30 minutes to kick start your weight loss

Posted on 20 August 2014

Dr Kobus Hugo, a GP with special interest in sports medicine, and Harry Wiltshire, a biokineticist, are both based at the Lowmed Health and Sport Performance Centre in West Acres, Nelspruit and affiliated to Mediclinic Nelspruit. They’ve come up with a 30-minute exercise programme to help you kick-start your weight-loss efforts…

Before embarking on any new fitness or eating programme, please consult your  GP to eliminate any latent dangers or potential progress inhibitors.

When it comes to changing your lifestyle to a healthier one, a good cardiovascular routine is important but strengthening exercises increase the metabolic level for longer periods of time. An easy way to exercise is to combine the two by doing short bursts of cardiovascular exercise and alternating it with strengthening exercises. These can be done anywhere – to start, we recommend exercising three times a week.

A full-body routine for beginners includes:
5 minutes of climbing a step (step up, then step down)
2 minutes of squats
2 minutes of of push-ups (do full push-ups until you feel fatigued, then kneeling push-ups)
2 minutes of sit-ups
5 minutes of skipping with a rope
2 minutes of walking lunges
2 minutes of tricep dips
2 minutes of oblique crunches
5 minutes of shadow boxing

During this programme you can rest in the initial few sessions but as you increase in strength and stamina, the rest periods should become shorter and less frequent. It’s important to keep your heart rate in a target zone of between 65% and 80% of your heart rate maximum, which can be roughly calculated by subtracting your age from 220.

Then, remember to keep yourself hydrated properly during rest periods. Good luck!

If you have questions on this post, or any other medical matter, please visit us on Facebook.

The information provided in this article was correct at the time of publishing. At Mediclinic we endeavour to provide our patients and readers with accurate and reliable information, which is why we continually review and update our content. However, due to the dynamic nature of clinical information and medicine, some information may from time to time become outdated prior to revision.