I have done a fair bit of reverse engineering to date including malware analysis. Havent read all the comments but of course a safe environment is important. Virtual environments can even be broken out of if you dont know how to debug simple samples that check for disassemblers or debugger presence. I recommend if you want to get some hands on experience checkout https://nostarch.com/malware (Practical Malware analysis) it will prepare you for messing with real life samples. Techniques are still relevant but technology might be different. Eg: IDA is great but Ghirda is the new hotness on the street.

Anyways have fun, good luck and be safe. Most of all happy hacking :)