Do you ever feel like you are getting nowhere in your attempt at getting fit?

If you’re like me, getting off my butt on a regular basis just to go for a walk every day is like moving a mountain!

Then, when I read things that tell me to do “cardio” and “strength training”…it’s like…
WHAT?!?!?!

 

Well, Ladies, it’s about time to face the facts.

 

We DO have to get active and engage in these seemingly tortuous tasks of Cardio and Strength Training…ICK!

 

Well, first, I’d like to know exactly what cardio and strength training are.

 A quick Google search later, I found some very informative articles on Cardio 101 at About.com by Paige Waehner.

 

Cardio exercise is “activity that raises your heart rate to a level where you’re working, but can still talk.”  Evidently, Cardio exercise is what you need to do to burn calories…sweat it out!

You can find a nifty Target Heart Rate Calculator on the site where you enter your age and activity level.  It then calculates a pulse range you should be at when you are exercising.  That takes about 5 seconds.

 

In her Exercise for Beginners article, Paige recommends

*  choose an activity you like…wow what a concept!  No more grit your teeth and suffer!

*  start with 2 or 3 days a week…no more need to feel like a failure because you can’t get yourself to exercise every day.

*  focus on building the habit and a consistent amount of time spent at each workout.

 

Let’s face it…those of us who are obese…many of whom experience joint pain…need this grace to get started.  We have lived our lives feeling like failures because we just couldn’t suck it up and exercise.

From Paige’s list of exercises, I would choose walking and swimming for myself since they are the most low impact and easier on my knees.

 

 

Strength Training for Beginners recommends absolute know-nothing beginners start off with Weight Training 101.

Weight training, or strength training, helps you lose fat, but it focuses on firming and toning the body. 

Exercises involve lifting weights or using equipment like rowing machines which offer resistance.  If you don’t have exercise equipment, use soup cans or bags of flour to get started.

Start off small.  It is more important again to do exercises that you will enjoy and that won’t hurt you.  Focus is on building the habit.

{Anyone else see a recurring theme here?}

Paige suggests beginners start out with 10-12 repetitions for 1 to 2 sets.  Workouts should be 3 non-consecutive days a week so you can rest in between working out.

Repetitions are simply the number of times you lift that barbell or can of Campbell’s soup.

Sets are the groupings of repetitions.  Doing 10 barbell lifts in a row (aka 10 repetitions) is one set.  Then you rest 10, 20, or 30 seconds.  If you do another 10 repetitions, that is your second set, and so on.

 

Now that seems easy enough, doesn’t it?

 

OF course it is.  It is the effort of building the habit of doing the exercises that is the hard part.  

Pick a day to start your exercise program and mark it down on your calendar.  Then make the choice to follow through and do it.

Remember, it does not have to be torture or cause you pain or dread.  It shouldn’t.  I keep hearing how regular exercise is supposed to relieve stress and give one a sense of well being. 

 

So let’s test it out.  Commit to exercising for a month.  Don’t miss a single day in your program.  Maybe you will feel like a million bucks.

I’m marking my calendar now!

 

Believe In Your Success, I Do!
Karen
mentor.karen.imnotfluffy@gmail.com

p.s.
I would recommend getting over to About.com and reading Paige’s articles to get the full scoop.  She does recommend getting a personal trainer to help you set up a safe exercise program.