Hello,
My wife asked me to research this and ask some questions.

History: She is about 95 lbs., 30 years old, she was raised in Japan and eats very healthy most of the time so that's not a problem, although I think she needs to eat a more protein.

She has had some health problems in the past (Thyroid Cancer) and is very weak physically. I think a lot of the reason why she feels weak and gets sick more often than normal is because she is so small and needs to add weight. I believe her BMI is 16 or so.

For a while I have been lifting weights and walking, running, biking so I think I can help her out getting started.

The main thing we need advice on is how should she approach exercise? Since she is so small I think she should limit heavy cardio work and concentrate more on strengthening stuff like Yoga and weight lifting.

What I was thinking is walking on the treadmill at a decent pace with a slight incline depending on how she can handle it, 20 to 30 minutes three times a week.

Yoga or similar type exercise focused more on flexibility and strengthening the body. Maybe 3 times a week for 20 to 30 minutes with walking.

Do strengthening exercises 2 to 3 times a week, one day lower body one day upper body.
Lower Body: Body weight squats, lunges, wall chair (not sure what it is called, sit by wall with no chair). Maybe polymetric type squat jumps if she can handle it.

Upper Body: Push ups, shoulder work like laterals, military press, bicep/triceps, DB rows, back. She has complained about weakness in the shoulders.

Core: It seems like someone in her situation could really benefit from good abs and core exercises so I was thinking swiss ball crunches, sit ups, jack knife, medicine ball twists.

Of course the weight routines would need to be broke up in 20 to 30 minutes sessions, maybe two or three exercises plus abs.


What is the best way to approach this or considering her situation should she just do something like Yoga for a while and then start more of the strengthening exercises or am I totally off base for a person with her body type?

Does she need to concentrate on higher reps at first? 10? 12? 15? 20? etc.


Thanks for your help.

Seems like you have a pretty good idea what you'd like her to do.

Considering her low muscular strength and probably her inexperience in strength training, you should focus on learning the right technique first. She has to do each and every exercise you pick the right way at low intensity before you can move on to increasing weight. To do this, many trainers would recommend doing round 3 sets of 12-15 reps at 55-65% of her estimated 100% (1 rep maximum) per muscle group. The exercises you picked are good --- at the beginning use machines as much as possible tho (they aren't good for experienced people, but for a beginner they help a lot with the form).

If she can only spend 30 minutes training 3 days a week, you can split the body to major components - legs, back, chest, arms/shoulder, and she can do core as part of every day's routine. At the beginning doing 1-2 different exercises per group is enough, so you can possibly do 2 groups/day.

As far as cardio goes, 20 minute fast walking or light jogging will do her good --- monitor how her body will respond, and if in a couple weeks/months she feels she can do more, go ahead and increase the intensity.

Once she starts working out more, she will most likely need to change her diet as well - more protein, more water and no food 1-2 hrs before a workout.

Good luck!