TIP - Work up to your exercise goal

Working up to your goal

It feels good to have set an exercise goal as part of your effort to improve your lifestyle. However, it pays to start slow and work up to your intended level of exercise. Most injuries caused by exercise come from doing too much before your body is adequately prepared to do that much.

Instead, start off with short sessions of low-intensity exercise just a few days a week. As you become comfortable with that exercise routine, start increasing the frequency until you are doing a small amount of low-intensity exercise almost every day.

Then it is time to increase the duration of your exercise session gradually, until you are meeting the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommendation of 150-300 minutes per week.

Finally, when that amount of exercise has become routine, it’s time to increase the intensity or how hard you are working. This may mean jogging instead of walking, using heavier hand weights, or increasing the pull of your exercise band. Work up to moderate intensity activity.