I Quit Smoking..Now What?

I received this great message from Glen, who is now a non-smoker and wanting to get in great shape!

Q:) Hi! I am so excited! I just kicked a twenty six year smoking habit! I finally found the strength to get rid of this filthy habit and am now ready to embrace a healthy lifestyle. My question to athlete support is, now that I have quit smoking, where do I begin? I am interested in trying your event but am not sure If I will be ready in time. Can you give me some helpful information that will get me on my way?

Signed - Non-Smoking Glen

A:) Well a big congratulations to you Glen! Being smoke free is amazing and you should be very proud!

In terms of exercise the first thing you should do is just quickly get a physical from the doctor to make sure you are good to exercise. You should be fine, but this will tell you if there was any side effects from smoking. Again I am sure you are fine, but for precautionary reasons it is good to have this done.

Once the doctor has given you the green light it is best to start of slow. Try not to do too much at one time. The reason being is that your body is trying to detoxify from your smoking habit. This will cause stress on the body and trying to really exercise hard 5-6 times per week will only cause undue stress on the body.

My advice is to do a mild cleanse. I would buy a mild seven day cleanse from any health food store and do a mild cleanse for seven days. This will help clean out any toxins that the cigerettes have left behind. Think of it as a long overdue oil change on your car.

You can start to exercise lightly when you are cleansing so no more then 30 minutes of treadmill work never pushing to the point of fatigue.

Once you have done the cleanse you are ready for action!

Here is what I would recommend. Start off with a three day a week exercise routine.

Day 1 (Monday) - 30 mins of weights/30 minutes of cardio

Day 2 (Wednesday) - Stair Climbing workout

Day 3 (Friday) 30 minutes of weights/30 minutes of cardio

This should be followed for a month to six weeks. Then you should change the routine to a more progressive program either with more days added or more volume in the workouts themselves.

Nutrition is another key factor! For this I will ask you to read some of our fitness freebies found on our website.

Please also check our blog for nutritional tips an hints, here is one you might like it covers the Canada Food Guide and its good points and bad

I hope this has been helpful! By the way you should have plenty of time to get ready for our stair climb event! You will be placed in Tier 1 which is for beginners! I am sure you will do very well!

Here is the event information

Athlete Support
athletesupport@stairclimbcanada.com
1-877-51-CLIMB