• Symptoms & Health Conditions

  starting exercise program

  Posted by unknown on March 20, 2023 at 2:54 am

   Dear Daniel and Mrs. B

  I just started working out, slowly., Friday I went swimming for 30 minutes just doing laps.
  today I was on the treadmill walking my heartrate average was 139 and my highest was 149.
  I stayed walking at a face pace for at least 30 minutes.  after that I stretched my body, I went and used a 10-pound weight and did some workout. I don’t know what to call it. I put the weight above my head and lowered behind head towards my shoulders for a count of 10 and then rested since I was dizzy.

  so, my question is this… how long before I work out should I eat?  what kind of warmups should I do? should I be doing a cooldown?  I want to work on my whole body especially my midsection and I do know I need to take it slowly. I just want to make sure I do it right… I can’t afford a personal trainer right now, maybe after I been back to work for a while I can.   I did drink a little bit of a Gatorade but didn’t finish cause of the sugar.  should I just drink water instead? any help you be appreciated.

  sincerely,
  Dara

  Daniel replied 1 year, 7 months ago 3 Members · 3 Replies
• 3 Replies

• 

  Bernadette

  Member

  March 20, 2023 at 6:44 am

   well done for starting an exercise routine!! Definitely take it slow and allow your body to adapt to the new changes you’re making.

  Regarding eating before training, the closer you get to working out, the less food you should consume. So for example, if it’s 3-4 hours before working out, you can probably get in a full meal. 2 hours before, the meal should be lighter, 1 hour before the meal, it’s best to stick to a healthy snack, and 30 mins before, I would stick to liquids.

  Make sure you get in at least 500ml of water an hour before exercise, hydrate afterwards too. If you sweat, then replenish with electrolytes after your workout (I shared several brands in your case study call) or use sole (saturated salt water). Stay away from Gatorade – full of sugar and unnecessary junky ingredients. If you prefer a flavored electrolyte drink, look into LMNT or ReLyte to add to your filtered water instead.

  There are also plenty of free training apps & youtube videos these days. It depends on who you resonate with. I also have plenty of free home workouts on my website (they’re old but still does the job!) from when I was working as a personal trainer.

  And here are some popular trainers with their own apps that offer beginner workouts:

  -Tracy Anderson
  -Zuzka Light
  -Mr. and Mrs. Muscle

  I’m sure  can probably share a few others too.

• 

  Daniel

  Member

  March 20, 2023 at 11:42 pm

  Hey ,

  You are on a roll! I’m proud of you! Let’s go over your question:

  How long before I work out should I eat?
  It depends a little bit on what you do. When you work out I would advise you to keep at least 4-3 hours between your meal and your workout. Depending on the intensity of your workout your body is going from rest-and-digest to fight-and-flight mode. This is by the way functional and what we want when we exercise.

  Once you are in fight-and-flight mode, the body will divert energy away from digestion and prioritizes fueling the muscles. The 4-3 hours window helps you to optimize for digestion

  Since life isn’t always presenting us with optimal circumstances you could also go for plan B: eating smaller meals in the way Bernadette mentioned.

  What kind of warmups should I do?
  We need stress hormones to come up during a workout for optimal performance. It takes about 10-15 minutes for the adrenals to increase cortisol production. This is the time I recommend you spend warming up.

  There are so many options for warming up. But during the warm-up phase, you should start easy and increase intensity during these 15 minutes. You could start with a more old-school way of warming up, like biking, using a cross trainer/treadmill or rowing machine. If you like variation you could spend 5 minutes on a bike, 5 minutes on a treadmill and 5 minutes on a rowing machine for example.

  There are infinite other ways to warm up. You could spend time with dynamic stretches (these are stretching movements in contrast to static stretches where you spend time in one position) or do more balance exercises. The goal should become warm, not tired though!

  Here you can find some other variations that you might enjoy. There are some static stretches in the warming-up phase here. I prefer to leave them out, especially if you are starting with strength training.

  You don’t need to memorize them all. You could choose a few exercises, learn them and add with a few other exercises once you have memorized the others. Go slow and give yourself the time to learn them!

  A last thing I would like you to point out: you are building your routine. What can happen is that these warming-up exercises might already feel heavy.

  Don’t worry about that!

  Your body needs some time to adjust to your new healthy habits! Just go a bit slower and most importantly: don’t ever… EVER… be disappointed about your performance. Firstly, you are already doing much more than the majority of people.  Secondly, if you feel fatigued much earlier than you would like, being fatigued means your body received a training stimulus and will now try to adapt. This is already a great result!

  Should I be doing a cooldown?
  I honestly didn’t spend a lot of time cooling down after a workout with my clients. Your body will cool down perfectly on its own. It is not necessarily what I would recommend doing though. When I train clients, I train them for one hour. In this hour I always spend time on nutrition, lifestyle or other pieces of advice, which means I have less time for the actual workout.

  The end of training is a great place to work on flexibility. Spending 10 minutes on stretching will help keep your flexibility at a later age. It is a present to your future self!

  Should I drink sports drinks during/at the end of my workout?
  Most people don’t need the sugar after a workout, although advertisements can give you another signal. Even I as a personal trainer don’t need sugar after an hour in the gym. I agree with Bernadette on replenishing your electrolytes. Fresh organic coconut water is also a great option. It does contain a little sugar, but much less as in for example Gatorade.

  The most important factor for starting a successful workout routine is by starting with exercises you love. Focussing on losing fat in the midsection is a great goal. Cardio like walking, jogging, swimming or rowing are great choices. Keeping your heartbeat around 120-130 beats per minute will help you to perform longer. At this rate, it should be hard to hold a conversation with someone, but still possible.

  When you feel more confident, I would recommend you add in some strength training as well – but only after you have built some confidence in the gym! If you need more tips for this, I can definitely help you with some recommendations!

• 

  Daniel

  Member

  March 29, 2023 at 8:43 pm

  Hey ,

  How are you doing? Do you feel more confident with your routine? What are the changes you made?

Log In to Reply