Transcript: Complete Beginner's First Week Workout Plan | Start Your Fitness Journey With Just 5 Minutes Daily
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Ashley introduces the episode as a starting point for people who haven't worked out in years, are intimidated by the gym, or have tried and failed before. She frames being a complete beginner as an advantage because you get to build habits from scratch.
up you guys. Famous Ashley Grant here. Welcome to More Movement Please, the podcast that inspires you to move your body more. Today's episode is for everyone who's been thinking about getting more active but doesn't know where to start. Maybe you haven't worked out in years. Maybe you never really worked out at all. Maybe you're intimidated by the gym or you're confused by all the fitness advice out there or you've tried it before and it just didn't stick. If that's you, this episode, consider it to be your starting point because we're talking about your first week of movement. And think of it as a complete guide for beginners. So first things first, let's get one thing straight. You don't need to be in shape to start moving. You don't need special equipment. You don't need a gym membership. You don't even need to know what you're doing. All you need is to be willing to start. And starting,
that's the hardest part. But I'm going to make it as simple as humanly possible for you. Because here's the thing about being a complete beginner. You already have an incredible advantage. And that's that you get to build your habits from scratch. This means that you can do it the right way from day one. You're not trying to break old patterns. You're creating new ones. So let's talk about that first week. Day one, the five minute commitment. Yeah, you heard me right.
Ashley lays out the first two days of the plan — both built around just five minutes of any intentional movement. Day two adds the instruction to notice how your body feels, whether sore, energized, or dreading it, and move anyway.
On your first day, I just want you to commit to five minutes. That's it. Not 30 minutes, not an hour, just five minutes. And you might be wondering why just five minutes? Well, because the goal isn't to exhaust you. It's not to overwhelm you. The goal is to prove to yourself you can do this. And five minutes is so achievable that you have no excuse not to do it. And I'll bet you when you complete it, you might go longer than five minutes. And if you do that, if you start that five minutes, you're already winning.
You're already succeeding. What should you do in this five minutes? Honestly, it doesn't really matter that much. It could be something as simple as a walk around your house, some gentle stretching. You could put on a song that you love and just dance to it. The point is, I want you to move your body intentionally for just five minutes. Just start. Day two, repeat and observe. So day two is simple. I want you to just do another five minutes, but this time I want you to pay attention to how it feels. Are you sore from that five minutes you spent yesterday? If so, it's normal. Are you energized? That's awesome.
Or are you dreading it? You know what? That's okay too. Just notice how you feel and do your five minutes again anyway. This right here, this simple five minutes, it's where you start building a habit. You're showing up again. Consistency, it's everything, especially in week one. On day three, add a little variety. You might be feeling a little more confident, and that's great. Today, I want you to try something just a little bit different. If you walked in the first two days, try some stretching. If you danced, try a walk.
Ashley suggests swapping the type of movement on day three — if you walked, try stretching; if you danced, try a walk — to start discovering what kinds of movement you actually enjoy.
The goal is to start exploring different types of movement and see which ones you enjoy. Because fitness doesn't have to mean that you're running on a treadmill or lifting weights. It can be yoga, dancing, walking, biking, swimming. Anything that gets your body moving, it's a win. All right, let's talk about day four. This is, I guess you'd call it a gentle movement day. Because here's something a lot of beginners don't realize. Rest is actually part of the process. I do what I call active rest days. And the reason I do that is because I know that my body does need time to recover. And this is really crucial, especially when you're just starting out. So on day four, you have a choice. If you're feeling good, do another five minutes of gentle movement. If you're sore or you're tired, maybe take a rest day.
Ashley introduces the concept of active rest days, explaining that recovery is part of the process especially for beginners. She recommends gentle yoga or stretching and mentions linking her favorite YouTube stretch classes in the show notes.
But I don't mean don't do anything. Maybe just do a simple walk. Nothing really crazy. Don't feel guilty about it. Rest is productive. And if you do want to move but you're sore, try like gentle yoga. or stretching. That is one of my favorite ways to recover on those active recovery days is stretching. I'm obsessed with stretching. I'll put a link in the show notes with my favorite stretch classes that I take on YouTube, and maybe one of them will resonate with you. Whenever you're stretching, this can actually help you with your soreness, and it still gets your body moving. Day five, increase things just a little.
Day five bumps the session to 10 minutes if five feels easy. Day six is about celebrating the milestone of completing nearly a week. Day seven involves doing your movement and then reflecting on what worked, what felt good, and what to try in week two.
You've been doing five minutes every day. It's feeling easy. Today, I want you to bump it up to 10 minutes. And notice I didn't say get crazy and triple or quadruple it. We're increasing things gradually. And if five minutes still feels challenging, it's fine. Stick with five. There's no rush. The only person that you're competing with is yourself from yesterday. On day six, I want you to celebrate. I want you to celebrate every single milestone you get to in your fitness journey. I'm obsessive about this. I love celebrating these milestones that I'm having. I celebrated on day 50. I celebrated on day 100. I celebrated when I got to 200 workouts. I'm going to celebrate again whenever I get to 300 workouts. It's so important to celebrate because you're telling your body, hey, I'm doing something awesome and I'm so proud of myself. Maybe tell a friend about what you've accomplished. Or you could do what
I'm doing and post about it every day online. And treat yourself to something nice. Acknowledge that you're doing something really difficult and you're showing up for yourself. But you still got to move today. Yep, even if it's just another five minutes. In fact, especially if it's just another five minutes, I want you to make sure you're moving today. On day seven, I want you to start reflecting and planning. Do your movement session of five minutes at the very least, and then take some time to reflect on what happened this week. What did you enjoy about the week?
What was harder than you expected? What felt good? And what do you want to try next week? This reflection is important because it's going to start helping you figure out what's working for you, what you actually enjoy. Maybe you discovered you're enjoying walks, or maybe you realized that stretching is what makes you feel the most amazing right now. Or perhaps it's that you enjoy dancing so much in your living room that it's just the best thing ever. Use the information that you've gathered in week one to start planning week two. And yes, there better be a week two and then a week three and beyond. It's kind of like what Rhonda said in our fitness interview series. I'll leave a link to that in the show notes as well. She said in that that 21 days is what you need to build a habit. So I want you to go a minimum of three weeks and really build this habit into your daily life. Now let's talk about some common beginner mistakes that
Ashley walks through four mistakes she sees beginners make: doing too much too soon and burning out, comparing yourself to others, waiting for motivation instead of building discipline, and all-or-nothing thinking where missing one day feels like total failure.
I want you to avoid. Number one, doing too much too soon. Now look, I'm completely guilty of this because I jumped in like full throttle. I fully recognize this. At the same time though, I had been moving a little bit for a little while. I had been trying to implement workouts into my life for about a year and a half before I went really nuts. But I really enjoyed it, so I went for it. And I see this all the time. People get so excited, they go from zero to working out an hour every day and they burn out or they get injured within less than a week. Don't be that person. Start small, but do build as gradually as you can and as soon as you can. Mistake number two is comparing yourself to others. Someone else's week one might look totally different from yours and that's okay. The only comparison that matters is you versus you from the past.
And mistake number three is waiting for motivation. Stop it. Don't wait until you feel motivated because motivation, it's unreliable. You're not gonna always feel like moving. I don't, but I do it anyway and you should too. That's called discipline and it's what builds habits. And finally, mistake number four is that all or nothing thinking. You think if you miss a day, you failed. Well, you know what? If you miss a day, you didn't fail as long as you get back to it the next day because progress isn't linear. So here's what I want you to remember from this. Every single person who's fit now was once a beginner. Every athlete, every person that regularly goes to the gym, every fitness influencer, they all started from zero. And you can too. Your first week, it doesn't have to be perfect, but it has to happen if you want to actually show up for yourself and begin your fitness journey. Move your body,
even if it's just five minutes. Prove to yourself you can do this because let me tell you, you can. And remember. I believe in you and I think you should move. That's the whole point of this podcast is I want more movement in your life. Onwards and upwards, my friends. Have you worked out today?
Ashley wraps up by reminding listeners that every fit person started from zero, that the first week doesn't have to be perfect but it has to happen, and signs off with her usual question: have you worked out today?
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