Has the cold temperatures and rainy days stopped you from exercising this winter? Now spring is here and daylight savings is around the corner it is time for you to start increasing the activity levels in your life. The Ministry of Health has set guidelines that we should be exercising at moderate intensity for at least 30 minutes a day.
Here are some tips to get you started in your new exercise regime.
Start with the right equipment
Ensure you have the right equipment for your activity. The most important thing for most forms of physical activity is to ensure you have good shoes. You may think that you don’t need to update your shoes but even sitting at the bottom of your cupboard shoes can lose some of their cushioning.
Chose something that interests you
There is no point in choosing an activity that you dislike doing as your stick ability will be low. So think about things you enjoy doing and find ways of incorporating those activities into your day. For example if you like dancing, join a dancing class, aerobics class or try Zumba. If you get pleasure from cycling think about going out for a ride around the park, visit your local bike shop and see if they know of any weekly riding groups or try mountain biking. Alternatively if swimming is an activity you like, get a membership at your local pool or give aqua jogging a go.
Build up slowly
Always do a good 5 minute warm up before every workout to ensure muscles are properly warm before going into an intense exercise session. Also cool down after every workout and stretch to avoid sore muscles and injuries. Furthermore, avoid going too hard too fast when first starting an exercise regime as you will be more likely to have an injury or stop after a week. It is best to increase the length of workout or intensity over a period of time.
Use a pedometer
If just starting out on an exercise routine a good way to ensure you increase you daily physical activity is by wearing a pedometer and measuring your daily steps (some people can do as low as 3000 steps a day). From here increase your steps to do a minimum of 10,000 steps a day this is the equivalent of walking around 8Km. If you have a high base number of steps, try to achieve another 3000 - 4000 by going for a 30 minute brisk walk once a day. If this is hard to fit into your schedule, break it up into 10 or 15 minute slots.
Make an appointment to exercise
You would never thinking of missing an important business meeting so why not schedule your exercise into your diary and treat it like a meeting you can’t cancel. Additionally, organise your workout clothes and shoes the night before so that you have no excuse in the morning, all you need is to jump into your clothes or grab your bag and go!
Enter an event
Lacking motivation to exercise, entering an event can give you a goal to work towards, which can be a great way to get started. You can then break down your training into small manageable steps, try a mini triathlon or duathlon some that are run nationwide are the triseries www.triseries.co.nz or a women’s only Real duathlon www.realduathlon.co.nz.
Make it a social occasion
Make it a family affair and get out and have some fun, kick a ball around with your children for an afternoon, go for family bike rides around the park, or go for nature walks and get the kids to name as many plants or birds as they can. Similarly, it is a great motivator to have a friend who will help encourage you and make physical activity a more enjoyable experience. An idea could be to grab a work colleague and take a walk during your lunch break or after work. Alternatively you could join clubs like a tramping club, find a local running group in your area, or attend fitness classes at your local gym or hall and meet some new friends.
Track your progress
Track your improvements, time taken to run, bike or swim a certain distance, slowly trying to decrease the length of time taken; how many Km’s you are running, swimming or biking, increase the distance 500m to 1km further every fortnight; If going to the gym, keep a track of the number of reps you do each time and remember to increase your weights when you can achieve the maximum number of reps the gym professional recommended.
Activity Ideas
- Walking or running
- Swimming or aqua jogging/aerobics
- Road cycling or mountain biking
- Skipping – play jump rope with the kids
- Dance classes or aerobics classes
- Strength training, using weights or body weights
- Rollerblading
- Pilates
- Games – tennis, basketball, indoor netball, touch rugby
- Over a week take note of how much time is spent watching TV or on the computer. Then try and reduce it by replacing it with a less-sedentary activity.