From the previous step, you probably have a clear idea of what to do now. If you want to maintain your current weight then you can continue to eat as usual, or according to the calories calculated from the Harris-Benedict equation.
Let’s not get very technical now. To be honest, I only listened to my body and ate as per its need.
Counting calories would seem like a chore after sometime. There are apps to calculate it but they may not be accurate if you live in India or if the food doesn’t have a label. Guesstimate can be made for fruits, vegetables or even Dhoklas using a simple google search but it all comes down to the quality of ingredients.
All you have to do is type, ‘Mango calories’ and the results will show up with additional feature in the drop-down menu. That said, simply cultivate the habit of reading labels of Biscuits, Pastas or even Sambhar powder. You’d be surprised how many of them doesn’t deliver what they advertise.
Like I said, determining exact calorie is hard work which if you want, can always find out.
Your own body is the best bet. How?
One step at a time, people. We will explore that later in the series.
Depending on your health condition, age, weight, level of comfortableness you can choose the following as your base.
- Cardio
- Yoga
- Pilates
- HIIT
- Tabata
- Boxing
- Cardio barre
- Body weight
- Dance
- Zumba-that comes under dance, isn’t it?
Running, Jogging, Walking, Outdoor Sports,Taichi are other form of exercising one can do outdoors.
In consecutive posts, daily/weekly exercise routines will be provided. Once your body becomes familiar I shall tell you how to proceed further.
Point to remember: It is not recommended or possible to target reduce fat with workouts. Your muscles are buried under stubborn fats. No matter how hard or how many times you bust your arse doing that 1000 crunches, it is just not going to show up because our ‘best friend’ is in the way.
Work your way in and sculpting follows suite automatically.
That’s the first three steps you will have to take for an amazing workout journey. Leave your comments below
Read part 2 of 6 steps to working out here. All the best!
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