Step 2 – Get moving

Research has shown that by only changing your diet you will probably not be successful in losing weight in the long term. You also need to increase the amount of energy that you expend every day. Not only to lose weight, but also to benefit your health. Whether you’re only taking the stairs rather than the lift or whether you decide to start a full training programme with a personal trainer, any moderate increase in physical activity will increase weight loss. Luckily, with the ReliSlim 7-Step Programme™ we suggest nothing dramatic, and we stand firmly behind the principle of baby steps.

Why move?

People can’t be happy or healthy without adequate exercise. We’re not talking about turning into an exercise fanatic here. We’re talking about getting some mild exercise for 30 minutes 3-5 times per week that makes you breathe faster and flushes your cheeks. That’s all you need to achieve a health benefit. If you want to lose weight you’re probably going to have to go for 5 times per week, but also start very slowly. During the first two weeks you should give your body time to adjust to your new workout regime and not overdo it. If you do you will quit before the two weeks are over. Let’s look at 7 good reasons to exercise:

Exercise makes you feel more energised. It releases feel-good hormones in your body to help you combat depression.
Exercise lowers your risk of chronic diseases like cholesterol, diabetes, osteoporosis and heart disease.
Exercise can help you lose weight. The more energy you expend, the more weight you will lose.
Exercise can help you have a better night’s sleep.
Exercise can put the spark back in your sex life.
Exercise can be fun…eventually.

For those of you that are ready, have been moving more all over for a week or two, feel healthy and have consulted your doctor about embarking on an exercise programme, the ReliSlim Slimming Clinic is proud to introduce its very own exercise programme. It has been especially developed by a professional personal trainer and is suitable for beginners and more advanced individuals alike. In some instances we will indicate which exercises are advanced, but in most cases you simply do less repetitions of an exercise if you are a beginner. Always trying to do as many as you can. If, at any stage, you feel pain, faint, or dizzy stop exercising immediately. The basic premise of our exercise programme is that it should be possible for you to do the exercises at home with a minimum of equipment.

An exercise mat – you can use any rug or mat
A swiss ball – there are many exercises without the ball and the balls aren’t hugely expensive
Dumbells – you can use cans of tinned food or bottles of wine (make sure the weights aren’t too heavy for you)
A skipping rope – very inexpensive
An elastic band – also very inexpensive
Many people think that cardiovascular training is sufficient for losing weight. This is not true. Weight resistance training is of vital importance. Although you can decide to do only cardio on a specific day, your exercise regime should always include weight resistance training.

Warm-up

A warm-up period of 10 minutes of low to medium intensity is of vital importance and should never be skipped. This raises the heart rate gradually and warms the muscles up to prevent injury. Examples of warm-up at home:

Walk on the spot for 10 minutes whilst watching your favourite soapy
Take your dog for a 10 to 15 minute walk – he’s been pleading for it anyway
Skip rope for a few minutes (who can survive skipping for longer than that anyway) and combine it with stepping up and down a step for a few minutes
Sit down and stand up from a chair for a few minutes
Ride your bike (real or stationary) for 10 minutes
Walk fast on one place in the pool for 10 minutes
Walk fast on a treadmill for 10 minutes
Walk slowly up and down a few steps for 10 minutes
Rake leaves and mow the lawn

As you can see, the opportunities for warming up for exercise are limitless. All you need is a little bit of imagination. Who knows, it could even be fun.

Cardio

Cardiovascular exercise is exercise where you work out at an intensity that significantly increases your heart rate and breathing tempo. In order to burn the most fat during cardio training there is a target heart rate that you should exercise at. You should exercise at 65%-75% of your maximum heart rate. Your maximum heart rate is 220 minus your age. If you can do intervals during your training, in other words take your heart rate even higher for a few minutes and then bring it down to a lower level again, you can increase your chances of losing weight faster. Examples of cardio training are:

30-40 minutes on the treadmill
30-40 minute power walking
30-40 minutes walking on the spot fast
30-40 minutes of running
30-40 minutes of cycling
30-40 minutes of swimming

Weight resistance

It is important to remember that when you start with weight resistance training your weight loss might initially not be very fast. This is because, although you might be losing fat, you will be building muscle mass. Muscle is heavier than fat, but it is much more toned and not as flabby. With weight resistance training you should exercise different muscle groups on different days. For this reason we have conveniently divided our weight resistance exercises into upper body exercises, stomach exercises and lower body exercises. The ideal is to do at least two sets of 15-20 repetitions of each exercise in the muscle group that you are exercising on a particular day. You can turn your weight resistance exercises into a cardio workout by doing two minutes of all the exercises without taking a break in between. A typical weekly workout could consist of five days of cardio combined with upper body exercises on the Monday, stomach exercises on the Wednesday and lower body exercises on the Friday.

Stretching

Stretching is very important as it helps your muscles to cool down and prevents the over-production of lactic acid in the muscles. It also increases flexibility and lessens the chance of injury. It should never be skipped. There are a few golden rules when it comes to stretching:

Don’t bounce into a stretch
A stretch should be uncomfortable but never painful
Ease into a stretch slowly
Breathe while stretching
Relax into the stretch
Do two repetitions of 30 seconds of each stretch

Step 3