A Kick Start To Fitness Routine For Beginners
When I went vegan I had no idea that the health benefits it carries and also a share of myths binded to it. Here’s a brief experience on how veganism helped me when I first went vegan. Suffering from PCOS since the time I hit puberty, my period cramps were the worst! I used to get them ONCE in every SIX months and I used to bleed for a whole month, which in turn completely left me exhausted, pale and weak. It almost felt like a rebirth, every single time! LOL.
I tried every medicine out there but nothing worked or so I thought. As I have been vegetarian since childhood, I only had to quit dairy and dairy products. If you read any of my previous posts, I had mentioned that I was a big fan of cheese, butter, paneer, ice creams, a tea addict and what not!
After going vegan I lost couple of kilos in the first month and somehow I started feeling better and energised than I was in the past. My periods started visiting more often and with milder cramps. At the beginning, I just thought it was a coincidence as I used to travel for work everyday. When I finally realised how amazingly such simple changes can help people. I started talking about it to some of my friends, I got fired with questions like, ‘how is this healthy?’, ‘You need milk for calcium, protein etc’, ‘What will you eat?’, where would you get your B12 from?’, I tried answering as much as I could but failed to explain because of the lack of knowledge in this area.
After going vegan I lost couple of kilos in the first month and somehow I started feeling better and energised than I was in the past. My periods started visiting more often and with milder cramps. At the beginning, I just thought it was a coincidence as I used to travel for work everyday. When I finally realised how amazingly such simple changes can help people. I started talking about it to some of my friends, I got fired with questions like, ‘how is this healthy?’, ‘You need milk for calcium, protein etc’, ‘What will you eat?’, where would you get your B12 from?’, I tried answering as much as I could but failed to explain because of the lack of knowledge in this area.
From that moment onwards it always bugged me to not being able to give the information people need to know about the benefits of veganism. The benefits I experienced were amazing and the curiosity in me wanted to know more about it. Later, I got a chance to work with ‘Sharan India’ an NGO by Dr. Nandita Shah who helps cure lifestyle diseases (Diabetes, Cholesterol Issues, Obesity, Blood Pressure, Thyroid, PCOD etc) with ‘Food’ being the ‘Medicine’ and the experience whilst working with them was life changing. I understood the importance of health, well-being and the dark side of pharmaceuticals, giant food companies, a lot hospitals now running as businesses etc.
It peaked my interest even more and I decided to do more research on it. Upon doing so, I found one such renowned course that I could pursue to build my knowledge on it on a professional level. I came across Certified Personal Trainer course by ACSM (American College Of Sports Medicine) and I decided to give it a go. It was a completely fresh and new subject for me to be interested in and I was super nervous at the beginning but the more I learnt the more I became confident in my knowledge and a passion to help people and animals via veganism kinda struck in me. From being a ‘junk food lover’ to a ‘healthy’ lifestyle was a Paradigm shift for me. I have come a long way and I still have a long way to go but I believe that with my journey I can help a lot of people along the way.
To deal with fitness and health is a real dilemma among us because of all the fad diets making rounds and a lot of trainers pushing for supplements to each and every one who walks in any gym and because a lot of people consider fitness or exercise as a punishment and something that they ‘HAVE’ to do and not ‘WANT’ to do, they end up looking for shortcuts.
Staying fit and healthy has no shortcuts. It needs consistency, dedication and discipline but first and foremost of all these need to start with one realising that ‘being healthy’ shouldn’t be a privilege.
So, here I am sharing a general idea on how anyone, with any body type and with average health status can follow these simple ways to staying fit and healthy. (If you have any particular lifestyle diseases please consult your doctor prior to following this).
If you are someone who likes to have a target and works better that way, by all means create one but please be practical and realistic whilst doing so. Do not attempt or expect to lose 2-3 kgs in a week. A slow progress does not necessarily mean no progress. Rather focus on the energy, stamina and strength levels that you will be building up. It will not only motivate you but it will also show you results as you keep moving forward. Give it time
Begin with deciding the place for your workout sessions, if you’re going to work out at home or in a gym or if you would like to join some activities’ classes. Always carry a bottle of water, towel and your workout shoes. Measure your weight, BMI (Body Mass Index - an ideal BMI is 18.5 to 25) and fat percentage (18% - 31%) different figures for both men and women.
Warm up your body with some basic cardio exercises like running, skipping, swimming or if you’re in a fitness studio/gym hop on that treadmill or an elliptical for at least 10-15 minutes to begin with. Gradually increase the speed or the intensity. I personally love to add dynamic stretches and some body weight exercises if I am at home. Remember warm ups and cool downs are as much as important as the whole exercise part.
Warm up helps activate your muscles, prevents cramps and help your body move better. Dynamic stretches are basically stretches with motions involved. Example: When you lunge, you twist your upper body on one side whilst coming forward on either of your knee. The lunge itself activates legs, glutes and hamstring, the twist will help you activate your upper and middle back and rotation of your core.
Every exercise that you do, you need to be very mindful about the postures. It might take a few days but that’s okay as long as your postures are correct. Repetitions can be increased later once you get hang of it. A wrong posture done continuously and for an elongated period of time can have a negative impact on that particular body part that you’re exercising or trying to strengthen.
If you have a trainer and if certain exercise or movement is giving you any pain or discomfort please bring it to an immediate attention of your trainer so that they can modify it for you or change the exercise itself. Please don’t feel embarrassed about it or think of yourself as being ‘Silly’. If your body is indicating you discomfort, don’t ignore it at all!
When you get to main exercise part, always divide your major body parts into different days and work on them accordingly. Major muscle groups to be worked together are:
Chest-Shoulder-Triceps
Back-Biceps
Hamstrings, calves and glutes (leg exercises)
Core and Cardio
At the beginning, one should always take it slow and consistently do those exercises which you’re comfortable with. Squats, lunges, sit-ups, step ups, knee push up or elevated push ups for beginners, burpees, planks, jumping jacks.
These are some basic exercises one can start with. 12-15 repetitions and 2 sets for each exercises. Always remember to take 20-30 seconds of break between each set. Don’t dehydrate yourself, so keeping sipping on small amounts of water if you feel breathless, which will also help avoid any muscles cramps/spasms.
Strength/weight training, now this sounds a lot heavier than it is and a lot of people are scared by it, Specially a lot of women. When I was working as a trainer in a gym, a lot of my clients showed the same concern about lifting weights. Believe me, when I say that strength training is one of the amazing form of exercise that will not only help you lose weight, it also helps you tone your body and gain physical strength and stamina.
Strength training is required to burn the excess fats and calories from your body. And no, it’s not going to give you a bulk like Hulk. All you need is a sets of dumbbells starting with 1 or 2 kg each, depending on the amount of weight you can take enough to exercise with but it shouldn’t be too light either where you don’t feel any pressure on your muscles.
Remember, go slow with the repetitions. You can’t rush a muscle to activate or get stronger by going fast. Going slow and breathing with every rep, feeling the pressure on your working muscles, is the way to know your muscles are at work and will get your results eventually. Strength training is a beautiful, empowering form of exercise, please do not get afraid from it. For all you know, it will become your favourite. 😃
Few of my female clients started looking forward to strength training days and would enjoy the sessions. They said they feel empowered and strong and when they add on to weights, it’s a whole new level of accomplishment! 💗
Now that you’re through with your exercises, you need to do some cool downs. Static stretching is always a good way to cool down for 10-15 minutes or so (depending on the intensity of your workout) and it’s necessary to slowly bring your body down from the rush of blood, fast heartbeat and relax the worked up muscles, gradually bring your heartbeat to a resting level, it also avoids dizziness or fainting because of the amount of blood pumped into the large muscles, cool down helps remove any waste products from our muscles like lactic acid that builds up during vigorous exercises. Hence, a cool down slowly brings your body to rest instead of a sudden stop and it’s great for flexibility as well.
Rest! With every workout, rest is one of the most important factor for your energy and muscle recovery. Do not over stress a particular body part by exercising it every day. Choose alternatively. Get at least 7-8 hours of sleep. Avoid screen at least an hour prior to sleep.
Now coming to the most important factor which scares everyone easily, ‘DIET’.
Did you know the role of food plays 75% and exercise 25% for an adequate health? Food and exercise are important factors to stay healthy in mind, body and soul. Changing food habits can be really challenging hence, I recommend taking one step at a time with food whilst following your exercise regime. To begin with, be conscious of what you’re putting in your body. Don’t restrict yourself with anything or go on a vigorous diet, just as long as you know the food you’re eating is going to do you any harm or good.
Although, I am not qualified to give any major diet plans, I can still vouch for a healthy vegan diet which includes fruits, vegetables, grains, lentils, beans, seeds, nuts. Avoid junk food, processed and packaged foods, too oily and fried foods. Just have a wholesome vegan meal that can be easily cooked at home (let me know if you would like to know a basic meal plan from me to get you started).
There are some essential vitamins for our body to function at its peak and can be only outsourced, that’s B12 and D3. (Nope, non vegan food doesn’t naturally contain B12 because a lot of people think animals are left to graze and are exposed to consuming bacterias straight from the soil but animal agriculture does not allow any animal to be in an open environment, they are behind closed doors, in crammed areas, suffocating, getting pumped up with artificial hormones, steroids etc). Get your levels checked before consuming them and please don’t self prescribe.
Also, please don’t worry about consuming any supplements (but if you really want to check it out to consider, then I recommend Unived and Olena brands, they are 100% vegan and they have amazing range of all natural supplements for specific health and sports needs). Although, one must take B12/D3 supplements no matter what kind of diet you’re following (also provided by Unived).
Now, you may say how the hell can one do that?! but hey, if you want results you might as well stick to it. Excess amount of calories get stored in the body and if you don’t work out, it will only generate more fats and can get difficult later to get rid of them. Remember, 75% of our body’s health depends of the kind of food we eat. 25% is the exercise’ part.
It needs to be a wholesome soul food and not hormones, adrenaline drug, cholesterol and saturated fats (which leads to heart diseases, obesity, diabetes, hormonal imbalance etc) as it is derived from an animal.
You don’t need to cut out a lot of it. At the beginning it might seem a lot but believe me when you start off you will find it easier and affordable too. Just be mindful of the food you’re eating. You may have some slips along the way but don’t give up, start right back again and you’ll get there. Do not obsess over numbers.
Follow these basic exercises and nutrition for a month. Keep a track of your habits. Download an app that might help you stay focused and remind you to workout if you have a busy schedule.
It peaked my interest even more and I decided to do more research on it. Upon doing so, I found one such renowned course that I could pursue to build my knowledge on it on a professional level. I came across Certified Personal Trainer course by ACSM (American College Of Sports Medicine) and I decided to give it a go. It was a completely fresh and new subject for me to be interested in and I was super nervous at the beginning but the more I learnt the more I became confident in my knowledge and a passion to help people and animals via veganism kinda struck in me. From being a ‘junk food lover’ to a ‘healthy’ lifestyle was a Paradigm shift for me. I have come a long way and I still have a long way to go but I believe that with my journey I can help a lot of people along the way.
To deal with fitness and health is a real dilemma among us because of all the fad diets making rounds and a lot of trainers pushing for supplements to each and every one who walks in any gym and because a lot of people consider fitness or exercise as a punishment and something that they ‘HAVE’ to do and not ‘WANT’ to do, they end up looking for shortcuts.
Staying fit and healthy has no shortcuts. It needs consistency, dedication and discipline but first and foremost of all these need to start with one realising that ‘being healthy’ shouldn’t be a privilege.
So, here I am sharing a general idea on how anyone, with any body type and with average health status can follow these simple ways to staying fit and healthy. (If you have any particular lifestyle diseases please consult your doctor prior to following this).
If you are someone who likes to have a target and works better that way, by all means create one but please be practical and realistic whilst doing so. Do not attempt or expect to lose 2-3 kgs in a week. A slow progress does not necessarily mean no progress. Rather focus on the energy, stamina and strength levels that you will be building up. It will not only motivate you but it will also show you results as you keep moving forward. Give it time
Begin with deciding the place for your workout sessions, if you’re going to work out at home or in a gym or if you would like to join some activities’ classes. Always carry a bottle of water, towel and your workout shoes. Measure your weight, BMI (Body Mass Index - an ideal BMI is 18.5 to 25) and fat percentage (18% - 31%) different figures for both men and women.
Warm up your body with some basic cardio exercises like running, skipping, swimming or if you’re in a fitness studio/gym hop on that treadmill or an elliptical for at least 10-15 minutes to begin with. Gradually increase the speed or the intensity. I personally love to add dynamic stretches and some body weight exercises if I am at home. Remember warm ups and cool downs are as much as important as the whole exercise part.
Warm up helps activate your muscles, prevents cramps and help your body move better. Dynamic stretches are basically stretches with motions involved. Example: When you lunge, you twist your upper body on one side whilst coming forward on either of your knee. The lunge itself activates legs, glutes and hamstring, the twist will help you activate your upper and middle back and rotation of your core.
Every exercise that you do, you need to be very mindful about the postures. It might take a few days but that’s okay as long as your postures are correct. Repetitions can be increased later once you get hang of it. A wrong posture done continuously and for an elongated period of time can have a negative impact on that particular body part that you’re exercising or trying to strengthen.
If you have a trainer and if certain exercise or movement is giving you any pain or discomfort please bring it to an immediate attention of your trainer so that they can modify it for you or change the exercise itself. Please don’t feel embarrassed about it or think of yourself as being ‘Silly’. If your body is indicating you discomfort, don’t ignore it at all!
When you get to main exercise part, always divide your major body parts into different days and work on them accordingly. Major muscle groups to be worked together are:
Chest-Shoulder-Triceps
Back-Biceps
Hamstrings, calves and glutes (leg exercises)
Core and Cardio
At the beginning, one should always take it slow and consistently do those exercises which you’re comfortable with. Squats, lunges, sit-ups, step ups, knee push up or elevated push ups for beginners, burpees, planks, jumping jacks.
These are some basic exercises one can start with. 12-15 repetitions and 2 sets for each exercises. Always remember to take 20-30 seconds of break between each set. Don’t dehydrate yourself, so keeping sipping on small amounts of water if you feel breathless, which will also help avoid any muscles cramps/spasms.
Strength/weight training, now this sounds a lot heavier than it is and a lot of people are scared by it, Specially a lot of women. When I was working as a trainer in a gym, a lot of my clients showed the same concern about lifting weights. Believe me, when I say that strength training is one of the amazing form of exercise that will not only help you lose weight, it also helps you tone your body and gain physical strength and stamina.
Strength training is required to burn the excess fats and calories from your body. And no, it’s not going to give you a bulk like Hulk. All you need is a sets of dumbbells starting with 1 or 2 kg each, depending on the amount of weight you can take enough to exercise with but it shouldn’t be too light either where you don’t feel any pressure on your muscles.
Remember, go slow with the repetitions. You can’t rush a muscle to activate or get stronger by going fast. Going slow and breathing with every rep, feeling the pressure on your working muscles, is the way to know your muscles are at work and will get your results eventually. Strength training is a beautiful, empowering form of exercise, please do not get afraid from it. For all you know, it will become your favourite. 😃
Few of my female clients started looking forward to strength training days and would enjoy the sessions. They said they feel empowered and strong and when they add on to weights, it’s a whole new level of accomplishment! 💗
Now that you’re through with your exercises, you need to do some cool downs. Static stretching is always a good way to cool down for 10-15 minutes or so (depending on the intensity of your workout) and it’s necessary to slowly bring your body down from the rush of blood, fast heartbeat and relax the worked up muscles, gradually bring your heartbeat to a resting level, it also avoids dizziness or fainting because of the amount of blood pumped into the large muscles, cool down helps remove any waste products from our muscles like lactic acid that builds up during vigorous exercises. Hence, a cool down slowly brings your body to rest instead of a sudden stop and it’s great for flexibility as well.
Rest! With every workout, rest is one of the most important factor for your energy and muscle recovery. Do not over stress a particular body part by exercising it every day. Choose alternatively. Get at least 7-8 hours of sleep. Avoid screen at least an hour prior to sleep.
Now coming to the most important factor which scares everyone easily, ‘DIET’.
Did you know the role of food plays 75% and exercise 25% for an adequate health? Food and exercise are important factors to stay healthy in mind, body and soul. Changing food habits can be really challenging hence, I recommend taking one step at a time with food whilst following your exercise regime. To begin with, be conscious of what you’re putting in your body. Don’t restrict yourself with anything or go on a vigorous diet, just as long as you know the food you’re eating is going to do you any harm or good.
Although, I am not qualified to give any major diet plans, I can still vouch for a healthy vegan diet which includes fruits, vegetables, grains, lentils, beans, seeds, nuts. Avoid junk food, processed and packaged foods, too oily and fried foods. Just have a wholesome vegan meal that can be easily cooked at home (let me know if you would like to know a basic meal plan from me to get you started).
There are some essential vitamins for our body to function at its peak and can be only outsourced, that’s B12 and D3. (Nope, non vegan food doesn’t naturally contain B12 because a lot of people think animals are left to graze and are exposed to consuming bacterias straight from the soil but animal agriculture does not allow any animal to be in an open environment, they are behind closed doors, in crammed areas, suffocating, getting pumped up with artificial hormones, steroids etc). Get your levels checked before consuming them and please don’t self prescribe.
Also, please don’t worry about consuming any supplements (but if you really want to check it out to consider, then I recommend Unived and Olena brands, they are 100% vegan and they have amazing range of all natural supplements for specific health and sports needs). Although, one must take B12/D3 supplements no matter what kind of diet you’re following (also provided by Unived).
Now, you may say how the hell can one do that?! but hey, if you want results you might as well stick to it. Excess amount of calories get stored in the body and if you don’t work out, it will only generate more fats and can get difficult later to get rid of them. Remember, 75% of our body’s health depends of the kind of food we eat. 25% is the exercise’ part.
It needs to be a wholesome soul food and not hormones, adrenaline drug, cholesterol and saturated fats (which leads to heart diseases, obesity, diabetes, hormonal imbalance etc) as it is derived from an animal.
You don’t need to cut out a lot of it. At the beginning it might seem a lot but believe me when you start off you will find it easier and affordable too. Just be mindful of the food you’re eating. You may have some slips along the way but don’t give up, start right back again and you’ll get there. Do not obsess over numbers.
Follow these basic exercises and nutrition for a month. Keep a track of your habits. Download an app that might help you stay focused and remind you to workout if you have a busy schedule.
Now, to be sure that you’re losing fats, you need to be on a calorie deficit state. It basically means burning more calories than you have consumed. For example: If your calorie intake is 2000 a day and you burn 2500. You create a deficit of 500 calories per day. This helps you lose weight and fats in your body.
These measures may a seem to be a lot in a text but I assure you that if you start implementing these step by step, you will get your results! Consistency and dedication is the key. Do not get disheartened if you think the progress is not as visible or very slow. Just keep pumping and if you get too comfortable with any particular exercise, add variations and/or increase repetitions or add weights to it.
Lastly, Breathe fresh air! Walk around a park or a nature, hike or just sit in between mountains. It’s an everyday hustle for a lot of us out there and it can get overwhelming.
Give yourself some time to pause, take it all in and let it all out in a place that would give you peace and calm because just as much it is important to take care of physical health it’s equally important to do the same for mental health and well-being.
Just be yourself and keep moving forward. Remember, you’re doing this for yourself and nobody else!
Fin!!
These measures may a seem to be a lot in a text but I assure you that if you start implementing these step by step, you will get your results! Consistency and dedication is the key. Do not get disheartened if you think the progress is not as visible or very slow. Just keep pumping and if you get too comfortable with any particular exercise, add variations and/or increase repetitions or add weights to it.
Lastly, Breathe fresh air! Walk around a park or a nature, hike or just sit in between mountains. It’s an everyday hustle for a lot of us out there and it can get overwhelming.
Give yourself some time to pause, take it all in and let it all out in a place that would give you peace and calm because just as much it is important to take care of physical health it’s equally important to do the same for mental health and well-being.
Just be yourself and keep moving forward. Remember, you’re doing this for yourself and nobody else!
Fin!!
This was my first post on fitness! I hope y’all like it. :D
Feel free to message me on my Instagram vegan_fixins or drop me an email. I would be more than happy to help out!
Stay Strong. Go Vegan! :D
Feel free to message me on my Instagram vegan_fixins or drop me an email. I would be more than happy to help out!
Stay Strong. Go Vegan! :D
Thank you so much! :) I just published 2 more posts. You can check them out too.
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