It has been a long time since the beginning of the COVID-19 lockdown, yet many people are still not fully comfortable going back to the gym. Maybe your body and lifestyle have changed since the last time that you moved your body, and you aren’t sure where to even start, making going to the gym even more intimidating than usual.

When COVID-19 first struck, some women felt inspired to use their extra time to take better care of themselves. Some started cooking more and trying out new recipes, others took up better self-care hobbies, and some tried to get the full gym experience without going to the gym.

Maybe your inspiration lulled as COVID dragged on and on. With summer closing and fall and winter around the corner, it’s time to start thinking about physical activity. Staying goal-oriented when it comes to working out is key, even if that goal is simply to feel better in your skin.

If you don’t want to hire a personal trainer or go back to the gym, you've come to the right spot. Working out should be fun, feel good, and have a purpose! We have put together a list of seven different beginner workouts to try at home to look/feel your best!

The Basics of Working Out

Before you begin to work out, it’s important to understand some basics to achieve your goals best. There are different workouts out there, and not everyone will have the right tools to perform them, so it’s beneficial to know what exercises you want to focus on. Following videos or detailed workout plans is a great way to get started because you can learn at your speed.

Watching how someone does an exercise or read step-by-step instructions can help you gain confidence in performing these exercises. Messing up and looking awkward is part of the journey to working out, so don’t be ashamed and keep going!

Workout Terms To Know

Understanding the different terms around workouts and fitness can be helpful when you are just starting out. We’ve put together a little list of vocabulary, you know, just to make it easier:

• Reps: The number of times you perform a specific exercise.
• Sets: The number of cycles of reps you will do of that exercise.
• Body composition: Your proportions of fat, bone, muscle, and fluid make up your weight.
• Frequency: The number of days that you work out in a week.
• Intensity: How much energy you need to complete a workout.

Planning for At-Home Workouts

If your goal is to make working out at home easy, it doesn’t often take much equipment or prior knowledge to start. You can use household items to start, like a chair, heavy textbooks, or some full wine bottles even? Be creative, and don’t let the fact that you don’t have a fully equipped gym in your basement stop you.

Make sure that you carve out time on the days that you want to work out, to actually work out. This helps to build you some momentum and consistency.

Before starting a workout, fill up your water bottle, make enough space to move your body, and have one of these workout videos queued up on your laptop or TV!

8 Beginner Workouts To Try

Trying to do an at-home workout without any guidance successfully can be difficult, but fitness gurus know that and have truly capitalized off of it. Many amazing women have created online platforms that create a safe community for women to learn about fitness.

Here are eight at home beginner workouts to get started on your fitness journey!

1. No Equipment Needed Workout

Sometimes when you’re starting out, it seems a bit too premature to go and buy a bunch of workout equipment when you aren’t sure what you are doing. No one expects you to have all the equipment found in a gym just lying around waiting to be used.

This 15-minute workout is great for people who just want to start by dipping their toes into fitness. We all have 15 minutes in our day that we could set aside to do this workout, and even better is that there is no equipment needed!

This workout focuses on your form, which is essential in achieving the maximum benefits of the exercises. To get the most out of your workout, you need to make sure that your form is correct, or else you risk hurting yourself.

This workout works for all levels, and the instructor makes it fun and manageable! She offers different levels of difficulties for each exercise move she shares with those who want to push themselves. Energy is so important, so finding an instructor that matches yours will help get you motivated to move!

If you are looking for an all-encompassing workout, this is a great place to start. From hips, calves, arms, and cardio, these 15 minutes will be sure to get you sweating.  

2. Start Your Day Off With Some Yoga

Another great way to get started in fitness is to test out multiple kinds of physical activity. This way, you try different modes of exercise to find the one you enjoy most. Not everyone wants to do stationary lifting and squats with weights, and not everyone wants to be a runner.

Yoga is a great way to test your flexibility and strength. Don’t get us wrong, yoga can be complex and requires amazing balance, strength, and composition, but it’s a great way to get moving and stretching. Include this beginner yoga workout in your morning routine, and you will see a difference in how you feel. The cool thing about yoga is you feel instantly different but also throughout the remainder of your day.

Not only does yoga strengthen your body, but it also benefits your mental health, as it requires meditation during practice. Listening to this instructor, you will begin to feel calm as you release the tension you have built up mentally preparing for your day after you wake up.

She asks you questions about what you want to do with your day to reflect on throughout the stretches. Practicing mindfulness while doing yoga is one of the benefits of yoga.

This routine is meant to be a quick way for those in a hurry. The poses that she includes are not overly difficult but don’t be surprised if you cannot balance and tip over. A misconception about yoga is that it’s effortless, but it truly requires brainpower to focus and do the poses correctly. Don’t be afraid of making mistakes; that’s how you make progress!

3. Cardio Can Be Fun!

We know that running is not for everyone, but the benefits of cardio go a long way for your overall health. Running is not the only form of cardio! Finding a way to incorporate a form of cardio that you enjoy into your workouts is important!

This beginner cardio workout is a way to get the body moving. Plus, if you have been used to a sedentary lifestyle, this workout will help your body adjust to increased activity. The instructor offers a unique and fun combination of exercises that are bound to get your heart rate going.

Regular exercise that includes cardio is going to benefit your heart health long-term. When you exercise, you improve your muscles functioning ability and strength and your body’s relationship with oxygen. Those who exercise regularly might perform more strenuous activities without feelings of fatigue compared to those who live a more sedentary lifestyle. Try this video and see if cardio is the form of exercise for you!

4. For When You Want to Workout, But You’re Feeling Lazy

And sometimes, you just don’t want to do any cardio, but you still want to move your body and exercise your muscles, and that’s all that matters! This workout is great for apartment living and days where you know you should move but aren’t feeling motivated. Life can get really busy, and we know you wear many hats, so we’ve found a workout that you can do while lying in bed!

Consistency is key. Do some of the exercises in this workout for those days where you know you need to work out but don’t want to. The exercises, like leg raises and planks, work on your core and build strength in your arms and legs.

And truly, getting any workout in is better than not doing one at all, right?

5. No Jumping, Yet Fat Burning

Another great workout for beginners who might live in an apartment building or with roommates. These moves are curated for beginners, and the instructor shares that she understands how some moves in beginner videos can seem complicated when they aren’t explained but rather just thrown at you.

This workout is quiet but effective. you won’t be jumping, but you will still be getting your cardio in!

6. Build Those Curves!

We all have our fitness goals, and maybe one of yours is to strengthen your hips, legs, and core, building muscle throughout, and burning fat. This video is great because you can use it at multiple stages of your fitness journey. Three instructors perform different levels of each exercise so that you can follow along as a beginner, intermediate, and advanced participant!

This 30-minute workout focuses on your glutes and your abs and will leave you feeling sore!

7. For a Strong Back and Good Posture

We have spent the last year and a half-bent over our computers on our couches, and it has taken a toll on your posture! This workout is geared toward improving your posture and strengthening your back muscles. You can entirely skip the gym and still feel like you’ve been working just as hard from the comfort of your home.

When you are just starting working out, you should make sure that you exercise every part of your body. You will benefit the most if you are consistent and reliable with working out all of your muscles.

Taking Care of Yourself

A big part of working out is making sure that you are properly fueling yourself up before and after exercise. When you begin working out more, you will burn more of your energy through fat stores and carbs, and you will need more food to replenish the spent energy.

Tracking your nutrients and learning about what your body needs are one way to make working out even easier.

Using Vessel Health, you can learn about your nutrient and mineral levels and learn more about what changes you could make to your lifestyle to be healthier. When you understand your health and wellness needs, you can implement better choices, and more regular exercise might be one of them!