If you're going to start something new, you need a good reason for it. You might want to ask yourself what benefit of exercise will be most valuable for you personally?
The list of benefits from exercise demonstrated in research include:
- Improving mood, anxiety and sleep.
- Helping to manage stress.
- Improving mobility and independence.
- Increasing self-belief and confidence.
- Reducing cardiovascular disease, such as heart attacks.
- Reducing the development of Type II diabetes.
- Improving balance and reducing the risk of falls and frailty with older age.
- Improving energy.
- Of note, exercise in itself doesn't help people lose weight, but it can be used as part of an overall weight loss management plan and certainly helps redistribute body fat.
We may think that we need to be really motivated in order to achieve a given behaviour. However research shows that ACTION will often occur BEFORE motivation. If we recognise a particular action will be beneficial for us, we sometimes simply need to commit ourselves to undertaking it and make a specific plan. A plan and intention is key. The more we do the action, the more we progress, the easier it becomes and as our confidence and abilities develop the more the habit forms and our sustaining motivation flourishes.
Such exercise may include simply moving through a range of motion, such as stretching and can often include a relaxation element, as well as balance training. Examples might be yoga, pilates or tai chi. This can often be considered 'low impact' and is readily accessible to everyone.
Whether through using body weight, resistance bands, free weights or weight machines, making your muscles work against force can develop their strength, size and stamina.
Consistently getting your heart rate and breathing rate up helps develop your cardiovascular system. Examples might include cycling, swimming or fitness classes. There are also many forms of activity which combine elements of aerobic, resistance and range of motion exercise.
A very simple questionnaire, known as the PAR-Q can provide some screening to provide reassurance on someone’s fitness to begin exercise. If you have any positive answers, this does not mean you cannot exercise, simply that it may be sensible to first check with a professional whether any precautions should be considered in view of your health conditions. It would be very rare for an individual to be medically contraindicated from undertaking any exercise.
Certain health conditions may require slightly added guidance from a professional, for example those with significant heart conditions. Although even in such cases, the benefits of gradually built up exercise are broadly felt to outweigh any risks.
People may worry that exercise might worsen joint problems or conditions such as arthritis. However, there is robust high-quality research (ie randomised controlled trials) showing clear overall benefit to our musculoskeletal health from exercise. Our muscles, tendons and joints respond positively to sensible, graded loading of activity.
A professional may give you more tailored advice, but broadly with most joint problems (eg tendonopathies or arthritis) getting a small amount of discomfort, eg up to around 3 out of 10, during or after exercise, is typically okay and does not mean you are causing any harm to your joints. Over time the tissues should adapt. If however you're getting more pain than this, then you may be pushing too hard too soon.
Whilst there are various government guidelines with exercise targets, there isn’t scientifically a particular goal that fits everyone. Ultimately you should aim for what suits you, whilst striving to challenge and push your limits to broaden your horizons and achievements.
START LOW and GO SLOW. Whenever starting any new physical activity, focus on a minimal volume in your first sessions.
If you push too hard, you may find it too challenging and discouraging. 5-10 minutes may be more than enough when starting out.
Exercise is not without it’s risks, such as injuries. So it’s important to be sensible when starting new physical activity. Build up slowly. Exercise is the application of ‘positive stress’ on to the body and a key principle is to build up in a graded manner, giving the body adequate time to rest and adapt, in order to develop capacity.
Broadly every few sessions, or every week, you can build up in different ways:
- Increasing the FREQUENCY of how often you exercise
- Increasing the DURATION of how long you exercise for
- Increasing the INTENSITY of how hard you exercise
For example, the PACE UP Walking Programme is a simple way to increase walking, in steps of first increasing frequency and then increasing duration:
- In Weeks 1-2, you add approx 15min of walking on at least 3 days per week
- In Weeks 3-4, you add approx 15min of walking on at least 5 days per week
- In Weeks 5-6, you add approx 30min of walking on at least 3 days per week
- In Weeks 7-12, you add approx 30min of walking on at least 5 days per week
When committing to any new goal, it can be useful to track and monitor your progress to provide some positive feedback. This can be achieved in many different ways depending on your specific target. Activity trackers may be useful for some. On aggregate, studies show that by themselves, such trackers have a small impact, encouraging around another 1800 steps per day, but may be worth considering if you feel it would motivate you.
For those suffering with low energy or ongoing pain syndromes, it is important to recognise that you may initially have a very limited energy capacity. It's important to follow the principles of ‘PACING’. This means that if you’re going to exercise, even for 15minutes, accept that this may use up all your energy for that day, leaving you fatigued for some time afterwards.
Part of exercise means providing the body with adequate REST after training in order for the body to recouperate and adapt. Particularly when first starting out, you may well need to give your body a few days of rest and recovery after doing any new physical activity.
For those with persisting pain syndromes, for example joint pain, recognise that you may experience pain flares following exercise when you first start, as those tissues are not used to such movement and may have become increasingly sensitive.
Broadly speaking, for most common joint conditions, experiencing some discomfort during or after physical activity, up to around 4 out of 10 on a pain scale, is acceptable and doesn’t mean you’re causing any harm. Robust research shows gradually increasing movement for painful joints through physical activity is one of the most effective treatment approaches in the long-term. Mind-body 'low impact' activity may be a good starting point if you do suffer with widespread joint pains but are keen to increase your range of movement.
Pain flares may be common, particularly when you first start exercising and it’s important to use whatever pain management tools at your disposal to manage this, which might include topical or oral pain killers. With time your body should adapt to the new movement as its capacity develops, but this requires some discipline and is likely to take some weeks.
Remember progress is not a straight line. You may have set backs. You may have the occasional off week. You may sometimes need to re-evaluate and adjust your activity goals. That's normal. Ultimately, the key is simply to continually challenge yourself, as you can, to expand your capabilities in a way and pace that suits you individually.
Active 10 is an NHS app which help boost your walking activity. Ramblers has information on walking groups in your area.
Couch to 5k is a fantastic UK NHS App that enables anybody to gradually work up to running 5km in just 9 weeks.
Swimming provides wide aerobic, resistance and range of movement benefits. Water-based activities can be particularly good for those with joint pains by reducing pressure on joints. Swimming.Org lists pools in your area and organisations such as Better.org can offer subsidised rates of membership.
Cycling UK have resources for anyone interested in starting cycling. In London, we have ready access to cycle hire schemes for simple cycles in local parks to begin with.
British Wheel of Yoga lists classes near you and there are plenty of YouTube channels, such as Yoga With Adriene, which provide accessible routines you can perform from home.
If moving to music motivates you, there are plenty of options in London. For example, check out DanceBuzz for a range of classes across the capital.
Limited Mobility? No problem, consider some chair-based exercise. Plenty of YouTube classes include accessible routines anyone can get into. Read the NHS chair exercise list here, or 5 key exercises at this LiveStrong Article.
Check your local borough authority website for conessionary membership schemes at participating local gyms, where you can have access to equipment, classes and pools. Subsidies can also be available via an 'exercise referral' from your NHS GP. Better.org provide several subsidised gym schemes in many regions.
Age UK provide some fantastic resources and local classes for older adults interested in getting more fit and active.