These easy workout tips will help you to get moving, right at home.

We know that being sedentary isn’t good for our health: bones become more brittle, muscles shrink, the blood isn’t pumping throughout our bodies the way it should be and we lose mobility, strength and have less energy.

Exercise helps three areas of personal fitness  . . .

Strength
Flexibility
Balance

. . . while also slowing the affects of aging!

How Staying Strong Slows Aging

As we age, we begin to lose bone density and muscle, circulation deteriorates, and our ability to balance ourselves can get thrown off. Muscle loss—a normal part of aging also known as sarcopenia—is the worst culprit as it affects all of these areas significantly.

Keeping muscles strong can slow, and even reverse, signs of sarcopenia. Exercise is the number one way to increase muscle strength, however, you can help slow muscle loss by ensuring that you match a healthy diet with a supplement that provides you with all the essential amino acids your muscles need to rebuild  themselves.

Even without exercise, MyoHealth  will help bring your muscles back to a healthy state.

However, by adding even moderate exercise to your daily routine, you can benefit even more from the muscle improvements, deal with any loss of strength, flexibility and balance, as well as help your body to stave off chronic illnesses. 

Your At Home Strength Workout

A brisk walk through your neighbourhood will bump up your cardio and your endurance, add in a few repetitions with free weights in your living room, and some body weight exercises to workout all your muscle groups.  

Warm Up

The idea is to prevent injury by not launching directly into your workout from your usual spot on the sofa!

Warm up your muscles by:

• Walking up and down your stairs, or around the garden to get your heart pumping
• Sit down and get up a few times from a sofa or kitchen chair to loosen stiff legs
• Arm circles to get shoulders, joints and chest muscles working

Stretch

Some stretches that we recommend after you warm up a little:

• Stretch your neck by turning your head slowly to the right as far as you can, and holding the stretch for 15 seconds. By holding the stretch, you are also toning your muscles, which is an important effect of working out. Repeat the same on the left.

• Stretch your shoulders by holding your arms out in front of you, at shoulder height, and reach forward with your fingers until you feel the stretch. This is also a great stretch for the upper back area. Hold the position for 15 seconds, release and repeat. You can also stretch your shoulders by crossing your left arm in front of your chest, holding your left elbow with your right hand and pulling in gently. Hold the position for 15 seconds, release and switch sides.

• Stretch your lower legs and hamstrings by sitting in a chair, feet flat in front of you, and raising your toes as high as you can, keeping your heels on the floor. Repeat 10 times. Now do the opposite and left your heels off the floor, with your toes down, rolling through the balls of your feet. Spend a little time rotating your ankles too: 5 times to the left and 5 times to the right, to loosen up your calf muscles.

• Stretch your thigh muscles from a seated position by lifting each leg in turn so that the back of your thigh is off the chair by a couple of inches. Hold that position for a few seconds and put it back down. Repeat with the other leg. Also, sitting down and getting up from a seated position, several times, is an excellent way to stretch your thigh muscles.

Body Weight Exercises

Using your own body weight to create resistance, you can do a variety of exercises, right in the comfort of your own home. For those that are already working out, exercises like planks, push ups, sit ups, squats, and lunges won’t be new but for many, the idea of dropping to the floor and doing 20 push ups doesn’t sound realistic. Here are some effective alternatives:

Wall push ups— Stand two feet from a wall, with your feet positioned shoulder width apart. Lean forward and place your palms flat in front of you, at shoulder height so that your back is straight. Then lean in and push back. Repeat this 8-10 times. 

Chair dips— Sit in a chair that has armrests. Place your hands on the rests and lift your body weight out of the chair, hold for a second and then lower yourself back down. Repeat 8-10 times.

Shoulder Circles— Holding your arms straight out to each side at shoulder height, making your body into a ‘T’ position, do 10 tiny circles in a forward direction, then 10 tiny circles to the back. It’s important to keep your arms shoulder height the entire time.

Leg raises—Lie on your back in a relaxed position and left your feet off the floor, at a height of about 6 to 10 inches with the help of your abdominal muscles. You might want to do this with bent legs at first, to make it a little easier. Hold that position and release. Repeat this 8-10 times.

Free Weights

Small handheld weights or resistance bands are great tools to help you you to build some muscle strength. Cans of beans work well too! The focus here isn’t about the amount of weight or resistance, but that you are consistent with it.

• Bicep curls can help with arm strength. Hold the weights in each hand, with your arms straight out in front of you and your palms up. Then curl the weight in all the way to your bicep and curl it back out again. Repeat this 8-10 times.

• Leg raises. All you need to do is stand behind a chair, holding on to the back of it, and raise your leg behind you, hold the position, release and repeat. Do this 10 times with each leg. Over time, you’ll find this move gets easier, so when it does, add a resistance band to make it more challenging! 

Balance and Core 

Balance is easier to maintain if you stay in practice and have some good core strength, all of which you can accomplish with good muscle tone. Anyone who does yoga will confirm this! 

Practicing with shifting your weight—with or without the benefit of a chair back for balance help—is a great way to maintain balance.

• Stand with your feet shoulder width apart, and shift your weight to one foot while raising the other one a couple of inches off the ground. Hold that position for 15 seconds, lower your foot and shift the weight to the other side. Repeat this several times.

• You can gradually make this a little harder by standing behind a chair and while resting your hands lightly on the back, bend one leg up behind you, at a 90 degree angle. Hold it there for 15 seconds, lower your foot back to the floor, shift your weight and do the same with the other leg.

Don’t Forget Diet

All the exercise in the world won’t be as much help as making sure that you are eating the right diet for your overall health, and in particular, muscle health. That means plenty of vitamins and minerals, and complex proteins with all the essential amino acids that your muscles need to rebuild themselves and maintain that core strength that will help you keep strength, flexibility and balance.

Mixing MyoHealth  patented essential amino acids blend with a protein smoothie is a double hit of goodness for your body, that also get you other essential nutrients from the fruit and dairy. Start your day off right with healthy foods, slow age related muscle loss and get in an easy, fun workout out at home and you’re well on your way to maintaining your health, increasing your energy and living your best life!

Aging = Muscle Loss = Disease  Are You At Risk: Learn More