A week-by-week breakdown with links to video clips of the five-week Strength and Flex exercise plan for beginners.
Do each podcast at least three times within a week before moving on to the next podcast.
Once you've finished the programme, you can keep using podcast 5 to keep your activity levels up.
Podcast 1
A gentle workout with music, starting with a warm-up followed by a series of strength and flexibility exercises, finishing off with a cool-down.
Duration: 35:28
Warm up
-
check your posture
-
5 shoulder rolls as you walk (both shoulders)
-
10 chest presses as you walk (pushing both hands away from you, then bringing them back in with your elbows pointing out)
-
10 arm rows as you walk (keeping your elbows tucked in while you pull imaginary oars back and forth)
-
10 knee bends as you walk
Watch a video clip of the warm-up routine.
Strength workout
-
10 standing press-ups
-
10 pull-ups
-
10 shallow squats
Flexibility workout
-
thigh stretches
-
calf stretches
-
seated hamstring stretches
-
chest stretches
-
upper back stretches
Cool down
Podcast 2
We've made some of the podcast 1 exercises a bit more challenging and increased the length of your workout.
Duration: 36:31
Warm up
-
check your posture
-
5 shoulder rolls as you walk
-
10 chest presses as you walk
-
10 arm rows as you walk
-
10 knee bends as you walk
Strength workout
-
10 standing press-ups – option to increase difficulty
-
10 pull-ups – option to increase difficulty
-
10 deep squats
Flexibility workout
-
thigh stretches
-
calf stretches
-
seated hamstring stretches
-
chest stretches
-
upper back stretches
-
tricep stretches
Cool down
Podcast 3
We've added some new moves and increased the difficulty level of some of the podcast 2 exercises.
Duration: 35:32
Warm up
-
check your posture
-
5 shoulder rolls as you walk
-
10 chest presses as you walk
-
10 arm rows as you walk
-
10 knee bends as you walk
Strength workout
-
10 sit-to-stands
-
10 standing press-ups – option to increase difficulty
-
10 pull-ups – option to increase difficulty
-
10 wide squats
Flexibility workout
-
thigh stretches
-
calf stretches
-
seated hamstring stretches
-
chest stretches
-
upper back stretches
-
tricep stretches
Cool down
Podcast 4
We've introduced some new exercises and stepped up the intensity and length of your workout.
Duration: 45:12
Warm up
-
check your posture
-
5 shoulder rolls as you walk
-
10 chest presses as you walk
-
10 arm rows as you walk
-
10 knee bends as you walk
**
Strength workout
**
-
10 sit-to-stands
-
10 standing press-ups – option to increase difficulty
-
10 pull-ups – option to increase difficulty
-
10 wide squats
-
10 bench dips
-
10 wide pull-ups
**
Flexibility workout
**
-
thigh stretches
-
calf stretches
-
seated hamstring stretches – deeper stretch
-
chest stretches
-
upper back stretches
-
tricep stretches
Cool down
Podcast 5
For the last podcast in this series, we've made some of the podcast 4 exercises more challenging.
Duration: 43:32
Warm up
-
check your posture
-
5 shoulder rolls as you walk
-
10 chest presses as you walk
-
10 arm rows as you walk
-
10 knee bends as you walk
**
Strength workout
**
-
10 sit-to-stands with calf raises
-
10 standing press-ups – option to increase difficulty
-
10 pull-ups – option to increase difficulty
-
10 wide squats
-
10 bench dips
-
10 wide pull-ups
**
Flexibility workout
**
-
thigh stretches
-
calf stretches – deeper stretch
-
seated hamstring stretches – deeper stretch
-
chest stretches
-
upper back stretches
-
tricep stretches
**
Cool down
**
