Podcast Album: Learning To Walk Before You Can Run
Track 1 – Learning To Walk Before You Can Run – The Introduction Brought To You By: MyWeightLossDream.co.uk
Chapter 1 – The Introduction Welcome to our new podcast album “learning to walk before you can run”. My name is Samantha and I live in the Algarve in Southern Portugal with my husband Dominic and our two kids. Kyle is our teenage son and Sofia is our baby girl. This series of Podcasts is all about our story as we learn to jog and get fit. We are far from your typical joggers. In our minds typical joggers are those that effortlessly jog around our local park and don’t have any excess weight on them and make it look so easy! But for those of you that have not jogged before and when you are super unfit (like us) then this is a great way for you to get walking and then jogging for as much as you want to. My end goal is to jog 10 miles a week and based on the size of our park track (which measures 1750m) then I will need to jog around the track just over 9 times per week. My plan is to eventually…..jog three times around, three times a week. So enjoy listening and learning from how we did things and good luck with your own running adventures! The plan is also to record a range of Podcasts that you can use yourself while you go out and learn to jog, or like me get out of breath and go bright red. Chapter 2 – Our Journey So Far As a couple we are probably the most unfit couple you have probably ever met.
When we first started walking we were both obese. Dominic had a BMI of just over 40 and I was not far behind at 34. We have a picture that was taken at Disney World in 2012. We call it our fat photo and we use it a lot to motivate ourselves. This was also when we had our worst BMI readings and when we first started wanting to walk for exercise. Back then we would wobble around the local park and even though we didn’t jog we burnt a lot of calories due to our sizes.
I suggested walking back then because at the time we were so unfit I was frightened that a trip to Disney World would leave us exhausted due to the amount of walking involved and that we needed to start walking and getting a bit fitter before we went. So in the build up to the holiday we would walk around the track about 5 times a week and would end up walking 8750m each. It was super tiring and it’s amazing how long it took us (compared to a few
years later) and each time round would be just short of 20 minutes and that was the best we could manage! Even though we found it depressing at the time, we were still burning 850 calories a week based on our BMI. We then made it around Disney World without any problems at all and it was a while later until we realised that we wanted to take up jogging. January 2015 Well I said it was quite a while later didn’t I? I have done a bit of jogging in the last few years and Dominic has managed to jog 1.5 times around the track. So we have made some progress!!!! But Dominic hasn’t done any jogging since our daughter was born two months ago as sleepless nights and exercise don’t go together very well at all - not to mention I’d been pregnant and haven’t really fancied it that much. I have done a bit but I never made it around the track – this is somewhat embarrassing considering I have a lower BMI than Dominic now. His is currently at 33.2 and mine is currently at 26.9. So we are not as bad as we were at the start of our weight loss and fitness journey but we are far from our end goal too. So let’s get started.
Chapter 3 – Learning To Walk (Again)
Well now I have given you the run through of our journey so far then here is how to make it happen and to go from couch potato to running 10 miles a week. Well fingers crossed that I actually make it off the couch otherwise Dominic might trade me in for a fitter model In the later tracks we will be creating podcasts for you to take out with you but right now we just want to put you through your paces of what is going to be covered. Starting with walking It is important that you start at the beginning and get yourself fit first before you progress onto jogging. Jogging is hard work and if you are obese then it is even harder. From a calorie burning point of view you burn the same amount of calories walking at a medium pace when you’re obese, than a slim person does when they are running. So just because you are walking doesn’t mean you’re not burning a LOT of calories! Warm up for walking Just like with running you need to warm yourself up first. You can do this by doing the following exercises:
Arm Swings - This exercise is great for warming up and can be done by anyone. To get started, stand up with your feet shoulder width apart. Look straight ahead and let your arms hang naturally. Slowly raise both arms in front of your body, allowing them to move down and back to the sides of your hips. This should make you feel relaxed and comfortable. Swing your arms for 30 seconds to one minute. Side Lunges - Side lunges are an effective warm up exercise for your core muscles and lower body. Stand up straight, with your hands on the hips. Step to the side by bending your right knee. Do the same with your left leg. Your head, knee, and toe should form a straight line. Repeat 10-15 times on each side. Cool Down Walking For cooling down after walking I would recommend: Chest Stretch - There are various ways to do this exercise. If you're a beginner, use a wall for support. Stand up straight, place your left arm against a wall, and lean forward. Hold for 10-15 seconds. Repeat with the right arm. This exercise will relieve the tension in your shoulder and muscles, improve your posture, and help you relax. Both the cool down and the warm up exercises can be used for both walking, jogging and running. And it’s important that you do them to prevent the aches and pains associated with exercise! Thank you for listening and we will be back with track 2 where we will move the focus onto your first challenge. Don’t worry we are starting off with some easy walking, so whether you have a BMI of 18 or 40 you can easily follow it.
Plus I will be sharing how it has gone for me with real dates so that you can see how long it has taken me and what it’s really like, rather than some skinny fitness instructor making you feel bad about yourself. As you pass a challenge you can then move onto the next and you can also find out more at myweightlossdream.co.uk/podcasts and you can also read our blog at myweightlossdream.co.uk/blog for more information about our weight loss and fitness journey. Thanks so much for listening to this podcast and here is to getting off the couch!
Samantha & Dominic Milner MyWeightLossDream.co.uk And don’t forget to connect with us on social media: https://facebook.com/myweightlossdream https://twitter.com/weight_lossme http://www.pinterest.com/weightlossdream And to get regular updates from us sign up for our free weight loss and fitness newsletter below: http://myweightlossdream.co.uk/ebooks/freenewsletter/