do you have any links or graphics for beginner workouts and stretches? i want to start but theres so many out there and i dont know where to begin. sorry if you get this question a lot
Honestly this is such a loaded question for me because the answer Yes, but also No.
Girls Gone Strong
Nerd Fitness
Hybrid Calisthenics
All have great free programs that are billed as beginner programs. However.
I don't think this society really understands what a beginner actually is. All of these programs contain some moves, even among the easier modifications, that are simply too hard or too intense for some beginners.
I've talked a little in this video and this excruciatingly long video, about some ways to modify a lot of common movements that aren't always covered in these beginner programs.
And in this post I covered a lot of ways to modify any routine to make them less intense.
As for stretching, The Mayo Clinic has a nice guide on some gentle beginner stretches.
And Do Yoga With Me also has some free beginner classes.
And Girls Gone Strong has a great mobility routine. I recommend mobility as a warm up to strength training and stretching as a cool down, if you were going to do all within one routine.
But the biggest advice I have for beginners is:
Start Slow. Incorporate new things in manageable bites. Doing ten minutes of resistance training and two minutes of stretching a week is still more than none.
Establishing a gentle, achievable foundation gives you room to grow into more intense routines later on, but starting too intense right off the bat usually ends in frustration.
Progress doesn't have to be fast to matter. It just has to be consistent. So start with whatever things you can be consistent with on the long term, even if that means just doing it a couple minutes at a time at first.
