Exercise is essential to muscle health

Achieving a healthy state in your body requires more than massage; it also requires regular exercise good nutrition and a healthy lifestyle.  Your massage therapist can relieve muscle tension and trigger points, but if you do not stay fit your muscle disorder is much more likely to return. 

Definition of being physically fit
One definition of physical fitness is as follows: “Being physically fit is having the energy to perform your daily duties alertly and with vigor, while also maintaining adequate energy for leisure activities.”  Over a series of articles this simple statement will be dissected and additional components will be filled in to provide readers with an understanding of what their goal really is when they say they want to be physically fit.

Definition Component #1 – “having the energy”
First, being physically fit is “having the energy…” Energy is the capacity to do work.  You must first have a reserve of energy before you can do any work.  An airplane receives its energy from its stores of gasoline while our body receives it energy from our stores of glucose (sugar) and fats which are produced by the foods we eat. 

In order to use the energy, however, we must have an efficient system of converting the energy to work.  The potential energy in a tank of gasoline may be very significant, however, if the engine has mechanical problems we may not even be able to get started in the morning, let alone make it through the entire day with vigor and alertness.  Additionally, if an airplane has more potential energy then it has the capacity of using, the energy is just extra weight and is not useful.  Similarly, an obese person has an enormous amount of potential energy in his body.  Each pound of fat can produce about 3,500 calories of energy, however, carrying all of that extra energy is inefficient and actually detrimental.  Unlike a polar bear that has to accumulate vast quantities of stored fat so he can live off it during hibernation, it is not healthy for humans to have significant fat stores.

Therefore, one of the first goals of getting fit is to eliminate the excess fat.  By converting fat to muscle we take extra and unproductive weight fat mass and convert to a useful muscle mass.  Unlike fat, muscle has the useful ability to use energy so it can sustain itself and can help carry an extra load such as the load you put on it each day while working and playing.  Carrying an extra 20 pounds of fat is like carrying 20 pounds of groceries on your back.  It is a reserve of energy that is unnecessary and unproductive.

Hawaiian Experience Spa is more than a fluff and buff day spa.  We provide a complete range of services from exotic and relaxing spa treatments to serious medical level massage.  The spa is great for special occasions, regular “every month” massages, and injury and pain treatment.

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Build muscle tissue and burn more calories even when you are not exercising. It is absolutely true that muscle tissue burns more calories than fat, even when you are not active. That means if you can increase the amount of muscle tissue in your body, compared to the amount of fat tissue, you will burn more calories every minute of the day just to maintain your body’s systems.

How do I do this? Add weight lifting to your exercise routine in the right proportions and you will build muscle tissue and lose fat tissue without building huge muscles. Simply starting a weight lifting routine where you do 20 repetition of each exercise at the heaviest weight you can properly handle and still do 20 repetitions. Then work out those muscles twice a week until you can do 25 repetitions. Once you can do 25 reps, increase the weight so you can only do 20 reps again. This routine will build muscle tone (not bulk) and will help you lose weight along with a proper diet.

Always consult a doctor before starting an exercise routine and seek professional training on how to properly perform weight lifting exercises.