Over the years I spent a good amount of time looking for a fitness training program that would meet my needs. It didn’t have to be anything spectacular, just something that I could stick to and get into better shape than I had been almost all my life.

I searched high and low, and found fitness training program guides that would work for anywhere from a week to a month, but always there was some stumbling block. Outdoor training, for example, can be great when it’s sixty-five degrees and breezy. But in a New England winter it can drop to 0 degrees and miserable. Or during the summer, it could get up into the 90s or even 100s, and who wants to work out in that kind of heat?

There was also the issue of high-impact workouts taking a toll on the body. I’ve never been particularly athletic, and that’s compounded by the fact that I’ve had arthritis since I was nine years old. That means simple exercises like jogging or even swimming ended up putting an undue amount of stress on joints that were already in pretty bad shape thanks to my condition.

Another part of the typical fitness training program that didn’t fit for me was weight work of an aggressive nature. Thanks to my arthritis, I wasn’t able to put much stress on my wrists, shoulders or elbows without suffering from an undue amount of pain that would eventually become debilitating. So a fitness training program that focused on weight work, or even focused on push-ups, would be both too strenuous and too likely to cause me an injury.

So I devised a fitness training program for myself. I knew the important parts of a fitness training program were threefold: Cardiovascular training, flexibility training, and stregth training.

After trying several different types of cardiovascular training, I eventually was able to discover that a sit-down exercise bike was the answser for me. It put very little stress on my joints, and thanks to the ability to put it on minimal resisitance, I could pedal for an hour without suffering cramps or arthritis-related swelling. I now ride the bike anywhere from ten to fifteen miles five times a week.

Strength training for me was just a matter of accepting that I would have to use lower weight and do more reps. Curls, triceps work, sit-ups and leg lifts round out my strength training routine. I do strength work for about fifteen minutes after the bike.

And finally, stretching. It’s an important and often overlooked part of fitness training program routines. Simple work on both your arms and legs, as well as your torso, can make you limber and fit for tomorrow’s activities.

Tags: fitness training program, fitness