13 Effective Workouts for Obese Beginners at Home

Key Takeaways

• General fitness, weight loss, and mental health are the three most popular types of exercise for obesity.
• For those who are new to fitness and looking for easy-to-do workouts for obese beginners at home, here are some suggestions. Let's read on and discover!

What Is The Best Type Of Exercise For Obesity?

Medical professionals suggest that exercise is significantly helpful for weight loss besides a calorie-deficit meal plan. Depending on your goals and preferences, here are the three most popular types of exercises for overweight people:

General Fitness

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the U.S. suggest the following exercises for people whose purpose is overall health improvement:

• 30-minute physical activity at a moderate-intensity level per day, 5 days a week, such as walking, gardening, or chilling cycling.
• 75-minute vigorous aerobic exercise per week, such as jogging, dancing, or running, with even more significant health benefits.
• At least 2-day training on all major muscle groups, including back, legs, hips, chest, shoulders, abdomen, and arms.

Weight Loss

Which type of activity can help a person burn more fat? That is the combination of cardio and weightlifting. While cardio exercise helps lose weight, muscle-focused training can gain muscle mass. You can alternate cardio and resistance training daily or combine them into one workout session.

Mental Health

Weight stigma has a significant effect on mental health. Engaging in enjoyable or stress-reducing physical activity can improve well-being and protect us from the weight boycott. Shifting your perspective to view exercise as empowerment can help overcome the fear of working out.

A study published by BMC Public Health investigated that exercise empowers obese women to overcome the fear of weight stigma. Plus, the results showed that the research participant also experienced better mental health and improved their self-worth perception.

Exercise can help you control weight and mitigate the risks of obesity.

Top Workouts For Obese Beginners At Home

Are you looking for some easy workouts for obese beginners at home? Here are 13 simple and beginner-friendly workouts you can consider:

Walking

Walking is a basic exercise that anyone at any level can do. It is suitable for everyone, from children to the elderly, people with poor health or not used to exercising. Plus, it can be done anywhere without any equipment requirements.

You can transform your life if you consistently walk for half an hour in three months. You can get better cardiovascular health, become more flexible, and reduce stress. In addition, this activity helps the muscles stretch, promoting metabolism and blood circulation.

Chair Squats

Chair squats are an effective workout for obese beginners at home. They tone the thighs and glutes and increase the knees' flexibility. For a newbie, a chair is a great tool to help maintain balance and focus on the squat technique.

You must choose a stable chair and stand before it to do this exercise. Then, you lower your body down and keep your butt a few inches from the chair. You need to take this move slowly to feel the pain in the butt and leg muscles. Finally, push your body back up to a standing position.

Knee Raises

You can do knee raises to strengthen the core and the lower body. It also improves stability and balance. It is an excellent warm-up exercise to start a hard-core gym day with the following movements:

• Stand straight. To step up the intensity, you can hold a dumbbell.
• Raise one right knee to hip level and simultaneously lower your left leg.
• Lower your right knee and alternate with the left one.
• Repeat 10-15 times on each side.

Knee raise is one of the best workouts for overweight beginners.

Standing Calf Raises

A standing calf raise directly affects the calf muscles, supporting the calves' growth. For a home workout, you need to stand on your toes and hold it for a few seconds. You can hold more dumbbells or place a heavy object on your shoulders to make it harder.

Standing calf raises are a simple beginner exercise for weight loss and lower body strength. You can do it at home and anywhere, such as while standing at work, waiting for the subway, or hanging out with your friends.

Wall Push-Ups

Wall push-ups are an entry-level version of the original push-up, ideal for beginners or those who cannot do a regular one. This exercise helps improve upper-body strength, especially in the arms, shoulders, and chest.

You can increase the difficulty by modifying the distance of your feet from the wall. The further your feet are from the wall, the more weight you put on your hands and the more challenging the push-up will be.

Step-Ups

Step-ups are more intense than the previous five workouts for obese beginners at home. It is a light cardio exercise that helps build strength and balance in the thighs and butt. With only four sets of step-ups daily, you will feel like you are on a fire with many calories burned. You can do this exercise on a sturdy chair or steps at your house:

• Standing in front of a step or chair
• Step one foot up and pull the other foot up.
• Then, step back to the starting position.

Step-ups is an effective cardio exercise for weight loss.

Plank

If you are looking for the best exercise for overweight females, a plank is a perfect suggestion. It is famous for enhancing core muscle and overall stability. Here is how you plank:

• Begin in a push-up position
• After that, lower your body onto your forearms.
• Hold this position, keeping your body rigid, for as long as possible.

You can adjust plank durations based on your capacity and limitations. But, as a beginning level, you should keep the plank for at least 30 seconds. Then, you may increase your tolerance over time.

Swimming

Swimming is a great way for obese people to enter an exercise program. 30-45 minutes of daily swimming can help you burn many calories. Furthermore, as a water exercise, it lessens the pressure on joints and bones, thus making the body feel lighter and reducing injuries. There are various styles, so you can choose your favorite one and do it daily.

Cycling

Cycling is one of the popular cardio exercises for overweight people. It helps burn calories while having little impact on joints. Additionally, it is an effective workout for obese beginners that affects the excess fat stored in the abdomen, buttocks, and thighs. It also helps increase insulin sensitivity and prevents the risk of heart disease, cancer, and death.

If you don't want to spend time outdoors, you can invest in an indoor bike for cycling and watching movies at home. An under-desk pedal bike is also an excellent idea for exercising while working.

Many people enjoy cycling to stay healthy and control weight.

Stretching

Stretching is a crucial exercise to lessen muscle pain and prevent injuries after workouts. It is also a great way to prepare your joints and warm up your muscles before training. Stretching daily can also help you have a more flexible body.

For beginners, some first stretching days can be tough because of tight muscles. But don't worry! You can start by gently stretching and gradually leveling up. Eventually, you'll find it more enjoyable and relaxed.

Yoga

Yoga is a wonderful workout for obese beginners at home. It combines breathing, balance, mindfulness, and flexibility. For those new to fitness, each 30-60-minute yoga session per day can contribute to weight control and mental health improvement.

You can start with some easy yoga poses, such as seated forward bend, tree pose, or warrior pose. If you have a stressful day with thousands of urgent tasks, you can simply sit down and breathe. These all benefit your overall health.

Dancing

Dancing is an exciting and fun exercise for obese people at home. Like swimming and cycling, cardio gets your heart rate up and burns a lot of calories in a short period. Especially for beginners, it's a great way to get your body used to working out without feeling stressed.

Dancing requires less expensive fitness equipment in a sufficient room. All you need is a favorite playlist. You can do it immediately by turning the music on and making your movement.

Dancing is a fun way to exercise at home.

Stair Climbing

Studies show that climbing stairs is a highly intensive physical activity. When climbing, you can burn 8-9 times more calories compared to sitting and 7 times more than taking the elevator. For those struggling with overweight or obesity, the heavier you are, the more calories you burn when going upstairs.

Climbing stairs works both your heart and your legs. It is an efficient method to eliminate excess body fat, firming muscle groups such as hips, abdominal muscles, and thigh muscles. The rate of excess fat burned depends on the intensity and duration of your workout. You can either walk or run up and down the stairs.

How To Incorporate These Exercises Into A Routine

You can avoid various diseases and stay healthier by working every day at any intensity level. However, forming a habit of daily exercise can be challenging, especially for obese people. Here are some tips to add these exercises into your daily routine:

Setting Realistic Goals

First, we need to set an achievable goal. This is a key to staying motivated and reminding ourselves to stay consistent. You can establish attainable goals for the first one or two months with simple activities, such as 10-minute walks around the neighborhood or 30-minute standing breaks per 3 hours of sitting at work.

Then, when you get more accustomed to this new routine, you can gradually increase the exercise intensity over the next months. The most important thing is to remember to track your progress and celebrate your achievements.

Establishing attainable exercise goals to keep motivation.

Creating a Schedule

After defining your goals and objectives, the next step is to create a plan. It is vital to make exercise a habit. You can choose a specific time of the day and stick to it. Remember, the key to forming a successful routine is consistency. You can set reminders on your phone's app for a better solution.

Tracking Progress

Forming a workout routine for obese beginners is a challenging journey. So, following your progress will help you stay motivated. When you feel like nearly giving up, please stay calm, sit down, and reflect on what you have. We are all sure you will be proud of your hard work.

To monitor your performance, you can use a notebook, a wearable device or a fitness app to record your daily workouts and progress. You need to measure your weight, waist circumference, and body fat percentage on a certain day of the week to see how you're improving over time.

Tracking your progress and rewarding your successes.

Staying Motivated

Keeping motivation constant is not easy, especially when beginning a new routine. To tackle this issue, you can find a workout buddy or join some online communities for support. Furthermore, don't forget to reward yourself when accomplishing milestones or goals. It can be a new piece of clothing, a bunch of flowers, or simply a rest day.

Also, remember to be patient. Missing a workout day or not attaining your goals as a plan is okay. The important thing is that you don't give up. You will come back stronger and more resilient.