Since the new year has rolled around, maybe you are on the “exercise bandwagon” again, but might not be sure where to start.

Unfortunately, most of our readers know how it feels to start and stop an exercise program. As in yo-yo dieting (lose weight, gain weight, lose weight etc.), yo-yo exercising is a challenge, too. As I have mentioned before, you are better off working out three times a week than five to seven days for a month and quit to restart later. You need to look at exercising as part of your healthy lifestyle. Many of our dedicated members who come regularly for many years do not like to exercise. However, they love the way exercise makes them look and feel. Don’t say “I don’t like to exercise” or “I can’t do those exercises.” Instead, realize that exercise is a part of being healthy, and choose exercises which work with your body and fitness level. Anyone can exercise, no matter what limitations you have. When we have people come to the YMCA who are wheelchair bound and need assistance in their exercise routine, you can do it, too.

When certain risk factors occur together, the American Heart Association and National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute have diagnosed criteria that make up Metabolic Syndrome (MetS). Anyone who falls within these criteria has a higher risk for coronary artery disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes. Your doctor diagnoses and identifies at least three of the five following criteria to establish MetS:

1. Increased waist circumference. Men greater than 40 inches and women greater than 35 inches

2. Elevated blood pressure. Equal or greater than 130/85

3. Blood glucose (blood sugar). Have fasting glucose readings equal or greater than 100mg/dL

4. Triglycerides level. Equal or greater levels than 150mg/dL

5. Low high density lipoprotein cholesterol (low levels of good cholesterol) . Men less than 40mg/dL and women less than 50mg/dL

If you take medicine for three or more to control your levels, you still are considered having the criteria for Metabolic Syndrome.

If the above information is not a good reason to exercise, I don’t know what is. Many of the people I have worked with were able to come off their medicine such as cholesterol, high blood pressure or insulin when they started exercising regularly and lost weight. As always, check with your doctor. Sometimes, you need to stay on medication due to heredity or other reasons besides obesity or inactivity.

I think most people are ready to start exercising in the beginning of the new year, but actually doing it is a lot harder than thinking about it. However, contemplating starting an exercise program is a step in the right direction! Check with your doctor first. Make sure that they know your plans and ask them for guidance. I have never met a doctor who has told their patients not to exercise. Typically, they would recommend starting with walking and maybe water exercises. Take baby steps. It took you a while to get out of shape, give your body time to get back into shape. An easy weightlifting program is also recommended. A weightlifting program or resistance training has shown to improve blood sugar levels without changing the diet, and, yes, most people still need to change their diet. That’s where the “push away” exercise comes in handy — push away from the table! Besides changing your diet, weightlifting has also shown to work positively on decreasing the waist circumference.

Let me or my staff help you. If you have been diagnosed with metabolic syndrome or are starting from zero and have the go-ahead to exercise from your doctor:

• Warm up for about 5 minutes on a piece of cardio that is suitable for you — it could be a treadmill, upright bike, recumbent bike or Nustep.

• A resistance-training program that consists of one exercise per muscle group. One chest, one back, two legs (front and back), one bicep, one triceps, one shoulder exercise. We would focus on technique and core stabilization during these exercises (yes, your abdominal exercises will come later… good posture and core stabilization — “not letting it hang out”— is a lot more effective). We would start with one set of 10-12 repetitions with a weight that is about 30 to 40 percent of your one rep max. (If you could do 100 pounds, we would start with 30-40 pounds. We do not test the one rep max because typically it makes someone very sore, especially when they are inactive. We start light and work our way up slowly.)

• Finishing with a good stretching session at the end stretching all the muscles groups worked that day.

At the next workout, we would increase the cardio piece of the workout. Some people like to do it all before their resistance training, and some still like the 5 minute warm-up and finish with cardio at the end, before your stretch.

Slow and steady is the key, give your body a chance to adapt before you add or change things in your workout routine. Even when your muscles can handle a lot more, your tendons have to get used to the workout. Too heavy too soon will definitely set you up for tendonitis (inflammation of the tendons). Start with three days a week, 48 hours of rest between weightlifting exercises for the same muscle group, and see if you can work yourself up to 5 or 6 days. Forty-five minutes to an hour of quality workout is a lot better than 2 hours of a low-quality workout (lots of rest, low intensity, below target heart rate, etc).

We are ready for you. All you have to do is make that first step!

Ester H Marsh, associate executive director, JF Hurley Family YMCA