Welcome to week 5 of the Dundalk Democrat and Felda 8 week fitness programme. You’re half way there so you should be starting to see an improvement in your general fitness levels with more energy and an improved body shape. If you missed our previous articles you can logon to www.getactive.ie to catch up.

As per our previous week’s programmes, week 5 is another intermediate workout designed to burn an additional 2500 calories over the course of this week. However this week there is a step up in intensity so good luck but make sure you work out at your own pace and listen to your body.

As we mentioned each week gets progressively harder so this week you’ll have to spend a bit longer exercising to complete the plan. A lot of the exercises listed are designed around gym exercise which is why we are offering readers the chance of joining Felda for 8 weeks at only €80 to follow this programme. However you can adapt these to suit a home workout environment, for example walk up and down your stairway for 20 minutes if you cannot use a stepper in a gym. Walk or run outdoors if you don’t have a treadmill etc.

However for best results you should consider trying to get into the gym with this workout.

Best of luck… here is week fives exercise guidelines:

NB: If you are a complete beginner to exercise you can email Felda at info@felda.ie and we will email you a beginner programme which is easier than the one listed here. Also if you’d like a tougher workout please advise us and we’ll email you a more advanced workout programme weekly.

Remember that you have 7 days to complete this programme so don’t try and do everything in 1 or 2 days! It’s important to take rest days to let your body recover properly.

Anyone who joins Felda for the 8-week period can pick up a tick sheet with the full programme details and track their progress weekly. If you have not joined up please feel free to collect this from Felda reception.

Week 5:

• Walk/jog 5km three times, indoors or outdoors
• 3 Weights Sessions
• 3 Abs Classes or 45 minutes of Abs work at home
• 4,000m on X-Trainer & 4,000m on Cardio Wave
• 3,000m on Stepper or Amt machine
• Time yourself doing the following: 1km on treadmill or outdoor, 1,000m on rower, & Step Ups for 1 minute try to beat previous times