Exercise newbies: Time to get physical

Exercise myths and excuses aside — which were addressed in Part 1 of this series for workout newcomers  — it's time to get moving.

Marlene Habib is a writer at CBCNews.ca. She's also a Can-Fit-Pro certified fitness instructor who teaches outdoor exercise classes and does personal training through Be-Fit Boot Camp.

Where do you start?

There are a few things to keep in mind, for safety, to build on your progress and stick with your newfound active ways.

• Take a health check. If you've had any medical concerns — such as heart, blood pressure or joint concerns — clear this program and other exercise with your doctor before starting.
• Breathe properly. Throughout any resistance (weight-bearing) training, you need to consistently take in air and expel it, to avoid raising blood pressure and getting light-headed. Breathe in through the nose when you're in the "relaxed" portion of each exercise, and out through the mouth when you're exerting, for instance, doing a stomach exercise, using your body weight or lifting a weight. If you feel anything unusual, stop the exercise.
• Drink up. Sweating requires you to replace lost body fluids. Take sips of water — an important form of rehydration — throughout physical activity. Once you feel thirsty, you may already be dehydrated.

Preparing for your workouts

Follow this program for four to six weeks, and you'll be well on the road to fit living.  (After that, if not before, you'll want to build on your progress, because you'll be feeling and looking better, have more stamina and will want more variety). Skipped a day? Don't panic, just go on to the next day in the program. Also, feel free to vary the routine (ie., do a longer walk, or more abdominal exercises) depending on how you feel. After a couple of weeks, you may even want to add a cardio or resistance-stomach training day or two.

Some other points:

• Start the seven-day plan any day you want. If you have more time on weekends, you can even start on a Saturday. Then you can keep rest days for weekdays when you may be more strapped for time. 
• This balanced plan incorporates the key aspects of fitness: flexibility (stretching), heart-lung health (cardio), and muscle strength and endurance (resistance, weight-bearing exercise). Feel free to do more than the half-hour four days a week, but don't do the resistance training two days in a row (you need to give muscles 48 hours to recover between exercise sessions).
• Three exercise days involve stretching and 20 minutes of cardio. Choose any of the following cardio exercises, or mix them up. For example, do 10 minutes of each to total your 20 minutes, or just a full cardio session of one exercise at one shot — or do 10 minutes of cardio twice through the day.
• Always do five minutes or so of light cardio (a warmup), and then stretching before you do the full cardio and resistance training portions of this program (two days), to get muscles pliable and minimize the chance of pulling anything (and you'll also improve mobility). You can always do more cardio before your resistance training workout, or even after — wherever your energy takes you.
• Keep a handle on your heart rate. Unless you have health concerns, such as a heart condition or blood pressure probems, there's no need to fret over whether you're working out hard enough — that is, getting within your target heart rate (THR), which tells you how intensely you're working. For the record, there are various cool online THR calculators, videos, mobile apps and other downloadable programs, and body heart-rate monitors to tell you if you're "in the zone." But sticking with the theme of the seven-day plan — exercising with no complications to get into that regular activity habit — I recommend doing the talk test: If you can carry a conversation while walking or doing other cardio without having to stop to catch your breath, then you're most likely fine.
• Equipment isn't necessarily needed for this seven-day plan. Just your body. But you can also use something as simple as two soup cans as weights, or can invest in a couple of light dumb-bells ($10 to $15). Some key words to know: A set is each time you do the exercise, a repetition (rep) is the number of times you repeat the motion with each set.

The 7-day plan

Day 1

Cardio, stretching (30 minutes total):

Choose one or a combination of these cardio exercises. Start with a few minutes at a slower pace, then stretch all parts of the body. Goal: 20 total minutes of moving, five to 10 minutes of stretching.

Walking (jogging, or a walking-jogging combination if inclined): Walking is convenient, low impact, and can be done with a buddy or in groups. Walk instead of taking the car, or park far away from that shopping plaza. Pick up your walking speed as you gain confidence and stamina. Add a bit of jogging if you're in the mood.

Climbing stairs: Take the stairs instead of the elevator, or walk the escalator. Do this on your lunch, your breaks, whenever you can. Bits of stair-climbing can easily add up to at least a portion of your daily cardio.

Cycling: No impact, environmentally friendly, pleasurable. Watch for bad weather and traffic, and wear a helmet, of course. Use bike paths and lanes when in place.

Just move: Jumping jacks, marching in one spot, stepping side to side — any movement that gets that heart pumping.

Stretches

Do two sets (each stretch two times), alternating sides, holding each stretch  four to five seconds:

Triceps (back of the arms): Standing with back straight and knees slightly bent, raise arms straight over your head, left hand on the right elbow, drop the right forearm and hand behind your head just from the elbow, pulling gently down on the top of the elbow to feel a stretch along the back of the right arm.   Repeat with right hand on the left elbow, dropping the left forearm and hand behind your head just from the elbow, pulling gently down on the top of the elbow to feel a stretch along the back of the left arm.

Shoulders: Standing with back straight and knees slightly bent, gently swing one arm across the front of your chest and with the other hand, pull your shoulder into the top of your chest, like you're hugging it towards your body.  Repeat with other arm.

Chest: Standing with back straight and knees slightly bent, grasp hands behind you, starting at the bottom of your lower back, and raise your grasped hands behind you until you feel a gentle stretch in the front of your shoulders and chest.

Quads (thighs):  With back straight and standing on two legs, just less than shoulder width apart, and using the wall for balance, grasp your one leg (ie.  right leg) from behind at the ankle and gently pull your heel into your buttocks.  Repeat on other side (ie. left leg). 

Hamstrings (back of upper legs):  Standing, with back straight and legs together, raise hands and arms over your head, breathing in, and upon releasing your breath, bend over at the waist and try to move as closely as you can to your toes. Touch them if you can, with no bouncing and knees straight. Raise up slowly.

Calves: Standing facing a wall, lunge forward with one leg (knee is bent), and move other leg straight back with heel flat on the floor. Lunge forward until you feel a stretch in the calf on the opposite leg.  Repeat lunging with the opposite leg and the previously lunged leg straight back.

Day 2

Resistance and abdominal work, stretching (30 minutes, including five-minute warmup)

Warmup:

Do any of the previously mentioned cardio suggestions, about five minutes.

Resistance work (each exercise should be done in two sets of 10 repetitions, with a 15- to 20-second break between each set)

Chest: Wall pushups. Stand facing a wall, three to four foot-lengths away. Place your hands on the wall, just outside shoulder width apart. Bending at the elbows, with the rest of your body straight, lower your body forward towards the wall and when you're close to it, push yourself away.

Back: Standing rows. Knees about shoulder width apart and slightly bent, bend over slightly at the waist. With arms extended in front of you, start "rowing" — pulling arms back towards your sides and squeezing the upper part of your arms at the sides of your upper back. Keep rowing, until you've done the full motion 10 times. Repeat. To add more resistance, put a soup can in each hand. 

Shoulders: Presses. Sitting in a chair with your back supported, bend your arms so each hand is just above each shoulder. Press each hand up to the sky and then back down to just over each shoulder. Ideally, holding some weight — like those two soup cans or a couple of light dumb-bells — for a more effective weight-bearing exercise.

Biceps (arms, front part between the shoulders and elbows): Curls. Stand with knees slightly bent, shoulder width apart, and arms at your side. Either with no weight or holding soup cans or dumb-bells, with your upper arms resting at your sides, bend your arms only at the elbows and move your arms upward until your palms nearly meet your shoulders. Squeeze hard at the top (near the shoulders) then reverse to move your arms down back to your sides.

Triceps (back of the arms): Dips. Sit on the edge of a chair or in the middle of a bench turned sideways. Place hands on the edge of the chair or bench, beside the top of your outer thighs. Move your body and feet out in front of you (about two to three foot-lengths) and with feet flat on the floor, move your body up off the seat and bend your arms, dipping your whole body down and then up, down and then up, for 10 repetitions before moving your body back into the seat. Do another set, 10 reps. 

Legs: Squats. Place feet shoulder width apart, hands crossed over your chest. Start lowering your body, as far as you feel comfortable (over time, try to work up to getting down to where your buttocks are parallel to your knees if possible) and then using your legs, push yourself back up to standing. Repeat up-down-up motion 10 times. Rest, and do another set. To challenge yourself more, hold the two soup cans or dumb-bells while doing the squats. 

Calves: Raises. Standing at the edge of a set of stairs, or just on a floor, rise up onto the balls of your feet. Keeping knees straight and bending only at the ankles, lower the heels slowly towards to the floor until you feel a good stretch but nothing that's uncomfortable, then rise up again onto the balls of your feet. Repeat 10 times. Do another set. As your calves loosen up, you can try carrying some weight for more resistance.

Abdominals (abs, or stomach, do each two sets, 10 repetitions)

Abs: Lying on your back, cross your arms in front of your chest, with your arms resting on your chest, have your knees bent, and move your upper body (with arms crossed over your chest) up and down, breathing in through the nose to start, and breathing out through the mouth as you curl up, and breathing in again as you move back onto your back.  

Day 3

Rest.

Day 4

Repeat Day 1.

Day 5

Repeat Day 2.

Day 6

Rest.

Day 7

Rest, or pick a favourite or fun activity (go dancing, bowling, ice skating), or one you've always wanted to do — on your own, with a friend or friends, or with family.