Before You Begin
Before You Start Your Fitness and Exercise Program
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Before starting to exercise ensure you get a full physical from the doctor and a letter stating it is ok for you to do workout. Many gyms and aerobic centers will require this before letting you start.
Depending on how long it has been since you last did regular exercise it is suggested that you start off slow and gradually work up your workout to harder levels.
It is generally recommended to start off at the gym with just the treadmill and the lifecycle for the first week or two. This is to wake up the muscles and to slowly get you prepared for a harder workout.
You will generally want to find a speed on the treadmill that is a pace you can keep up with little discomfort and do it for 20 minutes. After this take a 5 minute break, stretch a little and have a drink of water, then go back and boost the speed just a bit then do another 20.
Remember that pushing yourself too far is taking a gamble that you may not be capable to live with. In a casino you can put everything you have on the roulette table and maybe you win and maybe you lose, but in the gym if you push too much you can die, so take things slowly.
Most people make the mistake of getting back into an workout program and going all gung ho trying to get back in shape in just one hour. Well let me tell you this will not work. The only thing this will do is make you very sore the next day and you will not be ready to workout that day, and it will cause you lose interest fast in the gym. Discomfort in ok but pain is not.
Based upon on how long it has been since you last worked out, I advise working out 4 or 5 days a week. This may seem like a lot but if you were trying to win a poker tournament you would go to a casino or an online casino and poker room to practice almost each and every day right? So you will have to do the same with the gym.
Working out 5 days a week does not necessarily mean you have to go to the gym each day. I suggest the gym 3 times in one week and the other day or 2 you may just go for a long fast paced walk around your neighborhood. Attempt to vary the things you are doing so you do not workout the same parts of the body 2 days in a row.
Most professionals will let you know that when you exercise your arms and chest over a Monday do not exercise those muscles again for at least 48 hours. That is to give the muscles time to heal and grow. It is primarily the straining and resting of the muscle that makes it grow not just the working it out. If all you did every day was work the same muscle group in a few days the muscle would be more likely to tear in a painful experience and the only thing you will be able to do for several months will be playing in an online casino from your laptop in bed.
