Government agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and respected fitness or health-related organizations like the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Heart Association agree: Adults should engage in regular aerobic exercise and strength-training of major muscle groups to maintain health and fitness. But getting started on a consistent workout plan might be intimidating if you've never worked out before. Eliminate the mystery by getting a handle on basic types of exercise and how much you should do.
Examples and Evaluating Intensity
Good types of aerobic exercise for beginners include walking, hiking, swimming, riding a bike, dancing and climbing stairs. Working out doesn't have to mean going to the gym, so be creative. Anything that gets your large muscle groups moving rhythmically and causes you to break a sweat and breathe slightly harder -- enough that you can still converse normally but can't sing -- counts as moderate exercise. If you can only get a few words out at a time, you're working at a vigorous intensity.
Duration
Make working up to the CDC's recommendations of 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity per week your first workout goal. Start with however much you can manage now and work your way up to the CDC's recommendations, which work out to 30 minutes of moderate activity or 15 minutes of vigorous activity every day. Aim for workout sessions of at least 10 minutes long and either increase workout length or add more 10-minute workouts throughout the day as you build fitness.
Strength Training
To get the most out of your beginning strength-training workouts, take time to warm up with five to 10 minutes of cardiovascular activity before you work out. The warm-up will increase your performance and decrease your risk of injury. Then target exercises that use multiple muscles at once, and make sure to work each major muscle group at least once. Examples include squats and lunges for hips and legs, push-ups and chest presses for chest, triceps and shoulders, plus lat pull-downs and assisted pull-ups for back, biceps and shoulders.
Sets and Repetitions
You might do multiple sets with very heavy weight for bodybuilding or power training. But if you're just starting out, a single set of 12 repetitions is enough to build strength and endurance. Use a weight heavy enough that you can only just complete that 12th repetition. Once you feel you can complete more than 12 repetitions with good form, increase the weight you're lifting by 5 to 10 percent. Once you've worked a given muscle group, give it at least a full day of rest before you work it again. So if you trained your legs on Tuesday, don't strength-train them again until Thursday.
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