During high school and the beginning of college, I never worked out. No, really, I mean NEVER. Eventually, I got tired of constantly feeling drained of energy because my lifestyle lacked physical activity, and I decided it was time to try working out. I also wanted to feel strong and empowered in my own body, and I knew exercising would help me with that. So, during quarantine I began running, swimming, and doing home workouts as often as I could.

At first, I had a lot of trouble finding any motivation to exercise because I was afraid to leave my comfort zone of never working out. I also questioned whether the effort I’d have to put in was worth the benefits that I had heard about. After days of making excuses for not exercising, I realized something; I was never going to magically wake up one day with the motivation to work out. The only way I would ever start was if I just got up and did it. This might be a tautology, but it has a lot of truth to it; if I do just one exercise today, I’ll be that much closer to my health/fitness goals.

The biggest roadblock on my journey to physical fitness, however, was negative self talk. After I realized that negative thoughts were holding me back from working out, I decided to disregard them and began to feed myself only positive thoughts instead (“I can do just one exercise”, “I am building strength by doing this”, “this is healthy for me”). Most importantly, I acted on these thoughts. I started watching workout videos and following along, and I made an agreement with one of my friends to go running together every day. This helped me stick to my workout plan because my friend and I could hold each other accountable. A few days after I started working out I began to notice something: I was super happy and productive every time I exercised. These positive experiences created a virtuous cycle which empowered and incentivized me to exercise more frequently.

If you think you’d like to get started working out but don’t know where to start, you’re in luck! When I was first starting out on my fitness journey, I scoured the internet for simple work out exercises. Here are some of the ones I enjoyed the most, but keep in mind that there are many more out there.

1. Donkey kicks - these help build your butt muscles!

2. Mountain climbers - these help with your abs and also double as cardio!

3. Planks - these are so good for your core and your back, especially if you’re like me and spend hours on your phone/computer!

4. Running, walking, jumping jacks, dancing/moving around - great cardio options that burn calories and help with your heart health!

5. Lifting weights - helps with arm strength! I use 8 pound weights for my workouts, but you can just pick up any heavy item and that works too.

Lastly, I just want to remind you guys that it is totally okay to have periods of time where you aren’t working out. I know for me there are days where I’m not feeling good mentally/physically, so on those days I give myself breaks to prevent myself from getting burnt out. Always remember that working out is something you do for yourself (when you have the time and energy) because you deserve it.