The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Part of the intake appointment - your very first appointment with Ifat - is to measure your current aerobic fitness via a three minute step test.
I have a block I use when clients do the intake at my house, but you can use any secure step that is approximately thirty centimeters or twelve inches high.
Then set your metronome at 96 beats per minute. You don’t have a metronome handy? Shocking! But neither do I - I use an online metronome and turn up the phone or laptop so I can hear it well.
Then I tell you, “Three, two, one, START!” and you step up right, left, then step down right, left, up left, right, and down left, right and repeat - all to the beat of the metronome.
I’m timing you for three minutes, so remember to breathe! And you don’t need to worry about the time because I’ve got that covered. Just step up and down.
The beauty of this exercise is that you can pause if you need to (but don’t sit down!) and it doesn’t require a lot of equipment. I’ve even done this intake in a park.
After three minutes, you immediately sit down so that I can measure your heart rate for one minute. This is where the aerobic or cardiovascular fitness comes into play. A more fit person’s heart returns to their resting rate more quickly than a less fit person’s heart.
Are you ready to start your journey? There is no better time than now to take better care of yourself and it begins with a single step. Well, a bunch of steps over a three minute period.
Let’s get started!