Best Life

Exercise: where to start

Bob Greene is an exercise physiologist and certified personal trainer. He is also a renowned author and frequent guest on “Oprah.”

You know you need to exercise to lose weight and stay healthy, but where should you start? Should you do aerobic or strength training? How often should you work out? How hard? Use the tips below to design a fitness plan that will help you achieve your goals–whether you’re lacing up your sneakers for the first time or you’re returning to exercise after a break. (Remember, get your doc’s OK before you begin.)

Set your goal
Figure out exactly what you want to accomplish. Your exercise plan might be different if you’re looking to lose weight than if you want to improve your overall fitness. The guidelines outlined below can help you create a routine that will peel off pounds.

Find an activity that you enjoy
Most people focus on aerobic exercise when they’re trying to lose weight, and that’s a great place to begin. Aerobic exercise is any activity that uses the large muscle groups, can be maintained continuously, is rhythmic in nature and elevates your heart rate and breathing. This includes jogging, walking, swimming, rowing and biking. If you’re just starting, I’d recommend power walking because you can do it virtually anywhere, anytime and the risk of injury is low.

Schedule your sweat sessions
Determine how much exercise you can fit into your life. A good place to start: 15 to 20 minutes three times a week. If you can do more, great. If you’re looking to lose weight, your ultimate goal is to exercise five or six times a week for 30-to-60 minutes per session at a moderately vigorous intensity.

Work on intensity
You have to work out at an intense enough level to reap the full benefits of exercise. To gauge intensity, you can use the Rate of Perceived Exertion scale, a tool that relies on your breathing to determine how hard you’re working. It consists of ten levels; 1 is resting, and 10 is all-out exercise. The level you want to aim for is a 7 or 8. At this level, you could still talk, but would prefer not to, and though the workout is challenging, you can still complete your planned workout.

Add in strength training
Once you’re comfortable with your aerobic routine, try incorporating some strength training. Strength training helps maintain and build new muscle; it takes more calories for the body to maintain muscles than it does fat, so the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn. There are some great routines on my Web site, TheBestLife.com.

     Whatever your level of fitness is today, you can significantly improve it by consistently challenging your ability. So if you’ve never exercised or haven’t in some time, start with small steps towards your goals and before you know it, you’ll not only be slimmer, but you’ll be fitter and healthier, too!