Beginning your Fitness Journey: A beginner's guide

I applaud your desire to make healthy lifestyle choices which includes participation in physical activities to help reach your goals such as improved daily energy levels, reducing bodyweight, and improving overall fitness ability. However, beginning a structured exercise routine can seem daunting, overwhelming, or unappealing. Questions like, “How can I even run or cycle or lift weights when its already embarrassing the level of exertion it takes me to climb a flight of stairs or go on a brisk walk for 10 minutes?” Fortunately, exercise is like adding a little cayenne pepper to your favorite savory meal; a small added dose can be all you need to improve the flavor of health and wellness. My goal is this brief article will bring hope, encouragement, bolster your confidence and excitement about embarking on your new journey of health and fitness. Exercise should be fun, rewarding (physical and mentally), and improve your health while mitigating risk of bodily harm and injury. The good news is that when beginning from a sedentary lifestyle or low levels of strenuous physical activity you can expect notable changes rather quickly with improvements in energy, weight loss, fitness, mental clarity, and a variety of other desirable parts of life. In fact, here is a simple, 1-month program specially designed for you to guide your through your new expedition of fitness. I would expect you to notice exciting changes in the way you feel and move in as little as these first 30 days.

A novel randomized controlled trial (RCT) by Ramírez-Vélez et al. (2020) sought to determine exactly what types of exercise would make the greatest improvement in reducing bodyfat, increasing aerobic fitness, metabolic profiles, and other cardiovascular markers of health in middle-aged adults (30-50 years old) who were slightly overweight (average body mass index of 30.4). These test subjects were also living a sedentary lifestyle which was defined as participating 1 day or less per week of structured physical activity. Both aerobic exercise and resistance training have unique benefits for improving health, body composition and fitness levels, Hence, this RCT sought to determine the effectiveness of aerobic versus resistance training when performed separately or when blending both types of exercise together. However, this study did not have a group performing steady-state or moderate intensity continuous training (MICT) which will be discussed later.

Subjects were divided into 4 groups for the study:

1.      high-intensity internal training (HIIT)

2.      resistance training (RT)

3.      concurrent training (CT) which was HIIT + RT,

4.      A nutrition guidance only group with no exercises.

Exercise dosing in the study by Ramírez-Vélez et al. (2020) consisted of the following “FITT” (frequency, intensity, timing, type) parameters:

	HIIT GROUP	RESISTANCE TRAINING GROUP	CONCURRENT TRAINING GROUP
Frequency	3x/ week	3x/ week	3x/ week
Intensity	Intervals at 85-95% max heart rate Active recovery at 65% max heart rate	Load of 50-70% 1RM 12-15 reps/ set 60 sec intra-set rest	Same
Timing	4 x 4 min intervals with 4 min active recovery	30-40 min training session	50% volume of HIIT only group 50% volume of RT only group
Type	Treadmill running	6 different exercises for upper and lower body	same

Results drawn from this study concluded that the most notable decreases in bodyfat % occurred in the HIIT group and RT with nearly identical results of about 2.5% decreased bodyfat %. Interestingly, the CT group only saw a slight reduction. The authors mentioned a confounding variable where the CT group documented they consumed calories on average across each week, which probably explains the lack of noticeable bodyfat reduction. Aerobic fitness scores (VO2max) improved the most (8.4mL/kg/min) in the HIIT group with the CT group being slightly less (6.3mL/kg/min) and the RT only group still improved but only by 4.1mL/kg/min. What do all these numbers mean? If your top priority is to boost endurance ability, then consider focusing more on HIIT sessions, and aerobic training with less resistance training sessions. Lastly, a bonus consideration should be what types of exercise can improve HDL quality and quantity since improving these lipid markers have vast positive health implication from things like decreased cardiovascular disease risk to fighting respiratory viral infections (Cho, 2022). The HIIT only group saw no significant changes to HDL while the RT group showed improvement of about 5 mg/dL. Hence, we should include some resistance training if needing to improve HDL levels.

Thus, given the general interventions and outcomes reported from Ramírez-Vélez et al. (2020), how can we practically apply and progress a new exercise program when going from a deconditioned fitness state to safely (and enjoyably) engaging in structured physical activities? The main theme we should consider when designing a monthly programing for improving fitness and body composition is including a variety of training modes or types (i.e. aerobic and anerobic) since both have unique benefits and can often compliment each other. For example, pairing light aerobic activities surrounding resistance training sessions can significantly improve muscle soreness than can typically accompany resistance training, especially when beginning a new weight training program (Davis et al., 2008). Secondly, improving muscle strength, coordination, tendon, and ligament integrity from resistance training makes not only your body more resilient to injuries and joint pain, but can also improve aerobic activity biomechanical efficiency which can make running, cycling or other aerobic activities easier to perform. A fresh 2026 systematic review looked at implementation of injury prevention programs like strength training, balance, stretching, aerobic warm-ups and other forms of exercise could reduce risk of injuries in sport by up to 47% (Viiala et al., 2026).

Therefore, my suggestions laid forth in the 1^st month of training includes a variety of exercises including progression of aerobic, strength, balance, and light-impact plyometric. Plus, when participating in a variety of types of exercises across the week and months it allows for improved enjoyment of physical activity, especially if lacking some internal motivation. Grabbing a friend or partner to join you with your training can also dramatically improve adherence and fun with exercise (Vuckovic & Duric, 2024). Set some easy goals for the week; and keep in mind that doing some exercise that day is better than none if your scheduled is crammed. Give yourself grace on days you fail to stick with your plan. Remember, movement and exercise are a lifestyle and will take some time to become a part of your life. To make the begin your journey, the weekly progressions of training volume and intensity are set forth to get the most “bang-for-buck” for your time and energy vested while minimizing unnecessary volume which may not contribute much more additional body composition, fitness ability, and/or cardiovascular metabolic profile improvements.  

While the RCT by Ramírez-Vélez et al. (2020) gave valuable insight into a variety of exercise interventions, they did not use any form of steady-state or mild-moderate intensity longer duration aerobic exercise. In the beginning phase of a new exercise program, especially when decondition from a sedentary lifestyle, I do not believe we need to immediately introduce higher intensity interval training. Our goal with exercise for the purpose of improving health, body composition, and general fitness is to use the minimal effective dose to get the desired adaptation. We want to “slow-cook” our fitness training which allows for the best of both worlds of improving health while mitigating injury and burnout risk. This is why I recommend for at least the first two weeks to not feel compelled to perform variations of HIIT (Jacobs, 2018). A brand-new 12-week study by Abebe & Bekele (2025) of sedentary bank employees gives us great decision-making rationale for aerobic training for newcomers. This RCT compared groups of resistance training, aerobic training, combination (aerobic + resistance training). Their study design was very similar to Ramírez-Vélez et al. (2020) using 3x/ week training, but instead of using HIIT for the aerobic intervention, 45- 60 minutes of moderate to hard intensity steady state cardio was tested. Also, within the same day’s cardio session three varieties cardio were evenly divided in time with treadmill, stationary bike, and elliptical machines utilized.

The recommendations for cardio progressions were as follows:

• Weeks 1-6

  • 45 minutes @ 50-70% MHR

  • 3x/ week

• Weeks 7-12

  • 50-60 minutes @ 70-85% MHR

  • 3x/ week

  • 
    

Results of the Abebe & Bekele (2025) RCT study demonstrated that maximal decreases in BMI were seen in the aerobic training + resistance training group, the aerobic only group was a very close 2^nd performer with the resistance-training-only group demonstrating about half the effectiveness of reduction in BMI. Thus, if decreasing BMI is the main goal, and you don’t like to weight training, then aerobic exercise will give you good results. However, including resistance training is even more beneficial to improving BMI and other health markers like reducing systolic blood pressure. Hence, it is my recommendation that we include both aerobic and resistance training components across each week. Regarding guidelines to progress resistance exercises, we’ll begin at about 50% 1RM loads allowing for around 12-15 repetitions while increasing the loads about 5% per week or looking to add 1-2 more reps per set each week if using fixed loads/ bodyweight. Using a circuit training style of 6-9 exercises working both upper and lower body would be preferable for efficiency and additional training effects (Abebe & Bekele, 2025).

Recommended starting resistance training exercises as follows:

·         Squat (bodyweight if necessary)

·         Assisted pullups/ cable or machine pull downs

·         Push-ups or machine incline press

·         Bodyweight TRX band rows

·         Alternating lunges

·         Seated dumbbell or machine vertical press

·         Machine leg curls or stiff-leg deadlifts

·         Bent over dumbbell or barbell rows

·         Triceps extensions

Below you will find a sample 1st months program to get you started!

week 6 assignment calendar.pdf

Download PDF • 494KB

References:

Abebe, A., Kiflu, A. & Bekele, Z. The impact of an integrated exercise and dietary counseling program on physiological biomarkers in sedentary bank employees: a randomized control trial. Sci Rep 15, 36047 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-20013-w

Cho K. H. (2022). The Current Status of Research on High-Density Lipoproteins (HDL): A Paradigm Shift from HDL Quantity to HDL Quality and HDL Functionality. International journal of molecular sciences, 23(7), 3967. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23073967

Davis, W. J., Wood, D. T., Andrews, R. G., Elkind, L. M., & Davis, W. B. (2008). Elimination of delayed-onset muscle soreness by pre-resistance cardioacceleration before each set. Journal of strength and conditioning research, 22(1), 212–225. https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0b013e31815f93a1

Jacobs, P. L., & National Strength & Conditioning Association, issuing body. (2018). NSCA’s essentials of training special populations (P. L. Jacobs, Ed.). Human Kinetics.

Ramírez-Vélez, Robinson1; Castro-Astudillo, Karem2; Correa-Bautista, Jorge Enrique3; González-Ruíz, Katherine4; Izquierdo, Mikel1,5; García-Hermoso, Antonio1,6; Álvarez, Cristian7; Ramírez-Campillo, Rodrigo8; Correa-Rodríguez, María9. The Effect of 12 Weeks of Different Exercise Training Modalities or Nutritional Guidance on Cardiometabolic Risk Factors, Vascular Parameters, and Physical Fitness in Overweight Adults: Cardiometabolic High-Intensity Interval Training-Resistance Training Randomized Controlled Study. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 34(8):p 2178-2188, August 2020. | DOI: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000003533

Viiala, J., Čech, P., Bakalár, P., Paravlic, A., Ružbarský, P., Sučka, J., Toivo, K., Parkkari, J., & Leppänen, M. (2026). Effect of adherence to exercise-based injury prevention programmes on the risk of sports injuries: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. Injury prevention : journal of the International Society for Child and Adolescent Injury Prevention, 32(1), 31–40. https://doi.org/10.1136/ip-2025-045632

Vuckovic, V., & Duric, S. (2024). Motivational variations in fitness: a population study of exercise modalities, gender and relationship status. Frontiers in psychology, 15, 1377947. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1377947