Monday: Weight Training Day

You're back at work - if you haven't been before now! The holidays are over and now you have to deal with the aftermath - getting back to a regular 9 to 5 routine, and embarking on the process of transitioning to a healthier life style.

Part of your routine must be weight training - 3 ties a week. I do Monday, Wednesday and Friday, but you can choose any 3 days you like. As a beginner, you can't weight train every day - you'll wear yourself out. So you give yourself a day off between workout days to let your muscles recover.

Having said that, weight training is also something you're not going to go full-bore on to begin with. Go to your local sports store or Walmart, and check out their hand held weights. You don't want to purchase a weight machine - like a Bowflex - just yet. As a beginner it's best to start with free weights - dumbbells of various weights, a weight bench with leg attachment so you can do leg curls and leg extensions, or if you can't afford a weight bench yet - and you only need one with a barbell and a 50 pound set of weights - purchase leg weights from the store, and do your leg curls on the floor and your leg extensions from a chair.

The legs are typically a lot stronger than the arms, particularly in a woman, and it's essential that you do arm exercises of all kinds, such as shoulder shrugs, bicep curls and straight arm raises. By using light weights and doing many repetitions, you'll be working on toning your muscles, and ensure that the flab underneath the arms that affects so many older women won't affect you!