CHAIR DIP Sit on
the edge of a sturdy
chair with your
hands grasping the
chair seat on either
side of your hips.
Bend legs 90
degrees with your
feet flat on the
floor. Slide your
butt off the chair
seat and walk feet
forward slightly,
maintainingthe 90-
degree angle with
your legs. Keeping
shoulders down,
bend elbows so
thatyou lower hips
toward the floor
until your upper
arms are nearly
parallel to the floor.
Press back to the
starting position.
CALF RAISE Stand
on one foot, hands
on hips, or with a
hand lightly resting
on a wall or chair
back for balance.
Rise up on the ball
of one foot as high
as possible. Hold,
and slowly return to
start. Repeat for a
full rep, then switch
legs. If this is too
hard at first with
one foot, start with
both, as shown.
SPIDER Kneel on
all fours, back
straight, hands
beneath shoulders
and knees directly
beneath hips.
Simultaneously
raise your left arm
straight out to the
side while lifting
your bent right leg
out to its side.
Return to start.
Repeat on other
side for one rep.
better
HEALTH
The Strength
to Lose
Push your weight around (and down)
w ith the right kind of strength training.
by SELENE YEAGER photos MARTY BALDWIN
IF YO U’RE LIKE M O ST W O M EN ,
you w ant to lose weight, you put down your fork and
pick up your w alking shoes. But there’s something
more you should do: strength training. It adds
much-needed muscle tissue, burns calories, and may
even help throw the brakes on blood sugar spikes that
can lead to binge eating.
“Unless you do something to stop it, your body loses
about a half pound o f muscle each year after age 25,”
says Tina Schmidt-McNulty, clinical exercise
specialist at Purdue U niversity Calumet Fitness
Center in Indiana. “Since muscle is your biggest
calorie burner, it’s like taking your foot o ff the gas
pedal of your metabolism.” That metabolic slowdown
can lead to a creeping weight gain o f 1 to 2 pounds per
year, or 45 pounds o f fat between the ages o f 20 and 50
for the average American woman.
Trainer Cindy Boggs, director o f West Virginia’s
Active America and author o f
You Can Fin d Health in
Your Hectic World,
says: “Many women wonder w hy
cellulite seems to appear ‘out of nowhere’ as they get
older. It ’s because they’re losing toned, smooth
muscle mass and replacing it w ith bumpy fat.” By
building lean tissue through strength training, you
reclaim both your girlish figure and your youthful
energy, Boggs says.
Don’t w orry that you’ll get gigantic muscles or
think that you have to join a gym— nothing could be
further from the truth. The follow ing routine w ill get
you nicely toned right at home.
Seepage
234 for
instructions on repetitions and frequency of workouts.
LOSE W EIGHT, GAIN HEALTH coming up next month:
A GREAT START One useful ally in losing or maintaining
weight isn’t an exercise routine or eating plan or gizmo or
gadget— it’s a time of day. Learn how to use the morning
hours to keep your waistline where you want it.
232 JUNE 2009 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS
