Newbie - How to reach my goals in a long-term and safe way?

[Desa]

Hello everyone!

My present situation:

I am desa and I have been wanting to work on my condition for like a month with some warm-ups mostly and adding swimming to my repertoire of weekly activities (I try to get it up to thrice a week) that had two hours of badminton before. I also bicyle every day tue to not driving, mostly it is just a few miles, but sometimes a bit more.

This has been my own program I tried to follow:

1. 50 jumping jacks
2. One minute of high-knees running in place.
3. One minute of kicking-your-butt running in place.
4. Ten arm circles forward, then ten arm circles backwards.
5. 10 push ups.
6. Hold a plank for 30 seconds.

My obstacles:

Every time I try to do something with the legs, I end up suffering some pain after some while. (might be due to flat feet?) This was no exception. After three weeks, I suddenly got a lower back pain that has subsided by now, and soft ache in my left leg, that has also dulled by now thanks to at times to not exercise a few days. Any advice for warm-ups or stretching for those ones? Or perhaps I should include rest days, but from what I have seen from the programs, those are already just warm-ups....

What I want to reach:

A bit of weight loss, muscle tone, and increased condition and strength. Basically, becoming a more fitter version of me that is able to do stuff with less effort and longer. ...which is probably rather vague and non-specific! So if you feel I should specify some stuff, don't hesitate to ask!

Are these goals best served by following the program 'Foundation' ? Or is it just a wise idea to start there first and go off into more specific directions?

Thanks for reading!

 

[Deadoks]

You should follow programs difficulty 1 or 2 if you can.
Then after you do difficulty 3 then 4 then 5...
The idea is always to push yourself forward.
For the condition it'll help a lot, for weight loss you'll need to eat correctly and healthy and for muscle tone it can help a little but the best is to do muscle weight exercise the.
Yes it can take long long...
And yes doing any fitness will make it better but it's not magic potion you'll need to sweat and workout.
You also need rest days. The programs are quite well made for this but you should never do heavy workout of the same muscle everyday.

Take care

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

Welcome to the Hive @Desa !

Because you already have a foundation of cardio work with cycling and swimming, and you state your goals include increasing muscle strength and tone, I would suggest trying one of the programs that is strength & tone focused as opposed to the more generalist programs. Square One is a good starting point. It does not include any jumping or other high-impact exercises (which can be a cause of the pain issues you've been experiencing, if you're not conditioned for them). You might also want to check out Back & Core which is a program designed specifically for strengthening your lower back and core abdominal muscles.

If you think you need to work on your flexibility, you could also check out Unbound. It includes some passive stretching exercises, but also active and isometric stretches and other tendon-strengthening work. The pain you are experiencing is generally caused by overuse of muscles that are not yet strong enough for the work you've been demanding of them. Rest helps with recovery in the short term. But long term what you want to do is strengthen those areas. Do not just stretch them out without also doing the strengthening work. Unbound will help you to develop both strength and flexibility side-by-side.

 

[Desa]

You should follow programs difficulty 1 or 2 if you can.
Then after you do difficulty 3 then 4 then 5...
The idea is always to push yourself forward.
For the condition it'll help a lot, for weight loss you'll need to eat correctly and healthy and for muscle tone it can help a little but the best is to do muscle weight exercise the.
Yes it can take long long...
And yes doing any fitness will make it better but it's not magic potion you'll need to sweat and workout.
You also need rest days. The programs are quite well made for this but you should never do heavy workout of the same muscle everyday.

Take care

I see, thanks for answering Deadoks! Any particular weight muscle exercise you recommend?

Yeah, it is going to take a while and will involve many aspects. But I try to take it step by step to avoid being overwhelmed.

Welcome to the Hive @Desa !

Because you already have a foundation of cardio work with cycling and swimming, and you state your goals include increasing muscle strength and tone, I would suggest trying one of the programs that is strength & tone focused as opposed to the more generalist programs. Square One is a good starting point. It does not include any jumping or other high-impact exercises (which can be a cause of the pain issues you've been experiencing, if you're not conditioned for them). You might also want to check out Back & Core which is a program designed specifically for strengthening your lower back and core abdominal muscles.

If you think you need to work on your flexibility, you could also check out Unbound. It includes some passive stretching exercises, but also active and isometric stretches and other tendon-strengthening work. The pain you are experiencing is generally caused by overuse of muscles that are not yet strong enough for the work you've been demanding of them. Rest helps with recovery in the short term. But long term what you want to do is strengthen those areas. Do not just stretch them out without also doing the strengthening work. Unbound will help you to develop both strength and flexibility side-by-side.

Hey, Laura! Your answer seems very useful!

Huh, I looked up what cardio does, and yeah, I seem to have accidentally have laid out a nice foundation of cardio with badminton, almost daily travel with bike and now swimming. Neat!

I wil check out those programs! Should I exercise them one for one? Or can I follow all three?

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

I wil check out those programs! Should I exercise them one for one? Or can I follow all three?

I would start with Square One and see how that feels. It covers full body strength work, but the exercises are a bit easier than in the other programs.
Back & Core and Unbound are both designed to work as add-on programs, meaning you could potentially do either or both alongside Square One. But it's better to start smaller with something you can do consistently every day (or almost every day) and build a consistent habit and base level of strength. Then, if that goes well, and you feel you want to add in more, you can look at adding in one of the other programs.

 

[Desa]

I would start with Square One and see how that feels. It covers full body strength work, but the exercises are a bit easier than in the other programs.
Back & Core and Unbound are both designed to work as add-on programs, meaning you could potentially do either or both alongside Square One. But it's better to start smaller with something you can do consistently every day (or almost every day) and build a consistent habit and base level of strength. Then, if that goes well, and you feel you want to add in more, you can look at adding in one of the other programs.

Allright, I will keep doing the other stuff mentioned. And I will set up a training log for Square One in this forum to keep me motivated.

Thanks for your answers!