A problem out-of-shape beginners discover when they start exercising is that many programs are too complicated or intense. They often give up before they get a good start.

“There’s not a lot of exercise out there for the unfit,” says fitness expert Gin Miller. “There’s a lot for the fit.”

So Miller, best known as the power behind step training, invented ramping.

“It’s really simple and user-friendly,” she says. “The movements are not tricky.”

In ramping, participants push off a slanted, color-coded ramp to music. Besides being a low-impact cardio workout suitable for most people, it also works the muscles in the back of the body.

You know those muscles that ache every spring when you plant your garden? These are the ones ramping will strengthen.

Recently about 20 fitness instructors took to the tri-colored ramps for a demonstration at the University of Memphis, Tenn.

“It looks kind of like a Simon,” says instructor Ginger Adair, referring to the children’s game that blinked a pattern for players to repeat. “I hated that thing. It made me nervous.”

But she knew her way around the ramp, and before long the participants caught on, too.

There are two ramping routines available now, and others are in the works. Ramping 1-2-3 is a beginner’s program set to a six-count beat that Miller describes as a waltz. Ramping Up provides a higher energy workout.

Both routines involve stepping on and off the slanted board. But unlike step training, where you step on and off a platform, you push on and pull off the board in ramping. The legs are moving, but the power is coming from core muscles in the body’s center.

“I don’t want to hear your feet touch the ramp,” instructor Ginger Adair says to the class.

She demonstrates an exaggerated tiptoe walk: If you sneak up on someone, you use your core muscles to keep your feet from hitting the ground hard enough to make noise.

Toes curled, your weight hits the board with your heel. Push on, pull off. First in the blue center of the board, then eventually right foot to left green wing and left foot to right purple wing.

The board is color coded so participants can follow the routine by listening to the instructor’s directions instead of having to keep an eye on her all the time.

Miller, who lives in Atlanta and owns Gin Miller Fitness and Gin Miller Productions, is in the studio filming videos that will incorporate other forms of exercising with ramping. A home kit is expected to sell for about $100.

Sedentary people want an alternative between aerobics and walking, Miller says. Ramping fits the bill.

“Anybody should be able to follow it,” she says. “Ramping 1-2-3 is a super-simple beginning program. It’s the kindergarten of exercise programs.”

Even though she says it’s suitable for people who are 100 pounds overweight, everyone should check with a doctor before starting an exercise program.