Plan to Start Working Out? Here's Some Tips!

Here is some tips for you who just want to start working out!

Know Your Goal & Motivation

Each Person might have different goals that they want to achieve with fitness. What motivates them is also might be different. For me, I want to obtain a better-looking body with fitness :) I realize that I don’t have the ideal body posture and I think I’m an endo-ectomorph, I find it hard to gain muscle mass, and easily gain fat at stomach area :( - see my post about somatotypes. Despite that, I think at least I can do something to make my body better. Probably I can’t obtain "the perfect body", but at least I can make my body better.

Some people want to reduce weight, and some others want to gain weight. Despite that, here are some common goals of working out:

1.       Slim body

2.       Athletic body

3.       Muscular body

4.       Huge / Bodybuilder’s body

Depend on what you want to achieve, your workout routine and nutrition will be different.

Find a Role Model

It’s a good idea to find a role model to make it easier for you to visualize what you want to achieve and to motivate you. Here are some role models that I think represent each goal category.

1. Slim body
Rain Bi in Ninja Assassin, Jay Park, Taeyang of Big Bang, Kim Giri, Kwon Sang Woo, Brad Pitt in Fight Club.

2. Medium body
Brad Pitt in Troy, Christian Bale in American Psycho, Cristiano Ronaldo, Ryan Reynolds.

3. Muscular body
Chris Evans in Captain America, Chris Hemsworth in Thor, Gerard Butler in 300, Dwayne Johnson in Fast Five.

4. Huge / Bodybuilder’s body
Natural Bodybuilder: Ade Rai, Arnold Schwarzenegger
Bodybuilder who use steroid: Ronnie Coleman, Jay Cutler, Markus Ruhl

Whichever the goal is, getting lean is a must. Why? Because by being lean you have a low body fat, so that your muscle definition will be visible. Even if you have huge muscles, if you have a high body fat then your muscle definition won’t be visible, thus your body won’t look attractive. It’s also applied in a body fit or professional bodybuilding competition, no matter how big your muscles are, if you’re not lean enough, you’re out.
Each person might have different goals, there is no goal which is better than the other. It’s you who decide what kind of body you want to achieve. For me, I’d like to obtain a slim-lean body. I knew how I wanted to look like when I saw Rain in Ninja Assassin ;)

Workout at Home or at The Gym?
Once you’ve set your goal, decide where you will be working out, at home or at the gym. Both has their own advantages and disadvantages. I‘ve done both and here are the advantages and disadvantages of working out at home and at the gym based on my experience:

·     Workout at home:
+ Easy to reach, therefore minimizing the chance of you skipping the workout.
+ Time efficient, you don’t need to spend time to go from home to the gym.
+ You only need to invest your money to buy the fitness equipment once, no membership fee. So it would be more budget efficient in a long time.
+ More privacy
-  Could make you feel bored.
-  Need a lot of budget if you want to buy complete fitness equipments at home.
-  Less competitive spirit because there’s no “benchmark”

Workout at gym:
+ The gym’s atmosphere could make you feel more vibrant in working out and not get bored.
+ Lit your competitive spirit.
+ More complete gym equipments and many gyms have special classes like body combat, body pump, aerobic, RPM, yoga, etc.
+ Become a part of modern lifestyle, can be a good place to extent your network or get some new friends.
- Membership fee (which usually will raise time after time).
- Sometimes it could get so crowded at the gym, could make you feel a bit uncomfortable.
- If the distance between your home and the gym is quite far, it would increase the chance of you skipping workout. I strongly advise choose a gym that is close to your home.

After you make up your mind, now is time to actually do it! Don’t wait any longer, just get ready and do it! :D
No one will be standing between you and your goal, except yourself.