If you are just starting any cardio exercise program, the most important thing that you need to do first is to see a doctor to find out if your heart is healthy enough to handle cardio exercise.
If your doctor gives you the go ahead, you are free to do all these 5 steps before starting:
1.) Access Your Current Physical Fitness Level
For you to know whether you are improving, then you need to measure where you are starting from. There are a few easy measurements that you should get before you begin a cardio exercise program:
Pulse Rate: measure your pulse rate before and after you have walked one kilometre.
Body Weight: if you are interested in fat loss, then you would have to weigh yourself to know your body weight, this way you can know how much body fat you have lost in the future.
Body Mass Index (BMI): As long as you are not aggressively building muscle (with steroids), BMI is a moderately reliable measurement of how much body fat you have based on your height and weight. You should aim to keep your BMI between 19 and 25.
To measure body mass index using the metric system, get your weight in kilograms and divide it by the square of your height in metres, the value you get is your BMI.
To get your BMI using the Imperial system, get your weight in pounds and divide it by the square of your height in inches, then multiple the number you get by 703.
2.) Create Your Own Program
You have to first of all, know what your fitness goals are. If you want to lose excess body fat, then you would have to jot down what waist size you are aiming for.
Always try to be realistic and make your goals achievable. You are not on “The Biggest Loser” TV show where you have a high motivation to lose excess body as fast as possible.
The next step is to develop a reasonable routine that would ensures you are getting at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise every week. And also you need to include 2 – 3 days of strength training exercises.
To prevent getting bored with the same exercise routine, try mix up different cardio exercises in your sessions throughout the week so it doesn’t seem you are doing the same thing over and over again.
If you are new to exercising, go at a slow place when you are just starting. As you fitness increases, you would be able to increase the intensity of your exercises.
And remember that for strength training your muscles need time to recover, so make sure that you space each muscle group workout by 48 hours to ensure that they have been fully rested before you exercise again.
3.) Get Your Exercise Equipment
If you are just starting out and based on the types of cardio exercises you would be doing, you may have to get some equipment that you don’t have like step machines, stationary bikes etc.
If you have a gym near where you live, then all you need to do is sign-up and keep paying for the monthly fees.
In a scenario where you don’t have access to a gym or you can’t afford one, you can do cardio exercises that don’t involve equipments like: jogging, sprinting and skipping (using a skipping rope/jump rope).
If you decide to jog or sprint, aim to change your running shoes every 6 – 8 months.
4.) Start Exercising Regularly
You have to start slow, since you have not been exercising regularly. And make sure that you warm up for 3 – 5 minutes before you start your exercise session and try to take a cold bath immediately after finishing.
In the beginning you might not be able to exercise for more than 10 minutes, but gradually you would be able to go for as long as 30 minutes.
Depending on your schedule, you can split your workouts into three 10 minutes sessions instead of doing one 30-minute exercise session – they both give almost the same benefits.
5.) Continuously Record And Analyse Your Progress
You would have to find out if you are making progress by regularly assess your fitness level so you can adjust accordingly.
If you are doing good, then you keep your current workouts but if you are falling behind, you would have to look for how you can switch things up to improve your progress.