Hello Everyone, we are now on week 8 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 Standing Heel Raises

  1. With your feet about hip width apart, stand on a stair
  2. Move your feet to the edge of the stair so that everything from the balls of your feet up to your toes is supported but your heels are unsupported
  3. Hold on to the rail or something to keep your balance, but do not use the rail to do the work for you
  4. Slowly push up on your toes, and pause at the top and contract your calf muscles
  5. Slowly lower your heels down until your feel a comfortable stretch in the back of your calves and ankles
  6. Repeat all steps

The calf 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 the Double Leg Stretch!

- Jocelyn -