And what are YOU doing about your muscle?

Interesting quote from the book "Healing through exercise"

"A given muscle is ONLY AS STRONG as it NEEDS TO BE and is highly adapted to it's usual tasks....When a muscle exerts less than 20% of it's maximum strength, it SHRINKS."


Wow...a muscle is only ever as strong as it needs to be.....so in other words, obviously I'm not gonna have much muscle at all if all I do is sit at a computer all day...or simply fix dinner...or just lay around watching the tube....even the simple mundane things, just aren't enough are they?

AND...why do I need muscle?

"When joints hurt and the bones ache, most people would rather stay in bed. But this only leads to more trouble. Perhaps lying down might spare cartilidge, that smooth and elastic lining of the joints that makes sure your bones do not grind painfully on each other when used. Yet it is NOT ONLY cartilidge that helps your joints. The surrounding muscles also guard and protect joints because they cushion the jolts that damage a moving body. Thanks to muscle, cartilidge absorbs fewer shocks.

For this reason, physical INACTIVITY is like poison for the joints. The more muscles waste away, the more bumps and jolts directly affect cartilidge, gradually wearing it down. This way, bones start to ache, people become less active, muscles shrink more, and cartilidge gets battered even hard - not a happy trend. "

Hope we take this to heart and continue to lift weights and do activities that challenge us for the rest of our lives!! (Jack Lalanne style!!)