Q&A: What should you know before starting a new exercise routine?
Illustration by Sara Montes Delgadillo.
Note: This interview was originally published in Doing Well, a health news outlet from ASU Media Enterprise and ASU Learning Enterprise. Subscribe to Doing Well to get interviews with health experts delivered to your inbox weekly.
The most common New Year’s resolution is to exercise more — 1 in 4 Americans have committed to doing so in 2026. But while gym membership sign-ups and exercise tracking increase in the first weeks of the year, it can be hard to sustain new habits. Perhaps you’ve noticed your exercise class or local park is full on Jan. 1, and then empties a few weeks later.
This time of year, it can feel like everyone is trying to sell you a new workout routine or “hack” — but building consistent, realistic and safe exercise habits requires intentional planning.
Short on time? Here’s what to know:
Before starting a new exercise program, assess your skills, goals, needs and current fitness level. Don’t start out too intensely; you want to gradually increase physical activity so you don’t injure yourself or overload your system. If you haven’t run in a few months, don’t set out for a 10-miler — start slow, and work your way up.
There is no one perfect exercise — don’t sign up for a gym membership just because you feel like it’s what you’re “supposed” to do. Ask yourself what movement you enjoy, and what fits into your life. That could be a recreational league, group fitness class, or a walk around your neighborhood.
If you start to feel pain while exercising, don’t push it. That’s your body telling you to slow down.
Focus on exercise goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound — these are called SMART goals. Your goals should be focused on a performance outcome, not a body outcome. For example: "Use 20-pound weights for a set of 10 squat presses” — not "tone my legs."
We spoke to Alicia Montalvo, a certified athletic trainer and professor at ASU’s College of Health Solutions, for her pointers on incorporating movement into our routines all year long.
Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Question: This time of year, a lot of people are starting new exercise routines. What should they think through before they do so?
Answer: The first thing that somebody should consider is: What are my current needs, what are my current goals, what is my current skill level, and what is my current fitness level? You really need to take an honest look and say: What physical activity have I been doing? What am I prepared to do?
Take stock of your personal fitness level and your skills and abilities — allow that to guide you. How can you gradually progress your physical activity in a way that you’re not overloading your system, leading to injury? Is there a way that you can modify the activity so that it’s suitable for your fitness level and your skill level? Whatever the activity is, it’s important to gradually progress.
Keep a log of your exercise: Which days did I go? What did I do? How much time did I spend at what intensity? If you’re not documenting those things, then it becomes really difficult to say: I’m ready to progress.
Q: What’s a good way for someone to assess their fitness and skill level, so they can develop a routine that matches?
A: If you don’t know what you’re doing in the gym (and) you don’t want to participate in group fitness, I would recommend getting a personal trainer who’s got the appropriate credentials and can do an assessment of your needs, goals and skills. If you’re not able to or you don’t want to do that, you can follow the (American College of Sports Medicine) guidelines.
When you begin physical activity, you want to evaluate: What cardiovascular activity have I been doing? What intensity has it been, and how frequently? Somebody who’s brand new is going to need to start at a very low intensity and work their way up gradually. Somebody who’s been engaged in maybe moderate cardiovascular exercise for 30 minutes a day, three days a week, for the last three months — that person has cardiovascular training and can do a bit more intense work gradually over time. If you’ve been doing high-intensity interval training, you can continue doing that.
For resistance training, it’s a little bit more nuanced. Somebody may have been doing resistance training — maybe they were a college athlete 10 or 20 years ago, and they’re highly skilled in lifting maneuvers, but they haven’t touched any weights since they were in college. So your skill level is different from what you’re capable of doing today. You’d want to consider: How much have I been lifting in the last six months? Have I been lifting two days a week, at least, for the last six months? If I have, then maybe I want to consider progressing to free weights from machines, or from body weight to more intense exercises. Those are the two things to consider: Is my body trained in resistance training? Do I have knowledge and skill in resistance training?
Q: Do machines provide more structure or support for someone who’s not used to free weights?
A: Machines kind of force you to have good mechanics when you’re lifting, if you position yourself correctly inside the machine. If you’ve set the seat or hands to the right height, you can really get a good benefit if you’re somebody who’s never done resistance training before. The machines are on tracks, and they don’t require the demand or stability that a free weight or a bodyweight exercise might require.
I would recommend people stay away from single-joint exercises if they’re trying to build strength or grow muscle. You can get more bang from your buck from a multi-joint exercise — anything that requires more than one joint to move at a time.
Q: Athletic trainers identify who might be more likely to get injured, and what puts them at risk. You mentioned pushing beyond our limits. Are there other factors that increase the risk of injury?
A: The biggest predictor of injury is past history of injury. The most common injuries are ankle, low back and shoulder injuries, generally speaking. So, if you’ve had an ankle injury in the past, and you’re going to start pickleball or basketball, you’re probably going to be experiencing an ankle sprain in your near future. If you’re a chronic shoulder dislocator and you pick up tennis, you’re going to be looking at some shoulder instability.
It’s about starting exercise appropriately and grading it appropriately. Any time you’re picking up an activity and you’re moving too quickly, you might get injuries that are very difficult to overcome.
Q: Are there injury warning signs that people should pay attention to?
A: First, pain before activity that goes away with activity. So you think, “Oh, I’m just going to warm up, and that pain is going to go away.” Then, it’s pain during activity that doesn’t go away after activity or at all.
If you feel an indication that there’s pain, it’s probably time to start dialing back. Don’t just say, “Oh, I’ll warm up and it’ll go away.” That’s your body telling you: “We need to dial it back now before it becomes a full-blown injury.”
Q: Is there a difference between soreness and pain?
A: Pain will be in a very specific area that you’re probably not used to feeling soreness in. Soreness is associated usually with muscles — that’s an indication that maybe you went a little hard on the resistance training. It’s normal to be sore; it’s not normal to be painfully sore.
With the beginning of an injury, you’ll usually feel the pain in a place that’s not a muscle. You might feel it on a specific part of your elbow, you might feel it on your knee. If you’re feeling pain on the bottom of your foot (or) your shin, where you don’t really have any muscles, (that's) probably an indication that you’re going too hard.
Q: How important is stretching to prevent injury?
A: It’s important to include structured warm-ups and cool-downs in an exercise routine, regardless of whether it’s cardiovascular training or resistance training. A structured warm-up should include flexibility exercises. You’re preparing for the exercise, so you do what’s called dynamic stretching — you stretch through movement, and you gradually increase the range of motion that you’re moving your body through.
At the end of a routine, you can do what’s called static stretching, which is the more traditional stretching where you get into the position and you hold closer to the end range of motion. These types of stretches should be (of) slight discomfort. If you’re in pain, you’re probably going too hard. You want to hold for maybe two sets of 30 seconds at that intensity per stretch, per side.
Engaging in stretching over time improves your posture, the way that you’re carrying your body, and then when you put your body under load, if you’re resistance training, or if you’re doing some sort of repetitive activity, you’re in a better position, which leads to fewer injuries over time.
Q: What recommendations do you have for people who want to build more sustainable exercise habits?
Looking for low-cost exercise classes in Arizona?
- The Ray & Joan Kroc Center offers low-cost day passes.
- FitPHX and Wesley Community & Health Centers offer a variety of no-cost programs for all ages.
A: Find the right place for you. Take advantage of week passes or day passes at different places. Engage in physical activity that you like. Don’t just go to the gym because you think that’s what you’re supposed to do. Maybe you like being outside — go hiking. Maybe you’re a very social person — go join a group fitness activity. People don’t realize that even walking has incredible benefits. So you could start by walking around your neighborhood, and then maybe gradually increase the amount of time you spend walking, and then you can gradually increase the speed at which you’re walking.
If you feel like you are capable of doing something, that’s more motivating. Start with activities that are beneficial, but that you know you can accomplish, that you feel like you’re capable of accomplishing. Can you have family support? Can you have support from friends? That doesn’t just mean, are they going to go to the gym with you? It does help if you have an accountability buddy, but if you have responsibilities at home, is whoever you have at home going to help you achieve your goals?
To make exercise more sustainable, implementing SMART goals is a really important strategy. It gives you direction, tells you what action you’re going to take to achieve that goal. My SMART goal shouldn’t be “I’m going to lose 30 pounds in a year by doing X, Y, and Z.” It should be, “I’m going to achieve a 25-minute three-mile run in six months by engaging in cardiovascular training three days a week for 30 minutes.” Those goals shouldn’t be focused on a body outcome; they should be focused on a performance outcome.
