Care Now Part 2 of 5
Here’s the second part of five in our Care Now series.
This week we’ll be visiting one of the most obvious systems associated with exercise, your muscular system.
It’s through our muscular system that we move about in the world to do our job, clean the house, tend to the garden, play with the grandkids, even something as simple as getting up from your chair. And sometimes we take our muscles for granted.
Aging will show you exactly what that means especially if you don’t use them on a regular basis. Use it or lose it applies here.
The simplest function of a muscle is to cause motion or produce force. Two things we need if we want to go anywhere in this world.
Now, while there are 3 types of muscles we’re going to zero in on only the muscles of our skeletal system. The one that moves us. The other two, cardiac and smooth, have brilliant functions that belong in a whole other post.
Exactly how do muscles work?
Muscles attach to bones. Movement happens when muscles pull on bones, referred to as contraction.
Sometimes we only know that a muscle exists ‘there’ when we strain or pull it – “OUCH, I didn’t realize that I had a muscle under and behind my love handle area!”
We can improve muscle strength thus bone strength and joint function by that fancy term called exercise.
Do we have to strengthen our muscles?
Turns out, yes indeed.
Muscles need stimulation in order to serve us throughout life. It’s like your brain. You won’t grow unless you stimulate it. If you do nothing, you’ll do just that- nothing. If you don’t move, your muscles will shrink from disuse. Why choose that?
A well toned muscular system enables you to optimally do what you physically need. Being strong and able to do what you desire because you can, in a pain free body does not have to be a fantasy.
Movements that reflect how you function in the real world have a whole better way to serve you. Link that real world, daily movement to your fitness program and it’s called functional fitness. It’s simple, sensible and practical. Work with movements and let your muscles figure it out.
You can actually sneak in some brain training. If you train movement rather than isolating muscles 2 things will happen.
- You’ll decrease boredom because you’ll be stepping outside of 1 way movement. Less bored you are greater chance of rinsing and repeating!
- You’ll be more immersed in the moment. Awareness increases and it becomes more meaningful when your brain has to be involved. Dull weight lifting sucks.
Care now to become unsedentary.
Moving your muscles is what nourishes, strengthens, cleanses and encourages the body to do what it does best, support you.
Benefits of a well toned muscular system:
- Body adaptation. Training your muscles to see all sorts of movement give you a well rounded ability to move how you want, when you want.
- Increased Blood Flow. Remember nobody wants stagnation in their body. Toned muscles promote a better highway for circulation and vital nutrients to get where they need to be.
- Burn calories more efficiently. Referred to as your BMR (basal metabolic rate) strength exercises increase this. Even at rest a well toned body burns calories.
- Decrease risk of injury. A well toned body absorbs shock better. It also increases responsiveness to stimuli. Stronger muscles balance movement thus making you less susceptible to hurting yourself, again.
- Stronger bones. Nobody wants brittle bones. Our body responds to physical stress by building up the bones to deal with it. Remember muscles pull on bones. That pull encourages bones to become denser. For you that means stronger bones.
Our muscles are designed for usage. Sure, we can get by with minimal movement for what we minimally need to do. Now, I’m for minimalism in life but not when it comes to what can come of a strong, supple, supportive body.
YOU have that choice.
The best way to stimulate your muscles is to use them. Regularly and often.
Mix-n-match for the best feel.
Don’t get stuck thinking you have to do push-up, jumping jacks, and spider crawls like the meathead trainers tell you.
Here’s a recent blog post that might give you better insight.
Check it out HERE!
Help yourself out today and get moving!
See you next week for Part 3.
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