Getting started: Take it slow, do something, stretch with smarts
There are no “little steps” to getting started with a fitness routine. Procrastination can get to us all. Just walk outside—the sun and the fresh air will ignite your endorphins. If you feel good, you’ll be ready to work out. If you work out, you’ll feel even better. It’s a cycle. Take that first step into the fresh air.
Stretch with smarts.
“When people don’t feel well, the temptation is to do nothing,” said Chaun Cox, M.D., a family physician at Mayo Clinic Health System in Mankato. “But when you exercise, you feel less tired. Even just taking a 10-minute walk is a good start.”1
Exercise can be medicine if you approach it the right way.
Moderation is key. There is no sense at starting at 100%. You can hurt yourself.
Mental preparedness is everything. Without it there is no way you will end up with a routine that you can maintain.
Routines like the “Couch to 5k” can be recipes for disaster for some people. Your bones are not yet used to the impact. You’re putting a load on your body that it’s not adapted to or used to. You’re potentially opening yourself up for stress fractures andother types of injuries.
How much exercise do you need?
According to the Department of Health and Human Services, adults should aim for:
• At least 150 minutes a week of moderate aerobic activity (walking, swimming, mowing the lawn) or 75 minutes a week of vigorous aerobic activity (running, aerobics)
• Two to three strength training sessions a week2
Know your body; listen to your body.
If it hurts more than you used to, or more than few days get it checked out. Start slow. Listen to your body—I can’t stress that enough. And if something hurts or isn’t working well, take care of it by resting, seeing a doctor, or revisiting your exercise plan (or all the above). I’m in sports medicine and I know that “no pain, no gain” works only to a certain degree.
There can be some benefits to stretching but these benefits are often exaggerated. The stretching needs to be specific to the individual, the exercise you will be attempting, and any injuries you’re working around. Stretching is not a “one-size-fits-all” thing. Ideally, you’d see a physician first to tailor your stretching exercise prescription.
You don’t have to join a gym or build a home gym to work out.
Everyday options include:
• Walking. Get in your “steps” if you have a fitness tracker. Walk up and down every aisle at the grocery store. Window-shop the whole mall. Take a walk around your neighborhood. Don’t take the closest parking spot to the door. Take the stairs, not the elevator.
• Housework. You can kill two daunting tasks with one stone. Sweeping, mopping, making beds can all get up your heart rate. Mow, garden, shovel. Washing the windows can get the blood pumping. Listen to music while you’re doing it, and dance between tasks.
• Play with your kids. Children may be the greatest exercise machines of them all. They never seem to wear out. Run and play with them. Dance with them. Take them on a bike ride. Go to the playground and don’t just watch them on the play structure—get on it yourself and climb, hang, jump, and slide!3
Do something. Do it smartly.
References
1. Doctor’s Orders. “Need to exercise? Start slowly.” Mayo Clinic Health System. Published: May 2014; accessed: July 29, 2021. https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/doctors-orders/need-to-exercise-start-slowly
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.