Planning for exercise

Think about what your aims of exercising are and set yourself some realistic and achievable goals. You may want to get fitter, or you may want to put on weight, lose weight, or achieve a better body shape. Make sure that your aims are achievable - if you’re too ambitious you might become disappointed and lose enthusiasm for your exercise programme or, at worst, hurt yourself.

Getting an instructor at a gym to work with you to develop a personal training programme can be a good way of setting yourself achievable goals. Many gyms offer this service as part of an induction package for members. Make sure that you tell the person working with you about any health conditions you have that might make exercise risky (for instance, high blood pressure) or which affect your ability to undertake certain exercises, such as a sprained ankle. There’s no reason why you have to tell anybody at a gym or other fitness facility that you are HIV-positive.