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If you’ve finally made the conscious decision to make fitness and healthy eating a part of your lifestyle, then kudos to you, this is one of the best decisions of your life, and soon enough, it’s going to become an inextricable part of your routine. Fitness is addictive, and health is liberating and empowering, but before you start calling yourself a fitness enthusiast and start posting gym pics on your IG stories, it’s important to remember that building a healthy life takes time, knowledge, and preparation. It’s easy to lose your momentum during these crucial months when you’re still familiarizing yourself with the fitness lifestyle, so it’s imperative that you nail your workout and nutrition right off the bat in order to stay motivated and reach your goals. Here are the five commandments you need to follow at all times.

Ease your way into it

The fitness people you look up to might seem like they’re able to work out all day long and stay in shape throughout the year, but just keep in mind that they worked very hard and very long to reach that level of fitness. In fact, they were once in the same spot that you’re in now. Essentially, this means that you need to take it slow and that you need to ease yourself into the fitness game in order to stay consistent and motivated, and to start making steady progress. If you throw yourself into the proverbial fire right away and start exercising vigorously, you will start feeling burnt out and fatigued, which will only make you abandon your fitness goals. To ease yourself into your fitness journey, be sure to start with one or two workouts in the first week doing yoga with other types of exercise, and then start adding workout sessions as you get accustomed to the new routine.

Learn about exercise variables

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Volume, frequency, intensity. These are the primary exercise variables that you have to manage at all times in order to make your workout sessions productive, rewarding, and ultimately satisfying. Volume is the amount of work you do in a workout session, frequency is the number of workouts you do in a week, and intensity is how much weight you’re using or how much strain you’re putting on your body in a single workout. Push yourself too hard, and you won’t be able to recover; do to many exercises in a single session and you’ll just waste time at the gym; exercise too frequently and you will find it impossible to maintain such a rigorous schedule. You can push only two variables at the same time, but always back off on the third one in order to make your workout plan sustainable in the long run.

Know which supplements to take

Supplements are just that – they can help you achieve your fitness goals a little bit faster, and help you recover better while having more productive workouts in the process. But that doesn’t mean that supplementation can substitute a poor diet plan. That said, there are some supplements that you can introduce into your routine, namely the ones that will give you the energy you need to push through your workouts. If you’re headed to the gym after work or when you’re generally feeling drained, then it would be a wise decision to introduce potent pre workout supplements into your routine in order to get that surge of energy that will get you into the gym, but that will also keep you from losing focus until the session is over. You can also introduce protein supplements as a part of your post workout plan; however, it won’t be necessary if you tidy up your nutrition first.

Tidy up your nutrition

You can’t outrun a poor diet plan, always keep that in mind. It’s imperative that you slowly start weeding out the unhealthy foods from your life and start introducing healthy sources of protein, carbohydrates, and fats into your daily routine. Don’t try to do this in one go, rather, start eliminating junk food one day at a time, and start cooking more wholesome meals instead of eating out. Make sure you’re getting enough protein from quality sources such as lean meats, dairy, fish, eggs, and nuts and seeds to start shedding fat and building lean muscle mass.

Ensure proper post-workout recovery

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And finally, remember that one of the most important changes you need to introduce into your healthy lifestyle is to start sleeping better and to optimize your recovery. Make sure to hit the sack every night at the same time, get at least seven hours of quality shut-eye, and try to get up every morning at the same time to improve your circadian rhythm, and allow your body and mind to recover and recharge for the day ahead. This is how you’ll be able to stay consistent with your training and nutrition.

Wrapping up

You might be eager to embark on your fitness journey, but that doesn’t mean that you should rush into anything. Instead, be sure to take these fitness and diet tips to heart in order to pave the road to a healthy and happy lifestyle.

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