getting back into working out after long time away....

6566tess

I signed up at Snap Fitness and was wondering what I should start out with. Just watching calories is NOT working for me! I want to ease back into this if you know what I mean. Should I do some walking, biking and a bit of weights or what? It will be hard for me to get to there so I though I would attempt 2-3 times per week and get up early and walk the dog for 30 minutes before work.

Thoughts anyone?

kritik

I think that getting up early to walk the dogs a few mornings a week is a great start! I haven't worked out in about 5 months, and I started with a 45 minute very brisk walk. I am starting some of my strength exercises next week. :happy: Good Luck to you!

VeryKerri

I agree, I started out walking on the treadmill at the gym and worked my way over to the elliptical. I now can walk on the treadmill at a 4.0 speed with a 12 or 13% incline so take it slow and work your way up. As for weights. I am still learning on this one so I cant help you but someone just recently recommended a book called the New Rules of Weight Lifting for women and I hear lots of good things about it. I am going to buy it this weekend. Good luck!

funkycamper

Due to a nasty back injury, I couldn't work out for a little over 4 years. Well, at the 1.5 year point, I could walk so, for the next three years, that's all I did. When I finally got to the point where I could do more, I just started going to the Y and doing various fitness classes. At first, my movements were a lot less than anybody else in the class and I had to do a lot of adjusting movements to protect my back. As I'm getting stronger and fitter, I can do virtually everything with just slight modifications. I just did things at my own pace and did what I could and, eventually, I am doing more and more of what the rest of the class is doing.

So, walking is definitely a good start. You might want to eventually just pick up speed and/or add some hills.

At the gym, just start with the various cardio machines to see which ones you like the best and go from there. When I started, I could only do 5 minutes on the elliptical before I felt like I was dying, then I'd move to the rowing machine for about 5 minutes, then the treadmill for another 5, yada yada. I couldn't have done any one of those long enough to get a good workout but I could move around and do different movements for about 20-25 minutes. It's only been two months and now I can do an hour on any of them. So you'll probably surprise yourself with how fast you build up your endurance.

I think the main thing is to just do things at your own pace. Challenge yourself but don't compare yourself to anybody else. If you just challenge yourself a bit each time, you'll get there. Good luck and have fun!