Did You Know Muscle Mass Prevents Diabetes?

Well, now we have another reason to pick up the handweights--muscle mass helps prevent diabetes and the more you exercise those muscles, the better they get at processing blood sugar.

Doing arm weights and some squats is really good for you and even into old age, these simple weight-baring exercises reap some serious benefits.

So, why do I have a problem getting my toning regime in gear? Seriously, I do cardio really well, but the toning bit I always seem to do half-assed or I skip it. According to the Jillian Michaels book "Winning By Losing" one should warm up for five minutes doing cardio, then do the toning exercises and then do your cardio routine. Maybe that will help me. But here's part of my problem: getting an elliptical at the gym. I LOVE the elliptical and when I do go to the gym, getting one can be quite competitive. So giving it up after five minutes seems crazy-town. Especially at the beginning of the semester when everybody has new resolutions. Maybe walking to the gym from my office can be the warm-up, do the toning, then I'll try to get an elliptical machine. Regardless of how I accomplish this feat, I have to do toning because I'm a serious weakling. I hurt myself mowing the lawn a couple weeks ago because I didn't have the upper-body strength to push it at an angle up the hill. So regardless of appearance or looks or all that, I do need to work on my upper-body strength. I think that I am not particularly prone to gaining muscle easily and I need to work on it.

So, resolved for the 15th time: muscle good, me get muscles.