Exercise: how and where can I start?

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I'm a fifteen year old girl who's never really exercised much- not out of not liking exercise itself, but out of fear of participating in PE at school/group sports.

I want to be fitter and more active; I have for a long time now. But I honestly don't know where and how I can start. First of all, I really hate team sports. They make me nervous as anything and I just can't join in with them; I end up either trailing around helplessly around the rest of the team and avoiding the ball as much as possible or standing in the corner looking like an idiot. I'm shy, scared of failing, and worried about how I look when I exercise. I know all three of these things are quite stupid, but getting over them is easier said than done.

So team sports are pretty much out of the question. As is swimming, because although I enjoy swimming to an extent, a) I have a lot of scars on my body which I don't want people staring at and b) I only ever learnt to swim breast-stroke. Not to mention there aren't really any local pools- the nearest one would take hours to walk to.

I tried horse-riding and for a while loved it. I had a few isolated lessons from when I was 10-14 and then starting going to the local stables every week when I was fourteen - however, this only lasted about three months. I gave it up at a time where everything got too much and I ended up giving up everything.

I also really liked the idea of dance for a while- I signed up for teen/adult ballet lessons at the dance school near me. Although it was a lot more nerve-racking being in there and I ended up opting out of anything that I wasn't sure I'd be able to do. I also gave that up after about three months for the same reason as the horse-riding. I don't want to go back to those stables to do the horse-riding because I was both terrible at it and pretty much everyone who went there was quite a bit younger than me. In teen/adult ballet, there were actually only adults and again, it was too nerve-racking and I couldn't make myself participate properly.

So team sports, dance, swimming, and horse-riding out of the question. >.>

I've had a bicycle for years, but I haven't used it for a year or two because it's almost completely fallen apart. I could get a new one, but I'm not sure it's worth it. I'm terrible at running/jogging- probably because I'm so unfit at the moment. I tried going out jogging several times and ended up feeling sick/with stitches and giving up quite early on and going home- obviously quite angry with myself. (With this there was also the fact that I would panic and feel really stupid whenever I passed any living person.) I have aerobic/dance exercise DVDs which I could use but I really do want to try and do something outside, or at least outside my house.

Walking's good, and I do plan to try and walk more, but I'd like to try something a tiny bit more effective/exerting.

Please help - any suggestions would be great. I just wish I could stop holding myself back so much out of fear of doing things wrong physically. I'm generally healthy in most aspects- apart from the fact that I barely exercise. What would be best for someone like me?

Thanks in advance.

I use my gym, walk and go swimming but if I were to take up a sport it'd be Squash or Racquetball.

For me, I got into ice skating. If you liked dance, figure skating could fit the bill. Figure skating at your age, there's not much for group classes, so you're stuck with individual coaching, unfortunately individual coaching is pretty expensive. In Vermont, where figure skating isn't popular, one coach I knew there only charged like $30 an hour, but here in CT it costs like $50-80 an hour. But, for me, I guess I'm just ridiculously motivated/insane, I started off in hockey skates, and I'd basically just ask people for questions/tips how to do things, and read a lot online, etc, then I eventually I switched to figure. For the basics of figure skating, it's posture, and then you gotta learn edges, basically you gotta skate in circles forever. For the skating in circles, you don't need too much coaching, as it's not too dangerous if you fail, but you're just gonna need a lot of persistence. But for me, I went from 215 to 180 with basically just skating. If your rink has a good deal on public ice time, then you could be in luck. It'd be as simple to start as finding a $20-50 used pair of skates that fit you (skates you should buy like 2 sizes smaller than your shoe size usually) and just going out on the ice and seeing what happens from there. There's also speed skating, though most rinks don't allow speed skates on public ice, so more expensive.

As for the bike, cycling is great fun. For me, I suck at running, but am fairly competent of a cyclist, I find skating and cycling much easier than running, as it's not based as much on cadence, if that makes sense. You can put together a bunch of short bursts of power, and since the vehicle still moves if you stop pedalling/stroking, it's easier for me to pace myself without getting winded, and still keeping a good pace. Seems for cycling/skating, it's more about the power you put down per stroke, not how many strokes you do. Also, less joint impact for both of them.

Again, this is another sorta advertisement for my favorite sports, so sorry. But, weightlifting is pretty fun. Olympic style is my favorite, but there's powerlifting, bodybuilding, etc, lots you can do. Olympic style is my favorite, but it's also the hardest and most techniquey. But weightlifting is quite an individual endeavor. I don't know, initially I thought weightlifting was dumb/lame/"I don't wanna look like that..." but then when I tried doing squats I was like "this is sweet." I started doing it to help skating, and it did. But yeah, all you'd need is weights at a gym, and you're set, though coaching is always a good idea. If you're really self conscious and you got room at the house, you could get a barbell and plates off craigslist and yeah.

That's sorta how things played out for me. With all those specific suggestions said, basically the best thing you can do is start something. You know, like the Michael Jackson song. Even if you just go for a walk/hike (hiking is quite good to do, my only problem hiking is crappy navigation skills due to NVLD, oh well) just do something. Don't worry how it's gonna turn out, just be like "that looks fun" and do it. I've managed to become a decentish skater, without even a real coach, just because I tried like hell at it, but, there was nobody over my shoulder, and no pressure. The problem comes when you get pressured to do things, as you saw with the dance class and the like. So, use coaches to gain more information and correct you, but in the end, only you know what you can do, and you just have to be self motivated and consistent, and just judge yourself. That's what worked for me for sports, and basically life, if I can do it myself, take my time to do it, and learn it on my own, without pressure, I do well, but once the pressure comes, I fall flat on my face. So coaches/etc aren't good for me in that regard, as they tend to put too much pressure on me and I judge myself too heavily for not being able to live up to the coach's/team's standards.

Repairing your bike sounds like a pretty good plan, especially if you dont want to run at all. Downloading music to listen to can help, as long as you get the type of music that you like, because whatever sport you do it passes time faster than without. I'm actually very similar to you, being 15 and unfit because I hate playing sport with others.

For me, I go horse riding once per week, (I would more, but it's expensive). Since you said you didn't want to go back to that stables, have you looked around to see if theres one near you that does teen/adult lessons at your level?

I have recently begun running a little, because my household acquired a new dog, who is very active and requires more exercise than our other dog, so I walk/run with him. Rather than jogging constantly, have you tried counting steps? For instance, I run 150 steps and walk 50 steps alternately. It keeps you outside, and moving while stopping you from running out of breath too much. When I started I did more like 50 running, and 150 walking because I was so bad at running after an entire childhood of avoiding team sport (the only sport available to me until I was about 10 and joined the riding school.

I started last November/December doing a bare 10 minutes a day/five times a week with free online workout videos, and I'm now managing 30-45 minutes twice a day six days a week, and enjoying it! :lol

I'm doing a mixture of "Core"/Bodyweight exercises, ( sometimes simply several short so-called "warm-ups" strung together back to back ), cardio/aerobics, callanetics and/or other stretching and flexibility sessions, weightlifting, and upper-body workouts, plus some yoga as "slow" core work ... all still using/following free online workout videos ranging in length from a couple of minutes to 75 minutes.

I have been so blown away by how well this approach works ( I have almost never been able to stick to or even really begin to do exercise on a regular basis till now, for many of the reasons you list ), that I recently posted a whole thread on here about my favourite online workout videos! Here is the link:

http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt195567.html

Good luck!
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Walking is fine, but you have to do at least a mile a day to see a difference.

I jog to the gym, then weightlift.

Eat right too.

Here's a really good way to start:

http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml

Run? There's a run / walk programme which aims to get you running 3.1 miles / 5km in under 30 minutes. It's called Couch to 5k / C25k.

As well as walking and/or hiking. Yoga is a very good exercise that combines stretching and strength work with minimal equipment. I find it also helps my focus with my ADD issues.

Repair the bicycle or even borrow one at first to keep costs low in case you will not stick with the plan. If you start to like cycling again then you can buy new, shiny, even more motivating bicycle that suits your preference of the track, which you can only find out if you first ride for some time.

Also I would reccommend: try gym. Get someone to guide you through all the equipment at the beginning. If you feel clumsy and ashamed of it, then be assured, it does not show much in gym. For me gym has somehow improved my balance and control over my movements - or at least I feel like it has.

You don't have to decide there behind the computer what exercise to do - go try few things and then decide which ones feel best and only after that set your specific goals.

Good luck

Join a 24 hr. gym and workout around 11-12 at night when nobody is usually around. That's what I do.

Maybe a p90x work out DVD set will help or one of those dance type work out DVD's could be fun for you when you're inside. A nice thing about them is that they have somebody on the screen guiding you through every step, and nobody is judging you. You could try jump roping outside, it's great for your cardio. Perhaps you can find a nice area for running too, and fixing up your bike sounds like a good idea. As long as you don't go too hard for too long riding your bike is very gentle on the legs, so there is little room for injury.

I would power walk a few days a week and, if you build up your fitness level to a point where you feel walking is no longer challenging you enough, start jogging. (Just make sure that if you're going to walk or run alone, it's during daylight hours in a safe neighborhood and you don't have your music up so high that you cannot be aware of your surroundings. Also, carrying a small bottle of pepper spray is never a bad idea when you are a lone female jogger).

If you combine that with strength training at home a few days a week, you can maintain a pretty good level of fitness without paying for a gym membership or having to worry about working out with/around people. You'll have to buy a good pair of running shoes and some weights, but it'll probably still be cheaper in the long-run than classes at a gym and you can work out on your own terms when it's convenient for your schedule. I've found that for me, working out has to be simple and convenient, otherwise I won't stick with it.

Depends what you want to achieve, I would recommend P90X and start there, it will teach you many exercises and most of training focuses on flexibility and body weight training so it's the perfect place for you to start.

I think a video series that works out different parts of your body and with cardio days would be good. Just remember, you don't have to work as hard as the demonstrates. Just go at your own pace. But if you're not worn out by the time you're done, then you aren't working hard enough.