Starting a physical fitness program is among the best decisions a person can do for her health. And starting it while she is young allows her to avoid developing chronic illnesses in the future. It also helps her maintain a healthy weight and improve her sleeping habits.
A busy schedule can be an obstacle to starting an exercise routine, especially for young brides who are still adjusting to the life of a married person. But they do not need to set aside an hour to exercise. Instead, they can allot 15 or 30 minutes in between activities or chores for their fitness program.
Here are some tips that can help you to start an exercise routine.
Check Your Fitness Level
Before starting a fitness program, you should check your fitness level to monitor your progress better. You should set baseline scores to set the benchmarks you need to see if you improved over time. Among the things you should evaluate are your flexibility, muscular fitness, aerobic fitness, and body composition.
To check your fitness level, you can check your pulse rate before and after walking one mile. Aside from walking, you can also check how long it takes for you to run 1.5 miles. You can also check how many push-ups you can perform at a time. You should also check your body mass index and the circumference of your waist.
Record the results and use these figures as your baseline to see if your workout routine helped improve your fitness level.
Know the Amount of Exercise You Need
After checking your fitness level, you should know the amount of exercise you need to stay fit and healthy. Even if you do not go to the gym, you can still exercise when you talk a walk around the neighborhood. You can also opt to use the stairs rather than the elevator at work.
While performing household chores requires physical activities, they should not replace any exercise program. Adults should perform at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activities every week. This means you should set aside 30 minutes each day for five days to keep yourself physically fit.
Some people do not have time to set aside 30 minutes of their day to exercise. In this case, you can either perform three 10-minute exercises or two 15-minute workouts. Both workout regimens are effective in keeping you healthy.
Create a Fitness Program
Once you know your fitness level and the amount of exercise you need, you should create a fitness program that you can follow. The program should incorporate the goals or objectives you want to reach. These goals can be losing weight or even joining a marathon in the future.
After setting your goals, you can start creating an exercise routine that allows you to perform at least 150 minutes of aerobic activities each week. The 150-minute recommendation is for moderate aerobic activities. If you plan to perform vigorous aerobic activities, you only have to allot 75 minutes per week.
You should also perform strength training exercises on all the major muscle groups in the body. You can perform these exercises twice a week and start with one set of exercises. You can increase the number of sets and resistance level as your muscles start to gain strength.
When your fitness level increases, you can consider adding more activities to your routine. You can even start swimming or perform cross-training activities in the future.
Take Safety into Account
Before starting your exercise program, you should get medical clearance, especially if you have some underlying health issues, such as asthma, heart disease, or diabetes. You should also make sure to warm up before you start your physical fitness routines. Warm-ups reduce the risk of injury on the muscles and tendons. It also enhances performance. Warm-up activities include arm swings and walking lunges.
If you are planning to perform strength training exercises, you should get elbow sleeves for lifting. These compression sleeves protect your tendons and muscles when you lift heavier weights. They lower blood pooling and blood lactate levels to reduce pain and swelling. They also allow your muscles to recover faster following intense training.
After your exercise routine, you should also cool down. Setting aside a few minutes after your workout to cool down allows the heart rate to return to its normal resting rate. Some cool-down exercises you can perform include gentle stretches and light jogs. And when you work out, you should make sure to drink a lot of water to keep yourself hydrated.
Exercising is a good way to stay healthy and fit, which is essential during a health crisis.
