Fitness programm

Can you give a little more information about what your fitness goals or priorities might be? For example, some people have getting stronger as a priority, some want to look better in some way, some have health conditions of concern (either have the condition now, or family history suggests it's likely in future), just want to burn a few extra calories while losing weight, have some specific athletic ambition (like running a 5k or something)?

Generically, just to get fitter (if doing it just because it seems like a good thing to do), my advice would be: Start slowly, and progress gradually. Exactly what that means will depend on your current fitness level.

Do something you personally find fun (ideally), or at least find tolerable/practical.

What you want is a mild, manageable challenge. Exercise doesn't need to be miserable and exhausting to be beneficial. In fact, "miserable and exhausting" is counter-productive for either weight loss or fitness progress. Recovery is where the improvement actually happens, as your body repairs. Overdoing can hinder that.

Ideally, include something that challenges your current strength, and something that challenges your cardiovascular system (makes your heart beat a little faster and gets you breathing a little harder). There are some activities that will do a bit of both, or it can be separate things.

As you get fitter, increase any of duration, frequency, or intensity to keep that manageable challenge, or (if you prefer) change to a more challenging type of exercise.

If you do that patiently and persistently, I predict you'll surprise yourself with how much improvement you see in a few weeks to few months months.

If your goals are general health, gradually work your way up toward a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate cardiovascular exercise weekly (ideally spread over at least 5 days), or 75 minutes of vigorous cardiovascular exercise, or a proportional combination of those; plus at least 2 strength-challenging things each week. Those are pretty standard minimums promoted by various mainstream health sources. If you're starting from a position of limited fitness, you don't need to reach that super quickly: Like I said, keep increases manageable, but continuously a little challenging.

Best wishes!

shereinhussen12 wrote: »

Can you suggest a fitness programme for not a very active female... Thanks in advance.

This is part of your answer. /First... start getting more active.

Park in far parking spots at the store, so you have to walk further.
Take stairs instead of elevators/escalators.
Start walking. See if you can walk a mile. If not, make that your goal.
Think about what fitness goals you want to achieve.
Take it slow, and work your way up gradually.
Most of all... make it a habit.

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Personally I'd just start with being more active. Go for walks. Find other outdoor physical recreation that you enjoy. Since I no longer race bikes, the majority of my exercise is just being recreationally active. I walk 2-3 miles pretty much everyday...I like to get out on my bike or mountain bike a bit on weekends...I enjoy hiking...I go kick around the soccer ball with my boys down at the fields or shoot some hoops...I do some kayaking here and there, etc.

There's not really any reason to have a super defined fitness program or regimen unless you have very specific goals in mind. For general health and fitness, just be more active and move more. I would suggest though to throw in some resistance training a couple of times per week. That's really the only program I adhere to and the only thing I do in the gym and 2x per week is sufficient for where I'm at and what my goals are with that, which is just to maintain strength and physical competence as I age. At this point I'm primarily doing kettlebell work and calisthenics.