Exercise for beginners

Is there anything you enjoy? Dancing? Walking (with dogs/kids/pokemon)? Swimming? Bowling? etc etc. It doesn't have to be traditional exercise.

laurenmjones1022 wrote: »

I can walk for days. I really enjoy it. There's a place by work that's pretty nice area for walking, things to see and nice music playing (I live in a tourist town, so there's TONS of places). I've been thinking of using my lunch hour for walking there. I don't know how much of an impact walking an hour every day will have, but it's a start right?

Yep, it is indeed. And don't forget.. slow and steady, ease into it. Walking can be a great start.

One thing you haven't mentioned... what are you hoping to accomplish with this exercise? Certain exercise can be more effective for certain goals.

laurenmjones1022 wrote: »

I don't have a ton of weight to lose... I just want to stop the jiggle and tone up. Lol I really just want to be in better shape. Not feeling like I'm going to die and run out of breath for simple things. If I lose 10lbs while doing this... so be it.

I have the same attitude
I started with Jessica Smith TV youtube videos (free) as I found I need someone to guide me into doing reps past my comfort zone. Also helps me ensure good form.

First video I started with: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhUR862hhIE&t=0s&list=PLe5P3ayTEj7bU0ljnuSbKkKqaAlPlrLIY&index=40

I built from there based on what body parts I wanted to target. I am still doing light-moderate effort so the improvement is slow, but at least I am doing it at all!

jjpptt2 wrote: »

laurenmjones1022 wrote: »

I don't have a ton of weight to lose... I just want to stop the jiggle and tone up. Lol I really just want to be in better shape. Not feeling like I'm going to die and run out of breath for simple things. If I lose 10lbs while doing this... so be it.

Gotcha. "stop the jiggle" will usually require some strength/resistance training along with a bit of weight loss. How much of either any 1 person needs depends on the person, but usually both end up playing a role.

You're doing a squat and pushup challenge, so it seems like you're willing to go down that road. Maybe just find something a little better suited for you?

I'd add this: I don't know what squat/pushup challenge you're doing, but while fun/challenging, some of the popular ones are poorly constructed to get the best fitness benefits from the effort put in.

Many of them have you doing the same exercises every day (or nearly every day) and increasing the count every day, reaching quite a high count after 30 days (or whatever). To the extent that the challenge consists of strength-related things, there can be better results (and less personal stress) from an alternate-day or 3 times a week kind of schedule, with gradual count increases still built in. Days off is when your body is rebuilding the muscle fibers that the exercise challenged.

I grant this isn't a huge deal with bodyweight exercises compared to heavily-weighted exercises, but I still think you'd be better off with some rest days in between, if your challenge doesn't include plenty of them (or alternate squat days with pushup days, for example, so that a muscle group gets a day off).

There are some well-regarded strength programs in this thread (note that "strength training" provides what many people think of as "toning"; it isn't about growing mega-muscles, which us women mostly can't do very fast even if we wanted to ).

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you

Despite the name, it does include bodyweight programs - things you can do at home with no or minimal equipment.