How to "jump" back into the fitness game, after becoming out of shape?

[JerseyJeff84]

I am in no way fat, as my current stats are 6'1, 159lbs, and according to my scale, about 14.8% body fat.

However, due to life's responsibilities, I have been out of the gym for easily a year now. While, I have maintained my weight and my "build," I feel lethargic, and get out of breath over easy things, such as going up the stairs in my house.

I have a gym membership that I don't even use, so I'd like to put that to work and get back there again. What's a good way for me to start again, just focusing on cardio only so that I can slowly jump into it? For example, should I walk 5 miles a day on the treadmill or should i use a combination of machines?

At the moment, my main goal is basically to just gain some endurance back and eventually focus on getting a defined look.

 

[malkore]

Honestly, just start moving.
I wouldn't solely focus on cardio, as I feel everyone should have a well-rounded fitness routine involving cardio AND resistance training. You definitely want to start with less weight, and only 1 working set (after warmup sets) to prevent too much muscle soreness and to allow your joints and tendons to toughen up a bit. Go for 10 reps per set, and add sets as you feel necessary.

weights before cardio, always. you can tap into fat storage for cardio energy but not for weight training energy, so burn the glycogen (sugar) in your system first with weights.

my current routine, I workout first then do 20 mins of cardio about days a week. 2 days a week I try to just do a bunch of cardio (and often work my abs and a bit of yoga on these days) to mix things up. 1 day a week I'm at Wing Chun class for a couple hours which is a nice mix of cardio and strength work, and it works my mind and body in a totally unique way.

I wouldn't just walk 5 miles, unless you get achy leg joints/knees easily. I'd do more of a jog/walk combo...a lot of treadmills have a program or two for this where you walk a full minute, then run for 30 seconds. I find it to be a good stepping stone towards being able to jog a straight mile. And then 2 miles, etc.

(BTW, I hate running, but stored fat sure seems to respond to it)