Exercise!
I reckon this is a much-dreaded word for many people.
Myself included, until I started to embrace it as necessary for my well-being.
Actually, I had been on and off working out for the past 2 to 3 years, the last time being around July last year. That was the time my father-in-law passed away; and I happened to be down with high fever.
And lost weight subsequently!
While I did recover from illness, I did not regain the motivation to resume exercising. Staying away from the gym soon became a normal thing to do… and before I knew it, the old year ended and a new one began.
It was not until another half year had elapsed in 2017 that I decided to take up exercise seriously again. Yes, I have restarted my exercise plan… with clear objectives.
What Are My Exercise Goals?
I’m not really into numbers as far as working out is concerned. So I stayed with a simple requirement: 30 mins each day; burn about 150 calories each time.
The more important objective for me was to make exercise into a habit, much like eating, sleeping, showering, etc. Something that becomes very necessary for living and hopefully a task that I’d look forward to.
Of course, if I ended up with some muscles showing, so much the better. But the main aim is to keep fit and give the heart some work to do each day.
My Exercise Regimen is Simple and Looks Like This
I did take time to do a little research about exercise and discovered this great article at Self.com which talks about a week of workouts covering cardio, strength training and rest.
Yes, rest!
That, I learned, is a key component in exercising because the body needs to recover after working out. This is not about sedentary rest, lying around doing nothing. It’s more like doing a slower and less intense activity to add variety to routine.
As I said earlier, my target for exercise isn’t about body building but about health. Naturally, I opted for more cardio in my weekly workout schedule and less strength training.
It turned out that 4 days of cardiovascular plus 2 days of strength activites left one day for rest. Just perfect for my weekly plan 🙂
So, this is what I came up with for an exercise schedule:
- Monday — Treadmill
- Tuesday — Bike
- Wednesday — Strength
- Thursday — Treadmill
- Friday — Bike
- Saturday — Strength
- Sunday — Rest / Misc sports / Keep the mind active
A schedule that’s easy to follow and with enough variety to keep me interested. I’m mindful not to let boredom be a discouraging factor when it comes to working out.
Incidentally, what I planned to do will occur in the gym, making for a weather-proof program. Another plus point, I believe, as I can’t now use weather as an excuse for not exercising.
Warming Up
Simple stretches make up my 5-minute warm up routine. I’m doing like 8 different types covering twisting, arching and bending. I think it’s standard stuff here, nothing fancy.
Treadmill Routine
I came up with my own workout profile for walking on the treadmill.
As it can’t be programmed into the machine, I had to keep this profile going manually. Once a minute, I’d make a slight adjustment on the treadmill front panel.
Again, I felt this was a good thing as my mind will be more alert looking out for when to increase or decrease speed and incline.
Starting off slow at 4.0 km/h for a minute, I’d progress steadily towards 7.0 km/h before slowing down to 6.0 km/h as I end the routine. Incline will step up at the 7.0 km/h mark.
Graphically, this is how my treadmill exercise profile looks like…
With this simple treadmill program, I recorded a distance walked of 3.12 km and 171 calories expended. All well within my exercise goals.
Bike Routine
Some time back, I read about high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and liked the idea that less time can be spent on a workout to achieve similar targets. So I decided to use the concept when riding the gym bike.
When I did my HIIT bike routine last year, I was doing a 1:3 high-intensity/low-intensity sequence. Basically, for the first 30 seconds, I’d (try to) pedal like crazy; followed by casual riding for the next 1.5 minutes. This on-off pattern persisted for the 33-34 minutes I had allocated for bike.
This time round, I decided to attempt a 1:2 sequence of 20 seconds intense with 40 seconds casual. But for warming up and cooling down, I used back the 1:3 plan.
Both 1:3 and 1:2 sequences are good in that I could start counting time off the minute mark. An easy enough idea to implement using the elapsed time display on the bike machine.
This is how my time is spent biking:
- 0 – 4 mins — 1:3 sequence (2 rounds)
- 4 – 30 mins — 1:2 sequence (26 rounds)
- 30 – 34 mins — 1:3 sequence (2 rounds)
With Effort Level set at 4, I noted that casual riding speed was as low as 35 rpm or 40W of power used; and fast biking could hit at least 72 rpm, expending some 82W.
Cycling this way helped me burn 141 calories covering 8.51 km or so. Looks like I gotta tweak my bike routine settings to get to the 150 calories goal — right now, I’m just a tad off.
Strength Training Plan
I don’t have much to write here as I’m not a big fan of pumping iron.
My aim for strength training is to work my biceps and triceps to keep the muscles healthy. So I looked at the gym machines to see what workouts would fit.
Turns out I should engage in some lateral pulls, seated rows and tricep push downs on 1 machine. And the 4-position freedom press on another.
A third machine lets me get some stretching of the calves doing leg extensions.
The plan is again simple: 4 sets of each activity, with 8 repetitions. I rest for 1 minute after each set.
No idea if I’m doing it wrong nor the tangible health benefits I’d get out of this.
On cardio days, I’d include 1 set each of lat pull and freedom press, both during exercise warm up and cool down periods.
Hey, those muscles are getting worked indeed!
What About That Rest Day?
I really like this exercise plan I’d put together. So nice that I get Sundays off 🙂
Actually, I don’t plan on doing nothing of the rest day. Rather, I believe mental agility is just as important — a quick game of Upwords, Sudoku or similar will be fun.
Other choices for rest day activities include cycling at the park with family, a round of badminton perhaps if courts are available, or just going for a walk. Even KTV — why not?
In fact, this Sunday I’m doing just that: I’ll be heading to Punggol Park at around 7 am to join the WPCF Community Walk. Organized by the Worker’s Party, this charity event via their WP Community Fund aims to “relieve financial hardship for Singaporeans in need.”
I’ll be doing my bit and staying healthy at the same time!
As you can see, there isn’t shortage of activities for the non-gym day.
Music Makes Great Company During Workouts
To be honest, I had never felt the need to have music while I exercised. But a couple of years back, I decided to put on the headphones and listen to my favourite songs.
In a way, having music for company is nice in that it helps to lessen the mundane. And provides an opportunity to really listen to songs like never before.
At times, I’d found inspiration for song parodies and WittyCulus material while working out in the gym 🙂
So, what are the songs in my mobile phone?
Well, lots of Bee Gees for sure; plus Andy Gibb, Jeff Chang and Stefanie Sun — these are like my staples. Along with them, I have Korean OSTs, Air Supply, Carpenters, Cliff Richard, SHE and others.
Enough to keep me busy for a month before I repeat anything!
What Are You Doing About Exercise?
So, I’ve restarted my exercise plan this July and shared with you my simple approach to creating a workout regimen. I have all intentions to keep the plan going and really turn exercise into a lifestyle habit.
Plus enjoy the health benefits which come with it.
What about you? Are you one of those putting off exercise for now? So far, what’s your best excuse not to start?
Now, it’s never to late to begin though — I encourage you to start tomorrow. I know it can be hard to start something new, so give exercising a good thought today, do some research online and put together an initial workout plan.
If it helps, just follow my plan and get going; and tweak it along the way to suit your fitness level and time available. Do not succumb to the excuse of not having a perfect plan to go with on day one!
Well, if you are already working out, my sincere congrats to you on making a wise move. Be sure to review your exercise routines with people who know about such things, so that you can reap maximum good for your time spent.
And feel free to share your exercise tips here.
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