Planning your own fitness programme

Now that you have a basic understanding of fitness and it’s benefits, I’d like to show you how to put together a fitness programme of your own. Before we start though, remember to make an appointment with your doctor to establish that you are fit to take on an exercise programme. Our programme focuses on riding a bicycle, with walking and swimming when you feel like a change.

Establishing your first target

You will be pleased to hear that making up a fitness programme is not too difficult at all. One of the first things to do is to establish a target. In the first instance your target could be to complete some fitness task 3 times a week for the first month. If you achieve this, then you will have done brilliantly and deserve a reward!

Write down “ My aim is to complete one month of consistent fitness” and it put somewhere where you will see it everyday for the next month. That way you will be reminded of your aim, which can help aid your motivation.

Once you have completed the first month, you can aim to increase the duration of your fitness up to say 40 minutes per fitness session keeping the effort level the same. But for the moment, in this article, we’ll focus on your first month.

Making the time for your fitness

You need to establish what time you have available to do your fitness. Now this may be hard because you probably have a full time job and kids to look after. You will need to have a very good look at your lifestyle too and decide on what could easily be substituted now and again for your fitness. Remember we are only looking for an hour (30 minutes for some fitness and 15 minutes either side to change and shower). We are therefore looking for one hour three times a week. Can you find the time?

Most people when sat down with a hot cup of their favourite beverage will find the time for fitness. There is a saying that you can “make” time - which is true. Ask yourself how much you respect yourself to become fit and healthy? I’m sure you can make the time.

What sport when, and how much a week?

This is where I suggest you keep a very flexible approach. This way you can choose what sports out of the three you would like to do with your available time. If you have never considered riding a bike before, don’t worry; easycycling will help you in the next section on where to start.

Now that you have found some time to workout and are keen to make your first ever month in fitness, let’s look at a typical week that you might do to keep fit and happy. Remember to start easily with your fitness programme. We will start with 20 minutes of continuous exercise to be done 3 times in the week. Take a look at table 1:

You can of course choose which sport to practice when, and indeed you could repeat a sport. The idea behind this is that if you don’t have time for your biking in the week, you can easily do walking or swimming instead. Always keep your fitness programme varied and flexible like this - and you’ll enjoy it so much more than something more fixed.

Warming up and stretching are important part of your programme

Before you start to get into stride with one of your three sports during the week, it is important to warm into your workout starting very easily. This first five to ten minutes of 'starting up', warms your muscles progressively into the workout. Working out quite hard from rest can be a shock to your body, so take it easy. You will enjoy your whole workout so much more when warmed in.

After your workout, when the muscles are still warm, take the chance to stretch some of your muscles. Over the long term this will help you overall 'flexibility'. This means you won't feel so stiff after a days work etc.

There are numerous exercise stretching advice out on the net, but the main point is to never bounce whilst stretching - just go as far as you start to feel the muscles stretch out, no more. Hold the stretch for 20 to 30 seconds. Be persistent with your stretching fitness, but never over do it. Your aim is probably not to be a gymnast!

Continued article on next page ...

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