Move that Muscle

Ruminate these words from Bob Greene's Total Body Makeover: "Muscle is the most calorie-hungry tissue in the body; maintaining it uses about four times the amount of calories that maintaining fat does...Strength training can do wonders to reverse muscle loss...Some research suggests that you can reverse two decades of muscle loss in just eight weeks if you stength train conscientiously."

And if that weren't enough, listen to this: "Strength training with weights also builds bone, lowering your risk of osteoporosis, and increases the body's ability to use insulin to clear sugar from the blood, reducing the risk of diabetes."

OK, but what if all that weight training makes me sore, I wondered? (Don't worry. If you do it right, you'll be a little sore.)
Remedy? Get a massage!

Research indicates that massage can have a positive effect on your muscle-building capabilities and fitness levels, which in turn increases your capacity to control or lose weight. Other research shows massage bursts the fat capsule in subcutaneous tissue so that the fat exudes and becomes absorbed. In this way, combined with proper nutrition and exercise, massage may actually help in weight loss. (Read more...)

Soooo, I've got my first follow-up appointment with a trainer this morning. Later this afternoon, my brother and niece arrive for a long weekend. Guess what we're doing tomorrow?
Thermal baths and massages!