Modern life conspires against us being active. Whether its cars, cities, supermarkets, digital devices – all things that make life ‘easier’ – they all also tend to make us physically less active.
And humans were meant to be physically active. Our genetic heritage arose in the context of regular physical activity. We’re adapted to walk, to lift, to carry, to run, to jump – and when we don’t do those things our bodies are designed for, we seize up, we put on weight.
So, given our modern life doesn’t make it easy, how can we become regularly active?
Well, there are many options, and each of us needs to find our own way to what works for us, our bodies, our interests and our life situations. For one person it might involve walking the dog, it might involve some sport or recreational activity, it might involve getting out in nature, possibly all of the above.
But given you are reading this on a gym website, let’s explore the role that the gym might play in you becoming regularly active.
Gyms are fantastic at what they do, but someone who is currently inactive needs to be careful not to overdo it too soon at the gym. The best way is to start small, slowly, gently, but regularly.
Regularly is important. Don’t be put off by people who’ve been training for years and work out really hard and make you feel inadequate and lazy. You may get there or you may not. It doesn’t particularly matter. What matters is that you get regularly active.
So, let’s start. Here’s one prescription that might work for you. It’s not going to work for everyone. It might not work for you. But, if you are inactive, overweight, unfit, this just might be the prescription that allows you to make the change from inactive to active:
Join a gym (here’s the link to how to do that at our gym).
Go to the gym on Monday and do 1 minute’s exercise. Yes, you read that correctly. One minute, 60 seconds. Doesn’t matter what you do – you can walk gently on a treadmill, ride on a bike, lift a dumbbell. Stop after 60 seconds and leave the gym. That’s it, that’s your first day’s workout.
Go to the gym again on Tuesday. Do 2 minutes exercise. Again, it can be gentle. It can be 2 minutes of a single exercise, or it can be one minute walking on the treadmill and one minute on the bike. Stop after 2 minutes and leave.
Go to the gym on Wednesday. Do 3 minutes exercise.
Thursday, 4 minutes.
Friday, 5 minutes.
Well done, you have done your first week of working out five times a week. Woohoo! No, really! You have begun to do the most important thing about physical activity, you have begun to do it 5 days per week.
We know you are going to spend longer getting to the gym, getting out of your car, swiping into the gym and getting ready, than you are actually going to spend exercising to start with, but that doesn’t matter. We’re trying to start small and gently, so your body doesn’t rebel and you aren’t so sore from your first visit that you use it as an excuse to never go back! We’re trying to establish a new pattern of regular activity.
If you can’t go one day, then you must go on Saturday or Sunday, and make sure you complete five different days of being active in the week.
Have the weekend off!
Second week. Any prizes for guessing how this is going to go? Yup, Monday 6 minutes exercise. And this time you do want to split it up – you want to do at least two different exercises in that six minutes. Doesn’t matter whether its 3 minutes each on two exercises, or 5 minutes on one and 1 minute on another.
Tuesday 7 minutes, Wed 8 minutes, Thurs 9 minutes, Fri 10 minutes. Well done, have the weekend off.
Week three, Monday its 11 minutes, but now its three exercises, again the split of time between each doesn’t matter, but you do want some variety. By Friday of this third week you will be doing three different exercises, for a total of 15 minutes’ activity. By now, you will probably be puffing a little by the end of each of the three exercises you’ve chosen.
So, in week four we are going to do four different exercises and we are going to go from 16 minutes exercise on Monday to 20 minutes on Friday.
You still don’t have to be working out hard, you don’t have to be sweating profusely, you don’t have to be on your last legs by the end of the workout, because we are just habituating your body and your mind, slowly and steadily, to a new reality – that you are now a physically active person, someone who is physically capable of doing twenty minutes of more or less continuous exercise.
Week five: five different exercises and increasing from 21 minutes on Monday to 25 minutes on Friday.
And then, goal week, week six: six different exercises, increasing from 26 minutes on Monday to 30 minutes on Friday.
Well done. You have begun to establish a new habit of regular physical activity. You can do at least six different exercises. You can be active for 30 minutes without feeling like you are going to die.
Now the challenge is to keep up that 30 minutes of physical activity each day, five days per week.
The world of exercise at the gym is now your oyster.
Now it doesn’t matter so much if you miss one day in the week and only get four days – because you’ll still be working out for 2 hours in the week (four visits * 30 minutes per visit).
But don’t let it be less than 3 bouts of physical activity in the week – that’s the minimum acceptable standard.
And if you can ‘t make a gym session, do substitute something else – even if it’s just a brisk 30 minute walk.
Give yourself some variety with your exercise. In week seven, when you are now going to be working out 5 times for 30 minutes each, drop one of the exercises that you’ve been doing since the start and add a different exercise. In your eighth week, drop a second exercise you are familiar and comfortable with, and add an eight exercise to your repertoire that you have never done before.
So, in summary, to get from inactive to active:
· Join a gym
· Attend five days a week for six weeks
· Build up, in one minute increments each day, from 1 minute’s exercise on your first day, to 30 minutes’ exercise on your 30th day (Friday of week 6).
· Maintain 30 minutes of exercise five days a week thereafter (it doesn’t have to be all at the gym).
Let us know if this works for you. Or if you need help achieving it – we are happy to help.
Good luck.
