The Key to Starting an Exercise Program

Photo by Gustavo Fring: https://www.pexels.com/photo/overweight-woman-exercising-outdoors-4970985/

You’re ready to go!

You’ve got your gym membership, or perhaps home fitness equipment or exercise videos.

You’ve decided on what type of exercise to do and have figured out where to put it in your schedule.

You even have new exercise clothes.

Time to get in shape!

I don’t want to rain on your exercise parade, but I’ve seen too many people make the same mistake when starting to exercise that I feel I should caution you…

Take it slow and easy at first!

If you have never exercised before, or if it’s been a while, your body needs a little time to get into the swing of things. When you first start exercising, your body doesn’t really know where it’s limits are and it won’t tell you when you’re exceeding them until… you do.

This can take the form of an actual injury that you feel right away, such as a strained muscle, but more commonly, it results in simple muscle soreness that shows up a day or two after you overdo and may stick with you for up to a week or more.

Now, there’s soreness as in being a little stiff and then there’s soreness as in you can’t move without major pain! I’ve seen quite a number of people over the years in the second category. And while there are some things that can be done to ease the symptoms somewhat, it usually just takes time for things to ease off.

This wouldn’t be a big deal, but for a lot of people, it puts them off of exercise that would be of great benefit to them in the long run. This is especially true of people who are older, extremely out of shape, and/or who have health conditions (arthritis, fibromyalgia, post-viral fatigue, etc.) that may initially flare up with increased activity.

I’ve seen a lot of people who start off too fast, feel absolutely horrible as a result, and they never go back to the gym and start using their shiny new exercise equipment as a clothes drying rack.

So, my advice for anyone starting up a new exercise program is to begin with what feels really, really easy. Don’t be afraid to look like a wimp in the gym (chances are, the other people in the gym aren’t paying nearly as much attention to you as you think). Keep your first few workouts relatively brief and at a low intensity. Again, do what feels very easy and if you think you can do more – don’t!

Your very easy is going to be different from other people’s very easy. Maybe you can easily do half an hour on the treadmill, maybe you can only do a couple of minutes. Start where you are and never mind where others are (or think you should be).

If you feel good after the first few workouts, increase the duration OR the intensity (do one or the other, not both at the same time) a LITTLE bit. Remember that the worst soreness typically shows up 2 days after the workout, so evaluate then how things are going. If you feel reasonably good, bump things up a bit more.

After a month or so of very gradual increases, it’s usually fine to increase duration or intensity a bit faster. Also after a month, you’ll start to become more in-touch with your body and begin to recognize what’s too much and back off before you get into trouble.

Exercise is something you have to do continuously to keep the benefits, so there’s generally no need to rush to get to a certain level. Consistency is the key to getting good results, and you can’t be consistent if you have to take time off because of an injury or because you’re just too sore to work out.

By taking things slowly, you give your body a chance to adapt to the new demands and it will be a lot less likely to rebel against them.

Then your main problem will be finding somewhere other than your exercise equipment to hang your clothes.

Until next time,

George Best, D.C.

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