Muscle-toning exercises won’t turn you into a mean looking body builder. Instead they will ensure that your muscles stay in good shape and can work more efficiently so that you can do everyday tasks for longer.

To avoid developing imbalanced muscles, you need to do a range of muscle-toning exercises. These can be included with the aerobic and other exercise as a part of a general fitness routine. If you are a bit new to exercising, do a few of each muscle toning exercise and slowly build up the number. Always do a warm-up routine before you start and a cool-down at the end to reduce the risk of injury and post exercise aches and pains. To refresh your muscles, march on the spot between exercises to help prevent a build-up of lactic acid.

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Do you really have to pick up huge and heavy weights in order to build your strength? I guess not. Have a look at these alternatives.

1) Dumbbells: Dumbbells are simple to use, safe and very effective. They can be used to provide extra resistance when doing standard exercises, or in exercises designed specifically for dumbbells. Dumbbells can be used singly or in pairs. They may be obtained as fixed sizes, available in a range of weights, or adjustable types to which extra weights can be added.

2) Barbell: A barbells consists of a bar to which weights are attached at the either ends. Barbells are very effective because they strengthen the support muscles, which help maintain posture and stability, as well as the main muscle groups. However their use requires a good instructions and proper training from an experienced fitness instructor.

3) Elastic Training Band: You can use elastic training bands in many different ways. For example, while sitting on a chair, loop a band around one of your foot and hold the two ends by your hip. Straightening that leg against the resistance of the band strengthens the muscles in front of your thigh. Similarly for the upper body, take the band in your hands, either in front of your chest or behind your back, and stretch it to strengthen arms and shoulders.

4)Ankle and Wrist Weights: These weights can be tied on your ankles or wrists. Ankle and Wrist weights will increase the amount of resistance involved when doing standard strength exercises such as push ups and heel raising exercises.

5) Gymnasium Machines: Resistance machines are easy to use and a bit simple to adjust especially when you want to increase the effort involved. Most of the machines target individual muscles or perhaps a group of muscles, so you have to take care not to overwork these areas of the body or you can end up getting imbalanced muscles. There are multi-purpose gyms available though. They include a range of different machines that can be worked through systematically. These useful devices are designed to improve all-round muscle strength and endurance.

You do not have to join a gym or go to the pool regularly to develop and maintain good muscle tone. Effective training can be done in the comfort of your own home using your body weight as resistance, particularly in exercise such as push-ups and abdominal curls. Other method includes the use of some elastic exercise bands or weights for hands, wrists and ankle, which all are easily available in the market.

Apart from deliberate, specific exercises, the best way to ensure your muscles remain strong and with good endurance capacity is to use them on a regular basis. Performing tasks all by you, rather than the labor saving gadgets, or other people, is the best guarantee of muscle tone.

Try new activities, such as ice skating or ballroom dancing, so as to exercise more muscles. Every single time you use a muscle in a different way, you help your body remain healthy and strong.

Ideally, activities to improve strength and endurance should increase the muscles normal workload moderately. First increase the number of repetitions you do, and then up the weight; raise both steadily rather than attempt big increase too soon.

Also Take Care that when doing resistance exercises, don’t hold your breath or keep still for more than few seconds. That will only raise your blood pressure and we don’t want that. Instead, steadily breathe out when exerting maximum effort and breathe in as you relax the effort. It is advised that if you have a high blood pressure, it is necessary to consult a doctor before you start resistance exercises. Take Care