Making Progress Through Regular Exercise

After two or three weeks of regular exercise, you will begin to improve your physical fitness level, and after four to six weeks, there should be some measurable improvement.  You will be able to carry out the exercise easily; you will begin to sleep better, be less tired at the end of the day, and you will often find that you miss the invigorating feeling you get from a workout if you skip your exercise for even one scheduled day.

Once you attain physical fitness, you must maintain it by regular workouts.  Exercise training should become a part of your lifestyle.  Like money in the bank which will stand you in good stead only for a short time in an inflated economy, accumulated exercise benefits become insignificant if exercise is stopped.  If you cut back to exercising once a week, half of your fitness increase will be lost in a mere 10 weeks.  If you discontinue your program completely, all your gains will be lost in five weeks!

If temporary illness or unavoidable circumstances keep you from exercising for a few days to a few weeks, then resume your program at a lower level, taking approximately as much time as you missed to work up to the level you were at prior to your absence.  This plan will help you to avoid “too much, too fast” when you resume exercising, taking the deconditioning effect of time into account.

How Much Time For Exercise?  How long one should allocate each day for an exercise routine is an important decision to make.  The minimum amount of time, according to most doctors and physical fitness experts, is 20 minutes a day.  It could be more than this, but any amount of exercise is good.

If you want an effective exercise program that will really help you keep fit, feel better and upgrade your physical and mental performance, then you need at least 20 minutes a day – everyday.

How Much Exercise?  Psychologists agree that to maintain fitness, you need to exercise at 65 percent of your maximum capacity for 15 minutes a day, three times a week.  A heart rate of 220 minus your age – so if you’re 40, a pulse rate of about 120 (220-40 x .65) is what should be tailoring your workouts to sustain.  There’s no need to kill yourself so long as you’re consistent.

What should you do?  Something you enjoy.  A lot of the agony of exercise for many people is mental.  It’s really a matter of attitude and self-motivation.  Take brisk walks.  Play with your children or grandchildren.  Anything to get your mind off your muscles.

Studies have shown that layoffs as brief as 2 ½ days can begin to reverse the effects of exercise – so if you do take a weekend off, be prepared to get back into the swing of things first thing Monday morning.