Top 10 Rules of Exercise All Beginners Must Know!

In no order of importance as I believe they all play a vital role to your success, please take a look at the 10 rules I believe to be most important that a beginner to exercising must learn and internalize as part of their routine.

1. Warm- up!! Two very basic ways to warm up, if its a cardio workout you plan on doing then a brisk walk on a treadmill or pedaling on a bike will do the trick.  The warm up is anywhere from 2-5 minutes. Don’t over work yourself, but you should feel your breathing deepen and heart rate accelerate a tad. You’renow ready to push yourself to new speeds and distances. The warm up also prepares joints and stiff and cold tendons by literally warming up the body temperature around them by an increase in blood flow surrounding them. Warming up for resistance involves performing the exercise you are about to do with little to no added weight. Perfect form and FULL range of motion. Good examples of this are pushups and squats. Do not attempt your first challenging set before a proper warm up, this significantly increases the chance for tears and strains on the muscle.
2. Stretch AFTER the workout or even during. But never before. Numerous studies are showing that for muscle toning and even endurance training, it is more beneficial to stretch a muscle after it has been warmed up and trained. It is more pliable and gives easily to tension. Stretching a cold muscle can take away from its potential max force output (strength) and no studies have shown that stretching before actually lowers risk of injury or muscle soreness.  “Unfortunately, however, static stretching as part of a warm-up immediately prior to exercise has been shown detrimental to dynamometer-measured muscle strength^19–29and performance in running and jumping.^30–39The loss of strength resulting from acute static stretching has been termed, “stretch-induced strength loss.” taken from research article http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3273886/ So remember the simple rule, stretch after the workout, or perhaps during if you are tightening up too much!
3. Drink water every chance you get! Do not wait until you are thirsty, that just means you are already dehydrated, and this is not the best way to exercise! Staying hydrated while you work out means your body can cool itself off faster through sweat and you can push harder and longer because of that!
4. FULL ROM – Range of Motion. When learning any new exercising be sure to ALWAYS execute with FULL RANGE OF MOTION. The point of a beginner learning a new exercise is to master their own motor skills and use every fiber of that muscle through its entire length. This is the only way to get 100% muscular control of your body, which in turn leads to better workouts and results!
5. Eat healthy high protein food or Drink a protein shake immediately (or at least within 30min) of working out. This is literally the most important meal of the day, yes breakfast is a really close second, however “post-workout” nutrition can make or break your results. Depending on your goals this meal will either need carbs or not need carbs.
6. The absolute minimum for noticeable results from exercise is 3 days a week. And this will only work for a few weeks in the beginning. Eventually you need to go 4 to 5 days a week to the gym/exercise.
7. The best time of day to go to the gym is the time that you can COMMIT TO  and actually execute. Your body will adjust, it always does, but be consistent and give it a reason to adjust. Whether its 4am or 10pm, just find an hour somewhere and do it!
8. The body “detrains” after only 2 weeks. So if you spent 3 months busting your ass and decide to “take a break” which turns into a 2-4 week hiatus, then guess what? You just lost all those results! Your body is a fickle bastard! Ignore it for just a little while and see how quickly it turns its back on you!
9.  DO NOT EXPECT A MIRACLE OVERNIGHT!!!! Exercising is a lifestyle, there are so many different ways to exercise and get results, chances are you’re going to get discouraged at first because you don’t right away look like a professional beach volleyball player or a ripped MMA FIGHTER..these people have spent their lives being athletic and in shape, now its your turn to put in some time and effort!
10. Track, track and track some more. If after 2 or 3 weeks you are not losing weight or seeing results, then you need to CHANGE something immediately. Start a new program, buy an exercise book or hire a trainer(a good one, do your research, word of mouth is usually the way to go here) People constantly go to the gym for months or years at a time and see no progress!! This is crazy! Don’t be that beginner that lost 5lbs and then that’s it! Soon as those results stop, its time to go back to the drawing board and come up with a new plan!