This post (as many others) is mostly geared to the ladies. Sorry fellas.
If you're like me and you find yourself somewhere in your 20's please pay close attention!
During a recent doctors appointment I was asked about my health and fitness. I told her that I recently started to lift weights in addition to my long term relationship I have with cardio. She was so happy to hear that I was lifting. My doctor told me that this time (20-30yrs) is the KEY time to build muscle memory. I had no idea that I was building muscle memory. Not to mention that I didn't exactly know what that meant, aside from what I could guess about what the two words meant when put together.
Here's a snippet from an article from Woman's Health Magazine about muscle memory that I found online. "It's a phenomenon aptly called muscle memory. Simply put, when you teach your body how to do something—ride a bike, surf, strike some yoga poses, run a few miles—it creates a physiological blueprint. So even if you take some time off, you'll get back to where you were faster than it took you to learn the exercise in the first place. "Muscle memory stems from your body's learning not just how to perform a task, but also how to break down muscle tissue and then repair and rebuild it," explains William Kraemer, Ph.D., a professor in the department of kinesiology at the University of Connecticut at Storrs. "That physiological knowledge lets you come back from injury, surgery, and even pregnancy faster, easier, and often better than before," he says." (Selene Yeager, http://www.womenshealthmag.com/fitness/fit-for-life)
What a pleasant discovery! We can be proactive about the aging process and our bodies and use them at their fullest potential! Weight training has so many benefits. Picking up those weights now will build muscles that will help you burn more calories just by being alive (true story) and will help you maintain a fit shape even as our bodies try to fail us (slower metabolism... grrr). The list just keeps getting longer!
If you don't know where to start go to Google, bodybuilding.com, or look into purchasing fitness DVD's that teach beginners how to get started (P90X, Jillian Michaels 30 day shred, etc). Beachbody.com has some great DVD options. Check these out. You are already at the computer. Hehe Search now! And then go lift weights ;)
