Summer is here, let’s exercise, get healthy. 30 minutes at a time.

It’s the beginning of June and summer has officially started.   We been saying for years that we will lose weight and start exercising, but lets be honest with ourselves, the real reason we haven’t is that we are lazy and procrastinate to the extreme.  We’ve been saying for years that once the New Year starts we will change our ways but how many years is that already? So the change has to start at some point, why not now? Here at #nomorecheezmeh we want to share some information and hopefully it can benefit people into changing their lifestyle.

Before we begin, we need to prepare. When you go do a job, you can’t do the job properly without having the proper tools, same thing applies.  If you want to lose weight and start exercising correctly, you need to have the right tools.

What you need.

• Running shoes (You don’t have to spend a fortune on the latest Nike’s or Adidas, you can get a good pair of running shoes for about $30 at Shoe Carnival down on Pablo Kisel)
• Sports shirt and shorts (You can go to Academy and find a good deal and they have a large selection of sizes and brands, also don’t need to break the bank)
• Towel (You can just use one that you have already and designate this for your training)
• Water Bottle (We recommend a 24oz or 32oz)
• Duffel bag (Something big enough that will fit all your stuff, we recommend one that has some pockets on the side to put your water bottle for easy access)

So you have all your gear and are ready to start but before you actually do start, we suggest stretching for a few minutes. You don’t have to over do it either and put yourself into a pretzel. We did some research and think the following stretches will help loosen up your body prior to your run, relieve stress and get you mentally prepared before you start. While you do each stretch, breathe in slowly through your nose and exhale with your mouth.

1. This helps the muscles in the shoulders and lower neck. Try doing it in a circular motion going backwards and forwards (a bit harder).  Feels good right?
2. The side muscles of your body and some of your middle back will be stretched.
3. You should feel your chest, shoulders, and triceps stretch as you perform this.
4. You should feel this stretch primarily in your gastrocnemius (calf muscle) and some muscles in the foot.
5. The illustration shows the areas being affected is your shin, but in reality it stretches the muscles in your quadriceps, primarily the rectus femoris (the middle muscle in the leg)
6. Your muscles around your lower leg should be felt, the Achilles tendon, and small muscles in your ankle.
7. You may not be able to touch your tippy toes, but try your best. Your lower back muscles will benefit from this.
8. The illustration shows the muscles being affected are the front but in reality are the back leg muscles or hamstrings.

Alright, you did your stretching and you are finally ready. Take a quick sip of water (to hydrate) but not too much because then you’ll feel heavy as you walk or jog.  Clear your thoughts and focus on where you want to go.  Once you have decided what route you are going to take go for it.  How long you should walk or jog really depends on you however assuming that you are starting off, 30 minutes should be good.   As you walk remember these few things

• Don’t worry a whole lot about how fast you can go or how far you can go in the beginning , the most important thing is setting a rhythm and finding out what works best for you, all these things will improve as the time comes.
• Start off slow at normal speed for the first 10 minutes then followed by increasing your speed for 10 minutes then for the last 10 minutes back to your normal speed.  As your resistance builds up over time you can change this up maybe 5 minutes normal speed, 20 minutes increased speed, 5 minutes normal speed.
• Some people say once you start to not stop until you reach your goal, but in reality if you need to stop and take a minute or two to catch your breathe, go ahead and do so, there is nothing wrong with that, and if you have your water bottle with you, take a drink of water to hydrate and then just resume and finish off.
• Try to set time aside each week to do 3 days, as your stamina and resistance improves aim for 5 days.  If you want to be super fit, you can try to do 6 days although we probably may recommend to give yourself 1-2 days off and get a good rest.

The good thing about walking or jogging is that you can start anywhere and finish anywhere.  Our city has some great trails that you can go to. 

• The Belden Trail.  If you are looking for an easy trail to start, this would be a good way, this trail is about 1mile.  Just go to Sunrise Park on Palm Blvd and follow the trail. You will go around Sam’s Stadium and end on Skinner Elementary.
• The Historic Battlefield Trail. This trail might be more intermediate or advanced as it’s about 8.5 miles and starts at Linear Park (in front of the Boys and Girls Club) near the courthouse and ends at Palo Alto Battlefield on 511 and Paredes.

They are many benefits to walking and jogging.  As with any exercise, it helps strengthen your heart and reduce the risk of all those cardiovascular diseases.  It reduces the risk of getting diabetes type 2.  It reduces the risk of osteoporosis (weakening of the bones). It helps you lose weight.  We could tell you all the healthy benefits but most importantly exercising makes you feel good about yourself and it helps your mental state.  If you are depressed half a hour a day to take a walk will help you, we’ve been through rough times and exercising helped us tremendously.  There is a saying that goes, “If you look good, you feel good” and you can’t go wrong with that.

We hope you enjoyed this article and if it helps someone in any form or another, we are glad to be a part of that.