In the beginning

Congratulations. By signing up to take part in a Mind challenge event you’re about to reap the following rewards:

• a healthier and improved you
• knowing that you’re giving a big help to Mind and its work for better mental health
• the great feeling that you’re going to have an enormous sense of achievement when you’ve completed your challenge.

Whichever challenge you’ve signed up to, the key to enjoying yourself – as well as raising money for Mind – is to give yourself the time to prepare. And the first step in that preparation is to read through the Fitness zone and come back to it regularly when you have questions.

The following should help you get into the swing of things. Once you have read this, take a look at the sections of the Fitness zone that are relevant to you.

Have the right kit

Whatever activity you’re taking part in, make sure your kit is up to the job. For runners and walkers the essential bit of kit is your shoes that offer the right support. For cyclists, apart from the bike (obviously) make sure you’ve got yourself a good stock of shorts. Kit isn’t really rocket science – just get yourself down to specialist shop (don’t even bother with the high street fashion ‘sports’ shops) and get asking questions. Check out the information on Kitting out.

Make a plan and keep a diary

Take a little time to make an exercise plan for yourself and also keep notes on how much time, how often and how difficult your workouts have been. You may also find it interesting to note how you feel – both mentally and physically as your fitness increase. Bet you’ll feel better and better as your fitness levels increase.
A plan and a diary have two main benefits:

• helps you keep motivated
• helps you decide when to increase your exercise in terms of frequency, time and intensity.

Start slowly

Don’t try and do too much too soon – you may feel unwell and lose the motivation to continue. Start with small amounts of time and little effort and increase gradually – especially if you’ve led a pretty inactive lifestyle. The benefits of starting slowly include:

• you’ll finish your exercise with a sense of achievement
• you’ll feel better, helping you to carry on
• you’re less likely to injure yourself.

Increase little by little

You’re going to need to exercise more often and harder over time to improve your level of fitness. It’s really important to do this slowly and step by step – no more than a 10 to 15 per cent increase week on week. If you try and do too much too soon you’re likely to:

• injure yourself and make yourself ill
• dislike exercising and lose motivation.

Choose your time

Choose the time of the day and the week that is most convenient for you. Then set aside those times as you would for any other important commitments.

Food and drink

Feed and water your body – after all it’s going to be working harder and will need a bit of love and attention. (See our section on Eating and drinking right.)

Listen to your body

As you exercise you’re going to feel some aches and pains. Listen to your body, if you feel sore or ache, rest if you feel you need to. (Aches after exercise are quite natural when you start out – but should have eased within 24 hours.) If you feel pain, stop exercising and check with your doctor.

Talk to your doctor

As you’re about to start out on quite an ambitious training plan it’s a good idea to talk to your doctor to discuss any individual health issues. This is very important if you haven’t done much exercise before, have a medical condition, especially heart problems, diabetes, joint problems, asthma, high or low blood pressure, or if you’re pregnant, or you take any medicines.

Go on! Get out there and enjoy yourself.

Now read eating and drinking right.