Current level of fitness
Honestly assess your current level of fitness. Many people respond to an infomercial or attractive health club offers of weight loss and fitness and dive in without assessing current health status. Unfortunately, some people develop injuries as a result and are taken out of the game for weeks or even months. Most of the time, these injuries are preventable. If you have not been weight training, would you power lift 300 pounds on day 1? Of course not. Likewise, if you have not been walking, you should not go straight into running. Try short intervals of higher intensity and listen to your body.
Adaptation
So, you've started an exercise program and are a month into it. You are feeling good, and the exercise has become much easier. That's great, right? Not necessarily. Your body has probably adapted to what you have challenged it to do. This is fine if you are training for a particular event, like a 10 K race, but if you are training to get into shape, this is not what you want. It's a good idea to change things up a bit. Challenge your muscles in a different way. Try strength training, or if you are already strength training, switch from bands to free weights, or from weights to body weight exercise. For cardiovascular programming, switch from walking to jogging (if your body can take it), or add a day of lap swimming or plyometrics training. Alternately, pick a sport and try it. Play tennis with a friend or your child. Go for a hike. Ride a bike. Try mountain biking. You don't have to make a complete change in your routine, just switch out one day with something different.
Have fun
Most importantly, pick things that you like to do. This sounds simple and intuitive, but is often ignored. If pounding away on a treadmill sounds like the most boring thing in the world, chances are, you won't stick with it. If you enjoy what you do, you will likely continue to do it. 'Nuff said.
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