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Warm-up: Before beginning any form of exercise, you
should always warm up. Warming up
will help your body deliver oxygen to your muscles, therefore preparing your
body for exercise. Before beginning your
walk, you might want to loosen your shoulders and ankles by doing a few
shoulder and ankle rolls slowly.
Then, begin walking at a comfortable pace for a 5-minute warm-up. After you have completed a short warm-up,
you can begin increasing your speed to a brisk pace.
Goal for weeks 1-4 of the walking program:
You will be given an activity
log and you will be encouraged to keep track of the times you've
exercised. Your activity will be
recorded in minutes and you are encouraged to record all types of exercise
that you have done. This visual
reminder of your accomplishments will make you feel good, motivate you, and
help you monitor your progress. On the activity log, there will also be a place
to record heart rate and your perceived level of exertion or RPE. Both are good indicators of exercise
intensity and are very simple to determine.
You will be shown how to estimate your exercise heart
rate and RPE. Cool-down and stretching: Begin cooling your body down by walking slowly
or decreasing your pace for the last 3-5 minutes of your walk. This gives your body a chance to recover
from the activity. Your heart rate
will begin to decrease and return to a pre-exercise rate. It is also a good idea to stretch your leg
muscles after you have walked.
Remember to hold stretches for about 20-30 seconds without bouncing. |
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