exercise tips

Many people ask me where they should start if they want to start getting into better shape so I thought I’d make a quick post I can refer everyone to. This is a post that was asked in my Facebook group and we had some great replies so here are some ideas to get you started:

Get a gym membership and if you can afford a personal trainer, he/she will set up a program that is right for you. A good personal trainer will go over your medical history, your current health status and physical activity level and develop a plan which will slowly build as your body adapts to exercise.

However, like one of my group members Jeni mentioned in the discussion, you don’t need a gym membership to get you started and on your way to lose weight and tone up those muscles.

Walking is a safe way to start especially if you are quite a few pounds over your ideal weight. If you take public transportation get off a few blocks early and get walking. Gradually increase your pace over time making sure you are breaking a sweat.

Hiking is another great activity which doesn’t even seem like exercise if you allow yourself to really enjoy nature and the environment around you. There are tons of web sites for hiking trails so take a few minutes and do some research and get out there.

Get an exercise ball (also known as a Stability ball). Just sitting on an exercise ball instead of a chair activates your core muscles and forces you to keep proper posture. When you take breaks you can do some ab crunches and burn even more calories. In a future post I will talk about some more exercises that can be done with the swiss ball.

Take stairs wherever you can! Stairs are a great way to boost your metabolism even if you are in great shape. Take a heavy backpack with you to push yourself to the next level when this gets easier.

Hope you enjoyed these easy exercise tips. If you have any other ideas please post them below.