From fat to slim (4): exercising

Most of us who have a desk job and work for long hours lead a sedentary life. If one wants to remain healthy and burn the accumulating fat then one must exercise. Sadly there is no substitute for it!

People who start exercising after a long break must begin slowly. With time your stamina will increase.

Whether you are doing exercises at home or at the gym you should first do a warm up. You could do light exercises like moving your head, wrists, arms and toes in a clockwise and anticlockwise manner. One could also instead do a mild cardio on a treadmill or a cycle for 5-10 minutes.

Once you have warmed up you proceed to the next level which usually involves weight training. Normally the routine is to devote different days to different parts of your body to avoid straining and injuries and to alternate this with cardio. I am descrbing here a few of my favorites.

One of the exercises which are meant for the lower part of the body is squats. In this your feet are kept shoulder distance apart, hips are out with your back straight and your hands are kept forward. In this posture you first go down and then come up remembering that the knees should always fall out and not cave in. You can begin by doing one set of 20 repititions and later as the days go by increase it to two-three sets.

The exercises that everyone seems to be interested in are those that work your abs. The trenches and leg raises are two of the most useful exercises and also are easy to get a hang of.

When doing trenches you lie down flat on your back with a mat for cushioning. You then fold your hands under your head. Fold your legs up to a 90 degree angle and then lift your back up fast and come down slowly. You must remember to keep your chin up and your back straight during the up and down motion. For achieving this it is best to keep your eyes remain fixed at the ceiling.

For leg raises while lying down keep your hands under your hips. One leg is folded with the sole touching the ground. The second leg is kept straight and parallel to the floor. Next raise this leg up making a 90 degrees angle with the floor and then bring it down but allowing it to touch the floor.

As with the squats two-three sets of these exercises are done in repetitions of 20.

One must remember to take sufficient breaks in between each set to avoid straining yourself.

Once you are done with your weight training, cardio and abs exercising you must follow it up with stretching. A few examples catering to the upper part of the body are shown in the picture here. A reminder here that stretching must always be done when your body is warm. Hence you must never begin a workout with stretches.