The Shape Up Challenge: Fitness guidelines
The Shape Up Challenge consists of two simple components: walking and strength training. We'll start slowly and add exercises to your workout routine on a week-by-week basis. To find out which exercises you should be doing each week, check out the weekly fitness assignments.
For example, the assignment for week one is to walk for ten minutes at least three times during the week. That's it! Of course, this can be modified depending on your fitness level. If you exercise regularly, aim to walk four or five times a week for up to 30 minutes. If at any time, you feel like you're overdoing it, just slow down and take a rest. And if you think you need to take a day off because you're not feeling well or your muscles are sore, then you should.
Before you start, remember:
- Don't repeat the same exercises day after day. Not only is this boring, but you'll stop seeing results because your muscles become efficient at doing the same exercise over and over and they won't have to work as hard.
- Listen to your body. On the days you feel strong, challenge yourself and on the days you don't feel 100%, take it easy.
- Don't work out if you're coming down with an illness that manifests itself in symptoms below the throat (i.e. swollen glands or a chest infection). Your body is already working overtime to deal with the infection and exercise will only put more stress on your body.
- If an exercise hurts, don't do it. Challenge yourself but accept your body's limits. Treat each small injury by taking care of it and allowing it to heal.
- Alternate weight training with aerobics (for example, do aerobic training on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays, and strength training on Tuesdays and Thursdays) and add variety to your aerobics sessions. For example, try swimming, running, skipping, cycling, Tae Bo or a step video.
- Make sure you have the right clothing and trainers for the specific workouts you do. Trainers should be changed after around 400 miles, or every three to six months depending on how often you work out each week.
- Start each strength training session by warming up your body and gently preparing it for exercise. If you're in the gym, do ten minutes on the bike. If you're at home do 10 minutes stepping up and down on the stairs or take a brisk 10-minute walk. The idea is to get your muscles warmed up without using all the energy you're going to need for the strength work.
- With many of the exercises below you may wish to use weights as you get more advanced. If you don't own any, tins of beans or small 500ml bottles of water will do.
- Finally, remember it's the quality, not the quantity of exercise that counts. Do each exercise slowly and pay attention to correct form and alignment.
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