We hope you are all enjoying the exercise program!
We have designed 4, six-week exercise programs specifically for you. The programs may be repeated and modified at your preference. The program and each exercise is described in the pages that follow. The program is progressive and involves both aerobic and resistance training exercises. This information will remain on our site for you to refer back to as often as you would like. You may print the information, take notes, or simply bring your smartphone with you to the Refinery, using the videos as your guide. The videos will be accessible 24/7 on the frontpage (log-in unnecessary). It is our hope that you use this as your digital exercise manual.
General Exercise Guidelines
We recommend doing 8 to 10 repetitions (“reps”) of each resistance exercise and you should repeat this 2 or 3 times (i.e., perform 2-3 sets of 8-10 reps). This means the total number of times you perform each exercise will range from 16 (8 x 2) to 30 (10 x 3). There’s no such thing as a “one-size-fits-all” approach to exercise. We anticipate that some of you may feel 16 reps relatively challenging whereas others may desire a greater challenge. Find a formula you are comfortable with and please do not overexert yourself. You should not need more than 30-60 seconds of rest between sets. Then again, if your goal is to improve your aerobic conditioning, you may want to give yourself less rest.
You may notice that we will sometimes refer to the “tempo” of an exercise. Tempo = speed of the movement. For example, you may lift a dumbbell upwards in 1 second. Then, you may allow it to drop downward in 1 second. We encourage you to follow a 2–0–2 tempo. The first 2 refers to the beginning phase of movements (e.g., move up in 2 secs), whereas the 0 refers to “no pause”, and the last 2 seconds refers to the end phase (e.g., move back in 2 secs).
We recommend that you try to do > 20 minutes of aerobic walking, 2-3 times per week for the first month. If you find that this is too challenging, do as much as you can. Walk for longer (30+ minutes), 3-4 days per week if you feel you are up to it. It is unnecessary to do > 5 days of aerobic activity per week. Your body requires rest! Stay tuned for more aerobic training instructions and recommendations.
Continue reading for details about your resistance training circuit…