If you are putting together a workout routine you’ve taken an important first step. What you are trying to accomplish should determine how often, how long and how hard you exercise.

It’s a good idea to put variety into the workout. If you are using home exercise equipment as the base workout include other exercises to vary daily routine.

Any time is a good time to start. Being physically active and maintaining a healthy weight is good practice for all age groups. Make it a practice to get some exercise every day. Children, teens, adults, and seniors - all can improve their health and well-being and have fun by including moderate amounts of physical activity in their daily lives. Start easy - there’s nothing to be gained by rushing things. The real benefit is a life-long routine of physical fitness.

There are many different ways to go about it. Try for exercise routines that are varied. Try for a variety that will benefit all major muscle groups. Doing the same thing every day can be boring and is less beneficial. A good bench mark is about 30 minutes a day of moderate exercise. Less is ok - better than being sedentary. Exercising longer will reap more benefits.

Your goals, your present fitness level, age, health, skills, interest and convenience are among the factors you should consider. For example, an athlete training for high-level competition would follow a different program than a person whose goals are good health and the ability to meet work and recreational needs.

Your exercise program should include something from each of the basic fitness components described as Cardiovascular, Upper-body, Muscle Strength and Muscle Endurance in Fitness Goes Beyond Muscle Tone. Each workout should begin with a warmup and end with a cool-down. As a general rule, space your workouts throughout the week and avoid consecutive days of hard exercise.

Here are the amounts of activity necessary for the average healthy person to maintain a minimum level of overall fitness. Included are some of the popular exercises for each category.

Warmup - 5-10 minutes of exercise such as walking, slow jogging, knee lifts, arm circles or trunk rotations. Low intensity movements that simulate movements to be used in the activity can also be included in the warmup.

Muscular strength - a minimum of two 20-minute sessions per week that include exercises for all the major muscle groups. Lifting weights is the most effective way to increase strength.

Muscular endurance - at least three 30-minute sessions each week that include exercises such as calisthenics, pushups, situps, pullups, and weight training for all the major muscle groups.

Cardio Respiratory Endurance - at least three 20-minute bouts of continuous aerobic (activity requiring oxygen) rhythmic exercise each week.

Popular aerobic conditioning activities include brisk walking, jogging, swimming, cycling, rope-jumping, rowing, cross-country skiing, and some continuous action games like racquetball and handball

Flexibility - 10-12 minutes of daily stretching exercises performed slowly, without a bouncing motion. This can be included after a warmup or during a cooldown.

Cool down - a minimum of 5-10 minutes of slow walking, low-level exercise, combined with stretching.

Fitness - Let’s Get Going
A couple of thoughts on fitness and how to go about an exercise routine. The decision to take up an exercise program is the first step but how important is step 2?