Developing a Fitness Plan

Nazanin Behdad

Missy Donegan

ENGL 106

2 May 2014

Developing a Fitness Plan in

5 Easy (Maybe) Steps

            I am passionate about fitness and about helping people improve the quality of their lives. To this end, I know that everyone should have a personal fitness plan to help guide them on their way to a better and healthier lifestyle. However, everyone seems to have their own idea or opinion about what a fitness plan is, including me. Yet, after personal experience and a lot of research I have determined what a personal fitness plan should be and how to develop one. In sharing this knowledge with you I hope to help you in changing your life.

Step 1: Where Are You?

            Most people understand intuitively where their fitness levels are at any given time. However, for most people this intuitive understanding of their fitness level is something like, “man, I’m out of shape” or “I get tired so easy” or something similar. Yet, in order to develop and implement a personal fitness plan it is necessary to understand precisely where your fitness level is at the outset. In order to properly establish one’s fitness level, Weiglein et al, who are fitness experts from Southern Illinois University , propose that you need to take your resting heart rate and your heart rate after walking 1 to 2 miles; time how long it takes to walk this distance; count how many pushups and sit-ups you can do in a 2 minute period; measure how far you can stretch forward toward your toes while sitting on the floor; and finally measure your body mass index or BMI (Weiglein et al. ). These measurements all relate to a different aspect of fitness such as resolution, strength, flexibility and body fat. Identifying your baseline metrics in advance of starting a fitness program works to determine the characteristics of the fitness program and to provide an idea of how well one is doing on it.

Step 2: Design the Plan

            The designing of the actual fitness plan is perhaps the most critical aspect of a personal fitness plan. Make your plan too intensive or too light and it will either be too demanding or not produce the expected results. Therefore, “the first element in the plan must be to determine what your overall objective is: 1) I want to lose weight, 2) I want to play some type of organized sport, 3) I want to run in road races, or 4) I want to build muscle mass” (Drenovsky & Fisher, 149-160). Once you have determined what your objective is then you can go ahead and start adding certain specific elements to your fitness plan. This may include running 2 miles a day 3 times a week combined with weightlifting 2 times a week. Alternatively, your fitness plan may include doing a formulaic type of workout like PX90 or similar 3 times a week or similar type of regimen. Whatever you select, the exercises and activities should align with whatever your overall objective is.

Step 3: Put Together the Equipment/Supplies

            No fitness plan is complete without the appropriate equipment or supplies that support the activities that make up the plan. This equipment or supplies may be a weight set at home, running should, a good pair of stable exercise shoes, a jump rope, or a treadmill. Alternatively, it might be the money necessary to pay for a gym membership, personal trainers or martial arts classes or a combination of all these things. Whatever the exercises or activities selected, you must have the appropriate equipment and supplies. After all, a car mechanic is fairly worthless without tools, and your fitness plan is fairly ineffective without good, quality equipment or supplies.

Step 4: Implement Your Plan

            There is an old Chinese proverb that says a journey of a 1000 miles starts with the first step. Your fitness plan is no different, and in some respects, just getting started is sometimes the most mentally difficult part of changing your lifestyle. This is because one’s lifestyle is, as with anything else, governed by inertia. We are all governed by the laws of physics which, with respect to inertia, means that a body at rest seeks to stay at rest and a body in motion seeks to stay in motion. Likewise, we all have mental and spiritual inertia which means that sometimes we have to force ourselves to break out of our comfort zones and do something completely different. Implementing one’s personal fitness plan may require this kind of proverbial kick in   moving you down the path to a new and healthier lifestyle. In terms of the actual implementation, there are several principles that you should pay attention to (Schneider, 2014; Drenovsky & Fisher, 149-160):

1.     Begin your plan gradually starting with low-impact/low intensity workouts so that you build up your stamina and strength over time

2.     Pace the workouts by breaking them up into smaller units of time in order to avoid burning out

3.     Alternate workouts, exercises and activities so that you retain interest in them over time

4.     Above all, pay attention to your body. If you are feeling pains that are more acute than general soreness stop what you are doing and rest

5.     Allow yourself to have rest days or to vary your schedule without self-recrimination—remember, you are not a professional athlete

Paying attention to these principles while implementing your workout regimen will keep you from getting injured, losing interest and getting burned out. These principles will also ensure that the workouts retain their effectiveness. They accomplish this by keeping your body from getting used to the same sort of movements.  

Step 5: Monitor, Evaluate and Adjust

            This is the step in personal fitness that most people tend to forget. Monitoring your personal fitness progress is critical in order to stay motivated, see the rewards, and continue to improve the plan over time. In this regard Hoeger and Hoeger in their lifetime physical fitness & wellness book noted that the fitness metrics referred to in step 1 should be taken again at 6 weeks after the fitness plan is implemented and thereafter these should be taken every 6 months after that. The 6 week mark is the point at which the fitness plan has had time to produce tangible results and these results provide an important source of inspiration to keep going (Hoeger & Hoeger,). Thereafter, the 6 month increments ensure that you stay on schedule with your objectives or maintain your fitness level once it is obtained. Additionally, evaluating and adjusting the fitness plan based on this feedback in the measurements allows you to identify those points at which a plan should be changed because it is no longer working or has grown stale.

Works Cited

Drenovsky,  Cynthia, and Elizabeth Fisher. "An Evaluation of an Exercise Program for Older Adults." International Journal of Sport & Society 3.3 (2012): pp.149-160. Print.

Hoeger, Werner W. K., and Sharon A. Hoeger. Lifetime physical fitness &  wellness: a personalized program. 12th ed. Belmont, Ca: Wadsworth, 2013. Print.

Martin, Scott B., Alison Ede, James R. Morrow Jr, and Allen W. Jackson. "Statewide Physical Fitness Testing: Perspectives From the Gym." Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport 81.2s (2010):  S31-S41. Print.

Schneider, Jonathan S. "EVALUATING EXERCISE AD H ERENCE: A SOLUTION FOCUSED APPROA CH." A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of California State University, Chico. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2014. <http://csuchico-dspace.calstate.edu/bitstream/handle/10211.4/338/Evaluating%20Exercise%20Adherence-%20A%20Solution%20Focused%20Approach.pdf?sequence=1>.

Weiglein, Laura, Jeffery Herrick, Stacie Kirk, and  Erik P.  Kirk. "The 1-Mile Walk Test is a Valid Predictor of VO2max and is a Reliable Alternative Fitness Test to the 1.5-Mile Run in U.S. Air Force Males." : Military Medicine: Vol 176, No 6. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2014. <http://publications.amsus.org/doi/abs/10.7205/MILMED-D-10-00444>.