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Maybe your doctor has recommended you to exercise more or have recently had a health alert. Maybe your family is harassing you to leave the couch or you have decided that it was time to lose weight.
How do you find the motivation, time, and resources to get in shape, especially if you have not done any physical exercise from time to time? How do you choose the best type of exercise? And do you need a health check before you start?
Read more:
Health check: how much physical activity is enough for older people?
Overcoming obstacles to the exercise
Motivation
Understanding the effects of a sedentary lifestyle on your health often only strikes you at home after a serious event such as hearing the bad news from your doctor. For some people, it's often enough motivation to get started.
Surviving a serious illness as a result of an inactive lifestyle, such as a heart attack or stroke, can also be scary enough to provide great motivation.
So, if you have not done any physical exercise for several years or if you have not done any exercise before, it is a good idea to get a checkup with your GP before starting.
Then you need to stay motivated enough to stay true to your exercise program. You can track your workout or fitness level and set achievable goals to keep going.
Lack of time
It's hard to find the time and effort needed to incorporate exercise into your daily routine. We know that lack of time is a common reason for not exercising. And many people, like office workers, vehicle or machinery operators, have low activity at work and do not want to exercise after a long day.
Read more:
The shortage of time is a slippery slope to inactivity
One way to get around these obstacles might be to attend a group exercise or a sports club. If you find that the exercise is boring, you can encourage a friend to join you or a group of exercises to make it enjoyable. If you practiced a sport in your youth, this could be an option.
Having a friend with whom to play sports or teammates to support you gives a sense of commitment that requires you to be there and who will be challenged if you do not show up.
Resources
There is no need to register in a gym with a lot of sophisticated equipment to get in shape. There are many YouTube videos of safe routines that you can follow and adjust as you get fit.
This one illustrates a 15-minute cardio exercise routine that you can do at home.
Many exercises – including squats, push-ups and sit-ups – do not require special equipment. And instead of improving muscle strength with weights at the gym, you can fill milk bottles with water.
Yes, you will blow. But it's getting easier
You may be thinking of starting aerobic exercises, such as the cardio workout above, walking, jogging, swimming or cycling. All need oxygen to provide energy for several minutes or more.
When we perform aerobic exercise, our heart rate increases with our breathing rate and depth. This is because this type of exercise requires oxygen to provide energy to continue.
Read more:
Health Check: What should be our maximum heart rate during exercise?
When we are not used to this type of exercise, our body does not efficiently use the oxygen we breathe to generate energy for our skeletal muscles. That's why, when we start an exercise program, we breathe more, we get tired quickly and we risk not completing the exercise.
But if we continue to exercise regularly, our body uses oxygen more efficiently and we are more efficient in generating enough energy for our muscles to work.
During weeks of regular exercise, the number and effectiveness of our body's mini-power plants – the mitochondria – increase in every cell. This increases the energy that they can provide to the muscles, exercise becomes easier and we recover faster after each session.
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Explainer: what are mitochondria and how did we get there?
That's why it's important to continue and repeat the workouts, even after an unstable start or a few delays. Yes, this can be a big challenge, but aerobic exercise becomes easier and easier as the body gets used to providing the energy it needs.
Do you think about yoga or just stretching? Here is what to expect
Yoga is a great way to start an exercise program and you can practice it at different levels of intensity. Stretching and other movements improve flexibility and strength. Yoga also emphasizes breathing and relaxation through meditation.
Yoga, like other forms of exercise, will be difficult at first. But it gets easier as the weeks go by as your body adapts. It is therefore important to be persistent and to exercise as part of your routine with at least three sessions of one hour maximum per week.
Read more:
The paradox of yoga: how yoga can cause pain and treat it
At first, you may have muscle pain. Although it may be uncomfortable, the pain disappears after about a week. You can reduce this pain by starting with low intensity and gradually increasing during the first month.
Once your muscles get used to the new movements, the pain will be minimal as you progress.
Read more:
Health Check: Why do my muscles hurt the day after exercise?
Watch your joints
We know that overweight or obesity has adverse effects on the heart, bones, joints and other organs, including the pancreas, which regulates glucose levels in the blood (sugar). Obesity can also affect brain health and is related to poor knowledge.
The good news is that regular exercise can help reduce these negative effects.
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But if you are overweight or obese, exercising can be very stressful for your joints, especially the articular surface, the cartilaginous surface of the bones that touch each other. Thus, the hips, knees and ankles can become inflamed and painful.
So it may be better to include exercises that reduce the load, such as water exercises or the use of a home bike or a rower. Once you have lost weight and your cardiovascular function has improved, you can add more walking or jogging to your workout program.
The right diet helps you motivate yourself
A healthy diet that you can maintain in the long run is a very important part of any fitness routine. Not only can it help you lose weight, but it can also provide the right kind of fuel to fuel your new program of exercises.
Read more:
Health Check: What is the best diet to lose weight?
Getting lots of fiber from fruits, vegetables and whole grains will help reduce weight and keep it off during exercise.
Sugar, especially that found in soft drinks and sweets, contains few nutrients and increases the risk of diabetes, metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease. We must therefore reduce refined carbohydrates such as bread and rice, sweetened cereals and refined pasta, as these include sugars that we try to avoid and whose fibers have been removed. Replace with oats, carrots or potatoes.
It is best to avoid fad diets, which tend to be restrictive and hard to maintain. They can lead to a yo-yo effect in which you will only lose weight for it to come back.
Read more:
Food for fitness: Is it better to eat before or after exercise?
In a word
Once you have decided to start exercising and have a medical exam if necessary, start slowly and develop your workout routine over weeks and months. Make it interesting and enjoyable, perhaps working with a friend or a group. Set achievable goals, try to stick to them, and do not be discouraged if you have a setback.
Losing weight and staying in shape requires different approaches for different people. Find what's right for you and incorporate it into your lifestyle. Gradually increase the intensity and frequency of your exercises, from three times a week minimum for 20 minutes to longer and more intense sessions more often.
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