Our Guide to Beginning your Health & Fitness Journey
Health and fitness isn't just a passing phase, it's something that should be a part of your lifestyle forever. Our mission at Move With Us is to educate you on all things fitness and nutrition so you are able to build strong minds, bodies and habits that will last a lifetime.
Getting started may seem daunting - but we have all been there at some point, even your MWU Coaches.
Move With Us is here to help you start or get back into your fitness journey in an easy and uncomplicated way, so you can begin making positive steps towards the healthiest version of yourself.
Consistency is Key 🔑
Perfectionism is not the key to being the healthiest version of yourself. If you can’t do something perfectly straight away it does not mean you need to give up or push it back to “starting next Monday.” Whether you’re a complete beginner or a seasoned athlete, it’s always best to move forward in small increments rather than trying to completely revamp your lifestyle overnight. So don’t overwhelm yourself, and force yourself to do everything at once! Focus on just making one small step to get you started like eating 3 proper meals each day, choosing the stairs instead of elevator,, or committing to 3x workouts each week. Then maybe next week add on another small goal.
Building habits takes time, the small changes you make bit by bit are adding up more than you think! So just start your MWU Program, but don’t pressure yourself to see big changes - consistent progress will make a difference. That’s why we like to encourage our users to take progress pictures. Quite often our clients will think they have made no progress during their program or challenge as the scale hasn’t budged, and will blame it on not being perfect throughout the program. But when they look back at pictures from the start, there are some massive physical changes!
Small changes add up, and being consistent over long periods will create some very positive change to your life. If you want to understand more about tracking progress, have a read of our Track Progress, Not Weight blog.
Make it a Priority (and make it fun!) 🤸🏼
If you don’t enjoy doing it, it's not going to become a priority or part of your lifestyle. For example, you might take up a new hobby like drawing to help you relax but when you do it you hate it. You might stick it through for a few times but realistically you are never going to wake up each day and choose to keep drawing if you don’t enjoy it.
It’s the same with health & fitness, if you don’t make the process enjoyable you are not going to incorporate it into your lifestyle beyond a Move With Us Program or Challenge. That’s why it is so important to pick a program, training style and meal guide that sounds enjoyable to YOU. We have 10+ programs and levels available, 1,500+ recipes and 100s of meal guides for you to choose from so there is always something for everyone.
We want you to pick a program that you are going to wake up and want to do, otherwise you aren’t going to keep it up. If you are starting out, get a friend to do the program with you so it’s a social catch-up or meal prep with your partner so you both can enjoy cooking together and eating the same yummy meals.
Health and Fitness doesn’t have to be a strict and unenjoyable process, so make it fun and watch how you will start to enjoy the process rather than just doing it for the end goal! We love seeing our community make lifestyle changes 🩷
Focus on your Nutrition 🍏
There are no magic pills, shakes, or shortcuts to health - despite what some fitness supplements may promise you! When starting out, it’s so much more important to put emphasis on quality nutrition. No supplement will be able to make you gain muscle or lose weight without you doing the work. It may help, but the only way to see results is by understanding your nutrition and training.
It’s easy to get overwhelmed in the beginning, but MWU is here to help you learn the basics!
When beginning your fitness journey with MWU you will be asked to select a Nutrition Goal - Lose Body Fat, Gain Muscle, Both or Maintenance. Depending on which goal you choose (and a few other personal factors), you will be provided with a customisable meal plan tailored to help you achieve this. For example, if you select Gain Muscle as your Nutrition Goal - you will be placed in a caloric surplus which simply means an increased energy intake. If you would like to read more about our Nutrition Goals, have a read of Understanding your Nutrition Goals Blog.
Modifying your nutrition habits can be difficult, but it is the biggest piece of the puzzle when it comes to improving your overall health and fitness.
Training with Intention 💪
It’s all about quality over quantity - more training is not better, better training is better. If you know you get tired by your 5th and 6th sessions of the week, then just choose to go to the gym 4 days. Completing those two extra sessions aren’t worth it if you aren’t training with intention, quality over quantity always wins. With each exercise it is important to focus on the tempo and techniques required.
Tempo is something we refer to quite frequently throughout the MWU Programs, it simply means the speed at which you should perform an exercise. By focusing on your tempo, you can increase your time under tension and/or explosively in movements, improving your muscular endurance and muscular power. For example, in the following Barbell Back Squat that Annabelle is performing the tempo suggested is 3101 which means you would come down to a count of 3, pause for 1 second at the bottom, explosively come back up, then have a 1 second pause before performing the next rep.
Technique is king when it comes to strength training! By focusing on it and performing movements correctly you can ensure that the load is placed on the muscles and joints that are specifically being targeted through the movement. Ultimately this will help you avoid injury and make sure you are receiving the full benefit intended from the exercise. For every exercise in your MWU Program we provide you with a visual and written tutorial to show you how to perform the exercise. If you are still unsure how to perform a particular movement, checkout our Form Videos available in the On-Demand Section of the App. We have a variety of tutorials which will break down in detail how to perform some key compound movements. Always remember if you are performing a new exercise - take the weights off, go slow and focus intently on the muscles you are working.
To be able to train with intention it's important that you know what weights you are using. It’s hard to progress each week without understanding what you are progressing from! Within your Program exercises we have a Workout Notes section that enables you to input your weight, sets, reps and extra details for each exercise. Each time you complete an exercise during the program, try to focus on pushing the weights or the reps from the week before to see the most improvement. If you are interested in understanding more about your training progression, have a read of Unpacking Progressive Overload blog.
Prior to your next week of your MWU Program beginning, we recommend that you go into the week and organize which days you will do your workouts. Always go into the week having a plan - know which days you will need to take your gym clothes to work and what days you will give yourself a rest. If one day you know you aren’t going to make it for a scheduled workout, feel free to switch around your workouts to suit your week. Use the editing button in the bottom corner of the Workouts tab and select “Update my Workouts”, then you will be able to move around which days you want to do your workouts on.
Having a plan helps you stay on track, and adaptable. Even if something comes up at the last minute and stops you from completing a workout, with your schedule you can just edit it to fit it into another day and swap today to a rest day. There’s no reason to throw everything out the window because one day wasn’t perfect!
Rest & Recovery is not Optional 💤
As a beginner, it can be surprisingly easy to fall into the “eager beaver” mode once you’ve started following a routine and experiencing benefits of a more active lifestyle. Before you know it, you’re working out for an hour every day, going for sunset runs and managing to squeeze a social pilates session with your girlfriends into Sunday mornings. Hold your horses though! Rest isn’t optional, and it’s very important to allocate sufficient time for rest and recovery. Otherwise, you may soon find yourself rundown or even injured - which is far from a healthy situation.
Exercise is a stressor so by allowing our bodies the adequate amount of time to adapt and recover post workout, our body can focus on restoring energy, replenishing cells as well rebuilding muscle tissue. When you give your body the rest it needs, you will be rewarded with ongoing results and be able to sustain consistently high energy levels, so don't neglect or feel guilty about taking rest days - they are important.
To ensure your body is recovering effectively there are a few non-negotiables to prioritize:
- Adequate Sleep: Sleep provides so many important physiological and cognitive functions that are beneficial for recovery, so ensure you are getting at least 8+ hours of sleep each night.
- Hydration: Post session it’s so important to replenish lost fluids so don’t forget to consume your 2-3L a day! If you have had a particularly sweaty workout it’s a great idea to add electrolytes to your water to help rehydrate faster and effectively.
- Consuming enough Carbs and Protein: Carbs assist in restoring muscle glycogen and Protein assists in stimulating muscle protein synthesis - both crucial for recovery. So, it is important to consume a meal or snack within the first 60-90 minutes post workout containing both of these macronutrients.
- Stretching & Mobility: Incorporating regular stretching and mobility into your workouts can create a more resilient body that recovers quicker and performs optimally. So aim to block out 10-15 minutes time before and/or after your workouts to prioritize this!
Are you Ready to Get Started?
Become a Move With Us Platinum Member today, and receive everything you need to start your health & fitness journey for as little as $24.99/month.
