Week 5

Week 5 of your Personal Walking Plan

This week, you’ll start adding strength sessions to your walking plan. We’ve kept the number of walks the same so you can focus on getting familiar with your strength exercises.

Here’s what you’ll be doing in Week 5:

Short on time?

You can break your walks into smaller chunks throughout the day – for example, you could complete 1 x 20-minute walk and 1 x 15-minute walk to give you a total of 35 minutes. 

Stretching exercises

Continue with the same stretching routine from last week.

Strength exercises 

If the word ‘strength’ makes you think about lifting weights at the gym, think again! All our exercises use your bodyweight to help you build muscle and bone strength. That means you can complete them at home, in the backyard, in your local park, or anywhere your body can take you. 

 
Tips for getting started 

There are 6 exercises to complete. The number of sets and reps you do of each depends on your fitness level. 

• Beginner = 1 set of 6–10 reps
• Intermediate = 2 sets of 10 -15 reps
• Advanced = 3 sets of 10–15 reps

If you find any level too easy or too hard over the course of your program, you can simply increase or decrease the reps and sets as needed. For example, if you complete 2 sets of 10 sit-to-stands and feel like you could do more, then the next day try 2 sets of 15. If still too easy you could try 3 sets of 15 at your next session! The important thing is to listen to your body. 

Here’s what you need to know: 

• Schedule your strength exercises on your ‘off’ days – that is, on days you’re not already walking. 
• Try not to do your strength sessions 2 days in a row. Your body needs time to recover. 
• If you find yourself struggling with one of the exercises, skip it and move to the next one. You can always try it again another day. This is important for when you have an injury too.
• Start gradually. The aim is to get your muscles used to the movement, not to push yourself past your limits.
• Breathe normally during the exercises – it's important not to hold your breath.
• If you have time, stretch after you complete your strength exercises. This can help with muscle stiffness the next day. 

Watch our how-to video:

Getting the terminology right :

Repetitions, or ‘reps’, are the number of times you complete an exercise or movement. A ‘set’ is the total number of reps you complete in a single block. For example, if you do 3 sets of 8 squats, that means you have completed 24 squats split over 3 separate blocks, with a rest of 30-60 seconds after every 8 squats.

Not your cup of tea? 

If you give the strength exercises a go and they’re really not for you, don’t worry. Refocus and replace each strength session with some Pilates or yoga, or gardening or other household tasks that require a bit of effort. The aim is to move your muscles more and keep building on your progress – which means there’s more than one way to achieve your goals.