Lana Soko is passionate about health and writes for http://www.lose-weight-with-us.com Exercise How to Start. The First Three Months Lana Soko http://www.lose-weight-with-us.com Lana Soko is passionate about health and writes for http://www.lose-weight-with-us.com Contents Introduction ........................................................................................................ 3 Exercise – How to Start ....................................................................................... 4 Exercise – The Warm Up ..................................................................................... 6 Exercise – Your first month Running ................................................................... 8 Exercise – Month 2 ........................................................................................... 10 Exercise – Month 3 ........................................................................................... 12 What’s the Best Way to Lose Weight and get Fit following the Birth of Your Baby? ................................................................................................................ 14 Lana Soko is passionate about health and writes for http://www.lose-weight-with-us.com Introduction This eBook will guide you through: 1. getting motivated to begin exercising, and answering a number of questions you are likely to have 2. How to stretch. An exercise plan for the first 3 months. 3. and lastly, I’ve added in a chapter on getting fit if you’ve recently given birth Lana Soko is passionate about health and writes for http://www.lose-weight-with-us.com Exercise – How to Start This chapter is written from the perspective that you do little exercise today, and by the fact you are at least reading this, you would like to start exercising. At this stage we’re not going to tell you what to do, but we want you to get your mind into the zone that says ‘I need to exercise’, and now you are taking the first steps to understand why and what you need to think about. We’ll discuss in a further article how to get started. To exercise, you need mental strength. For someone who has exercised all their life, it’s part of their daily routine and they don’t think to much about it, as it’s normal! But if it’s not normal for you, you need to shift your thinking. Questions you need to ask are: What are my goals – how fit do I want to get. How will I measure my fitness Why do I need to exercise? Well from a medical perspective, that’s easy. Probably the most important reason is to improve your cardiovascular fitness – that’s the fitness level of your heart, lungs, veins and arteries. As your fitness improves, your heart will become more efficient and won’t need to work so hard. Exercise will also help you either lose weight, or maintain the weight that you lost. There is no point going on a diet and then putting the weight back on. For the duration of the exercise you do and the calories you burn, you need to figure out the calories you should eat to compensate for the exercise. Should I consult a doctor first – if you are someone who hasn’t exercised much then absolutely. How am I going to remain motivated? That’s a tough one, but as you see yourself ‘feeling’ fitter, you should be hungry to want to keep doing it. Just make sure you find the time. If you have a friend who is at a similar fitness level, see if they want to join in. Have I agreed to eat properly going forward – if you haven’t then why not? Will I keep a diary – you should as you can then watch your progress. Also make sure your life fits into your new exercise regime. Lana Soko is passionate about health and writes for http://www.lose-weight-with-us.com Where will I do my exercise – that’s a personal choice. Me I love to run on the street (just watch out for the traffic). Others prefer the gym. Will I enjoy it – you bet! But lets be honest it may be a struggle to start with. But don’t give up. When am I going to start – great question. Set a date so you are mentally prepared. How often? - As a guide for every adult, 30 minutes exercise, 5 days a week should be the norm. As we get older, our metabolism slows. If you don’t exercise or eat less and/or healthily, you will most likely put on weight. ….and they are just a few questions for you to think about before you even put your trainers on! Do not consider negatives that stop you from wanting to start. You must remain positive. Some basics you should do regardless: When presented with an escalator, walk up it Get off the bus a stop early Take the stairs instead of a lift OK, so now you are at least thinking about it. Create lots of positivity wanting to get fit. Now go for it, you’ve thought through the questions, probably come up with some more and you want to start. Lana Soko is passionate about health and writes for http://www.lose-weight-with-us.com Exercise – The Warm Up What’s the best and safest way to warm up before doing exercise? Strictly speaking the professional will have developed a specific set of arm up exercises for his profession, whether he or she is an athlete, tennis player, football player etc. I’m writing from the perspective of carrying out a good set of generic warm up exercises, primarily for the jogger but they can be applied to most sports. Stretches or your warm up routine, needs to be dynamic. Why? Well the clue is in the phrase. ‘Warm up’. Static stretches will NOT warm you up, you need to increase your heart rate and body temperature. Your warm up routine should include a range of exercises that you will perform during your fitness session. You need to view the warm up session as essential. It’s all too easy to put on some running shoes, close the front door, and start your jog. But if you don’t want to get muscle injury or muscle stiffness, STOP! So what are the benefits then? Well did you know that haemoglobin (your red blood cells), releases oxygen better when your muscles are warmer, there is an increase in blood flow, warmed muscles are a lot more supple and because your muscles are now warm, there is less viscous resistance and hence a greater economy of movement and less change of a muscle tearing. There’s more....but isn’t that enough to persuade you to warm up first. Your jogging times should improve, which means you could possibly run further, get even fitter and help with your overall weight versus level of fitness you are looking to attain. One US based study, suggested a static warm up routine (as opposed to a dynamic one) could cause more harm than good. As your muscles will not have warmed up, they will not work as fast so may tear. So what to do? Start with a very light jog to get your heart going that bit faster and to increase your body temperature. Somewhere between five and ten minutes is great. Lana Soko is passionate about health and writes for http://www.lose-weight-with-us.com Now you need to move on to dynamic stretches, which will reduce your muscle stiffness. There are a number of these that you can do. It’s best to try a number of them out over a period to see which ones you prefer. But this period of stretching should be about 10-15 minutes. As your warm up progresses, the intensity of it should too. Easily said if you had someone blowing at whistle and shouting at you! If you are a member of a gym already (but stay away from doing dynamic stretches) ask your gym which exercises to do prior to a jog. There are many names and variants of stretches. Youtube is probably a good place to watch a video . Sumo Squats will warm up your groin, hamstring and lower back. Lunges (small lunge, walking lunge), will warm up the hamstrings and quadriceps. Windmills are good for the shoulders, upper back and neck. A spiderman crawl, the hips arms and hamstrings again. You are looking to warm up all the parts of your body. How many of each stretch should I do? Well about 10 of them, 3 times. Completed your stretches? Great, finally you are ready for your jog or run? Good luck. If it’s going to be your first run, we’ll talk more about in the next chapter. Lana Soko is passionate about health and writes for http://www.lose-weight-with-us.com Exercise – Your first month Running You’re motivated, you’ve stretched, now open that front door and start running. Part 3 of this series aims to get you through the first couple of weeks of running, starting very easily. But please, if you have not yet checked with your Doctor or Physician, please do so first before running. So you’ve decided you want to improve your health. If you can walk, you can run right? Even if it’s only for a few minutes at a time. After all, running is both about getting fit and can also be about losing weight if that’s your goal. You will burn more fat than swimming or cycling, 100 calories per mile, roughly, and it’s doesn’t take that long. Lowering cholesterol and your blood pressure as well. No gym or expensive monthly fees required! Just a good pair of running shoes from a proper running shop (not some fashion chain on the high street), and if your a lady, a good support bra, then you decide how fashionable you want to look at on the street. As you’re a beginner we won’t focus too much yet on the sort of clothes you can wear too improve performance. Try to keep your route on reasonably flat ground. One steep hill at this stage will be too difficult. Stick to the pavement or sidewalk if you can. Even running on grass can sap the energy from your legs. Now, back to opening that front door. You want to exercise for 30 minutes at a time. As that’s when the benefits of an aerobic exercise kicks in. If you can walk at a good pace already for 30 minutes great, if not, that’s your first goal. 2, 3-4 times a week, walk for 30 minutes each time at a pace you can manage, but each time getting a bit faster. So now you want to make into a jog. Great, but remember to build slowly, and remember running is for pleasure, it shouldn’t be viewed as torture! Enjoy it. OK back to the front door again. Ready for your first 30 minute jog. OK, walk for the first five minutes at a good pace. Then mix jogging and running for one to two minutes at a time with the last 5 minutes walking as part of your cool down routine. How was that? Lana Soko is passionate about health and writes for http://www.lose-weight-with-us.com Unfortunately depending on your age, and your fitness level, we all develop at different rates, so you’ll need to judge when to step things up a bit. Repeat the above 2-3 times in a week. But take 1-2 days off in between each jog, and make sure you drink lots of water. Well done, the first week is done and you’re eager to do more. We’ll stick with 30 minutes, but this time, after your 5 minute walk out of the front door, mix jogging and walking for 2 minutes at a time, with the 5 minute cool down walk at the end. On the third week, step it up to a 3-5 minute jog with a 2 minute walk, and on the fourth week, a 7 minute jog and 2 minute walk. You need to again say what you can or cannot achieve. Whether you can jog for a bit longer or a bit less, but after 4 weeks you really should be felling the difference, be very motivated and look forward to doing your exercise. So well done. Follow the cooling down exercises from our earlier chapter and get ready for Month 2 Lana Soko is passionate about health and writes for http://www.lose-weight-with-us.com Exercise – Month 2 You read the previous articles on how to get motivated, how to start running and your first month. If you haven’t you really need to read those first. So, you’ve been running for a month. You’ve followed the schedule for the first 4 weeks, you’re still motivated and you’re beginning to feel the benefits of feeling fitter. Well wait to you get to the end of this month, as hopefully you will manage one run of 30 minutes without stopping, but really don’t worry if you don’t. As we said in a previous article, depending on your age and fitness level, we all progress at different rates, so don’t increase the rate of training if you don’t feel comfortable to do so. Just repeat the same week over again, and the distance only when you are ready. But please, if you have still not yet checked with your Doctor or Physician, please do so first before running. Running is both about getting fit and can also be about losing weight and burning fat if that’s your goal. You will burn more fat than swimming or cycling, 100 calories per mile, roughly, and it’s doesn’t take that long. Lowering cholesterol and your blood pressure as well. Remember to try to keep your route on reasonably flat ground. One steep hill at this stage, will be too difficult. Stick to the pavement or sidewalk if you can. Even running on grass can sap the energy from your legs. OK, we’re ready to progress to week 5. You’re going to be out of the front door a little longer than last month, only about 10 minutes or so, but it will be worth the effort. Previously you were doing sessions about 3 times a week. You now need to step this up to 4 times a week. OK so week 5. Walk for the first couple of minutes as before to warm up. On week 4 you were running for 7 minutes, so this week you’ll run for 8 minutes. Then repeat 3 further times, i.e. Walk for 2 minutes then jog for 8 minutes. For week 6, you’ll again walk for two minutes and then jog for 9 minutes, Lana Soko is passionate about health and writes for http://www.lose-weight-with-us.com repeating three times. At week 7, move up to 11 minutes. Now on to week 8. If you managed to follow the schedule so far great, your target for this week is a 30 minute run at the end of the week. If you haven’t kept up, do not feel bad or demotivated. Just progress at your pace, and believe me you will get there. So walk for about 5 minutes, and then jog for about 20 minutes with another short walk and a further jog, the second jog does not have to be 20 minutes again if that’s too much. The goal here is to jog for 20 minutes without stopping. In the next session, move onto 25 minutes then when you can do your first 30 minute run without stopping. After a 30 minute run, that’s enough! No need to repeat. Just walk home to cool down. So well done. Follow the cooling down exercises from the earlier chapter and get ready for Month 3 Lana Soko is passionate about health and writes for http://www.lose-weight-with-us.com Exercise – Month 3 This is the last in this series on Running. From getting the motivation to start with, right up to running for 30 minutes without stopping. If you’ve just read the articles, then get into action. If you’ve accomplished everything so far, well done! So, you’ve now been running for two months. You’ve followed the schedule, so how have you progressed? How do you feel? Let us know! Hopefully you feel great and are starting to tell your friends how much you’ve achieved. Maybe your excitement has become infectious and your friends want to run with you. As we’ve said before, if you haven’t read the previous articles, please check with your Doctor or Physician first before running. So at the end of last month the aim was to get you running non stop for 30 minutes. If you didn’t manage, it don’t worry. We all progress at different rates, only increase the rate of training when you feel it is comfortable to do so. Just repeat the same week over again, and increase distance only when you are ready. But the most important thing is you want to keep fit and get fitter. So this month will see you running for up to 45 minutes without stopping. Just compare that to when you first started out! Before we had said to keep to reasonably flat ground. As you are now getting fitter, if you like, start to introduce a few hills. This will further improve the muscles in your legs. If you find you cannot run up the entire hill, don’t worry. Just walk the rest of it. Don’t let it de motivate you. OK, we’re ready to progress onto week 9. You’re going to be out of the front door a little longer than last month, only about 10 minutes or so, but it will be worth the effort. Previously you were doing sessions about 4 times a week. If time allows try and increase to 5 sessions, but if you don’t have the time it’s ok. Even 3 times a week is better than not running at all! OK so week 9. For this week you will do 25 minute runs or 30 minute runs. Alternate each session and do a 5 minute walk before the run starts and a 5 Lana Soko is passionate about health and writes for http://www.lose-weight-with-us.com minute walk at the end. OK so at the end of this week you are getting used to do 30 minute runs where last month, you possibly managed just one. Week 10 – we want you to do one 35 minute run, with a 20 minute run on the following session. Alternate this with 30 minute runs. The order you do this in isn’t an exact science. Your body will tell you what you can or cannot do. But with each session start and end with a 5 minute walk. Week 11 – try and do one 40 minute run, with your other runs about 25 to 35 minutes. With the quicker runs, try and inject some pace. I.e. run a bit faster just for a minute, if possible, try and do that several times. And onto Week 12. Follow a similar pattern, with this time one run of 45 minutes. With the longer runs don’t try to inject pace as it will be too hard. The objective being to run for that length of time without stopping. With your other shorter runs of 25-35 minutes this week, hopefully you’ll find yourself running faster and further as you increase your fitness. So what next? That’s really up to you. If we’ve left you behind a bit take your time in catching up. If you are happy with 30 minute jogs then that is also fine. Maybe you want to progress to a 10k run, a half marathon or even a full marathon. There are plenty of online resources that can assist. Also don’t be afraid to look and join your local running club. But the most important thing is that you now keep running. Best of luck. Lana Soko is passionate about health and writes for http://www.lose-weight-with-us.com What’s the Best Way to Lose Weight and get Fit following the Birth of Your Baby? What a challenging question and topic. We’ll work through this step by step and we’ll assume that you want to breast feed your baby. Why? Well other articles will discuss the nutritional merits of breastfeeding but from a weight loss perspective, 500 calories a day will be burned breast feeding, but more on that later. So you’ve probably gained 20-30 pounds or 10 – 20 kilos. Maybe not surprisingly, but after giving birth you’ll find you won’t have lost much of the weight you had gained. But do not worry about that. Added to that, depending on your age, as you are getting older, your metabolism is also slowing down. After birth, you’ll probably feel exhausted for a few weeks, and exercise and healthy eating may be far front the front of your mind. As you are going to breastfeed your baby, you must eat and drink healthily. This is your first natural step to losing weight, but you should expect it to take time, anything from 6 months to a year. Whilst you are breastfeeding, you may find initially (or even for the first 6 months) you do not lose any, or very little, weight as your body will naturally retain fat reserves. Some ladies will lose weight quickly but many will take what will some a long time. Stay away from diet tablets, they are just not needed, and also stay away from fad diets. Your focus needs to be healthy eating for you and your baby so you both get the right levels of nutrition, and exercise. Start light exercise as soon as you feel you are able to. The most recommended way is to take your baby for a walk. Start with a few minutes then build up slowly, and will give you both lots of fresh air. Drink lots of water or some fresh juice each day. No need for sugar laden fizzy drinks Snacks – there are plenty of healthy snacks, including fruit. No crisps or biscuits with saturated fat Lean meat – take the fat off! Lana Soko is passionate about health and writes for http://www.lose-weight-with-us.com No fast food – this may be difficult especially if you are tired, but all that fat and salt will not be good for either of you As mentioned, breastfeeding can burn 500 calories, BUT, you should expect to eat more than your normal calorie requirement to compensate for this, not just use as a tool for your weight loss.