How to make the world a better place? Start with exercise bikes, for one

Hundreds of people will be generating electricity in downtown Oakland by pedaling exercise bikes if a couple of high school students ever manage to get their idea rolling.

"It might not ever happen," admitted Anastasia Landry, 16. "But it's a good idea. We'd have new gyms spread out all over Oakland. The bikes would be hooked up to the grid. I think it would help people get their lives together."

Anastasia, from Skyline High School in Oakland, was among 100 or so Bay Area students who gathered Thursday in a Berkeley meeting hall, science fair-style, to share their ideas for making the world greener, safer and happier.

The ideas included flying cars, giant holes to turn rising sea water into attractive fish ponds, streets paved with mah-jongg tiles, time limits for showers, a system of Tokyo-style capsule hotels and special dormitories made out of compressed dirt. Teachers would be housed in those.

It was all part of a daylong conference sponsored by the Center for Cities and Schools at UC Berkeley. The center invited kids from around the bay to spend the day on campus to share their ideas, and no schoolkid needs to be asked twice to take a day off from school for a field trip, even an educational one.

Aaliyah Sibanda, 15, also of Skyline High School, came up with the time limit for showers. People who take quick showers would be rewarded with gift certificates to local stores. People who take long showers would pay fines.

San Francisco Bay would be a lot cleaner, said Vanessa Chavez, 18, if the city would install giant nets on storm drain outfall pipes. The nets would catch junk the way that mesh nets on home dryers catch lint.

Vanessa, a student at Kennedy High School in Richmond, said all the city would need to do is hire about 100 people to go around town during a storm to clean out all the nets.

"It would be kind of disgusting," she said. "But it would help clean Richmond and provide a lot of work for people."

Andres Yañes, 13, of Escuela Popular in East San Jose, said his ideas for a fleet of flying cars "might seem silly but it would make getting around a lot easier." He did not know where to find the flying cars just yet.

Affordable living for schoolteachers is right around the corner if Marshawn Young, 18, gets his teacher dormitories off the drawing board. The teachers would have to double up in small rooms inside large buildings made from compressed dirt blocks. Rent would be $500 a month, which, he said, even a teacher could handle.

"We need to find a place where teachers can afford to live," said Marshawn, another Kennedy High student. He added that the motivation for the dormitories was entirely altruistic and not a way to make the teachers of Richmond spend their days encased in dirt.

There were adults on hand — teachers mostly — but they tried not to splash too much cold water on the more unconventional ideas.

Teacher Terry Van Hare said she had given Anastasia an "A" for her electricity-generating bicycle gym idea even though she said, in a low voice, that it probably wasn't practical.

"I had a conversation with her, and we talked about how the bicycles would probably not be able to generate enough energy," she said. "We did a cost benefit analysis. She understands."

On hand to take in the ideas were city planners, city managers and some representatives from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the body that will oversee Andres' fleet of flying cars in the event they get off the ground.

Steve Rubenstein is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: srubenstein@sfchronicle.com

Read More

Health Check: how to start exercising if you’re out of shape

Perhaps your GP has recommended you exercise more, or you've had a recent health scare. Maybe your family's been nagging you to get off the couch or you've decided yourself that it's time to lose some weight.

How do you find the motivation, time and resources to get fit, particularly if you haven't exercised in a while? How do you choose the best type of exercise? And do you need a health check before you start?

Read more: Health Check: how much physical activity is enough in older age?

Overcoming barriers to exercise

Motivation

Understanding the effect a sedentary lifestyle has on your health often hits home only after a serious event such as hearing bad news from your doctor. For some people, that's often enough motivation to get started.

Surviving a serious illness as a result of an inactive lifestyle, such as a heart attack or stroke, can also be frightening enough to provide a great deal of motivation.

So, if you have not exercised for several years or haven't exercised before, a it's a good idea to get a health check with your GP before starting.

Then you need to keep motivated enough to stick with your exercise program. You can track your training or fitness level and set some achievable goals to keep going.

Lack of time

Finding the time and effort to fit exercise into your daily routine is challenging. We know being "time poor" is a common reason for not exercising. And many people such as office workers, vehicle or machine operators have low activity levels at work and don't feel like exercising after a long day.

Read more: Time scarcity is a slippery slope to inactivity

One way to get around these barriers might be to attend a group exercise session or join a sports club. If you find exercise boring, you can encourage a friend to join you or join an exercise group to make it enjoyable. If you played sport in your youth, that might provide an option.

Having a friend to exercise with or team mates to support you gives a sense of commitment so that you have to be there and will be challenged if you fail to show up.

Resources

You don't need to join a gym with a lot of fancy equipment to get fit. There are many YouTube videos of safe routines that you can follow and adjust as you get fitter.

This one demonstrates a 15 minute cardio exercise routine that you can do at home.

You don't need any special equipment to exercise at home along with this 15 minute cardio workout for beginners.

Many exercises – including squats, push ups and sit ups – don't need special equipment. And rather than improving muscle strength with weights at the gym, you can fill milk bottles with water instead.

Yes, you'll huff and puff. But it gets easier

You might be thinking about starting aerobic exercise like the cardio workout above, or walking, jogging, swimming or cycling. All need oxygen to provide energy over several minutes or longer.

When we perform aerobic exercise, our heart rate increases along with our breathing rate and depth. This is because this type of exercise requires oxygen to provide energy to keep going.

Read more: Health Check: what should our maximum heart rate be during exercise?

When we are not used to this type of exercise our body is inefficient at using the oxygen we breathe to generate energy for our skeletal muscles. That's why when we start an exercise program we huff and puff more, get tired quickly and may not finish the exercise.

But if we keep exercising regularly, our bodies become more efficient at using oxygen and we become better at generating enough energy for our muscles to work.

Over weeks of regular exercise, the number and efficiency of our body's mini-powerhouses – mitochondria – increase in each cell. This increases the energy they can supply to the muscles, exercising becomes easier and we recover faster from each session.

Read more: Explainer: what are mitochondria and how did we come to have them?

That's why it's important to continue and repeat exercise sessions, even after a shaky start or a few set-backs. Yes, it can be a big challenge, but aerobic exercise gets easier over time as the body gets used to providing the energy it needs.

Thinking of yoga or simple stretches? Here's what to expect

Yoga is a great way to start an exercise program and you can perform it at various levels of intensity. Stretching and other moves improve flexibility and strength. Yoga also emphasises breathing and relaxation through meditation.

Yoga, like other forms of exercise, will be challenging to begin with. But it does get easier over the weeks as your body adapts. So, it is important to be persistent and make the exercise part of your routine with at least three sessions of up to one hour every week.

Read more: The yoga paradox: how yoga can cause pain and treat it

At the start, you may get sore muscles. While this can be uncomfortable, the soreness goes away after about a week. You can reduce this soreness by starting with low intensity and building gradually over the first month.

Once your muscles become used to the new movements, the soreness will be minimal as you progress.

Read more: Health Check: why do my muscles ache the day after exercise?

Watch your joints

We know being overweight or obese has detrimental effects on the heart, bones, joints and other organs including the pancreas, which regulates blood glucose (sugar) levels. Obesity can also affect brain health and is linked to poor cognition.

The good news is that regular exercise can help reduce these negative effects.

To avoid pain to the knee and other joints, try gentle exercise or swimming before taking on anything more vigorous if you are obese or overweight. from www.shutterstock.com

But if you are overweight or obese, taking up exercise can place great strain on your joints, particularly the articulating surface, the cartilage surface of bones that contact each other. So hips, knees and ankles can become inflamed and painful.

So it may be best to include exercise that reduces weight bearing, such as exercise in water or using a stationary exercise bike or rowing machine. Once you've lost some weight and your cardiovascular function has improved, then you can add more walking or jogging to your exercise program.

The right diet helps power you along

A healthy diet you can maintain in the long term is a very important part of any fitness routine. Not only can it help you lose weight, it can also provide the right type of fuel to power your new exercise program.

Read more: Health Check: what's the best diet for weight loss?

Getting plenty of fibre from fruit, vegetables and whole grains will help to reduce weight and keep it off while exercising.

Sugar, especially the type found in fizzy drinks and sweets, are low in nutrients and increase the risk of diabetes, metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease. So cut down on refined carbohydrates like some breads and rice, sugary cereals and refined pasta since these include sugars we are trying to avoid and have had their fibre removed. Replace them with oats, carrots or potatoes.

It's best to avoid fad diets, which tend to be restrictive and difficult to maintain. They can lead to a yo-yo effect where you lose weight only for it to return.

Read more: Food for fitness: is it better to eat before or after exercise?

In a nutshell

Once you've decided to start exercising, and had a medical check if needed, start slowly and build your exercise routine up over weeks and months. Make it interesting and enjoyable, perhaps by working out with a friend or group. Set some achievable goals, try to stick to them and don't give up if you have a set back.

Weight loss and getting fit requires different approaches for different people so find what works for you and make it part of your lifestyle. Increase the intensity and frequency of your exercise gradually from a minimal three times a week for 20 minutes to longer, more intense sessions more often.

Read More

Health Check: how to start exercising if you’re out of shape

Perhaps your GP has recommended you exercise more, or you've had a recent health scare. Maybe your family's been nagging you to get off the couch or you've decided yourself that it's time to lose some weight.

How do you find the motivation, time and resources to get fit, particularly if you haven't exercised in a while? How do you choose the best type of exercise? And do you need a health check before you start?

Read more: Health Check: how much physical activity is enough in older age?

Overcoming barriers to exercise

Motivation

Understanding the effect a sedentary lifestyle has on your health often hits home only after a serious event such as hearing bad news from your doctor. For some people, that's often enough motivation to get started.

Surviving a serious illness as a result of an inactive lifestyle, such as a heart attack or stroke, can also be frightening enough to provide a great deal of motivation.

So, if you have not exercised for several years or haven't exercised before, a it's a good idea to get a health check with your GP before starting.

Then you need to keep motivated enough to stick with your exercise program. You can track your training or fitness level and set some achievable goals to keep going.

Lack of time

Finding the time and effort to fit exercise into your daily routine is challenging. We know being "time poor" is a common reason for not exercising. And many people such as office workers, vehicle or machine operators have low activity levels at work and don't feel like exercising after a long day.

Read more: Time scarcity is a slippery slope to inactivity

One way to get around these barriers might be to attend a group exercise session or join a sports club. If you find exercise boring, you can encourage a friend to join you or join an exercise group to make it enjoyable. If you played sport in your youth, that might provide an option.

Having a friend to exercise with or team mates to support you gives a sense of commitment so that you have to be there and will be challenged if you fail to show up.

Resources

You don't need to join a gym with a lot of fancy equipment to get fit. There are many YouTube videos of safe routines that you can follow and adjust as you get fitter.

This one demonstrates a 15 minute cardio exercise routine that you can do at home.

You don't need any special equipment to exercise at home along with this 15 minute cardio workout for beginners.

Many exercises – including squats, push ups and sit ups – don't need special equipment. And rather than improving muscle strength with weights at the gym, you can fill milk bottles with water instead.

Yes, you'll huff and puff. But it gets easier

You might be thinking about starting aerobic exercise like the cardio workout above, or walking, jogging, swimming or cycling. All need oxygen to provide energy over several minutes or longer.

When we perform aerobic exercise, our heart rate increases along with our breathing rate and depth. This is because this type of exercise requires oxygen to provide energy to keep going.

Read more: Health Check: what should our maximum heart rate be during exercise?

When we are not used to this type of exercise our body is inefficient at using the oxygen we breathe to generate energy for our skeletal muscles. That's why when we start an exercise program we huff and puff more, get tired quickly and may not finish the exercise.

But if we keep exercising regularly, our bodies become more efficient at using oxygen and we become better at generating enough energy for our muscles to work.

Over weeks of regular exercise, the number and efficiency of our body's mini-powerhouses – mitochondria – increase in each cell. This increases the energy they can supply to the muscles, exercising becomes easier and we recover faster from each session.

Read more: Explainer: what are mitochondria and how did we come to have them?

That's why it's important to continue and repeat exercise sessions, even after a shaky start or a few set-backs. Yes, it can be a big challenge, but aerobic exercise gets easier over time as the body gets used to providing the energy it needs.

Thinking of yoga or simple stretches? Here's what to expect

Yoga is a great way to start an exercise program and you can perform it at various levels of intensity. Stretching and other moves improve flexibility and strength. Yoga also emphasises breathing and relaxation through meditation.

Yoga, like other forms of exercise, will be challenging to begin with. But it does get easier over the weeks as your body adapts. So, it is important to be persistent and make the exercise part of your routine with at least three sessions of up to one hour every week.

Read more: The yoga paradox: how yoga can cause pain and treat it

At the start, you may get sore muscles. While this can be uncomfortable, the soreness goes away after about a week. You can reduce this soreness by starting with low intensity and building gradually over the first month.

Once your muscles become used to the new movements, the soreness will be minimal as you progress.

Read more: Health Check: why do my muscles ache the day after exercise?

Watch your joints

We know being overweight or obese has detrimental effects on the heart, bones, joints and other organs including the pancreas, which regulates blood glucose (sugar) levels. Obesity can also affect brain health and is linked to poor cognition.

The good news is that regular exercise can help reduce these negative effects.

To avoid pain to the knee and other joints, try gentle exercise or swimming before taking on anything more vigorous if you are obese or overweight. from www.shutterstock.com

But if you are overweight or obese, taking up exercise can place great strain on your joints, particularly the articulating surface, the cartilage surface of bones that contact each other. So hips, knees and ankles can become inflamed and painful.

So it may be best to include exercise that reduces weight bearing, such as exercise in water or using a stationary exercise bike or rowing machine. Once you've lost some weight and your cardiovascular function has improved, then you can add more walking or jogging to your exercise program.

The right diet helps power you along

A healthy diet you can maintain in the long term is a very important part of any fitness routine. Not only can it help you lose weight, it can also provide the right type of fuel to power your new exercise program.

Read more: Health Check: what's the best diet for weight loss?

Getting plenty of fibre from fruit, vegetables and whole grains will help to reduce weight and keep it off while exercising.

Sugar, especially the type found in fizzy drinks and sweets, are low in nutrients and increase the risk of diabetes, metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease. So cut down on refined carbohydrates like some breads and rice, sugary cereals and refined pasta since these include sugars we are trying to avoid and have had their fibre removed. Replace them with oats, carrots or potatoes.

It's best to avoid fad diets, which tend to be restrictive and difficult to maintain. They can lead to a yo-yo effect where you lose weight only for it to return.

Read more: Food for fitness: is it better to eat before or after exercise?

In a nutshell

Once you've decided to start exercising, and had a medical check if needed, start slowly and build your exercise routine up over weeks and months. Make it interesting and enjoyable, perhaps by working out with a friend or group. Set some achievable goals, try to stick to them and don't give up if you have a set back.

Weight loss and getting fit requires different approaches for different people so find what works for you and make it part of your lifestyle. Increase the intensity and frequency of your exercise gradually from a minimal three times a week for 20 minutes to longer, more intense sessions more often.

Read More

5 Exercises to Improve Handwriting and How They Can Benefit Your Brain

—

In this day and age, we do most of our writing with the help of our smartphone or a PC. We barely ever use pen and paper, and because of this, our handwriting suffers. And it turns out that's not exactly right. Why shouldn't we use only a keyboard or a typewriter if it makes our life a bit easier?

Well, more and more studies are showing that handwriting specifically has amazing benefits on our brain. Think of it as a cognitive training that greatly improves our hand-eye coordination, memory recall and which activates more parts of the brain than simply typing something out on the keyboard.

Writing in cursive specifically triggers our functional specialization: a complex process that combines sensation, thinking and muscle control. Studies show that cursive is also a more engaging and faster way of writing. Learning to handwrite requires remembering how each letter looks, their size and the way how they are connected. All of this is more complicated than it looks on the surface.

Just practicing for a few minutes a day can help you reap the benefits. For students who write essays, this can be especially good practice, as good writing makes you appear more professional. If you are also looking for academic support. They are reliable, and will professionally review your performance. Edusson also has a lot of article reviews, which can inspire you and make your imagination grow.

The following 5 exercises are proven to be effective forms of practice. Everybody can benefit from them, whether you are a struggling student or one of such writers. They will require lots of patience and legit work, as you can't learn something new overnight. But be careful while choosing a new service, as there are those who may scam you.

1. Brain Exercises – 'Lines and Clouds'

Let's start with a good warm-up exercise. Take an empty piece of paper and fill it up with parallel lines. You should make them as straight as possible and of the same length. This will make sure that your writing is not crooked and will make your letters look sharp. When doing horizontal lines, you should write them in the form of 3 (sort of like a letter E). Every line needs to be of the same length and fully parallel. Making clouds is a good way to practice your curve lines. They should look similar to a number 8, with one more circle on top. Make sure every part is equally proportional. Do these exercises for at least 5 minutes a few times a week.

2. Cursive exercise

When doing cursive, we are using a slightly different approach – drills. You might remember this exercise from your middle school. Start by focusing on only one letter and write 2 rows of this one before going to another. This is the easiest way to start writing well and learn how to lift your hand on the upstroke. Proceed with the other letters and then do 'drill' technique. This movement trains your hand to get used to up and down motion which makes your writing flow easily. You will be showing others how to learn cursive in a short period.

3. Air writing

This may sound strange, but this life hack is really effective. One of the reasons why your handwriting is poor is because you don't adequately train the muscles you need. To practice this correctly, you should move your entire arm, and not only the wrist, up to the shoulder height. Start writing whole sentences in the air for 5 to 10 minutes a day.

4. Alphabet exercise

The exercise consists of writing out capital and lowercase letters (Z-z, Y-y, etc.) until you reach the beginning of the alphabet. The trick is to do this very slow and without cheating. If you find that your writing is too messy, you can put an open magazine beneath your paper and try to trace the outlines. It's a great idea to use children's paper, which features spaced and dotted lines you need to stay inside. Do this once a day for a few days. After you've become comfortable with this, it's time to challenge yourself with writing in cursive.

5. Letter Exercise

Here, we narrow down our focus on the most problematic letters. Start by quickly writing out all the letters of the alphabet. After you have finished, review your work. Look at the shapes of your letters, their size, and clarity of writing. Take your pen and underline 5 letters that you think look the worst. Write them out 10 times slowly and deliberately. Now repeat this process and isolate new problematic letters. Repeat this for 5 times and then rest.

One more interesting type of writing is writing with your non-dominant hand. Writing with both hands is especially beneficial for your neurological health. This is a challenging process which is exactly why it will increase your brain activity. The following exercises require a lot of focus and discipline, as your brain will be forming new neural connections.

Additional Tips for Writers

Aside from these exercises, you can do the following things to improve your handwriting:

Change the way you hold your pen

Most people don't ever think about how they hold their pen. Holding it correctly will improve your control and allow you to write longer without getting tired, so it is useful to master this. There have actually been studies on this, and the consensus is to use a hold called dynamic tripod. It consists of holding a pen between thumb and index, while the tip rests firmly on your knuckle. The general rule is to hold the pen 2/3 to the bottom.

Don't hold the pen loose or too tight, or your writing will look awful anyway

Try different accessories

According to Edusson writers experiment with different utensils to find out which one suits you the best. There is a variety of options on the market (roll-on pen, ballpoint, etc.) of different prices. You shouldn't rest until you find something you are comfortable with.

Conclusion

These exercises will help you to improve your handwriting. Follow the rules, and you might be impressed by the result. Good luck!

—

This content is sponsored by Kelly Newborn.

Photo: Shutterstock

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Podcast: How to start a cash practice inside a gym with Danny Matta

Jarod Carter Thursday, May 02, 2019

In this episode, Jarod speaks with Danny Matta, DPT, OCS, CSCS of Athlete's Potential and MobilityWOD. His cash-based PT practice is based within a CrossFit gym.

Though we dive into the nuts and bolts of starting a cash practice within a gym, this interview is absolutely packed with cash-based wisdom applicable to all practice locations. Enjoy!

In this episode, you'll learn about:

Why he decided to start a cash-pay practice (even with two very young children at the time).

His advice for choosing the right type of gym for you and your practice style.

Negotiations and tactics he used to create a win-win with the gym owner and get some free rent.

How to "get your foot in the door" with gym owners, even if they already rent space to other healthcare practitioners.

A clever way to get in front of loads of potential patients, even at gyms other than the one you rent from.

What he teaches to CrossFit coaches and tactical military units and how you can use it for your own patients.

How he uses video and blogs to generate new business.

How he is able to shoot high-quality videos quickly and edit them in less than a minute.

His social media marketing strategy and how he uses cheap Facebook "post boosting" to generate new patients for his practice.

Some of the best advice he ever received from his business-minded clinical instructor in PT school.

The business books he most recommends.

Resources and links mentioned in this episode: About the Author

Jarod Carter is a doctor of physical therapy, certified manual therapist and owner of a cash-based private practice in Austin, Texas. He shares his insights on physical therapy marketing and the private-pay business model at DrJarodCarter.com.

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How to make the world a better place? Start with exercise bikes, for one

Hundreds of people will be generating electricity in downtown Oakland by pedaling exercise bikes if a couple of high school students ever manage to get their idea rolling.

"It might not ever happen," admitted Anastasia Landry, 16. "But it's a good idea. We'd have new gyms spread out all over Oakland. The bikes would be hooked up to the grid. I think it would help people get their lives together."

Anastasia, from Skyline High School in Oakland, was among 100 or so Bay Area students who gathered Thursday in a Berkeley meeting hall, science fair-style, to share their ideas for making the world greener, safer and happier.

The ideas included flying cars, giant holes to turn rising sea water into attractive fish ponds, streets paved with mah-jongg tiles, time limits for showers, a system of Tokyo-style capsule hotels and special dormitories made out of compressed dirt. Teachers would be housed in those.

It was all part of a daylong conference sponsored by the Center for Cities and Schools at UC Berkeley. The center invited kids from around the bay to spend the day on campus to share their ideas, and no schoolkid needs to be asked twice to take a day off from school for a field trip, even an educational one.

Aaliyah Sibanda, 15, also of Skyline High School, came up with the time limit for showers. People who take quick showers would be rewarded with gift certificates to local stores. People who take long showers would pay fines.

San Francisco Bay would be a lot cleaner, said Vanessa Chavez, 18, if the city would install giant nets on storm drain outfall pipes. The nets would catch junk the way that mesh nets on home dryers catch lint.

Vanessa, a student at Kennedy High School in Richmond, said all the city would need to do is hire about 100 people to go around town during a storm to clean out all the nets.

"It would be kind of disgusting," she said. "But it would help clean Richmond and provide a lot of work for people."

Andres Yañes, 13, of Escuela Popular in East San Jose, said his ideas for a fleet of flying cars "might seem silly but it would make getting around a lot easier." He did not know where to find the flying cars just yet.

Affordable living for schoolteachers is right around the corner if Marshawn Young, 18, gets his teacher dormitories off the drawing board. The teachers would have to double up in small rooms inside large buildings made from compressed dirt blocks. Rent would be $500 a month, which, he said, even a teacher could handle.

"We need to find a place where teachers can afford to live," said Marshawn, another Kennedy High student. He added that the motivation for the dormitories was entirely altruistic and not a way to make the teachers of Richmond spend their days encased in dirt.

There were adults on hand — teachers mostly — but they tried not to splash too much cold water on the more unconventional ideas.

Teacher Terry Van Hare said she had given Anastasia an "A" for her electricity-generating bicycle gym idea even though she said, in a low voice, that it probably wasn't practical.

"I had a conversation with her, and we talked about how the bicycles would probably not be able to generate enough energy," she said. "We did a cost benefit analysis. She understands."

On hand to take in the ideas were city planners, city managers and some representatives from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the body that will oversee Andres' fleet of flying cars in the event they get off the ground.

Steve Rubenstein is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: srubenstein@sfchronicle.com

Read More

How to start exercising — even if you're totally out of shape

There's a myth that fitness is only for fit people — when everyone can benefit from exercise. Writing for The Conversation, Curtin University physiotherapy and exercise science lecturer Andrew Lavender explains how to get started.

Perhaps your GP has recommended you exercise more, or you've had a recent health scare. Maybe your family's been nagging you to get off the couch or you've decided yourself that it's time to lose some weight.

How do you find the motivation, time and resources to get fit, particularly if you haven't exercised in a while? How do you choose the best type of exercise? And do you need a health check before you start?

RELATED: How much physical activity do I need?

Overcoming barriers to exercise

Motivation

Understanding the effect a sedentary lifestyle has on your health often hits home only after a serious event such as hearing bad news from your doctor. For some people, that's often enough motivation to get started.

Surviving a serious illness as a result of an inactive lifestyle, such as a heart attack or stroke, can also be frightening enough to provide a great deal of motivation.

So, if you have not exercised for several years or haven't exercised before, a it's a good idea to get a health check with your GP before starting.

Then you need to keep motivated enough to stick with your exercise program. You can track your training or fitness level and set some achievable goals to keep going.

Lack of time

Finding the time and effort to fit exercise into your daily routine is challenging. We know being "time poor" is a common reason for not exercising. And many people such as office workers, vehicle or machine operators have low activity levels at work and don't feel like exercising after a long day.

One way to get around these barriers might be to attend a group exercise session or join a sports club. If you find exercise boring, you can encourage a friend to join you or join an exercise group to make it enjoyable. If you played sport in your youth, that might provide an option.

Having a friend to exercise with or team mates to support you gives a sense of commitment so that you have to be there and will be challenged if you fail to show up.

Resources

You don't need to join a gym with a lot of fancy equipment to get fit. There are many YouTube videos of safe routines that you can follow and adjust as you get fitter.

This one demonstrates a 15-minute cardio exercise routine that you can do at home.

Many exercises – including squats, push ups and sit ups – don't need special equipment. And rather than improving muscle strength with weights at the gym, you can fill milk bottles with water instead.

Yes, you'll huff and puff. But it gets easier

You might be thinking about starting aerobic exercise like the cardio workout above, or walking, jogging, swimming or cycling. All need oxygen to provide energy over several minutes or longer.

When we perform aerobic exercise, our heart rate increases along with our breathing rate and depth. This is because this type of exercise requires oxygen to provide energy to keep going.

RELATED: Listen to your heart: How knowing your heart rate can max your results

When we are not used to this type of exercise our body is inefficient at using the oxygen we breathe to generate energy for our skeletal muscles. That's why when we start an exercise program we huff and puff more, get tired quickly and may not finish the exercise.

But if we keep exercising regularly, our bodies become more efficient at using oxygen and we become better at generating enough energy for our muscles to work.

Over weeks of regular exercise, the number and efficiency of our body's mini-powerhouses — mitochondria — increase in each cell. This increases the energy they can supply to the muscles, exercising becomes easier and we recover faster from each session.

That's why it's important to continue and repeat exercise sessions, even after a shaky start or a few setbacks. Yes, it can be a big challenge, but aerobic exercise gets easier over time as the body gets used to providing the energy it needs.

Thinking of yoga or simple stretches? Here's what to expect

Yoga is a great way to start an exercise program and you can perform it at various levels of intensity. Stretching and other moves improve flexibility and strength. Yoga also emphasises breathing and relaxation through meditation.

Yoga, like other forms of exercise, will be challenging to begin with. But it does get easier over the weeks as your body adapts. So, it is important to be persistent and make the exercise part of your routine with at least three sessions of up to one hour every week.

RELATED: Yes, you can get injured doing yoga — here's how to avoid it

At the start, you may get sore muscles. While this can be uncomfortable, the soreness goes away after about a week. You can reduce this soreness by starting with low intensity and building gradually over the first month.

Once your muscles become used to the new movements, the soreness will be minimal as you progress.

RELATED: DOMS: It's why a hard workout hurts so much the next day (and the day after)

Watch your joints

We know being overweight or obese has detrimental effects on the heart, bones, joints and other organs including the pancreas, which regulates blood glucose (sugar) levels. Obesity can also affect brain health and is linked to poor cognition.

The good news is that regular exercise can help reduce these negative effects.

But if you are overweight or obese, taking up exercise can place great strain on your joints, particularly the articulating surface, the cartilage surface of bones that contact each other. So hips, knees and ankles can become inflamed and painful.

So it may be best to include exercise that reduces weight bearing, such as exercise in water or using a stationary exercise bike or rowing machine. Once you've lost some weight and your cardiovascular function has improved, then you can add more walking or jogging to your exercise program.

The right diet helps power you along

A healthy diet you can maintain in the long term is a very important part of any fitness routine. Not only can it help you lose weight, it can also provide the right type of fuel to power your new exercise program.

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Getting plenty of fibre from fruit, vegetables and whole grains will help to reduce weight and keep it off while exercising.

Sugar, especially the type found in fizzy drinks and sweets, are low in nutrients and increase the risk of diabetes, metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease. So cut down on refined carbohydrates like some breads and rice, sugary cereals and refined pasta since these include sugars we are trying to avoid and have had their fibre removed. Replace them with oats, carrots or potatoes.

It's best to avoid fad diets, which tend to be restrictive and difficult to maintain. They can lead to a yo-yo effect where you lose weight only for it to return.

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Once you've decided to start exercising, and had a medical check if needed, start slowly and build your exercise routine up over weeks and months. Make it interesting and enjoyable, perhaps by working out with a friend or group. Set some achievable goals, try to stick to them and don't give up if you have a set back.

Weight loss and getting fit requires different approaches for different people so find what works for you and make it part of your lifestyle. Increase the intensity and frequency of your exercise gradually from a minimal three times a week for 20 minutes to longer, more intense sessions more often.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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