Getting Started

Getting Started With Your Fitness Plan!

Just getting start on a fitness plan is half the battle. Exercise is good for you and can help you maintain a healthy weight and boost your overall energy level. Regular exercise will help decreases stress and anxiety, and helps improve your mood.

Exercise can and should be fun. Before you begin you will need to figure out what motivates you to exercise, which types of activities you'll enjoy most, and how to fit them into your life.

Following these 5 steps in Part I is a great start to a new healthier you.

PART I

1. Determine Your Fitness Motivators and Health Benefits

What motivates you to want to be physically active? Below are some of the benefits and reasons that you want to make fitness a part of your life.

• Have more energy
• Release stress
• Keep my heart healthy
• Improve my overall health
• Manage my weight
• Improve my self-esteem

2. Determine Your Everyday Activities

You can move your body more by changing your daily routine, such as walking instead of getting a ride. Here are just a few ideas. See if you can come up with some more.

• Walking instead of driving or taking the bus
• Taking the stairs instead of the elevator
• Walk around while talking on the phone

3. Determine Other Physical Activities

Other ways of exercising are physical activities such as riding your bike or playing a sport. These activities require more of your energy.

• Riding my bike
• Playing a team sport
• Taking a dance class
• Watersports

4. When is Your Best Time to Get Fit

You need to make room in your busy schedule to make time for fitness. Think about ways to work a workout into your day.   Below area some strategies that will help you make time for fitness.

• Cut TV, internet, and video game time in half
• Take a friend, or a group of friends on a walk
• Schedule work-out time in my planner

5. Set Clear Fitness Goals

Having clear goals can help keep you motivate and focused. Determine your top three fitness goals for the next month. These should be activities that are very doable in your busy schedule. Here are a few ideas.

• Join a sports team, or learn a new sport
• Try a new dance or aerobics class
• Try an exercise DVD
• Run a mile
• Start a walking club with friends

Now you're on your way to getting started with your new fitness program.

PART II: Starting The Fitness PLAN

A good fitness plan should include a balance of stretching, toning, and aerobic activities. Stretching exercises that will keep you flexible, help you relax, and help prevent injuries such as pulling a muscle from reaching too far.

This list will give you some ideas for aerobic exercises that will help keep your heart healthy and strong.

Toning the right muscles is important. Below are strength exercises that will help you build strong muscles and boost your metabolism.

PART III: My Fitness Plan

Make sure to make time to do the activities that you've chosen from Part I.   FThis will help you plan your fitness schedule so that exercising becomes part of your weekly routine.

Create a calendar with the activities that you've chosen. Think about what activities will work best on which days and what time of day would be best to do them. Remember to balance stretching, moving, and toning exercises. You don't have to do all three in one day, but remember to also schedule your week so that you're not doing only one type of exercise.

After you've created your fitness schedule on this worksheet, it's a good idea to mark the days that you plan to exercise on your own calendar or planner. Put this calendar someplace where you'll see it as a reminder of what's coming up.

Within the first week you will start feeling the effects of beginning your fitness plan. You may experience some muscle soreness, but that is common. Keep up your routine. The soreness will go away.

Over time you will feel more energized and healthy. Your stamina will improve and you'll be amazed at what you can do today that you couldn't do 3 months ago.