American Council on Exercise by American Council on Exercise
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Your Roadmap to a Healthier, Happier You

 Kick start your new year with this 12-week exercise program designed by ACE, to build total body muscular fitness, enhance cardiorespiratory fitness, improve health and increase energy. It’s a great introductory program for those new to exercise, or it can be used as a dynamic warm-up for those with more experience. 

Weeks 5-8 (Phase II)

Movement Training with Cardiorespiratory Endurance

Now that you’re on week 5 of ACE’s Kick Start Workout, it’s time to increase the level of difficulty and progress to a movement-based training program. The cardiovascular conditioning goal for the second phase of the program is to progress from walking to walk-jog intervals. For resistance training, the goal is to develop effective motor control and coordination to perform the five primary movement patterns without compromising postural or joint stability:

  • single-leg movements
  • bend-and-lift movements
  • Pushing movements
  • Pulling movements
  • Rotational movements

Most of these exercises can be done without any external resistance using only body-weight; however, we recommend simple equipment or at-home items to add more to your workout including a straight bar (such as a  dowel or broom handle), a set of dumbbells (heavy cans of food can be substituted) and a medicine ball (a heavy book or gallon of liquid could be used instead). For optimal results do these exercises on at least two three days per week.