Walk first

If you are looking to trim those extra pounds and get rid of that spare tire, you are like more than half of Americans today. Diet and exercise related products have become big business. The problem is, America is still fat! Why is it that the country that buys the most weight loss products in the world is also the fattest in the world?

I'll tell you why. There are too many people looking for a quick fix. Let me set the record straight now: There is no magic pill! Granted there are pills that can help, but you should only use them after consulting your physician.

Another mistake people make, besides placing their hopes in a magic pill, is over-doing it in the beginning. I've done that myself. I decide on Friday that after I eat all the food I want over the weekend that I am going to start losing weight on Monday. When Monday rolls around I would go out and jog a couple miles.

That's all fine and good. The only problem is that since I hadn't been exercising for months, the next morning I felt the pain. My muscles were sore, my joints hurt, and I was lethargic. This was not only hurting my body, but it was getting in the way of my fitness goals. Since I could barely move, I wouldn't run the next day. Or the day after that, or the day after that, and before I knew it I had forgotten all about my fitness goals.

Then one day I decided I would start out walking, and it changed my life. I walked a mile, and the next day I wasn't so sore I couldn't move. I got up and walked again. I started with only going a mile. I did that for a whole month, three times a week. I gradually built up to jogging, then running three miles three times a week.

So to start out, walk. We crawl before we can walk, so must we walk before we run. If you are new to exercise this is especially important. If you start out running a mile if you've haven't exercised for years will hurt your overall progress. For the first day, if you run, you will be fine, but it will be much harder to keep it going as running from the start will make you sore. It will take a toll on your body.

RECOMENDED READING:
Nordic Walking Step By Step - The First English Language Book Published On The Subject Of Nordic Walking

The Man Who Grew Younger. Fitness And Health Exercises Especially Designed For The Middle-aged And Senior Citizens

Exercise for Time, not Distance - II.

It is much better to make time goals and increase those, especially when you are starting out. Twenty minutes is a good time for beginners. It should be challenging but very doable. If you think walking for 20 minutes, 3 times a week won’t increase your fitness level, or give you all those awesome health benefits, think again. Just that much will make a difference, and remember you can and will move on to bigger and better things that will increase your fitness level more dramatically.

So make the investment in a stopwatch and exercise for time. Starting with 20 minutes, 3 times a week, increase your goal every week or two. This part is more subjective, as you should increase your time goals only if you think you can handle it. This is the beauty of the time goal, because even if you stay at 20 minutes for three months, you will be going faster and father and still increasing your fitness level will be increasing.

With the distance goal, if you keep it the same for months, say one mile. You will reach a point where you will plateau because it will take you the same amount of time to go that distance, so your heart rate will only be up for that short period of time.

Exercise for Time, not Distance - I.

If you plan or are starting out an aerobic exercise program, one of the most helpful tips I can give is to exercise for time, not distance. The only reason to exercise with a distance goal in mind is if you are training for some sort of test or marathon. Since most of us just want to trim that extra bulge in our bellies, training for distance doesn’t work for us.

The goal of our exercise is to improve overall health. This means that we are trying to get our heart rate up and keep it up for a period of time, not trying to see how long it takes us to run a mile.

The problem with exercising for distance is that it does not scale with your fitness level. If we make our goal to walk or run two miles, we will make our goal, but if your fitness level is high, then you can do it much quicker, and therefore you won’t get the benefits of keeping your heart pumping for a longer amount of time.