FAQ: How to Start Exercising
Step into my office, friends and let me share with you my top 5 tips!
1. Something is better than nothing. Seriously. 10 minutes. A walk. You don’t need to jog. Unless you want to. Then jog. Dance around, bend your knees, march in place, lift some heavy things, hold a plank (on your knees counts, too!).
2. Keep track. You might want to try a pedometer, or a FitBit, or a smart watch, but they’re not necessary. There are other ways to benchmark your fitness: Before your first workout, check your blood pressure at your local pharmacy. Then recheck once a month. Time yourself at a track, on a treadmill, or on a route around your neighborhood. Retest yourself after one month of consistent exercise. Measure your waist circumference and your weight. Take these measurements once a week. Put on a pair of pants that are a bit too tight. Take them off. Put them on a few weeks later. See also, holes in your belts!
3. Weight train. Lifting weights prevents muscle loss. It also improves overall body composition, giving you more lean muscle tissue in relation to fat, so you look compact and trim. You can lift gallons of milk. Soup cans. Dumbells. Barbells. Tires. Children. Leave your cart up by the door to the supermarket and carry two heavy bags of groceries back to your car (which you’ve parked in a far-away spot, natch).
4. Head for the hills! Look for hills along your walking route – or bump up that incline on your treadmill. Walking or running up inclines boosts the intensity of your workout: It burns more calories and helps build muscle strength and cardiovascular endurance. Switching between flat surfaces and hills is a form of interval training, a type of workout that involves short bursts of high-intensity exercise in between moderate activity. This kind of exercise can supercharge your workout! If you have bad knees, go easy on the downhill — slow your pace and shorten your stride.
5. Don’t do it if you don’t love it. The perfect exercise is whatever you enjoy. Do something you can fit in daily and something you can continue doing. Walk briskly, run, bike, sign up for a dance class! It’s all good. Aim to gradually increase the duration and intensity. As you get more fit, your functional capacity increases, so you can do more. If you love your daily walk, add distance, and build up speed. If you love cycling, add another few miles or tackle a hill. It all adds up and getting going today will keep you going for the long run.
Want a personalized program, tailored specifically to YOU, your needs, your goals, your schedule? Get in touch and let me help!
