“You in?”

In March, I received that text from my friend along with a link to a 30 day workout challenge. 

A text back saying “Yes” ended up starting my seven month at-home workout journey. Working out has helped me improve my mental and physical health, tested me beyond my limits and has become a staple of my daily life. Here are five tips if you are interested in working out at home.

Be accountable 

My motivation to start working out was my friend and wanting to keep each other accountable. We decided we would text each other a confirmation text and a picture after we finished our workout. If one didn’t send a text, we would check in and remind each other.

This may seem like a lot of work, but it allowed me to keep my workouts consistent. Working out had its ups and downs for me. Sometimes, I loved it, but other days I dreaded it. It was the texts from my friend and a sense of responsibility to send one back that gave me the accountability I needed to keep going. For someone else, it could be marking off the days in a calendar, setting alarms or rewarding themselves with a healthy item afterward. Whatever it is, make sure it is enough to stay motivated and dedicated to the workout plan. 

Set realistic goals 

Goal setting is crucial in the foundation of an individual’s fitness path. Dozens of “abs in two weeks” or “get a model body in a month” thumbnails will pop up and tempt some. A person may want to base workouts solely on these videos because of the promising results, but working out will not give someone instant gratification. 

The brutal truth about spot training, the idea that you can spot reduce fat, is that muscle can only be toned. Ab definition is dependent on a person’s weight. That is why the mindset that a person will “earn” a perfect body when working out in a short period of time will, ultimately, harm the workout journey. 

Instead, focus on making a healthier diet plan and strengthening muscles — these are the kinds of goals that will help develop a positive approach to exercising, rather than a negative one. 

Find an effective method 

Working out comes in many different forms: strength, calisthenics, circuit training, and more. What works best for me is pilates and HIIT workouts (high intensity interval training) because of the combination of the burn with the calm. Cardio also helps me move my body and get my heart pumping. 

Because I work out at home, a lot of my resources were online workout videos and fitness blogs. My favorite trainers to follow are MadFit, Pamela Reif and Lidia Mera because of their focus on strength, toning and balance. I encourage everyone to try a variety of different workouts to find out what is most effective and accommodating, while still being challenging for the body. 

Plan a workout 

When working out from home, there isn’t a place like the gym or a class that will transport somebody into the “zone.” In fact, there are a lot of reasons not to work out at home: a bed is right there, technology is always close, the kitchen is accessible enough to find an unhealthy snack. To combat this, creating a good plan will keep motivation alive. 

For me, I separated the week into arm day, leg day, abdomen day, HIIT day and cardio/dance workout day. This gave me a one-day break, which was important in allowing my body to recover. I also planned to work out after school and on weekend mornings, allotting additional time to shower and stretch. 

Remember: being realistic is healthy. At the beginning, I only worked out 10 minutes a day and, over the span of four months, I increased that time to an hour. Starting small creates a transitionary period to figure out what works best for an individual’s body.

Stay mentally healthy

If one thing is taken from this article, take this: working out is mind to muscle. When I started, I made the huge mistake of trying to get a skinnier body instead of a healthier one. Working out can be stressful, but it feels so much worse when focused on physical looks, rather than feeling good. 

Pushing limits is one thing, but punishing the body and mind is another. 

I will be honest: I am not an expert. Even when I worked out every day, I still had days where I felt unfit and lazy. It took actively affirming myself and avoiding watching too many extreme fitness influencers to find a sense of peace. 

Today, I am in a period of rest in my workout journey. I’ve slowed down from my everyday fitness regime because of new developments in my life and more demanding school work. However, exercise is still ingrained in my life, and I will always find some time to squeeze a workout in. 

I think many people approach exercise like it’s something they have to do. The truth to loving exercise is a mindset shift. For me, I get to be healthy, I get to move, I get to feel in tune with my body and I get to love how I feel afterward. Nobody else can do it for you; you have to take the first step. 

So, you in?