I Want Muscles

When I first started exercising again (after quitting drinking), I had one goal: Get the flab out from under my arms. I didn’t want fat, old lady arms. What I really wanted, I know now, was to build muscles and new cell growth. This is how exercising in the water can help.

 

Building Muscles through Exercise

Tiny Rips

When you do strenuous exercise (think resistance, e.g. bicep curls in the water), it creates tiny tears in the muscle fibers. That sounds bad but is actually very good. It’s like pruning a tree so it can grow back healthier and stronger.

 

Repairs

Then your body, that master machine, jumps in with super workers which are baby (satellite) cells to repair those fibers and add new cells. Cool, huh?

 

This process makes your muscles bigger and stronger over time, strengthening and toughening them.

 

Infuse the Energy

Exercise also encourages your cells to create tiny little energy plants, called mitochondria, which add energy so your muscles can work harder for longer periods.

 

 

So what have we got so far? We have tiny rips in the muscles being constantly repaired, and baby power plants creating energy for the muscles to use. God is a genius.

 

What else would your muscles need?

Oxygen and nutrients. Fortunately, once again exercise provides an answer: improved blood flow.

When you exercise, your heart pumps more blood, which means your muscles get more oxygen and nutrients. This improved blood flow helps in building and maintaining muscle tissue by providing these essential elements your muscles need. It’s like the sun shining down on a flower, providing for its basic needs.

Over time, your repair facility (satellite cells), your energy plants (mitochondria), and your oxygen and nutrients are making your muscles bigger and stronger. 

 

 

Can you believe all this is going on while you exercise? It’s actually going on BECAUSE you’re exercising. Over time, as you keep exercising, your muscles grow bigger and stronger because they’re constantly being repaired and improved.

Now I hear some (mostly women) saying, “I don’t want big muscles.” Well, most of us do not want to look like we could play for the Miami Dolphins. But it’s not a bad thing to want to look like the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, is it?

 

It takes muscle to firm that hanging flab under your arms, your bat wings. You don’t want those.

It takes muscle to slim down your waist. You do want that.

It takes muscles in your legs to look good and have the strength to walk around or run around from place to place. 

It takes a lot of muscles working together to lean over, pick things and little ones up, and carry what you need with you. It’s all good.

 

And muscles can replace a big belly. A large stomach is a leading warning sign of heart problems – lose it! Replace it with a smoother, flatter stomach.

 

To feel good and look good, build muscles.

 

I mentioned resistance exercise, like the bicep curls. To execute in the water: Stand in chest-high water, extend your buoys (water dumbbells) in front of you, under the surface of the water with palms facing up. Bend your elbow slightly and bring the buoys down along your side, go behind you and back up again in front of you – never breaking the water’s plane. Repeat.

With your buoys facing each other, palms facing each other under the water, move your buoys straight back behind you, along your side, and then to the front. This exercises your triceps (bat wings). Repeat.

 

One more: Hold your buoys down under the water at about shoulder width, palms facing inward. Bring the buoys to the center then stretch out to shoulder width again. Hold your stomach in. Repeat. This looks like a Hulk or he-man pose.

 

For more resistance exercises, consult with a qualified instructor, check out articles here and check out videos online showing the proper form.

 

For our basic purposes remember that exercises performed with buoys out of the water are endurance exercises. Exercises performed with buoys in the water are resistance exercises. Resistance builds muscle.

 

Go forth and build yourself some muscle.

 

And I’ll see ya’ in the water!

 

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