Our fitness specialist Jena provides some encouraging words.....
Starting a new fitness routine can be really daunting! You might be asking yourself; where do I start? How much am I suppose to sweat? What on Earth is a Bosu ball? Most of the time, we overlook beginner exercises in favor of those that require more physical exertion.
While it's great to shoot for the stars, it is important to be wary of your limitations and start slow. Here are some words to familiarize yourself with to get you started:
Aerobic/Cardiovascular Activity: there are exercises that get your heart rate up. During these activities, your breathing should speed up temporarily.
Maximum Heart Rate: an estimate of a person's maximum age related heart rate (calculated by taking the person's age from the number 220).
Flexibility training/stretching: this type of workout enhances join flexibility and range of motion. Age and inactivity cause muscles, tendons and ligaments to shorten over time.
Strength, weight or resistance training: exercises aimed at improving the strength and function of muscles.
Set: this term refers to performing an exercise over and over again a certain amount of times. For example, if we were doing curls 10 times, it would be referred to as a "set of 10".
Repetitions or "reps": this refers to the number of times you perform an exercise during a set. For example, the weight lifter performed 10 reps of the bicep curl exercise in each set.
Warm Up: this is the act of preparing your body for the stress of exercise. It should not be confused with stretching. Warm-up movements are intended to increase blood flow.
Cool Down: this is the less-strenuous exercise you do to cool your body down after the more intense part of your workout. For example, after a walk on a treadmill, you might walk at a reduced speed and incline for several minutes until your breathing and heart rate slow down. Stretching is often part of cool down.
