What You Don't Need To Know Home -> The Library -> Where Do I Begin? -> Don't Need To Know Getting started in health and fitness can be an intimidating task at best. At worst, it can be completely overwhelming. Here are some ideas on things that you don't really need to know in order to start getting into better shape right now. 1. What your target heart rate is. Though this can be helpful, it does require calculations and some understanding of cardiovascular training. When you start training, you don't need to know the range of how many beats per minute you should keep your pulse rate at. Rule of Thumb: If you can still talk while you are doing it, then you are in a good training zone. This is called the "Talk" test. 2. The exact caloric and nutrient measurement of everything you eat. As you get more serious with training, you may wish to know exactly how much of everything you are eating in a day. When you are first starting out, this practice can be time-consuming and intimidating. Rule of Thumb: Write down what you eat during the day to keep yourself honest. Phase out junk food and include more whole, unprocessed foods. 3. How to design a complete exercise program for yourself. You may wish to learn how to do this at some point, but don't bite off more than you can chew. Exercise programs can be very simple or very complex, depending on your needs and/or goals. Rule of Thumb: Start with a simple activity such as walking just to start doing something. Learn some basics on your own or seek professional help (e.g. BetterU, Inc. ). 4. How to use every machine in a gym. Chances are, you probably don't need to know how to use any machines in a gym. You can do an effective workout using only what you have available in your house right now! Rule of Thumb: Learn some basic exercises. The rest will come in time. 5. Physiology, anatomy and biomechanics. You don't need to know what they are or why you might even need to know them. You can exercise and see the benefits and results without ever knowing why or how it is happening. As you progress, you should, however, strive to increase your knowledge of training and how it works. It will help you improve your progress. Rule of Thumb: Learn enough to start doing something. Don't worry about things that won't affect your progress right now. Return to the Where Do I Begin? Homepage STEP 3: Learn some Exercises and Stretches you can do.