Working out is hard...

jennyylee

Hey all, I'm trying to get back into working out. I bought myself an elliptical since I don't feel very comfortable in a gym. My resting heart rate is also really high so I feel like I need to work on that. For a few days in a row now I've been doing some things to tone certain areas and then I get on my elliptical. It's an air elliptical so it takes a bit more work than the nice ones at the gym... I currently can't go for more than a minute and a half without stopping because my legs are burning and I can barely breathe... I'm super discouraged.
I don't know if I should just keep resting and get back to it and try to work out for a total of 30 min on it or what. I'm new to this and I just want to get in shape. Any recommendations or advice?
Much appreciated.

sahead710

Keep at it, if you can't do it for longer than a minute and a half do it for that long, rest and see if you can do it again, if not, try again tomorrow. Every one starts somewhere, push yourself but also remember that you're new to this and your body is not used to it so it's okay if you can't do much at first, as long as you're giving it your best effort. Walking was the best thing for me when I first started, walking is easy but if you set a brisk pace you can still work up a sweat and burn calories.

misssmadalyn

Do what you can each day.. You will progress with time.

cj94404

Definitely just keep building up. I started at just 5 minutes on the stairmaster 7 weeks ago and now I can do 15 minutes without totally dying (although I am not super happy afterwards). Just don't push so hard that you puke or get dizzy. So not worth it, IMO. I'm not saying exercise will ever feel good (I don't love it), but the results of it can be subtle. You'll find yourself walking up a staircase and not feel out of breath! It's kind of delightful. And I really only do about 20 minutes of cardio three to four times a week. That's all my schedule allows and it's really helped.

Good luck!

PS: Since you are at home, put on your favorite television show to distract you.

cj94404

Oh and if that's your dog, walking him or her counts! Don't forget that.

zoeysasha37

It will get easier in time. I used to only be able to do a minute also . now its no problem , I could stay on for 45 mins. So just keep going and you'll see that it won't be so bad . we all started somewhere. Nobody just wakes up one day and is instantly able to achieve all their fitness goals. It takes time but you will be fine. Don't give up . I started just the same as you and wanted to give up all the time ,but I stuck through it and got there eventually.

999tigger

The fist bits of execise is just a measure of where you are. You arent racing anyone. Your fitness is wherever it is. so be patient. Id start with a 5 minute walk, then add a few minutes each day or 50m. The aim is to build slowly and steadily, this enocourages you, is manageable and will slowly improve your fitness level.

On the eliptical start with 1 minute on the lowest setting, then keep adding 30 seconds. record the time and distance traveled and increase it in small increments i.e 30 seconds more each day.

Be realistic and dont overstress yourself. I can tell you that if you are consistent then you will get better as your body adjusts, but you need to be patient. the fitness and health gains even after a few months can be quite large. Keep at it.

debubbie

I agree with the other posters that you have to start somewhere and you will progress over time if you keep at it. I could only do 5 minutes on mine and then I thought I was going to keel over at any moment. I can do a 5k on mine with a couple of quick breaks for a drink (I always spill my water when I try to drink and exercise at the same time). I did start first by riding my bike for 20 minutes or so 3 times a week to ease into exercising before I tried to tackle my elliptical.

Also, another thing that I did to help progress over time and make me feel better about how little I could do was to do a circuit workout. I would do some bicep curls, presses, and other strength moves with my kettlebell or dumbbells and then do a 90 second elliptical ride. I would repeat this 5 or 6 times (I would usually do 3 sets of 2 or 3 strength training moves and switch to 2 or 3 new moves for the last 2 or 3 parts of my circuit) this helped me to increase my cardio and my strength ability over time. This may be something that you can do and build up.

My routine looked something like this:
5 bicep curls each arm with 10 pound dumbbell
5 tricep kickbacks with each arm 10 pound dumbbell
10 kettlebell swings with 15 pound kettlebell
90 seconds on elliptical
repeat top four exercises three times
10 skullcrushers with 10 pound dumbbell
5 squats
5 pushups
90 seconds on elliptical
repeat those four exercises 3 times

If I needed to I would rest 45-60 seconds between exercises. I found after a few weeks that I could increase the elliptical to 120 seconds each round. After about 7-8 weeks, I increased my reps from 5 to ten reps. A month after that I could increase my weight from 10 pounds to 15. I slowly added 30 seconds more to the elliptical every couple of weeks and started decreasing my rest time between the sets and getting back on the elliptical. I did this routine about 2-3 times a week and would ride my "stationary bike" a couple of times a week while I watched something on Netflix. You can pick whatever exercises that you would like to do in between and create your own circuit that you feel comfortable doing.

Good luck to you!

azulvioleta6

There's nothing wrong with starting small...just keep adding time and intensity. When I first started out (300 pounds) I could only swim 5 or 6 laps. Now I swim a mile or two without even trying very hard. You will get there, just keep pushing forward.

What about doing some gentle walking for half an hour in addition to a couple of minutes on the ellipitical?

SunflowerCat74

I was able to increase my cardio time slowly, but steadily. I use an interval app that I preset with my own intervals. I'd do 15 secs at a higher speed, 1min at slow speed/resting. You can set it with buzzers/bells to signal you to start/ go fats or stop/slow down. I do this while I watch shows. Also, you might find breaking up your workouts into two separate times of the day less tiring. Say a few minutes of elliptical in the morning and your strength training in the evening (or vice versa). That way your muscles aren't so fatigued. Or just try warming up on the elliptical first, then strength training. Just add a little bit to your goal each week and before you know it it will get easier.

Oldbitcollector

Agreed! Start where you are and continue to work forward... It'll come...

BramageOMG

Keep at it.. Do 2 min, then try 3... in no time you will doing 15 minutes, then 30. Your heart rate will benefit too! When I first started on the elliptical (setting 1) my resting heart rate was 85-90 Now, its 50 Dr. said: Its good, don't stress it (I thought it was too low) Good job and don't give up !!

jennifer_417

Do what you can. What you can do will increase if you keep at it. We all started somewhere!

coreyreichle

I'd suggest starting something a little more low-impact. Walking is great! It's not hard (We all walk a lot), and given the proper scenery, it's fun.

I suggest it, mainly because it's easy to see "Gains", and you don't kill yourself, and you can push yourself quite hard at walking (ie, Walking in the rolling gorges of Ithaca, NY for example).

The "gains" I'm speaking of, here's an example: Day 1, You walk .25 miles in 20 minutes. Day 2, you think,"Hm, I can go 1/2 mile 1/4 mile was easy!" So, you do half a mile. Pretty quickly, you'll be walking for an hour. And hour will get you 2 miles. So, you push yourself fast: You do 2.5 miles in an hour. Then 3.

By the time you're regularly doing a 3 mile walk, you'll get it down to 50 minutes. Then, you have confidence that you CAN stick to it, and you CAN improve. So, you start doing the Couch2 5K. And, you'll see similar gains as your times get shorter, and shorter.

And, don't feel bad about the elliptical feeling "hard". Even at the height of my physical fitness (25 y/o in the military) I preferred running to the elliptical

spzjlb

Wonderful advice here for you. Baby steps. Give yourself some time goals, say 1 week, 1 month, 2 months and 3 months. After one week, you will surely be better than today. By three months, you'll really notice a huge change on many levels. Then, re-assess.