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My ‘start small’ program

The ‘Just move somehow’ program will mean different things for different people. This is what mine has been like so far for those who want an idea of what I mean. I have a shoulder injury so I need to watch that with bodyweight exercises and I need to strengthen my hips and knees. 

July 2024 update—The program I began with (below) in April 2022. I am very pleased to announce that in June/July this year (2024), I walked close to 200km in 30 days. I can now push it. But without these baby steps, I would not have been able to get to this point of consistent pain-free fitness.

What I have learnt… walk. Start as small as you need, but do it every day. It is the biggest, cheapest, and most available option. Below is what I did as a broken person with hypermobile and heart issues.

What would I change about the below? I would look at diet sooner, because getting the kilos off helped me to move easier and you can’t exercise you way out of a bad diet.


Per Day

 

Weeks 1 – 3:

Establish stability and core through your body. Something small everyday 
(10 – 15 mins)

do more if you’re fitter

 

Weeks 4- 6:

Continue with stability, Increase activities and variety
(15 – 30min)

Week 7 onward:

You’re feeling fitter, and your habit is established. Time to get creative with your exercise and increase how long you exercise for.
(25min + per day)

 

First week:
gently moving joints, build stability and strength

  1. Every day working on my tight, hips, groin and knees with resistance band extensions – gentle work over 5-10 minutes
  2. Wii Fit balance exercises for stability for my core – about 5 minutes
  3. Wii fit beginner aerobic activities (beginner steps and hula hoops) – just 5 minutes or so.

 

Week 2:
continue to build stability

  1. All of the above but a little more of the balance and aerobic activities. The focus was still on getting function of my core muscles and attachments back on track.

 

Week 3:
Add in some core muscle work which can come from pilates or yoga. Do some more cardio

  1. Resistance band and add in harder strap for bridge exercises
  2. Online core videos – I’m trying alomoves with success so far though there are probably some good free options. I started with one video that I did almost daily that took just 6 minutes.
    – Free 30 day trial of alomoves here: https://www.talkable.com/x/INSAfz
  3. Outdoor activities where available but watch your problem areas and consider optimum movement over pumping it- walking, gardening. This week I did an hour walk up and down hills in nature and it almost broke me.
  4. Wii fit – add in some muscle workouts – particularly ones that use balance/stability.

 

Week 4:
This week I started to feel much fitter

  1. All of the above but you can likely push things a lot more now that you have a stronger core. Vary your exercise.
  2. I’m doing a little more yoga also as my core is working much better now and can handle some of the hyper extension traps. I even did a 40 minute yoga workout. Thought it would be break me the next day but it didn’t.

 

Week 5:
Stability is feeling established, time to go longer and a little harder

  1. I’ve been building up my cardio in a minor way due to the above activities but now I feel I can go for longer or slightly harder cardio.
  2. Still continuing with wii fit weight check-in and more activities. I bought the wii fit plus disc (2nd hand for $7) so that I would have more options and not get bored with the stability work.

 

Week 6:
Test your limits a little

  1. All of the above
  2. Plus now I can go for my block walk (it has hills) without struggling from the outset. It’s pretty exciting. 
  3. Tried the Formulaic series – Not right for me. I’ll blog about it another time.

 

Week 7:
More cardio and strength 

  1. All of the above plus now doing the 6 min Alo moves core exercise every day
  2. Team Body Project – I found these guys a few weeks back and did half a workout (15 min). In week 7 I can do the whole work out – blog post coming soon.
  3. The wii is still a critical part of my habit, and I aim to beat my old scores and increase reps.
  4. Stability with a balance board 
  5. Here I’m starting to consider my diet, what do I feel comfortable changing.

 

Do something everyday. That is the key.

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