Starting the Exercise Journey
Exercise is an important part of your healthy lifestyle changes.
It is a key mechanism in reducing weight. Additionally, it is important for your mental health. Many studies have shown people who exercise have better stress management, less anxiety, sleep better and have less depression.
So how do you get started.
First Steps
If you are overweight and deconditioned, its best to start slowly.
Make a plan and set goals. Yes you may want to play sport or climb mountains, but you need to start small and be consistent. That means going atleast 4 times a week.
Non weight bearing exercise is the best way to start.
Cycling, Rowing, Ellipticals all provide you with great exercise without stressing the joints.
The first day I started back in the gym, I lasted 2 minutes on a rowing machine. Now I surf at Bells beach in 15 foot waves. Start small set your goals and you will get there. Do not care what other people think, go start your exercise for yourself.
Set a plan for 2 minutes on a rower, then 2 minutes on a cycle and 2 minutes on an elliptical. As I said if you can manage that, you were way ahead of me when I started.
If you dont have access to these machines, try walking or flights of stairs.
Go everyday and slowly increase your exercise time.
Check out the stretching video and make this part of your workout.
Next phase
The next step is to start Resistance Training. The best exercises to do this are
DeadLifts
Squats
Dumbell exercises
Bench press or Push ups
Pull ups
Again set your goals , but start with low weights and build up each week. Use cardio to warm up or in between your sets to maximise your time. No rest.
I definitely believe that resistance training has more positive impact that cardio and is much faster and easier to perform in smaller time frames.
Your Future Goals
For many of you, we have reached the goal already. You have adopted healthy exercise into your life.
Losing weight will improve how you feel and reduce the risk of many adverse conditions.
But some of you will want to go further. Your new body is now capable of many things it couldnt do.
I started playing sport again, added in calisthenics and then surfing.
Whatever your goals are you now know how to push yourself to achieve whatever you want.
