Thought I would share the exercise protocol I have my dad conduct once a week to maybe give stackers an idea of where to start either for themselves or for their loved ones.

It's a very simple protocol broken up into strength and resistance training, and cardio.

For strength, my friend who's also a trainer helped create a 4 week program that uses only bodyweight, and a resistance band. The amount of sets and reps gradually go up as the weeks go by, but the exercises used are as follows (all exercise sets and reps are for week 1 here):

Wall sit (hands out) - 2x45-60seconds (lower body yielding isometric)

Banded row - 2x10 reps (slow and controlled with 3 second eccentric back down) (for back)

Banded press - 2x10 (controlled here as well, again with 3 second eccentric) (for chest)

Hip Bridge - 2x12 (3 second count up, 1 second hold at top, and 3 second back down) (glutes)

Banded bicep curl - 2x10 (Nice and controlled on the way down)

French press - 2x10 (Nice and controlled)

Push up position plank - 1x30-40 seconds (core)

Hill walks x5 at around 80% of max heart rate (HIIT) Not the most accurate calculation but I used 220 - dad's age = 160 Max HR 160 x 0.8 = 128 BPM So aiming to walk at a pace that gets him in and around that range.

Just to show how effective and beneficial going from doing little to no exercise to doing something with purpose once a week is, my dad started these hill walks which we pace at a little under 2 minutes to get from bottom to top, easily hitting 80% of his max HR first week. Today was week four and he was only using 70% on average to complete the same training regimen, so we upped the challenge by having him nasal breathe the whole way through, and for the last two reps have him lightly jog the last 10 yards.

Strength wise as well, in just four weeks and with only one session a week, he went from struggling to finish 2 sets of 45 second wall sits, to being able to complete 3 sets for 70 seconds today.

It's never ever too late to start friends!