's motd Saturday March 19, 2011

[Guest guest]

HAVEN'T

EXERCISED IN AGES!

Saturday, 19 March 2011

That's the line Cheryl wrote in

the Email I received from her. She told me how active

she used to be when she was younger. Oh, she played

basketball and volleyball when she was in high

school. In college, she got into the good habit of

running marathons and loved them. But after her

college years, when she entered the job market,

Cheryl's activity level went into steep decline. She

just about stopped any kind of workout activity

altogether.

In fact, Cheryl admitted to me

that she had not worked out in over 20 years. (Boy,

that is a long time, isn't it?) And because her body

had slowed down so much, along with her increased

eating, Cheryl had put on 75 pounds and by now, she

was just tired of her weight. But since she

hadn't worked out in so long, she was afraid of

beginning a workout program again. Cheryl came to me

asking how she could get back into the good habit

of working out. Now that she was in her mid-40's and

so out of shape, she was afraid of hurting herself by

starting an exercise program again.

You can't believe how many people, like Cheryl, who

write and share with me that they haven't worked out

in a very long time. And let me ask, are you one

of them? Well, if you are, I'm going to share

with you the same advice I gave Cheryl. So listen up.

The key is to simply get

started. But I told Cheryl to start out slow.

If it's been a long time since you've worked out, you

may be able to do only a few minutes of that workout

your first times trying. But...keep going!

You'll be amazed at how, in time, you'll be able to do

more each week until you're up to a full hour-long

workout every day.

I told Cheryl that if her heart were racing too fast

when she began working out to take a break. I mean,

if you haven't worked your heart muscle in 20 years,

it's going to take some time to rebuild your stamina

and get your strength back to where it should be. If

you're doing high arm-lifts and you feel winded, slow

down and bring your arms down slowly. If you're doing

big aerobic movements with your legs and need a break,

slow down to a walking-in-place pace. But don't just

stop and plop yourself down into a chair. Your heart

won't like that sudden change in activity.

Try different types of exercise. Don't do the same

workout everyday because you could end up getting

bored and burn out. You should mix it up. One

day you can take a walk. The next day, you should do

some toning and on the next day, do a good cardio

workout with a favorite exercise DVD. You can also go

swimming, riding a bicycle or even climbing a mountain

for an excellent cardio workout.

And lastly, I told Cheryl to drink plenty of water.

You should have your water with you at all times

during your workout and...drink it! See,

when you're sweating, your body is losing lots of

water and it's important that you replenish it as you

workout. Make sure your body stays hydrated as you're

doing all of that sweatin'!

Now when I first started working out, I didn't follow

the sound advice I'm giving you today. I didn't start

out slowly with my workouts, I took no breaks and I

didn't drink much water. (Oh, I was so wrong!) And

because I didn't do any of those things, I ended up

hurting my body. So please, don't make the same

mistakes I made early on.

So if you're just starting a new workout program,

follow my advice and, trust me, you'll be rewarded

with better health and a stronger body!

Love,