European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 13, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A slow but sure Way to get in shape by William Stockton new York times o you Are sedentary and the doctor has scared you with talk of heart disease and a lecture about your weight. Or a significant other person has delivered an ultimatum. Or you have caught a glimpse of yourself in the bathroom Mirror and been unhappy with what you saw. It s time to get fit. But How do you begin getting fit seems to imply the necessity of an expensive visit to a sports equipment store followed by a two mile run weight lifting and 30 sit ups each Day. But it is far simpler than that. As always anyone Over the age of 30 should Check with his or her doctor before beginning. The first step is simple. Go for a walk. If you Are totally out of shape walk about a half mile More if you think you Are up to it but no More than a mile. Don t try for Speed just Amble along. And White you Are walking have a heart to heart talk with yourself about two things motivation and managing your time. The hardest part of beginning a fitness program is finding the time each Day to devote to it and motivating yourself sufficiently to keep doing it Day after Day. Getting it is one thing. Staying fit is another. If you want to become fit and take advantage of the health benefits you Are actually talking about changing your life style so that you pursue a fitness activity several times a week for the rest of your life. There Are some tricks to help. Pick a time of Day when your natural rhythms Are most Likely to be compatible with exercising. For example if getting up in the morning has always been difficult Don t fool yourself by thinking you can begin a regimen of rising Early and working out. Consider evenings or lunch hours. If your life has settled into a set pattern after work that involves commuting dinner and family activities be realistic about How successfully you can alter this ingrained rhythm in order to add a fitness activity. Look for alternatives. Perhaps a lunchtime workout two Days a week and two exercise periods on the weekend is the answer. At first plan to spend 45 minutes or an hour including Warmup three or four times a week. Later As you become proficient less time might suffice. As you take this first walk and wrestle with these questions search deep inside for the key to motivating yourself. Examine the fear or guilt or vanity or other emotions that have motivated you to set out on this walk. Examine How you plan to stay in touch with these feelings so that three weeks or six months from now you will be Able to shove aside other factors pressing in on your life and push yourself to slip into some gym clothes and begin a workout. Arriving Back Home and having satisfactorily answered these questions about life style and identity stretch out on the floor on your Back and Cross your hands Over your Chest. Now press the Small of your Back into the floor and raise your trunk up to about a 45-degree Angle holding this position for a beat and then slowly lowering yourself Back to the floor. You have just done an abdominal curl the precursor to a sit up. Remember this is for beginners. Full sit ups come later. Repeat the abdominal curl three to five times pressing your lower spine Flat on the floor each time and using the abdominal Muscles to raise your trunk. Do not under any circumstances do too Many curls even if they do seem easy. Now Roll Over on your Abdomen place your hands Flat on the floor and perform a modified push up extending your arms to raise your trunk from the floor but bending from the Knees. Do three to five of these. Fitness program for beginners this Chart represents a 10-week fitness program for those who have yet to incorporate exercise into their lives but want to Start. It is based on four workouts a week. At the end of 10 weeks you will be walking eight Miles a week at 3 Miles an hour and burning 650 calories a week. The walking distance is in Miles the time is in minutes the curls Are abdominal and the numbers below each exercise designate repetitions. Week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 distance time 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.3 1.5 1.5 1.7 1.8 1.9 2.0 30 27 25 30 32 30 32 35 37 40 curls 5 7 10 10 12 12 15 17 20 20 pushups leg raises 5 7 10 10 12 12 15 17 20 20 5 7 10 10 12 13 15 17 20 20 afer the walk do modified pushups above abdominal curls Middle and leg raises below on the living room floor to build muscular strength. Again increase the repetition of each exercise very slowly. And no heroics do not try full fledged push ups in which the legs remain straight and the entire body is lifted. If you do you will be sorry tomorrow. Now lie on your left Side with your left Arm under you to comfortably raise your trunk from the floor. The right leg is on top of the left leg. Raise the right leg to about a 45-degree Angle hold it for a beat and then lower it. Repeat this lateral or lying on the Side leg raise three to five times. Then turn Over on your right Side and repeat it with your left leg three to five times. That s it the first workout. A Breeze. After that the rest is easy. Begin by working out a minimum of three times a week but preferably four or five times and gradually increase what you do. On the second Day for example Wear comfortable shoes walk the same distance and time yourself. In subsequent workouts try to shave 30 seconds off the time aiming for example to have Cut the time by 10 percent at the end of about two weeks. At the end of four weeks it is not unrealistic for a person who was quite out of shape in the beginning to have increased the Pace from 2 Miles an hour to 3 Miles an hour. A time will come when the distance should be increased but do so gradually. For example increase the round trip distance two blocks but remain at this new distance for at least a week before increasing it again. One Day the walk will be brisk enough that breaking into a slow jog might seem appropriate. If this feels comfortable try alternating 50 paces jogging with 100 paces walking. Over the course of Days or weeks depending on How it feels steadily increase the total time spent jogging. However if jogging causes any pain or just seems unpleasant stick with walking but gradually increase the distance and the Pace. A realistic goal after a few months is a Pace of 4 Miles an hour and a total distance of 12 Miles a week in three to five exercise sessions. That would Burn about 1,100 calories a week a respectable amount of aerobic activity. Each Day after the walk continue the strengthening activities on the living room floor again increasing the repetitions of each exercise slowly. During the first week or so do no More than the three to five repetitions performed on the first Day. If Muscles become sore Back off for a Day or two. In four to six weeks you should be Able to do 10 or even 15 of the abdominal curls and the modified push ups. With More time you might begin full sit ups and eventually regular straight leg push ups. One of the most important considerations in this beginning fitness program is to never overdo anything. Sore Muscles and even injuries sustained from doing too much too soon can quickly erode All the resolutions made in that first walk. But from simple beginnings like this totally sedentary people have permanently altered their lives discovering new Energy losing weight stopping smoking and Boring family and friends with incessant talk about their new obsession. Monday february 13, 1989 the stars and stripes Page 13