Your Muscles > For Stronger and Firmer Muscles
For Stronger and Firmer Muscles
Canada’s Physical Activity Guide recommends doing three types of physical activity: endurance, flexibility and strength. This Goal PLUS invites you to integrate exercises or activities into your lifestyle that strengthen the muscles of different parts of your body (arms, legs, abdominals and back), between two and four times a week.
To learn more about the other 2009 Goals PLUS, visit the Goals section.
More Tone
Having difficulty opening the jam jar you just bought? Moving a piece of furniture? Carrying your grocery bags over a large distance? Maybe your muscles lack tone. When not worked on, they tend to lose strength. And if you’re not active, your muscle mass progressively diminishes, starting at age 30. However, if you are active, you’re able to greatly reduce this aging effect. That’s why it’s important to be active every day and to tone your muscles!
Muscle strengthening is not for becoming Ms. Muscle or Mr. Universe! Exercises with weights help you to improve your strength and muscular endurance, which can prove to be very useful in your everyday activities. As well, strengthening your muscles helps to
- diminish back pain
- reduce the risk of osteoporosis
- prevent falls by improving your sense of balance, especially for elderly people
At Home
It’s possible to do muscle strengthening without going to a fitness centre or investing hundreds of dollars in transforming your basement into a state-of-the-art gym! You can easily put together your own home exercise program with simple equipment that won’t hurt your wallet.
For help with just that, you’ll find different exercise routines that allow you to work your abdominal, back, arm, leg and buttock muscles in the Challenge Tools section. Get inspiration for creating programs that you can regularly change. Getting bored is out of the question!
Equipment… Nothing Fancy
Even though many exercises don’t require equipment, it can be interesting to use some to enhance and vary your at-home sessions. You can find a large selection of home-use equipment that is compact, practical and inexpensive.
Weights
Accessible to all and very efficient, weights are a classic for developing your arms. One-, two-, three-, five- and twenty-pound weights, covered with rubber for a better grip, are a good starting set.
Exercise bands
It would be hard to find anything lighter and less cumbersome: you can take them anywhere, even in your suitcase when travelling! Exercise bands help you to increase the intensity of many different exercises. The important thing is to choose a band long enough to do large-scale movements. Better too long than too short! In the Challenge Tools section, you’ll find exercises that can be done with an exercise band.
Exercise ball
Made popular by the Pilates method, an exercise ball helps you work all the muscles of your body in a variety of positions. It also can be used as a chair: its instability helps to improve your posture and balance. Make sure to choose one in a size that fits your height, and to inflate it sufficiently.
Exercise mat
Always practical for improving your comfort while doing exercises on the floor!
More Muscle… for More Fun!
When you have strong muscles, sports and other physical activities are often more enjoyable. On top of reducing your risk of injury, having strong and firm muscles can improve your performance: you’re more solid on your skis, you have a better backhand in tennis, or a better swing in golf and… you have more fun!
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