An Idiot’s Guide To Doing Aerobics Exercise
Do not be too hard on yourself. Aerobics is not that difficult. Do not let your personal prejudices cloud your reasoning because you know that you need to be doing cardio exercises. Some people think exercise is complicated & that misconception deters them from participating in cardio activities. This guide will help you realize that aerobics consists of a few simple steps & that it is a lot of fun to do.
Step 1. Warm-up – Warming-up means allowing your blood to fully circulate through your muscles for a few minutes. Some people mistake stretching as being the same to warming-up, now you know its not. Stretching comes after warming up. You warm up to help your muscles prepare itself for a period of vigorous movements.
Step 2. Stretching – After you have warmed up substantially, you can now proceed to doing stretching exercises. Start on your smaller muscle groups & end with the bigger body parts. When you stretch make sure that you do not bounce as this will cause you to pull your muscles. Stretching is a slow & steady process, so take your time while doing it. Hold your muscles for 30-60 seconds during stretches.
Step 3. Figure out your FDI – FDI stands for Frequency, Duration & Intensity & these are very important factors to consider while plotting your cardio workout plan.
• Frequency refers to the number of cardio sessions that you should (not want) to do in a week. To achieve the best results, you should do your cardio sessions at least 3 times a week. There should be no more than 48 hours of lapse time between each aerobic session or you will be forfeiting the gains that you achieved in the initial workout.
• Duration takes into consideration the actual cardio time you spend minus your warm-up & stretching time. To achieve significant results, each aerobic session should last anywhere from 20-60 minutes. Beginners should start slowly especially if they are not used to physical activity. A 10-15minutes cardio session for beginners is good enough & they can eventually work on building longer workout periods as they progress. It is also important to note that duration should be increased first before intensity. Therefore, before you progress from a 15-minute walk to a 15-minute jog you should first consider doing a 20-30 minute walk then when your body has adjusted you can do the jog.
• Intensity means the difficulty of the cardio exercise. The intensity depends upon your heart rate & how it copes with each type of physical activity. The simplest way to track your heart rate is to feel your pulse & count how many beats per minute you are getting. Beginners should start with low-intensity exercises that should progress in intensity as they do cardio longer. Also it is more effective to do a combination of a high-intensity & low-intensity workout in one cardio session.
Step 4. Have a short term & long term goal. – Figure out your reasons for doing cardio exercises. Most people do aerobic or cardio work to lose weight. But once they have achieved this goal, they stop exercising altogether & they start gaining back what they lost. Therefore, it is imperative that aside from having an immediate goal you should also formulate a long term goal that will let you involve cardio exercise in your lifestyle & daily routine.
|
