8 Weeks To a NEW YOU – Week 1

Can you believe there are only 8 weeks to Christmas? It’s a wonderful time for family, friends, sharing and community. It can be very easy however to forget about your body image and get into bad habits that take time to redress in the new-year. So why not stay 1 step ahead and follow Felda’s 8-week guide to a new you. Get and stay in shape before Christmas and feel great.

• Always seek medical advice before embarking on an exercise program
• Work with-in your own comfort levels – Any pain, discomfort, light-headedness etc stop!! Listen to your body.
• Technique is very important, seek advice/help to ensure that each exercise is performed with the proper posture, speed. Breathing etc
• Consistency is the key to achieving results so aim for a minimum of 3 times per week and at least 30 mins each time.
• If you really want to boost things along and get your health in check then look at your diet also. Reduce / Cut down high fat foods, take-aways, chocolate, sweets & eating late in the evening. Reduce the amount of alcohol taken also.

• Always start with a warm-up of at least 10 minutes. Use movement that increases the range of motion in your muscles & joints. Your heart rate will increase getting blood into the muscles; particularly focus on the muscles & body parts that will be used for the main part of your workout.
• You can choose to do the resistance first or complete the cardio vascular first. Once you complete your warm up it is purely personal preference after that.
• Cool down – spend 8-10 minutes cooling down – gentle exercise reducing the effort to lower your heart rate and allow your muscles to recover.
• Finish with a stretch – hold each stretch for 15-30 seconds, making sure to stretch all the major muscle groups that were worked during your workout routine.

• Read next week’s column where Felda will outline a program for you to follow. We’ll outline what you can do from home and what we’d recommend you use the gym for to ensure results.