This is exactly what I would do if I was somebody wanting to get into fitness as their resolution.
And because I've been asked (by Evolution), here is a list of all the websites I go to. They have tons of info, they're great motivation, I check them all the time, they keep me in line.
Tyler Robbins Fitness
Tony Horton's World
Team RIPPED
Get Ripped At Home
Beachbody Newsletter (Tony's tips here)
Team Right Now
The Straight Dope
Exercise (Click to View)
First, you have to look at your previous habits. Have you not worked out in 20 years, have you been doing sports, anything? And although I don't think this applies to anyone here, but have you been pregnant recently? Test your fitness, see how many pull ups you can do, how many pushups, how flexible you are, your resting heart rate, see how well prepared you are. If you are at a very very low level of fitness, your doctor recommends low levels of activity, anything like that, just stick with 20-30 minutes a day. There's no point going more if you can't handle it and won't stick with it! If you're relatively fit or not unfit, start with 35-45 minutes a day, get it into a habit! If you're willing, determined, already fit, do 50-60 minutes a day, it's serious training, but enjoy it and make it part of your day, like brushing your teeth! Every person should be doing this schedule for 3-6 weeks at a time:
Day 1: Resistance Training
Day 2: Cardio
Day 3: Resistance Training
Day 4: Stretch
Day 5: Resistance Training
Day 6: Cardio
Day 7: Rest or Stretch
So depending on your level, you need to figure out how the workouts should be structured, and the moves you'll be doing. To start out, do your resistance workouts in Total Body Sets, then you can split them into upper and lower body, then individual muscle groups later on. So what you should do, is 7 consecutive sets (Chest, Back, Shoulders, Biceps, Triceps, Legs, Abs, in that order), then a 1 minute rest, then do 7 more consecutive sets of different moves, but same muscle groups in the same order. Keep doing this until you get to the time that your workout should be. If you can't do pushups, don't be afraid to go to your knees, if you can't do pull ups, don't be afraid to put a chair in front of you. All you'll ever need to do a full workout is gravity. Weights or Resistance Bands should be purchased, and Resistance Bands are very cheap! So you might be wondering, what moves? Here's a couple books you might want to purchase that I personally use:
This first one is the absolute best book I've seen to learn about strength training, everything you'll ever need to know, and they even have programs:
http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Stro...kwsec=Home
The next one is almost like a place you can look to learn about the muscles, and how each of the many moves works:
http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Stre...wsec=Books
And my absolute favourite, who my whole training style comes from, Tony Horton's book. Perfect resource to get going, and you'll notice it's just like I'm explaining here
http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/BRIN...wsec=Books
Each one of those books will take your understanding to the next level, and your fitness along with it. I really recommend books because there's only so much I can say in words without pictures, videos, or person to person training. If you're actually serious about this, I can't recommend looking into different resources enough.
Day 1: Resistance Training
Day 2: Cardio
Day 3: Resistance Training
Day 4: Stretch
Day 5: Resistance Training
Day 6: Cardio
Day 7: Rest or Stretch
So depending on your level, you need to figure out how the workouts should be structured, and the moves you'll be doing. To start out, do your resistance workouts in Total Body Sets, then you can split them into upper and lower body, then individual muscle groups later on. So what you should do, is 7 consecutive sets (Chest, Back, Shoulders, Biceps, Triceps, Legs, Abs, in that order), then a 1 minute rest, then do 7 more consecutive sets of different moves, but same muscle groups in the same order. Keep doing this until you get to the time that your workout should be. If you can't do pushups, don't be afraid to go to your knees, if you can't do pull ups, don't be afraid to put a chair in front of you. All you'll ever need to do a full workout is gravity. Weights or Resistance Bands should be purchased, and Resistance Bands are very cheap! So you might be wondering, what moves? Here's a couple books you might want to purchase that I personally use:
This first one is the absolute best book I've seen to learn about strength training, everything you'll ever need to know, and they even have programs:
http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Stro...kwsec=Home
The next one is almost like a place you can look to learn about the muscles, and how each of the many moves works:
http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Stre...wsec=Books
And my absolute favourite, who my whole training style comes from, Tony Horton's book. Perfect resource to get going, and you'll notice it's just like I'm explaining here
http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/BRIN...wsec=Books
Each one of those books will take your understanding to the next level, and your fitness along with it. I really recommend books because there's only so much I can say in words without pictures, videos, or person to person training. If you're actually serious about this, I can't recommend looking into different resources enough.
Nutrition (Click to View)
Now, so far, you've probably heard this from me already. Next is the part you haven't. You need to get into nutrition if you want to actually get into fitness and get healthier. Some people go as far to say that it's 80% Nutrition, and 20% fitness. I can say from experience that until you get into nutrition, you're pretty much wasting your time.
Nutrition is the daunting part. How the hell are you supposed to be aware every moment you eat, right? Well, it's actually pretty simple, but you can get very advanced if you like. There's many different styles of nutrition, and although that sounds weird, it's true. I personally take the plant-based, natural approach, although for safety at my age I still do eat meat. some people take the calories counting, and sometimes even carb:protein:fat ratio route. The most important thing though, is to eliminate processed and produced food. That "reduced to 100 calories!!" stuff isn't good, that counts as processed. Plus to make it lower in calories or fat they put artificial sugars which mess with your insulin, but that's a whole other story in itself.
First, find out how many calories you use for the amount of exercise I told you do do. For me it's 3000. Divide that by 5 and 6, for 5 and 6 meals a day. I get 500 and 600. Now make that fit what you would eat for a meal and snack. I'll go 300-400 calories for a snack and 700-900 for a meal. Eat each meal 2-3 hours apart. Simple. That's all that's required from me for eating healthy.
Now if you want to eat to compliment your exercise and get real results, you'll want to go into it more.
-Eat your last meal 3 hours before bed.
-eat more carbohydrates in the morning and more protein later in the day
-eat more calories at the beginning of the day than at the end.
Those three are simple things that make a pretty by difference. But if you want to go into it more, you'll want to get into surpluses, deficits, ratios, the whole deal. This stuff I do not do, I just want to eat healthy and fuel my day.
Because I don't feel like writing so much and this stuff got lost before, read here. I've already spent two days on this, haha.
I wouldn't recommend much, of any supplementation until you're about 20. For now, this is a solid start.
Nutrition is the daunting part. How the hell are you supposed to be aware every moment you eat, right? Well, it's actually pretty simple, but you can get very advanced if you like. There's many different styles of nutrition, and although that sounds weird, it's true. I personally take the plant-based, natural approach, although for safety at my age I still do eat meat. some people take the calories counting, and sometimes even carb:protein:fat ratio route. The most important thing though, is to eliminate processed and produced food. That "reduced to 100 calories!!" stuff isn't good, that counts as processed. Plus to make it lower in calories or fat they put artificial sugars which mess with your insulin, but that's a whole other story in itself.
First, find out how many calories you use for the amount of exercise I told you do do. For me it's 3000. Divide that by 5 and 6, for 5 and 6 meals a day. I get 500 and 600. Now make that fit what you would eat for a meal and snack. I'll go 300-400 calories for a snack and 700-900 for a meal. Eat each meal 2-3 hours apart. Simple. That's all that's required from me for eating healthy.
Now if you want to eat to compliment your exercise and get real results, you'll want to go into it more.
-Eat your last meal 3 hours before bed.
-eat more carbohydrates in the morning and more protein later in the day
-eat more calories at the beginning of the day than at the end.
Those three are simple things that make a pretty by difference. But if you want to go into it more, you'll want to get into surpluses, deficits, ratios, the whole deal. This stuff I do not do, I just want to eat healthy and fuel my day.
Because I don't feel like writing so much and this stuff got lost before, read here. I've already spent two days on this, haha.
I wouldn't recommend much, of any supplementation until you're about 20. For now, this is a solid start.
Putting it Together (Click to View)
Next part is not about nutrition or exercise. Next is the part that moulds them together into what's called "Healthy". It's about the other 23 hours in your day. I'll be honest, I'm not perfect. A perfect day would consist of properly timed and portioned meals, the adequate amount of sleep for your age, minimal time in front of screens (this is where I suck), get up and out (not to eat ice cream, to play, have fun, enjoy the day!), and just be a more well rounded person with a kind personality. You ain't healthy until you fulfill this as well. It's the toughest part. It's the most rewarding part.
As you go along with this (if you do), keep in mind that it isn't a big deal if you slip up. So what you ate a cookie. So what you didn't work out today. One off day doesn't make you unhealthy, that doesn't make sense, so why would you beat yourself up? I ate like 90000000 cookies over the break. My mindset is still improving my health and that's all that's important.
What really got this all into my head well and had a significant impact on sustaining healthy habits is Tony Horton's 11 Laws of Health and Fitness. I practically ready these weekly. Every time I felt like blowing it off, I read these. They're in his book if you're getting it (Again, I really really recommend the books), but here's where he first wrote them:
http://www.beachbody.com/category/p90x-o...ps/laws.do
As you go along with this (if you do), keep in mind that it isn't a big deal if you slip up. So what you ate a cookie. So what you didn't work out today. One off day doesn't make you unhealthy, that doesn't make sense, so why would you beat yourself up? I ate like 90000000 cookies over the break. My mindset is still improving my health and that's all that's important.
What really got this all into my head well and had a significant impact on sustaining healthy habits is Tony Horton's 11 Laws of Health and Fitness. I practically ready these weekly. Every time I felt like blowing it off, I read these. They're in his book if you're getting it (Again, I really really recommend the books), but here's where he first wrote them:
http://www.beachbody.com/category/p90x-o...ps/laws.do
And because I've been asked (by Evolution), here is a list of all the websites I go to. They have tons of info, they're great motivation, I check them all the time, they keep me in line.
Tyler Robbins Fitness
Tony Horton's World
Team RIPPED
Get Ripped At Home
Beachbody Newsletter (Tony's tips here)
Team Right Now
The Straight Dope