If you struggle with low muscle tone, or your growing child seems to have poor muscle tone despite being active and eating right, then it is time to look into sports as an activity that you and your family can enjoy to build not only endurance but also great muscle tone and strength.
Why Muscles Are So Important
Good muscle tone in adults, and especially in children, helps to prevent injuries and keep the body working efficiently. When your muscles are conditioned, they are able to hold your bones in place, creating a stable structure that allows you to do everything from lifting up your baby and carrying her around, to picking up heavy objects while cleaning the house. In developing children, good muscle tone in the hips and back can help prevent or repair spinal problems like scoliosis and other structural issues. Therefore, getting into a fun routine with your family that you all can use to build up your muscles is the perfect way to stay healthy, maintain proper bone health, and do everyday tasks with greater ease.
Sports to Consider for Increasing Muscles
- Yoga
Believe it or not, you can increase muscle tone through activities like yoga. Though yoga does not use any heavy weights, it does use isometric contractions of the muscles to maintain proper poses. When you are in a yoga posture, it is important to breathe properly as well, thereby helping with endurance, and yoga also has the added benefit of elongating muscles by increasing flexibility. When muscles are flexible, the body becomes more resistant to injuries, including joint problems. Practice a gentle form of yoga if you are a beginner and then work your way up to tougher, more advanced postures. Hold those postures strong and you will create better balance and stability throughout your entire body, as well as a great mind-body connection with the breath.
- Swimming
Swimming is a perfect activity for building muscle tone in people of all ages, from children to the elderly. Because you become weightless in the water, there is less strain on the muscles, but because of the resistance that the water creates, you can also use it to your advantage to build strength. Many people who undergo physical therapy to overcome tough injuries use the pool to build strength and endurance once again, but even if you are healthy, you can use swimming as a fun activity that will make your whole body healthier, from the arms and legs you use to propel yourself through the water to the lung capacity that will increase as you learn to breathe properly to remain submerged longer or to get yourself to the other side of the pool more quickly.
- Skating
Skating is great for children who need to work on their balance and build muscle. Because they are standing on wheels or on ice skates, they need to really use their core muscles to balance, and they need to push off properly, using their leg muscles to get them to where they want to go without falling.
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