10 Easy Exercises For Beginners

10 Easy Exercises For Beginners

As a beginner, you probably won’t feel too inclined to hit the gym. And that’s ok! Working out from home can offer excellent results too. Plus, you’re more likely to go at your own pace and feel confident about reaching your goals in the comfort of your own home.

You’ll also want to start with the basics. There’s no need to go too hard right from the start. After all, the basics are all you need. Even those with advanced fitness tend to come back to the basics. What can we say… they work!

Also, be sure to give yourself options when it comes to your workouts. As a beginner, it’ll be tough to stay motivated. So, give yourself choices based on how busy you are or your energy levels. 

If you’re ready to sweat and work hard, you can turn on the OOMPH app for a killer at-home kickboxing workout. If you’re super busy, maybe you’ll opt to do a quick jump rope session. Low on energy? Take a 30-minute walk. 

The goal as a beginner should to simply move your body every day, so give yourself options to do just that.


Here are our top 10 exercises for beginners to help you get started. We are a tad biased toward
kickboxing (we love it!), so that’s where we’ll begin. In all, we’ll go over the basics of beginner exercises, including:

  • Jab
  • Cross
  • Hook
  • Uppercut
  • Side-to-Side Footwork
  • Running
  • Jump Rope
  • Planks
  • Bodyweight Exercises 

Punches

Believe it or not, throwing a punch takes more technique than you might expect. Still, it’s an excellent place for beginners to start because you’ll begin to notice your strengths and weaknesses. After all, punches get your whole body involved!

In every beginner kickboxing workout, you’ll likely start with a 4-punch sequence:

  • Jab
  • Cross
  • Hook
  • Uppercut

Jabs are sudden punches. Starting in a boxing stance, light on your feet with your hands protecting your face. You’ll quickly shoot one fist forward with your fingers facing down, then immediately bring it back to your starting position.

A cross punch is another forward punch but with more power. Your hips will get involved as you pivot on your back foot and rotate your hips forward with the punch. Then, you’ll quickly bring your fist back to the starting position.

10 Easy Exercises For Beginners

Hooks start with one arm bent at a 90-degree angle. You’ll punch to bring your forearm in front of you (in line with your shoulders), knuckles facing the ground. You’ll pivot on your feet slightly to increase the power of your punch and stop the punch in front of your face to prevent over-rotation.

10 Easy Exercises For Beginners

Then, the uppercut is a punch aimed to hit underneath your “opponent’s” chin. This punch will come from below (near your hip), aiming toward the sky with your elbow bent and your fingers facing you.

10 Easy Exercises For Beginners

Remember, with all of these punches, you’ll want to keep a slight bend in your knees, your core held tight, and your opposite hand in a fist, protecting your face. And don’t forget to breathe!

Footwork

Practicing your footwork is another excellent way to get into exercise as a beginner. Kickboxing requires a surprising amount of footwork, providing a fantastic cardio workout and a little mental exercise to get your brain going.

Try a simple side-to-side routine where you take three quick steps to the right while keeping your body facing forward. Then pause before taking another three steps to the left. 1-2-3-pause-1-2-3-repeat. Faster, faster!

10 Easy Exercises For Beginners

Cardio

Running and jump rope are two of our favorite ways to improve our cardio fitness. While kickboxing is considered a HIIT workout that can help you get cardio results quicker, there’s nothing wrong with running or jump roping if you enjoy it.

As a beginner, you’ll want to start slow. Bring a timer with you and see how long you can go without stopping. Time your breaks and try to complete as many rounds as you can for 30 minutes.

Next time you can challenge yourself to improve. Try adding 15 seconds to your last best streak, and little by little, you’ll see a change in your fitness levels. 

This is a great way to do it because you’re going at your own pace and comparing yourself only to your past self. It’s the only way to go!

Stability

For stability, we’ve got planks. And before you roll your eyes, just know that there are so many variations of planks that all offer fantastic stabilizing results. 

10 Easy Exercises For Beginners

Of course, you can do the standard “push-up position” with straight arms and straight legs. But, you can also do a plank on your forearms, with your knees on the ground, or in more of an ‘all-fours” position. 

As long as your core is activated, you can get a lot out of any plank variation to improve your stability. 

Resistance

As you get more comfortable with your exercise routine, the way you do resistance training will evolve. But for starters, working with your bodyweight offer plenty of resistance to help sculpt your muscles and improve your fitness.

Kickboxing is a fantastic example of bodyweight resistance that seems to work like magic. No dumbbells or weight machines are needed! 

However, for an added challenge, you might consider adding resistance bands or ankle weights down the line. But for now, your body weight is your best friend as a beginner.

  1. Kickboxing is a killer workout that covers all these categories. You’ll be punching, doing the footwork, improving your cardio and stability while giving your body the resistance it needs to meet your goals.

It’s a full package and great for beginners! Try your first at-home kickboxing session with the OOMPH app today! 

 

 

 

10 Easy Exercises For Beginners



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