Have you ever wondered what happens to your body when you start working out for the first time? How does your mind, heart, physique, muscles, and overall body change? Well, your body reacts in so many interesting ways to consider when you begin working out.
Once you launch into exercising, you will feel that exercise is a magical pill for your brain. Believe it or not, exercise does have special benefits for your body. Some of the most successful people’s core habit is, well you guessed it, exercising! This includes Fortune 500 CEOs, entrepreneurs and many celebrities.
In the book “The Power of Habit” Charles Duhigg talks about Keystone habits and he writes that exercise is a keystone habit. This is why anyone who is looking to develop self-discipline does some form of exercise regularly.
Why should you start exercising? What to expect while working out for the first time ?
We all know the physical benefits of exercising, right? Explore more with us.
You look better
That’s right, exercising regularly will make you look refreshed, energized, and better. We all hate bad posture and think to improve it to look good, but we just can’t do it. Ever wondered why? That’s because the muscles in our back and abdomen have grown weak from inactivity. But is it too late to save your posture? no, exercising daily will improve your posture within a few weeks. And you will never regret a workout afterward.
You lose weight
Even though most people think of hitting the gym because of their weight gain, the benefits of working out are not limited to losing weight. Exercising daily will burn calories, boost your metabolism, and can be helpful to maintain weight loss. However, working out alone will not help you achieve your targeted goal, eating healthy does count as well.
Your bones become stronger
It’s important to take care of your joints, bones, and overall health. As we age, our bones get weaker, taking care of them from an early age can benefit us in the long run. Stronger bones and joints ensure that you’re able to complete your day-to-day tasks easier and you feel physically active. Working out regularly can ensure stronger bones as well as it slows the loss of bone density that comes with age.
You become fit
Well, this benefit of working out is known by many people. Anyone who wants to look fit and attractive, just make a habit of working out daily and observe the results. Of course, the results of working out may show slowly but the results are worth the wait. No matter your age, you’ll feel more energized and active. Exercising will help you tone up and prevent sagging skin to keep you looking young. Now, what’s more, amazing than that?
As mentioned above, the benefits of working out aren’t just skin deep, most of the people who exercise are happier, motivated, and less depressed. The benefits of exercise are many, that’s why exercise has been described as a miracle drug and has been recommended as a treatment for depression, anxiety, insomnia, and memory loss among others.
The reason for this that our body naturally produces hormones and these hormones are serotonin, endorphins, and a protein known as Brain-Derived Neurotropic Factor (BDNF). Each of these hormones helps reduce stress levels, lift one’s mood, aids in better sleep, improves learning, and also boosts your self-confidence.
What happens when you start working out for the first time?
Your body goes into a lot of changes. Your body reacts to each weight that you lift. And your muscles expand during a workout, the increased blood flow to metabolically active areas cause muscles to temporarily increase in their size. This instant growth of muscles will make you feel accomplished, strong, and most important, sexy. Now, who doesn’t want to look cool and attractive, right? Remember to warm up your body before getting into the proper workout, this will save you from immediate tiredness. Following are some general facts that’ll happen to your body when you hit the workout for the first time.
You’ll feel more alert and energized
That’s because an increased level of activity will ramp up your heart rate that will boost the overall flow and oxygen to the brain. Working out will release dopamine in your brain which is responsible for motivation. They are happy chemicals that will make you feel accomplished and motivated. If you ever feel tired or you don’t feel like doing anything, that’s because you are experiencing a dopamine deficit.
Your heart gets stronger
Working out regularly means you are making your heart stronger. This will decrease the risk of heart disease. Your heart rates get better which helps pump more blood through your system. More workout means a more efficient heart. Working out daily also stimulates the growth of new blood vessels because exercising muscles need more blood.
Your brain is positively affected
Working out does affect your brain as well. The increased blood flow due to workouts will start the brain cells causing your brain to function at a higher level. This will make you feel more focused. Active brain means active life, you’ll be able to think more critically and more actively. That’s what makes exercise more beneficial.
How working out affects you physically?
The physical effects of exercise may not be observed within the first few days to weeks of working out, chances are even after the month of working out there will be few visible results. However, throughout the period you are exercising, biological changes take place whether you notice them or not.
It stimulates your metabolism
Cardiovascular exercise which includes running, swimming, aerobics, and walking stimulates your metabolism which leads you to burn calories that can help you achieve your desired weight. It’s like your body is in your control, that’s great right?
It will improve your posture
Now can you correct years of bad posture? Well, it is never too late to improve yourself let alone your posture. Working out daily will keep reminding you to improve yourself physically and the mental effects of exercise occur naturally, so you don’t need to worry about that. The best way to improve your posture is to focus on core muscles which are abdominal and lower back muscles. Hunch back and forward neck carriage is two signs of bad posture and you can improve it by following any posture exercises.
No more fatigue
Working out puts you in better physical condition and improves the body’s ability to circulate oxygen. You’ll feel less tired because your body is now trained to do more work than before. so walking miles or even standing won’t make you as physical fatigued. If your heart starts to pound just after climbing a set of stairs or just dancing to a song on the radio, that may mean you need to start working to improve your lung capacity and blood flow to your muscles.
Working out for the first time? You’ll likely expect the following things
If you’re new to a regular exercise regimen, expect any change to your regular schedule to be challenging. Well, even making the time to exercise in itself can be difficult with other things sometimes more appealing competing for our attention. Chances are likely that when you first start working out you may not like the idea of even having to change into workout clothes, sweating or potentially experiencing sore muscles afterwards. These thoughts are completely normal and why setting realistic goals early and motivating yourself with small milestones are important.
If you’ve just decided to work out there are certain things that you’ll likely observe and feel after exercising.
Muscle soreness
After working out, you’ll may wonder “why do I feel pain after exercise?” You’ll feel sore because of the stress that you put on muscles while exercising. Some people may or may not feel sore. Regardless of if you feel sore our not however should not be a measure of workout effectiveness. Also, that shouldn’t drive you away from working out. That soreness is temporary and the positive effects of exercise have more permanence. You can decrease the amount of soreness by following your exercise with a cool-down stretch session. By doing so, you will relieve your muscles from the pain they might feel on cool down.
Your energy level increases
The excessive sweat that you’ll drip after exercising for the first time will make you think that your energy level is depleting. But that isn’t the case. The release of endorphins during exercise will make you feel more energized and after a good workout. You’ll feel like you are ready to tackle the day’s chores more easily without feeling tired. You may not feel this with your first or even second attempt at working out but this is what many athlete’s and people that exercise regularly confirm.
More sound sleep
No, don’t take it the wrong way! Sound sleep doesn’t mean you’ll snore the whole night. That means you’ll have improved sleep quality. Working out also decreases insomnia, the amount of time it takes to fall asleep. Recent research shows that exercising is effective for better sleep and exercising daily is as effective as some medications for insomnia patients.
You’ll start building Mitochondria
Muscles have mitochondria – “mini organs” that a cell uses as an energy producing factory and mitochondria allow cells to convert carbs, fat, and protein into fuel that your muscles use to do their job. After 6-8 weeks of working out, you’ll increase your mitochondria up to 50%. With more mitochondria in your cells, you’ll notice a change in your body and overall fitness. For instance, you’ll easily climb stairs that would have previously left you feeling like you just ran a half marathon.
You’ll get more hungry
Since you burn a lot of calories due to exercise, that’s what leads you to more hunger. You’ll probably ask yourself “why am I hungry after working out?” You just need to metabolize food to refuel for energy. But remember, even if you feel hungry and the McDonald’s is just around the corner of your house or your gym, don’t go that way to eat your favorite cheeseburger and all that unhealthy food. If you’ve decided to take the healthy route, don’t let your craving drive you off a cliff. Try to ditch those burgers and make a good relationship with healthy foods. Try eating a healthy fruit like banana that energizes you immediately before or after a workout.
Improved mood
You’ll probably wonder how exercise and mood interlink? Well, exercise does impact our overall mood. Exercising daily is a great way to kick depression, anxiety, and drive you away from all of those negative thoughts. That’s because of happy chemicals that release due to exercise. Those chemicals make you feel more focused, you are attentive right at the moment and you’ll be able to appreciate things around you.
Increased muscle mass
Well, this obviously won’t be visible to you, but you will feel strength in your muscles when you work out. This happens when the blood flow increase, causing the muscles growth into your body. Hence, exercising daily will make your muscles grow stronger and bigger. Don’t worry, you won’t bulk up, what you are doing is melting off your fat and building muscle so even if you don’t see a huge change on the scale, you will still feel toned up soon.
How much exercise do you need as a beginner?
One of the confusions that every beginner faces while working out for the first time is how much exercise do they need? Especially if 10 mins into the exercise may feel like a whole year! Don’t worry you’re not alone. Since you have just begun exercising, keep things moderate. Working out for about 15-30 min daily would probably be enough for you, depending on the exercise that you do. Remember that as your endurance increases you can also increase the periods in which you exercise – so start small. You could begin your first 2 weeks with just doing light cardio such as walking the first week for 15 mins for 3 days, and then the second week increasing to 20 minutes for 4 days out of the week.
Conclusion: Working out for the First Time as a Beginner
Exercising might feel like a commitment, bigger than, dare we say, your relationship, right? But just like a relationship, if planned and given enough attention, exercising routinely will probably make itself one of the better activities of your day. You’ll probably struggle the first few weeks while getting a groove like most people but in the long run you’re not likely to regret getting in shape. You may not end up being a gym or fitness freak but it’ll teach you more about your body and may even provide a meditative escape and allow you to focus on what matters.