Starting Your Fitness Routine

Being ​“Fit” is Attainable

It’s no sur­prise that 80% of Amer­i­cans do not meet the rec­om­men­da­tions for phys­i­cal activ­i­ty. We are more seden­tary than ever. We sit in the car on the way to work, we sit at work, and then we go home and sit down to relax. Good news is it’s nev­er too late (or ear­ly) to devel­op a man­age­able phys­i­cal activ­i­ty rou­tine that works for you. Being healthy doesn’t mean you have to sweat it out at a gym for two hours every day – I promise what I am ask­ing is much more man­age­able than that.

The cur­rent rec­om­men­da­tions for fit­ness are 150 min­utes of mod­er­ate activ­i­ty per week. To break that down, that equals about 30 minutes/​5 days a week. Addi­tion­al­ly, at least 2 of those days should include strength or resis­tance train­ing. Mod­er­ate activ­i­ty can be any­thing from walk­ing, jog­ging, swim­ming, gar­den­ing, danc­ing, ten­nis, you name it!

It is More Than Weight

Want­i­ng to be phys­i­cal­ly fit is not always about los­ing weight. Fit­ness can assist with bone health, low­er risk of chron­ic dis­eases such as heart dis­ease or dia­betes, reduce risk of demen­tia, improve depres­sion or anx­i­ety, or even reduc­ing one’s fall risk.

Top Tips For Get­ting There

Find some­thing YOU enjoy

Fit­ness looks a lit­tle dif­fer­ent for every­one. Just because your aunt knew a per­son who lost 30 pounds at spin class does not mean spin class is the right fit for you. To quote Kay­la Cecil, QMG Fit­ness and Well­ness Coor­di­na­tor, ​“the only bad work­out is the one that did not happen”.

Take it slow

No need to jump in going for a 6‑mile hike. Too much, too soon often results in sore­ness or even injury. Set small, attain­able goals to work-up to in the begin­ning. QMG Ath­let­ic Train­er Gary Hack­mann has these words of wisdom:

” Don’t be afraid to try some­thing new, you may not know what you’re miss­ing or capa­ble of until you try it. When first start­ing off take it light but be ded­i­cat­ed to what you’re doing and your goals”.

Find a sup­port system

Going at any chal­lenge alone can be daunt­ing. Enlist the help of a friend, cowork­er, fam­i­ly mem­ber, train­er, or sig­nif­i­cant oth­er! Hav­ing some­one to keep you account­able and make fit­ness fun makes a big difference.

Bot­tom Line:

The best time to get start­ed is now! Start small and set attain­able goals to get you start­ed. As always, if you would like any assis­tance liv­ing a health­i­er lifestyle please call Nutri­tion Ser­vices at (217) 222‑6550, ext. 3481 to set up an appoint­ment with a Reg­is­tered Dietitian.