How much should you be exercising a week – even if you’re feeling sore

Melissa’s advice on how much you should be exercising each week

This is my best topic because I have such a passion and love for health and fitness.

Exercising can be pretty daunting at first and it usually takes a lot of courage to get up and get it done. Studies show we should aim for 10,000 steps a day and at least 30 min of moving our body.

If you are starting out on your journey and have not been very active in the past please make sure you’re checking up with your GP first to make sure you have the all clear to exercise. Once you have to tick of approval you’re good to go.

My best tip is to start off with small fitness goals while still stepping out of that comfort zone.

When I started, I made it my goal to exercise three times a week. I joined a gym and started off on the treadmill. It wasn’t long after that I became bored and really pushed myself to try one of the group fitness classes, this was a game changer, although I was super nervous and had no idea what I was doing!

But I knew if I didn’t push myself it would never happen on its own. I aimed for three classes a week then I really found myself enjoying them, so not long into it I was going five days a week.

It took about a year before I really fell in love with working on my fitness and loving the feeling exercise gave me.

Let’s talk about the soreness you get from exercise, this can be a downer and can even struggle and usually you’re going to be sore if you’re working muscles that haven’t been worked in a while.

You may be doing movements that you haven’t ever done before and you could be affected for up to a week before it subsides.

Experts say listen to your body, but what does that mean? Listening to our body when we are super sore means just sit down and not move, but this will only make it worse. Now, I’m not saying to go do another crazy weights session, but walking it out, stretching and using a roller to stretch is going to help.

It might be painful at the time but it will help the pain. Don’t forget our muscles are growing while we are resting, so make sure you’re not overtraining, an hour session is more than enough per day. If the pain persists, seek medical help immediately.

I use exercise for my mental health it really has helped me with my depression and anxiety, so if I’m having a bad day I might do two classes.

Find something that you can really enjoy, whether it’s working out in your lounge room with The Healthy Mummy app, going to smash out a boxing class, swimming, pole dancing.

There are so many options you can do to keep active but most of all just have fun with it while meeting new people and living your best possible life.