Skip to main content

One Thing You Need to Be Healthy



Through many years and many levels of fitness and healthy living, there is one thing that has been essential to me. 

Eating well, exercise, sufficient sleep all work together and can always be tweaked for proportion and increase. 

A recent article highlighted one of my favourite tools, strength training.  My fitness routine incorporates hand held weights and I love the benefit they give, added strength, increasing endurance and results of toned muscles.

To build a healthier body, you need a strong foundation that can withstand the aging process.
It’s never too late to create new habits. Strength training for many people isn’t as fun as walking, spin class, yoga or playing sports. But it’s hard to deny the short- and long-term benefits of hitting the weights, including:
  • Increased bone density
  • Stronger ligaments and tendons
But the benefits don’t stop there. Muscle allows us to continue to be active, functional and healthy. It’s critical for activity, and movement is critical to our happiness.

The best way to build strength is by doing compound exercises, which recruit multiple joints through a full range of motion and engage the most muscle mass. Squats, shoulder presses and deadlifts are  favorite compound exercises. These are functional moves that are easy to learn and can be done with dumbbells or barbells. You are in no way limited to just these three exercises or to dumbbells and barbells; these are often preferred methods to build strength.

This doesn't mean you have to hit the gym for hours every day to incorporate strength training. My current routine is 3 days of a 15 minute workout with weights (while watching the early morning weather report) and I try for one day of an exercise class. 

If you are looking to begin or bump up your fitness, this is a great place to start!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Sometimes We Score, Sometimes We Block

Our family is in the midst of little league soccer season. My youngest son is playing and his enthusiasm is contagious. He is pretty good at the sport, but what makes it so great is that he loves it! He counts the days until the next game or practice. He loves his coach and teammates. He has moved up an age level this year and the players are working more like team, passing to each other and watching out for each other during play. During the last game, my son scored two goals, they were the only goals of the game. In today's game the team scored eight goals. My son came up afterwards to me and said, "I didn't score today, but I blocked". What a powerful truth those words can hold. In life, sometimes we score, sometimes we block. Sometimes we do great things, we excel, we achieve, we meet our goal - we score! There are also times we see the needs of others, sometimes they are sad or hurting, we block their hits. We look out for them so they can score. We...

WFW – Write It On My Heart

This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel       after that time, declares the Lord.    I will put My laws in their minds       and write them on their hearts.    I will be their God,       and they will be My people.  Hebrews 8:10 On a recent field trip to a museum featuring the days gone by, we sat in an old schoolroom as the teacher introduced us to the quill pen and bottle of ink.  She cautioned us to use extreme caution using the ink and told us that if it got on our skin or clothes, it would not come off. This reminded me of this beautiful promise from Hebrews.  God told His people he would put His law in their minds and write it on their hearts.  This is a covenant which cannot be broken.  He loves us and wants us to know Him through His Word.  As we read more and more of His Word, it becomes w...

Construction, Challenges, Chaos

 Who knew something simple could erupt into something chaotic so quickly? A broken file cabinet forced us to purchase a new one. We found one online, ordered it and it arrived quickly with a do it yourself assembly book, complete with 24 part packages and 18 steps of instructions!  As we unpacked the items and compared with the instruction book, we realized a part was missing. Customer service was called, a replacement part was quickly received. Except, the screws did not fit into the holes on the replacement part. We tried again, received another part, same issue.  Meanwhile, the 24 packages of parts are spread out on my living room floor, customer service does not understand my issue, they asked for photos which were sent and now we are again, waiting for a part.  It seems every project faces the inevitable delay. My work place is undergoing a floor remodel. Upheaval, dust, packing, lots of inconvenience and depending on the work crew's schedule dictate the next fe...