Exercises for Obese People
Today’s post includes advice on exercises for obese people.
This article includes ten tips to start and stick to an exercise routine when you currently carry too much weight.
How Should an Obese Person Start Exercising?
An obese person should start a gradual exercise plan. For instance, just ten to fifteen minutes per day might work for you to start. You should start with a low intensity exercise plan for a few minutes each day. As that starts to feel more manageable, you can tack on more time to your exercise routine.
Get a Physical Exam
Before starting physical activity, check with your doctor or health care provider to make sure you can safely exercise. Your health care provider can also give you some tips to get started safely.
Try Low Impact Activity
You can try low impact activity like walking, gardening, or swimming to start. Low impact activities decrease stress on your muscles and joints so that you can establish an exercise routine without pain or injury.
You should avoid high impact activities like running, jumping, or plyometrics until you establish a healthy weight and advanced fitness level.
For now, stick with low impact activities.
Keep Exercise Low Intensity
You should start with low intensity exercise. Try walking, swimming or water aerobics.
Make sure you can talk throughout your workouts. If you cannot breathe, slow down. Make the workouts moderately easy to start. You should be able to talk, but not sing, throughout your cardio activity.
By keeping the intensity low, you can boost adherence and stamina.
Build up Time
You may only be able to do ten to fifteen minutes of activity to start. As your fitness improves, you can add five minutes to the end of your workouts each week. After 5 weeks, you can work up to 25 or 30 minutes at a time.
Try to work up to 45 to 60 minutes of low intensity cardio every day. You can even split it up into three fifteen or twenty minute sessions. This activity can help you build stamina and burn calories.
However, if you don’t have time for an hour a day, just 2.5 hours per week can provide tremendous health benefits. You can reach this goal with a daily half hour walk or two longer weekend walks when you have more free time.
Try Strength Training
Strength training workouts can build muscle and boost your metabolism. You can start with two thirty minute strength workouts per week. Try simple exercises like squats to a chair, wall push ups, partial lunges, standing rows and wall planks. Enlist a qualified personal trainer if you need help. To start, avoid exercises that require changes of direction, balancing on one leg, and lots of pressure on your joints.
Make it Fun
Exercise can become more enjoyable with a few shifts to your routine. Instead of working out in a gym, try to find activities that you enjoy. You could try bowling, yoga classes, swimming, bocce ball, or ballroom dancing.
Try to branch out and try new activities. New activities can make fitness more fun and doable.
Sneak Exercise into your Day
You don’t have to include your exercise all at once. You can sneak exercise into your routine.
Try to walk short trips instead of driving your car. Add thirty minutes of cleaning a day for more exercise and a cleaner house. Try getting up to stretch every hour at work. Meet a friend to walk and talk. Try an hour of gardening to spruce up your flower beds while increasing your activity level.
Many people tend to sit for most of the day. If you can get up and move more often, you can boost fitness and burn calories without even trying.
Try Water Workouts
Swimming or water aerobics can really help you boost fitness and stamina with minimal wear and tear on your body. You can try swimming just ten laps to boost endurance. Or, try social water aerobics classes. These classes help you meet new friends, exercise and burn calories.
Water workouts can reduce stress and strain on joints. Because obese people often struggle with joint pain, water workouts can become a perfect alternative to land based workouts.
Try the Elliptical
Exercising on an elliptical can really improve endurance all over your body. You can easily burn 300-500 calories in an hour on the elliptical. This exercise choice also limits the stress on your hips, knees and lower back.
Why not watch your favorite TV show or movie while you exercise on an elliptical? Doing so can help the time fly by while you improve your fitness. A cardio cinema can make even the elliptical more enticing.
Enlist a Friend
You can even enlist the help of a friend to get more exercise. A walking buddy or gym partner can help you stay accountable to your goals so that you keep up with your good habits. Walking and talking can also ease stress and promote positive feelings while you exercise together.
Get Outdoors
Moving outdoors can provide you with more exercise benefits than working out inside. For example, you will challenge your body, get a healthy dose of vitamin D and get some fresh air too.
Try to explore a new park or trail each weekend. Visiting some new scenery can make exercise even more enjoyable. Soon enough, you might even start to look forward to your weekend exercise routine.
Final Thoughts
Exercise does not have to feel intimidating. I hope these exercises for obese people gave you some positive tips and tricks to get started. If you enjoyed any of the tips in this article, please feel free to leave a comment below.
