Taking some inspiration from my last post ‘why you should exercise?’.I am hoping that you have decided to start exercising.Now,we will learn some basics of exercising.

Exercising doesn’t necessarily mean to follow a strict regimen at a gym, although that can certainly reap benefits.The truth is you can achieve your fitness goals from many different physical activites.There are numerous exercise options such as calisthenics,walking,jogging,swimming, yoga,dancing,gardening or even doing household tasks.Your goal should be to choose an activity of your interest,so that you can convert it into a habit.Basic things you should do before beginning are listed below:

Learn a little

Before beginning you should have little knowledge about basic terms you are likely to encounter in fitness:

Warm up:This is an act of preparing your body for the stress of exercise. The body can be warmed up with light intensity aerobic movements like walking,jogging or stretching. These movements increase heart rate and blood flow, which in turn heats up muscles and joints.

Stretching or flexibility training:This type of workout enhances the range of motion of joints and puts little stress on targeted muscle.Although stretching should be done after warmup as stretching cold muscles and joints can make them prone to injury.

Cardio/aerobic activity:These are high intensity exercises that temporarily speed up your breathing and heart rate.Running,cycling,walking,swimming,dancing etc are some of these.These have high significance in a fat loss program.

Weight,resistance or strength training:These type of exercises are crucial in increasing the strength and endurance of a muscle.Weight lifting and exercising with stretchy resistance bands are examples of resistance training activities, for example an exercise like pushups in which you use your body weight as resistence.

Calisthenics:These are exercises that are performed using the weight of one’s own body for resistance.Weights and other equipments are avoided in these exercises. Push-ups,chin-ups,sit-ups,handstand etc are some examples of calisthenics.

Set:This term refers to repeating the same exercise for a certain number of times. For instance, a person may do 10 pushups, rest for a few moments, then perform another “set” of 10 more pushups.

Repetition or ‘rep’:This refers to the number of times you perform an exercise during a set. For example, the person mentioned above performed 10 reps of the pushup exercise in each set.

Cool down:This is an act of cooling your body down after a high intensity workout. For example, after sprinting on a treadmill,we might walk at a reduced speed or after weight training we might stretch our body.

Get your checkup done

Before beginning any workout routine your first step should be to check your level of fitness and check if it is adequate for your chosen physical activity and it’s wise to consult a doctor for that. According to physiologists males aged 45 and older, and women aged 55 and older should get medical clearance and consultance.But no matter what your medical condition, you can usually work out in some way.And generally exercises have a positive impact only.

Set your goals

In fitness it’s very important to have a short term as well as a long term fitness goal.And you should use your fitness assessment to set your goals. Make sure the goals are certain, realistic, and concise.Short term goals can be such as Hitting the gym five times a week?or body parts you will be targeting or just walk around the block without getting winded?And long term goals can be how much weight you want to put on or how much fat you want to lose in 2-3 months or more? Or are you preparing for 5km run?
Whatever your goals and medical condition is, approach any new exercise regimen cautiously.

‘Start low and go slow’,as many beginners make the mistake of starting out too aggressively and ending up injured or sored.As a result of which they get discouraged at the initial level itself.

Plan your workout

Keeping your fitness level,goals and time you can devote in consideration, plan your workout.Planning your workout includes the types of exercises you will be following and the time you will be giving to individual exercises.If you are a gym goer keep a plan of upcoming weak ready.And to learn how to perform certain exercises, consider hiring a personal trainer for a session or two, or take advantage of free sessions offered when you join a gym.Slowly and steadily improve your knowledge and form of each exercise you perform.And be patient as hardwork always pays off.