If you haven’t been physically active and you’re starting a regular workout program, it’s important to keep the following guidelines in mind:

• Talk with your doctor. Especially if you’ve been inactive for the past few months, are overweight, over age 40, or have a chronic health problem such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, or kidney disease.
  
  
• Start slowly. Gradually increase the length and the intensity of your workout. Also, begin by warming up for five to 10 minutes and end your workout with a similar cool-down period of stretching and low-level exercise.
  
  
• For the first couple of weeks, limit your weekly exercise program to three 10- to 15-minute sessions. After several weeks of conditioning, increase to 20 or 30 minutes. However, aerobic exercises should never be too much of a strain. You should be able to talk to a friend without huffing and puffing for air. Exercise within your target heart rate (THR) range. (To roughly estimate that range, subtract your age from 220. Multiply that answer by 60 percent (.6) and 80 percent (.8). Your pulse rate should stay within that beats-per-minute range. Better yet, have an exercise test to more accurately define your target heart ranges.)
  
  
• If you feel pain, stop. Pain is your body’s way of telling you something is wrong. If you have chest or muscle pain, nausea, dizziness, or abnormal shortness of breath, stop exercising at once.
  
  
• Choose activities you enjoy. You’re more likely to do them on a regular basis.
  
  
• Do aerobic exercises three to five times a week. The major focus of a well-balanced fitness program is aerobic exercise – a rhythmic workout that increases your heart rate and breathing for at least 20 consecutive minutes. Such exercise includes cycling, jogging, rowing, walking, dancing, or skipping rope.
  
  
• Stick with your program. While you get some immediate benefits, the real gains come when you make fitness a regular part of your lifestyle. The effects are quickly lost in a matter of weeks if you stop.

Visit the Baptist East/Milestone Wellness Center site for more tips on starting a fitness program, or call for membership information at (502) 896-3900, ext. 302.