Hello Everyone, we are now on week 6 of our 10-week period to wake up the muscles…  The goal over this 10-week period is to weekly introduce a resistance training exercise you can easily do at home, in front of the TV, whenever you have a few minutes.  It’s an easy way to introduce exercise in to your daily routine.  This is how I started and now I can’t imagine not having the exercise in my life – I feel so much better after each workout!

What is resistance training?  Resistance training is a fantastic form of exercise. In resistance training, you work your muscles against a force in order to build strength. And you’ll get a lot more than increased strength from it. Other benefits include:

  • endurance
  • increased bone density
  • reduced body fat
  • weight loss
  • reduced rate of injury
  • improved balance and coordination

As mentioned in a previous article, you need to give the muscles a day of rest, so when working the SAME muscles, you should do every other day.  The in between days, I usually focus on cardio training as an example.

As with any exercise program, you should consult with your doctor on what’s best for you.

The goal is to add a new exercise each week to your program.  As this is resistance training, this just means that you move quickly from one exercise to the next, stopping only long enough to get setup for the next exercise.

Some tips:

  1. Your movements should be slow and controlled, and you should hold in each position for one-second, where the ‘lift’ to the hold positions takes two seconds.
  2. Try to increase your weights as you continue through your program.
  3. Many people make the mistake of holding their breath.  Your muscles need oxygen, remind yourself to breathe.
  4. As with any exercise program, warm up before, including stretching.

This week’s focus is Lunges

  1. With a dumbbell in each hand, stand with your arms at your sides
  2. Making sure your head is up and back in straight, step back with your left foot, a little wider than a normal step, while lowering your left kneed to the ground (your right knee should also bend as you dip down)
  3. Bring the left leg forward and repeat with the right leg
  4. Repeat all steps

The thigh and glute muscles are worked with this resistance training.

This is one easy way to introduce exercise in to your life, to help get us all moving…  I’ll introduce another one next week to combine with this.  Give it a try :)

Stay tuned for next week’s focus which will be Squats!

-Jocelyn