Exercise for weight loss = going to the gym.

Right?

Wrong!

It’s common knowledge that regular exercise and a balanced diet plan are an integral part of a healthy lifestyle. 

Most people believe this, indeed, every New Year great numbers of people, with the desire to make such a change to their lives, embark on new fitness or weight-loss endeavors.

Yet so often, as the weeks and months roll on, the gym memberships (if you get one) go unused, the diets become slowly neglected and motivation (and often self-esteem with it) plummets.

Why do so many people struggle to reach their health and fitness goals? What causes them to fail?

One common problem seems to be a matter of expectations. The proliferation of “quick fix” options out there is fueling an improper mind-set for long-term fitness success.

Many people want to get fit and slim right now, not understanding that lasting results take time and perseverance.

Another issue we have seen is a lack of proper planning.

Too often people repeat the same exercises week in, week out. After an initial boost to their health and fitness, the results begin to taper off and they become disillusioned.

For some though, the journey towards a healthier lifestyle can be even harder by the fact that they may be dealing with an injury, perhaps cannot get to a gym, or simply have no idea where to begin!

This 6 week training routine assumes no prior knowledge or skill and can be done at home with minimal equipment!

It provides a structured workout plan for Indian women that will progress gradually over six weeks.

Whatever your motivation for landing on this page; whether you want to lose excess weight, tone and shape your body, or simply increase your physical and mental wellness, you will find that this progressive exercise routine will help you achieve your goals.

Over the next six weeks, we will be doing two types of exercise: Resistance and Cardiovascular.

Let’s take a look at resistance training first.

Assume the starting position for a push-up. Here is the starting position of the first variation of push-up - “Push-ups on knees –

For this training program we will be mainly utilizing body-weight exercises and resistance bands of varying tensions. This will target specific muscle groups in order to improve their strength and function, and will build a solid foundation for your future training plans.

Resistance training is often underestimated, or worse still, completely overlooked by beginners. In fact, resistance training is great for burning extra calories so should form an integral part of any fitness and weight-loss program.

For the purpose of this routine, you should complete any resistance training you have scheduled for the day before moving immediately on to your cardiovascular training session.

In this way your resistance exercise will serve as a good warm up, also putting your body into its “fat burning zone” so you’ll get the most value out of your cardio training, optimizing the amount of fat burned per session.

During your first six-week training routine, you will be doing 3 - 6 resistance training sessions per week. There are a few factors that have to be considered when it comes to choosing your resistance bands or resistance level.

You don’t want to choose a resistance band, dumbbell or body-weight exercise that is so tough that you can’t do the movement in a controlled manner or are totally exhausted after each exercise.

The point of this program is to just get your muscles working, so we don’t need a huge amount of resistance at this early stage.

However, you do need to feel resistance and you need to be able to perform the exercise with reasonable comfort. We always say:

“It’s not the size of the weight; it’s how you lift it that counts.”

So if you have a resistance band kit similar to the one we have suggested in the “What you will need” part below, you should find the resistance band that is good for you on that particular exercise. You will be able to progress through the different bands as time goes by.

If the lightest resistance band in the kit is still too tough, this is not a problem. You can simply do the exercises without a band at all.

If this is the case, great; you will have a lot of progression to work towards and look forward to achieving. Just remember that perfecting the exercise movement is more important than adding resistance to the exercise.

It is also important to note that, at first, your resistance training sessions may feel a little awkward as you get used to the movements and find the right amount of resistance to work with.

This is normal, since your muscles, including those that stabilize your body, are not used to the exercises.

Don’t worry, it’s all part of the learning process and you will find your flow within a week or two. Just persevere and you will be surprised at how quickly you improve and these exercises start to feel smooth.

If this is your first time venturing into the world of resistance training, you may be unfamiliar with how to perform the basic resistance exercises. (Visit this page to read the step by step guide of few resistance training exercises.)

Below are some of the terms and the format that the sessions are presented in.

Here are some terms to familiarize yourself with:

The main idea is that you perform several “reps” of a single exercise, have a short rest, then perform another “set” of the same exercise.

Repeat until you have completed the suggested amount of sets for that exercise before moving onto the next. This is a fairly standard way of training with resistance movements and will lay a nice foundation for future training.

Here’s an example of how to use the sets and reps method for push-ups:

Once you have completed a full set of reps, rest for thirty seconds to a minute to allow your muscle group to recover before starting the next set of the same exercise.

Upon completion of the full amount of sets and reps for this exercise, take a thirty-second to one-minute “active rest” period before starting the next exercise.

During these “active rest” periods between sets, you should stand up, shake off, or gently stretch the muscle that has just been stimulated.

This is why it is known as “active rest”. Sitting down and relaxing will inhibit the flow of your session, making the workout less effective.

It is important to remember that each exercise targets a specific muscle group.

By utilizing sets and reps in this way, you will be sufficiently challenging the muscles; muscles which will play an active role in your body’s ability to burn calories!

In case you are wondering whether you really need resistance training, read this article to know why women should go for weight training. 

Cardiovascular and aerobic training are terms used interchangeably for any exercise that increases your breathing and heart rate for a sustained period of time.

‘Cardiovascular’ specifically refers to the heart, whereas ‘aerobic’ refers to oxygen. For the purposes of this plan we will refer to these types of exercises simply as ‘cardio’.

Cardio exercise help women a lot when it comes to losing weight. It is highly effective for burning calories and will, therefore, have an important place in any weight loss program. By improving the fitness of your heart and lungs, cardio also increases your endurance.

Cardio includes activities such as running, cycling, swimming, skipping and rowing, to name just a few. While it is a common entry exercise for many beginners to fitness, it can be easy to get it wrong. The most common mistake is trying to do too much too soon.

Take a look at what the Harvard Medical School has to say about cardio training.

This can result in over-exertion, feeling sick, severe muscle soreness, or worse still, injury. We can empathize with this situation and attest to the damage it can have to your motivation and progress.

If you find yourself here, please remember that it will pass and you should see it as a learning curve. Don’t let it put you off, you just need to re-assess, adjust and try again.

As we mentioned, performing a resistance session immediately before a cardio session will optimize fat-burning. The following example explains how:

If you go for a thirty-minute walk without previously performing a resistance session, it will take your body around ten minutes to reach a fat burning state.

This means that within a thirty-minute cardio session only twenty minutes will be spent burning fat.

If you perform a thirty-minute cardio session five days of the week, you will be achieving 150 minutes, or 2 ½ hours, of fat burning per week.

If you do your resistance training before your cardio session, your body will reach a fat-burning state earlier. This means that the second you start your cardio, you will already be burning fat. This effectively gives you an extra ten minutes of fat burning per session. That’s an extra fifty minutes of fat burning per week!

There are many theories and ideas about the best way to burn fat, some of these are more challenging than others. The cardio methods in this guide are based on my own experience and education. We have seen this work first hand and believe that it is the best start for any beginner.

When cardio training is combined with resistance training in this way, the beginner will have a solid start to their fitness journey.

The whole body is being worked and nothing is being neglected. All major muscle groups are being targeted and a good progression of cardio exercise is being employed to ensure that a strong all-round fitness foundation is being developed.

Anyone with an unshakable foundation of this nature will have the platform to build something amazing in the future.

Although we have designed this beginner’s workout routine to focus on walking and jogging as a cardio choice, we realize that this may not be an option for some. If you are unable to walk or jog for whatever reason, don’t worry, there are alternatives. It may help if you consider this:

“The fat burning level that you achieve as a result of cardio exercise is based on the consistent movement of your body, the rising of your body’s core temperature and the time that you have spent working at this level”

When you look at fat-burning in this light, hopefully you can see that it can be applied to many forms of movement. For instance, if you have a bicycle, or even a stationary bike set up in your home, this would be a great alternative. Swimming is another fantastic cardio option.

You could even be really creative and use a punch bag routine or simply put on some music and dance.

And if you are stuck for ideas, we would be more than happy to give you suggestions on how to modify the routine in this guide to better suit your unique situation, so please feel free to contact us via the contact page and we will do our best to help you out.

Whatever you decide to do for cardio, it will work if you use the same principles that We have suggested for the walking and jogging method outlined in the routine. Almost every cardio activity can be adapted to fit in with this program.

Because low-impact cardio generally requires less time for recovery, you can do it every day. You should allow for no more than one or two days off per week for the 6-week program, although these days off are not mandatory.

If you do choose to drop cardio sessions, we suggest that these are planned for the same day every week. This will keep you more organized, focused and serve to create a good routine.

We’ve talked about the benefits of cardio for fat-burning and the different methods of exercise that can be employed, but how should you approach each cardio session practically to get the most out of your training?

The first thing that you need to understand is that the longer your cardio session lasts, in other words, the longer your heart rate is elevated, the more value you will get when it comes to fat-loss.

The next thing you need to understand is that to be able to sustain these sessions and to make them worthwhile, the pace or tempo needs to be comfortable for you for the entire session.

This is where we tell you that everyone is different and it may take a few sessions to find your stride. Just like with the resistance exercises, it may feel a bit awkward at first.

However, as you will soon see from the progressive exercise plan that follows, we have tried to eliminate the possibility of taking on too much, too soon, and have aimed to assist in a quick identification of your specific optimal training tempo.

As with resistance training, there are many different theories and methods. During this six-week training routine, the focus is on “steady state” with a sprinkle of “interval training”. Here are some definitions for you:

Steady state: Maintaining a constant speed that does not vary. For fat burning, the speed is normally a constant brisk walk or jog.

Interval training: A mix of high and low levels of intensity. An interval training session could consist of walking, jogging and short bursts of sprints.

Before you start this simple exercise routine, it’s a good idea to get yourself prepared. Correct preparation is generally overlooked but by taking the time now to plan and prepare, not only the practical aspects but your mind-set too, you will drastically improve your chances of success.

The day after, or even as soon as eight hours after your first training session, you may feel a degree of pain in your muscles. This condition is known as Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, or “D.O.M.S”.

Welcomed by many trainers, dreaded by others, one thing is for sure; if you are challenging your muscles with exercise, there is a high chance that you will experience D.O.M.S at some point.

Many women, particularly beginners mistake this pain for an injury or feel that they have done something wrong during their training session.

Typically, however, this is not the case. Experiencing D.O.M.S is a natural part of training and exercising for weight loss, and learning how to differentiate this from a possible injury will become much easier as you progress through the program.

The truth is that we don’t know for certain what causes Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness. In previous years, it was widely believed that this post-workout muscle pain was something to do with lactic acid building up in the working muscle groups and was caused by a lack of stretching after the workout.

However, as our knowledge of health and fitness has grown, these ideas have evolved. The current understanding is that the D.O.M.S. is a result of ‘micro tears’ to the muscle fibers.

To keep this as jargon-free and non-scientific as possible we will demonstrate this updated theory of D.O.M.S by using a simplified example that gives the gist of the philosophy without turning this section into a science paper.

Let’s imagine that you decide to do a set of body-weight squats. You perform the exercise with a slow and controlled movement concentrating on good range of motion and consciously targeting your quadriceps (upper, front leg muscles) throughout.

The next day, you can feel the tops of your legs aching every time you take a step or walk up a flight of stairs. They feel bruised and tender.

This is a classic case of D.O.M.S. If you find yourself in this situation, this is an indication that you have performed the exercise correctly.

During resistance training of this nature, the muscle suffers a small amount of damage in the form of “micro tears” in the muscle fibers. This may sound nasty but it is actually this damage that stimulates muscle growth and development.

It is believed to be these tears that cause the pain. Whenever you put a muscle through its full range of motion, you are essentially squashing it up and then stretching it out.

Add some extra resistance to the movement (your body- weight, a resistance band or a loaded barbell) and you are increasing its normal workload. It is believed that these “micro tears” occur on the extension of the muscle (when it is being stretched out).

A lot of people actually see D.O.M.S as a benchmark for a successful training session. However, it is important that you remember the following to make sure that you get the most value from your hard work:

If you have D.O.M.S you have essentially damaged your muscles, in doing so, you have created the catalyst for muscular development.

Muscles need the right fuel in order to repair, so you should eat a high quality, protein rich meal immediately after training or have a quality post-workout drink that aids repair and recovery.

Muscles need rest in order to recover, so you should aim to develop a good, consistent sleep pattern and be aware of your activity level.

Activity level is a relative term, everyone is different, but for the purpose of this training guide, resistance training that targets the same muscle group should be done with at least one rest day between sessions. This will change as the workload and intensity increases.

It is important to learn to identify D.O.M.S and be able to differentiate between this condition and a possible injury. If you injure yourself during training, you will generally feel pain immediately.

D.O.M.S, however, will normally develop within 8 to 24 hours, and it affects females more while on a weight loss journey.

Why?

Because most Indian women are not used to vigorous exercises (excluding the ones we get in train/buses!). If you do have pain in your joints or you are unsure about your pain, you should stop training and seek medical advice.

Causing an injury is a lot worse than missing a few training sessions as you could be forced to stop training for an extended period of time. However, the gentle progression we’ve outlined in this plan should safeguard against injury by making sure you don’t do too much too soon.

The more consistently that you train, the less intense the D.O.M.S situation will be, so if it affects you more than you would like at first, take comfort in the fact that it will get easier the more you progress and the stronger you get.

D.O.M.S however is likely to be a familiar part of your fitness progression and in time you may find that you even start to measure the effectiveness of the workout by the resultant D.O.M.S.

As this is a beginner’s exercise course, you should not experience extreme cases of D.O.M.S., and if you follow the exercise descriptions as We have laid out here, this will safeguard against injury.

However, if you do feel very uncomfortable performing a particular exercise because of pain, leave that exercise out and resume training when the pain subsides.

The start of any lifestyle change can be daunting; indeed it can be completely overwhelming when you first start exercising for weight loss.

I’ve thought carefully about this when designing this program and have made every effort to remove the most common barriers. We have considered cost, time, and convenience, and have tried to make this very affordable.

As such, this exercise plan can be done at home in a relatively short space of time, making it easy to fit into your daily routine. There are a few pieces of basic, inexpensive equipment that you will need before you begin:

A good pair of running shoes. Don’t panic! You won’t be running in these right away, good running shoes are great for most forms of exercise.

Outdoor clothing and high visibility jacket or strips for clothing.

Resistance bands.

You can buy single resistance bands, but I suggest investing in a set. A resistance band set has several different attachments and bands of varying resistance. With such a set, you will have plenty of scope for progression and effectively own a compact travel gym.

This is the set that we recommend in conjunction with this routine –

An exercise ball.

The main draw to this guide may be the six week training routine but there is far more value to it than just following along with the practical part.

It’s great that you now have a beginner home workout to follow but in my opinion, if you understand the principals behind why you are doing what you are doing, you will gain far more value from this guide than you would if you simply took my word for it and followed the workouts.

Most beginners to fitness will have a goal in mind, and to achieve this they tend to start with the most obvious form of exercise.

For example, if the goal is to lose weight with workouts, they might go for a run or jump on an exercise bike or even a rowing machine. If they want to gain muscle, they may grab some dumbbells and start doing some bicep curls.

The problem with this common approach is that without a structured plan there will be no foundation in place to fall back on when the inevitable waves of doubt, loss of motivation, or plain tiredness, that are a part of every single fitness endeavor, come crashing in.

This six-week exercise plan is designed to guard against these common causes of fitness and weight-loss venture abandonment.

By understanding the essential elements of this routine, you will have a better knowledge of how to design and plan your own workouts so you can keep progressing beyond week six.

Right now your main goal may be to lose weight, tone your body, or simply get healthy, but perhaps in the future you may want to challenge yourself further, perhaps even enter a sporting race or event.

While our main aim here is to offer the novice a realistic, comfortable and non-daunting entry to fitness and exercise, we hope that it will also give you the confidence and ability to accomplish whatever fitness goal you may set your mind to.

No matter what the end goal is, be it to lose weight, run a full marathon, or enter a body-building competition, every good fitness plan will have the following essential elements. It is the absence of one or more of these which leads so many people to give up.

 Every beginner’s exercise regime should be:

Realistic and appropriate for your current level of fitness and skill.

Convenient. It needs to fit in with your lifestyle.

Progressive, challenging you more over time.

Planned in advance with a schedule to follow and targets to hit.

Before you embark on this journey, even if you are just planning to exercise at home, please consult your Doctor.

Do not exercise if you are not well.

Stop if you feel pain, and if the pain does not subside, consult your Doctor.

Do not exercise if you have taken alcohol or had a large meal in the last few hours.

If you are taking medication, please check with your Doctor to make sure it is okay for you to exercise.

Setbacks are a natural part of life, and, therefore, an inevitable part when you decide to lose weight with exercise. 

Understanding this and knowing what to do when you experience your own setbacks will help you stay positive when the time comes.

How you deal with setbacks and the effect they can have on your training can vary a great deal depending on the nature of the problem or interruption.

Coming back to training from injury, for example, requires a different approach to resuming training following a short-term illness, such as the common cold.

Within each section we address the concerns and questions that we have come across most often. You may find it helpful to read through all of these sections, as there are some overlapping themes.

How long should I take off from training?

This is a question most women who workout ask us at some point.

Take total rest until you can resume everyday activities again without a problem. Your number one priority should be to focus on getting well.

Resist the temptation to try and get back to your training too soon, as this could cause your illness to linger or even worsen. If it means that you have to spend a full week in bed to get over an illness, so be it. Stay well hydrated and eat good nutritious foods whenever possible.

Where should I pick up from?

This depends on how long you have to take off. If you have to take off between one and four weeks from your training, we recommend simply trying to pick up where you left off. It may be tempting to want to wipe the slate clean and start again from day one, but this is often unnecessary and in reality can seriously hamper your progress.

Believe it or not, your body can cope pretty well with some interruptions to training, returning to its pre-illness level of fitness relatively quickly.

If you have to take off more than four weeks from your training, we would suggest, again, first trying to pick up where you left off. If after a day or two this level seems too challenging, then try taking it back by one week in your plan.

Again, you may find that it’s not necessary to go back to day one. Think about it like this: setbacks are inevitable in all areas of life. If you had to go back to square one every time you met with some difficulty or interruption, you would never get anywhere!

How do I motivate myself to get back into training when I’ve been off for a while?

The mental challenge of returning to a routine after illness can be the hardest part for some people. If this is you, my advice to you is this:

Relax! Setbacks happen to everyone. You’ve already laid the groundwork so in effect the hardest part is already done. Most of the time, small setbacks such as a cold or vacation will not ruin all your progress.

You’ll retain some of your fitness and will find getting back into training easier than you might think.

In cases where you do have to take a prolonged break from training, realize that even if you do lose some of your fitness or gain back some weight, this still does not put you back to square one.

You have laid the foundation by starting on the plan and getting your body and brain used to new healthy habits, thus it’ll be easier to pick it back up. It’s never as hard as the first time you begin – and you’ve already done that!

Avoid the temptation to keep pushing back your re-start date. There’s no need to be meticulous about it. Once you are well enough to be doing everyday things again you should try to resume training.

There’s no need to start on a Monday, or the first day of the month, or a new moon, just start as soon as your body feels well enough.

You can even resume training with some minor residual cold symptoms – like a stuffy nose or the remains of a cough. Just try it. At worst, if you feel terrible and can’t continue then stop and take another day.

Try again tomorrow. At best, you may find that any residual symptoms you had are alleviated and you feel better for having worked out. Take this first workout as a way of testing the waters.

Even if you only manage a portion of the training session, this is still effective stimulation for your body and mind; getting muscles moving and blood flowing. It doesn’t have to be a perfect session to be beneficial.

What if I find I can’t continue where I left off?

As discussed above, use the first session back as a way of testing the waters. If you can’t complete the whole session, don’t worry; just do what you can. Tomorrow, move on to your next session regardless. Again, try this session - get as far as you can through it.

If you have to stop early again, then do so. Continue on with your plan in this fashion. You’ll soon find you are able to complete entire sessions again with ease and will be ready to step it up a gear. This is a much more effective re-entry into training than going back to week one!

Injuries have to be treated a bit differently to illnesses. The first steps you should take if you suffer an injury are:

Stop your training session

Ice the area immediately to reduce swelling

Elevate the injured limb

Rest the injured limb

Seek medical advice if the injury is obviously serious or if it shows no sign of improvement within a couple of days or if pain or swelling stays or returns

How do I approach exercising after an injury?

It is important to allow an injury time to rest and heal. Avoid any activity that will overuse or aggravate it until it feels better, this includes at home and work. However, if possible, keep doing other activities that don’t use or hurt the injury site.

When you have fully recovered from your injury and are free of pain or swelling, you can begin to reintroduce yourself to the original training plan. The key is to go slowly.

Unlike with an illness where we would advise you to simply try carrying on where you left off, with an injury, you need to be particularly cautious when reintroducing any activity that involves the injured limb.

Start initially with testing the range of motion of the injured limb. Move it through its full range of motion to reduce any tightness.

Many injuries can cause a reduction of range of motion and this can become a problem later if full range is not addressed in the rehabilitation period.

Gradually, with each training session, try adding a little more intensity or resistance. For example, if you injured your foot, start back first with just walking.

Keep the sessions as short as you need to initially. Build up the distance gradually over the course of a few days. Once you can complete a normal walking session, try adding a short interval of jogging here and there.

Keep these intervals short to start with and pay attention to your body for the rest of the day and the following day to see if there are any delayed reactions to the activity. It may be that you need more rest between walking/running sessions for now.

What else can I do to speed up my recovery?

Nutrition is particularly important to the recovery of any injury. This is the time to be fueling your body with the most nutrient-rich foods that you can get: Vegetables, fruit, whole grains, nuts and legumes, lean meats, and plenty of water will give your body what it needs to recover faster.

I am back to my week one level of fitness and ability now. This is so frustrating!

Recovering from an injury takes, above all, patience. You may experience feelings of self-pity, despair, and frustration. If you feel like this, take comfort in the fact that you are not alone.

Even professional athletes suffer from injuries, experience the same feelings and go through the same basic recovery process. Try to focus on what you can do, rather than what you can’t do. Sometimes this simple switch of focus can help you develop a much more positive attitude.

What if We can’t do one of the activities in my training plan because of an injury?

As We mentioned above, focus on what you CAN do. If necessary, modify your workouts so that you can keep active in some way. If you can’t run – try swimming or biking.

Interruptions can be as simple as missing a couple of sessions, or they can be longer periods, like a vacation. Dealing with these kinds of setbacks is a normal part of training, so don’t be hard on yourself when they happen to you.

Help! I’ve been on vacation and have gotten off track with my plan.

Returning to training from a vacation should be treated in much the same way as if you were returning from illness. My advice is the same in this respect so please read over that section too, but I’ll briefly repeat the main points here.

Test the waters by trying to pick up where you left off. If you can only do a portion of the workout, that’s fine. Leave it there and move on to tomorrow.

If you need to take more rests during your workout, do so. Resist the temptation to revert back to day one of your plan. It probably won’t be necessary.

If you try two or three days of picking it up where you left off and you are really struggling, then try taking it back just one week in your plan.

We don’t have time for my workouts anymore. What can I do?

Sometimes in life our commitments change and we have to readjust our daily schedules to accommodate. Whatever the cause may be, finding yourself with new commitments can mean that you’re no longer able to find the time for training.

There’s no one-size-fits-all solution to this and besides, who are we to tell you how to organize your life? What we can tell you is this: It’s a common problem, one we’re familiar with myself.

My advice to you is to give yourself time to adjust to your new commitments. After a while you’ll hopefully be able to see where you can squeeze in an hour of training each day. Perhaps you’ll have to start getting up an hour earlier every day.

Maybe you’ll wait until your baby is napping to squeeze in your workout. You may find that cycling to and from work allows you the opportunity for a decent cardio workout or perhaps you’ll want to work out during your lunch break instead.

Whatever your unique situation, if you can find some time each day that can be utilized for training, then you can work with that to build a great routine.

We don’t have time to eat healthily anymore.

Sometimes with new commitments or time restrictions healthy eating may seem like too much effort. But if you rethink the idea of convenience foods, you’ll see that natural, unprocessed foods, such as fruits, vegetables and nuts, are easy and quick to prepare.

Maybe you don’t have time to prepare elaborate meals at the moment, but you can still make sure that you stock your fridge, pantry and lunchbox with nutritious snacks.

Healthy meals can be quick and simple too and need not conform to the traditional ideas of what a ‘dinner’ should look like. Some evenings you might only have time to make a bowl of hot oatmeal with some fresh fruit and crushed almonds.

That’s great – it’s a hundred times better for you than a microwaveable ready meal! Don’t over complicate meal times. Think of them simply as opportunities to replenish and restore your body.

We will close this section by addressing a barrier that can often seem insurmountable and has the potential to ruin it all, yet is actually deceptively easy to break through.

Upon returning from an illness, vacation, or injury, there may be a few fears and anxieties that cause you to put off that first workout; you may think that you will struggle with the training, you may feel weak, you may feel that all of your previous efforts have been wasted and you are back to square one.

These feelings are very familiar, many people have these feelings when they have setbacks, and we know how hard this can be for a beginner. However, we have yet to have a negative experience upon returning to training.

Once we have completed that first workout, the mental blocks are immediately lifted and we can never understand where they came from in the first place.

The first training session always makes us feel positive, energized, and restores our hope and vision. Sometimes, it even feels like we have never been away!

Don’t underestimate the power of a single workout, or a healthy meal, to give you a significant boost in motivation and self-esteem. If you feel that your progress has been ruined in any way, just hit that training session, eat your next healthy meal and you will be surprised at the results.

Although you have now reached the end of your first six-week workout program for Indian women, there is still room for improvement and you should always look to tweak things here, challenging yourself a little more as time goes on.

Perhaps the more important things about this six-week training routine, more important than the type of training you have been doing, are the development of habits, establishing a routine, and seeing a degree of results.

This won't work if you have no control on your diet and lifestyle. Hence, make sure you maintain a healthy diet, get sufficient sleep and drink enough water. Have a look at our detailed weight loss program to lose weight effectively. 

These things really are the foundations of your fitness and weight-loss success.

Once you have this in place, you may want to look into training for an event, such as a marathon, or you may want to ease off on the running and spend more time working with resistance methods such as circuit training, who knows, perhaps even bodybuilding! (And nope, don’t worry, women don’t look like bodybuilders even if they train hard!)

There’s a whole world of fitness development options waiting for you.