How to Get Fit in a Month

Assessing Your Current Fitness and Setting Goals

Consider your current health. If you have a current serious health condition, such as heart disease, you should talk to your doctor before embarking on a new exercise or diet plan. If you are generally healthy, you can safely make changes to your regime, but slow down if you notice dizziness or have difficulty breathing.

Record data about your current fitness level. By monitoring your fitness level, you will be able to record how much progress you’ve made over the course of a month. You can also identify areas of particular difficulty.

Assess your cardiovascular fitness. Cardiovascular fitness is a measure of how well your heart and lungs do at providing oxygen to your muscles when you move. The cardiovascular system is one of the most important organ systems in your body, and improving cardiovascular fitness can lessen your chances of a number of serious diseases, including heart disease. Walk or run for twelve minutes and measure how far you went. The following distances are average for each age group: Men in their 20s: 1.37 – 1.49 miles (2.2 – 2.4 km) Women in their 20s: 1.11 – 1.37 miles (1.8 – 2.2 km) Men in their 30s: 1.18 – 1.42 miles (1.9 – 2.3 km) Women in their 30s: 1.05 – 1.24 miles (1.7 – 2 km) People in their 40s: 1– 1.25 miles (1.6 – 2 km) People in their 50s: 1.19–1.26 miles (1.9 – 2 km) People in their 60s: 1.12–1.18 miles (1.8 – 1.9 km)

Assess your muscular strength and stamina. Muscular strength is a measure of how well you can use your muscles and connective tissue to move and complete activities. Improved muscular strength is associated with improved energy, better posture, fewer injuries, and greater levels of health in old age. Hold a plank position. Get on all fours and support yourself with your forearms, with elbows directly under your shoulders. Extend your legs and keep your back flat. You are supporting your weight with your arms and toes. A 90-second hold is an average result if you are in your forties. See how many squats you can do. Go hiking, jogging,biking, and do other exercises like that. Count how many push-ups you can do before needing to stop. Unless you already include push-ups in your exercise routine, do modified push-ups with your knees on the ground. Lie on the floor, face down, with your palms by your shoulders. Push yourself up, keeping your back straight, until your arms are straight. Lower yourself down again to within two inches of the floor. Completing 11 – 14 is average if you are in your forties. Stand with your back against a wall, with your feet about two feet away from the wall. Lower yourself by bending your knees until they are at about a ninety-degree angle. Hold yourself in this chair-like posture as long as you can. This is a measure of lower body strength. Staying in this posture for 19 – 26 seconds is average if you are in your forties.

Assess your flexibility. Being able to move your joints through a full range of motion helps to prevent injury. It also increases blood flow to your muscles. Sit on the floor and reach forward. This is a measure of flexibility in your legs, hips, and back. How much do you need to bend your knees in order to reach your toes? A slight bend is average.

Calculate your BMI. One convenient way to determine your body composition is the “Body Mass Index.” There are many BMI calculators available online, or you can calculate your BMI yourself. To calculate your body mass index (BMI), multiply your height in inches by itself. Then, divide your weight in pounds by this number, and multiply by 703. In general, a BMI of between 18.5 and 25 is considered healthy; however, remember that these are only rough approximations and should be used with caution. While a high BMI is generally correlated with a high percentage of body fat, the middle ranges, especially, may not fully account for variations in body type. If you use the metric system, BMI is is your weight (in kilograms) over your height squared (in centimeters). BMI = ( Weight in Kilograms / ( Height in Meters x Height in Meters ))

Use the data to set goals. In a month, you will not go from walking half a mile in twelve minutes to running a marathon. Instead, focus on setting goals that are achievable. For example, make it a goal to get three 2 km walks per week for a whole month. Or set a goal to do a resistance program twice a week for a whole month. These are achievable.

Don’t try to do everything at once. Overhauling your diet, trying to lose weight, taking on more exercise, trying to build strength, eliminating bad habits: these are all worthy goals. But doing them all at the same time in one month is likely to be stressful rather than helpful. Choose one area to focus on, and know that there’s plenty of time to address other aspects of a healthy lifestyle once you’ve got a good routine going in that area.

Gaining Strength and Endurance

Exercise regularly. Exercise can help you maintain a healthy weight and protect you from diseases such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers. It can also make you feel better and live longer. Official guidelines suggest performing at least 150 minutes of physical activity each week, with about 20 – 30 minutes of that being vigorous activity. That works out to little more than twenty minutes per day of some kind of exercise, which you can break down further into ten minute chunks. Start small. You don’t need to run at full speed for twenty minutes every morning. Taking a ten-minute walk at lunchtime and incorporating some jumping jacks, dancing, or easy stretching into your evening routine is already a great start. If you are already fit, exercise more, if you want to. As long as you’re not injuring yourself, increased exercise is generally correlated with greater benefits. Look for ways to incorporate exercise into your daily routine. For example, walk for part or all of your commute instead of taking the car or transit. EXPERT TIP Laila Ajani Laila Ajani Fitness Trainer Laila Ajani is a Fitness Trainer and founder of Push Personal Fitness, a personal training organization based in the San Francisco Bay Area. With over 10 years as a trainer and exercise specialist, Laila has expertise in competitive athletics (gymnastics, powerlifting, and tennis), personal training, distance running, and Olympic lifting. Laila is certified by the National Strength & Conditioning Association (NSCA), USA Powerlifting (USAPL), and she is a Corrective Exercise Specialist (CES). Laila Ajani Laila Ajani Fitness Trainer As a beginner, you want to improve your strength and endurance. Begin with exercises such as lunges, bench presses, and ab workouts like crunches or planks. Adjust your workout to your fitness level to avoid injury and achieve your fitness goals safely and effectively.

Get aerobic exercise. Aerobic exercise raises your heart rate and increases your ability to breathe. You can start with five or ten minutes of aerobic exercise. Take a walk, and make five or ten minutes of it very brisk, for example. Slowly build up how much time you spend, until by the end of the month at least half an hour of your weekly exercise is spent in vigorous aerobic exercise. If you’re doing vigorous aerobic exercise, you should be working hard enough that you can only say a few words before stopping to catch your breath and you should be perspiring. Vary your routine to maintain interest. Running, dancing, swimming, and some sports can all provide good aerobic exercise.

Include some strength training. Exercise focused on building muscle mass also builds stronger bones and boosts your stamina. In addition, it may make it easier for you to burn calories efficiently and thus keep off excess weight. Don’t over-exert yourself: use only enough weight or resistance so that your muscles are tired after ten to twelve repetitions. Slowly build up to heavier weight or greater resistance each week, being carefully not to add more than you can handle in ten to twelve repetitions. Body weight exercises use your own body as resistance. These include push-ups, pull-ups, crunches, squats, and lunges. Dumbbells, barbells, and resistance bands can all be purchased or used in a gym in order to add more resistance to your workout. You can also make use of ordinary household items, such as cans of soup or jugs filled with water.

Stretch to become more flexible. Stretch slowly into a position of mild discomfort and hold the position for at least 20 and up to 30 seconds, breathing normally throughout. Be sure to include at least a few minutes of stretching or flexibility training into your new routine. Start with one kind of stretch and learn it well over the course of a week; in the following three weeks, try adding stretches that target three other muscle groups. You should do flexibility exercises once your body is already warmed up. Try to do them once you’re already warm and breathing hard from a brisk walk, for example.

Don’t be afraid to start small. If you feel overwhelmed or have not been active for a long time, don’t force yourself to change overnight. Any exercise is better than none at all. Look for ways to include regular, comfortable exercise, such as fifteen minute walk on your lunch break. Then start adding time and intensity.

Try tai chi, especially if you have multiple health conditions or are older. Based on an ancient Chinese form of martial art, tai chi emphasizes breathing, flowing motion, and exercise that works the entire body. It improves overall fitness as well as posture and balance. Joining a tai chi class for a month may help you find the focus and structure you need to start getting fit.

Getting Fitter Through Diet

Focus on health and maintenance rather than dramatic weight loss. Crash diets weaken your immune system, may damage your heart, and can cause future weight gain. Instead of setting hard-to-reach weight-loss goals, make lifestyle changes to improve the health of your diet overall. A healthy rate of weight loss is between half a pound and two pounds per week. In a month, you should lose no more than eight pounds, maximum. Don’t restrict calories too much. Calculate how many calories you need based on your age and size.

Choose a diet that you can stick to. If you are going to try a set diet this month, choose wisely. Low-fat and low-carbohydrate diets have similar outcomes when it comes to losing weight though there is some evidence that low-carbohydrate diets are more effective. Still, the most significant factor is adhering to a diet, rather than the details of the diet itself. Be realistic about your preferences as well as how you buy and prepare food when choosing a diet method.

Eat slowly. Your brain needs about twenty minutes from the time you start eating to signal that you’re full. Eating more slowly will help you to consume fewer calories overall at a meal.

Avoid empty calories and convenience foods. In general, you want to choose foods that have many nutrients per calorie, such as vegetables, leafy greens, whole grains, and fish. Look for foods with plenty of fiber, such as beans, peas, nuts, and vegetables. To get started this month, focus on one category or meal that you can make more healthy. For example, you could replace sweetened drinks such as soda with water or unsweetened tea or coffee. Instead of drinking a can of soda in the afternoon, replace it with a cup of green tea. Pack fruit for a treat instead of cookies or candy. Commit to making one home-cooked, vegetable-based meal per week. Use this as an opportunity to experiment with new recipes and see what you like.

Don’t rely on exercise. Exercise alone is unlikely to help you lose weight, though it does suppress hunger and burn calories.

Be cautious about using supplements. While there is evidence that creatine supplements can help build muscle in serious weightlifting training, individual responses are very variable.

Improving Overall Health

Quit smoking. If you smoke, quitting may be the single most beneficial thing you can do this month for your health. Smoking has negative effects on nearly every major organ in your body. Exposure to tobacco and secondhand smoke is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. The first month after quitting smoking can be very difficult, with symptoms of withdrawal including trouble sleeping, fatigue, anxiety, and irritability appearing within the first few days. The good news is that these symptoms start to fade after the first two weeks. Each urge to smoke will last about thirty seconds before retreating. Make a plan for how to deal with these urges. Deep breathing, drinking cold water, eating a mint, or calling a friend are all examples of ways to cope with the urge to smoke until it subsides. Nicotine patches and gum can also help alleviate cravings. Talk to your doctor for more information if you need help.

Drink alcohol only moderately. Moderate drinking, defined in the United States as no more than one drink a day for women and one to two drinks for men, has been associated with some health benefits. Drinking more than that, however, can cause serious health problems. Taking a month off from drinking altogether can have immediate benefits for your liver, as well as helping you reduce caloric intake overall. If you crave alcohol, have trouble stopping drinking once you’ve started, or notice symptoms of withdrawal from alcohol, you may have a more serious problem. Talk to your doctor or a counselor if you are concerned about your drinking.

Do yoga. Yoga combines strengthening and stretching exercise with meditation and a focus on the breath. It has been shown to help the body regulate stress hormones. Yoga is beneficial to overall mental and physical health. Find a style of yoga that resonates with you. Some yoga classes are focused on relaxation and meditation, while others provide a more robust workout. Sample a few this month and see what might be a good fit. Check out a few area yoga studios. Many yoga studios have specials for new students, allowing you to sample their classes without a big financial commitment up front. Look for online yoga classes. While it’s helpful to have a teacher when you’re first starting out, online classes can make it easier to practice at home and on a budget.

Get enough sleep. Adults generally need seven to nine hours of good sleep each night. If you have difficulty waking up, you may not be getting enough high-quality sleep. In addition to making you feel better, adequate, good-quality sleep helps you to stay at a healthy weight and lowers your risk of certain diseases, including diabetes. Maintain a regular schedule, going to bed and waking up at similar times every day. Spend the hour before bed in quiet activities, such as reading or taking a warm bath. Keep your sleeping area cool, dark, and quiet. Talk to your doctor if you’re having serious trouble sleeping, never feel rested despite sleeping, or are having trouble adapting to new work shifts that disrupt your sleep.

Have a healthy sex life. In addition to being a moderate form of exercise, sex can boost your immune system, lower blood pressure, and help you relax. Having sex, including genital stimulation and orgasm, twice a week is correlated with significant health benefits.