Mom's Fitness Tips for Women

Very frequently I hear women at the gym state that they are not trying to build muscle, but that they are just trying to “get toned.” Then I watch as they proceed to pick up two pencils and work their biceps like crazy.

I’m actually joking about the two pencils, but what I’m trying to convey is that most women work out with very light weights. By very light I mean weights that are under 10 pounds. I frequently see women working out with only 2 pound dumbbells.

So What Is Wrong With Using Light Weights To Enhance Muscle Tone?

First of all, let me state that working out, even with very light weights, will provide some health benefits, will improve your appearance, and your muscle tone to some degree. However, if you really want to tone up your muscles you should use heavier weights. If you are just beginning to workout then you should use light weights and then slowly progress to using heavier weights to avoid injuries. Keep in mind that toning up your muscles involves building muscle.

The reason you should eventually progress to using heavier weights is because to really tone up your muscles they need to be worked hard. If you pick up two 5 pound weights and work out with these without ever increasing the amount of weight you are using, within a very short time you will cease to continue to see improvements in your muscles. By gradually increasing the amount of weight you use you will gain more muscle, which will enhance what most women think of as muscle tone, and you’ll get stronger. Maybe even strong enough to finally open that jar of pickles all by yourself.

In addition, having more muscle will help you to burn more calories even when you are not exercising and so you will be able to eat more food without gaining fat. Also, keep in mind that muscle weighs more than fat and so you may actually weigh more, but you will look better than before and your clothes will fit better.

Why Most Women Are Reluctant To Work Out With Heavy Weights:

The reason that most women are reluctant to use heavy weights when working out is because they are afraid that they will gain huge amounts of muscle and will no longer look feminine.

Now, I happen to think that women with a lot of muscles look very attractive, however, if the fear

of gaining too much muscle is stopping you from using heavy weights then don’t let this stop you.

Most women are not going to build more muscle than they want from lifting weights. They will build some muscle and be stronger than they were before, but it is very difficult for women to build huge, bulky, muscles. In fact, most men find this difficult. The bodybuilding supplement industry makes millions of dollars each year because building a lot of muscle is so difficult.

Although it is possible for women to build big muscles, it is very difficult and you would

need to work out with VERY HEAVY WEIGHTS on a regular basis. I add this because I certainly don’t want to perpetuate the myth that it absolutely isn’t possible for women to build large amounts of muscle. The reason that most bodybuilding information for women states that it isn’t possible is so that women who are afraid of building too much muscle by working out with weights will finally pick some up and work out. It is possible to build big muscles if you are a woman, however, in order to attain them it would be your goal to do so. It won’t just happen by accident, you would purposely build them.

There are also health benefits to being stronger and having more muscle:

1. Increased metabolic rate – I’ve already mentioned this, but you are much less likely to be fat if you have a lot of muscle.

2. Decreased risk of osteoporosis – This is because your bones need to be strong enough to support the increased amount of muscle. Bone tissue is dynamic and your bones will respond to the increased demand placed on them by becoming stronger.

3. Being physically weak isn’t safe – The stronger you are the more likely that you will be able to defend yourself if you ever need to. Plus you will find certain tasks easier, such as carrying in the groceries.

If you don’t believe me, then try gradually increasing the amount of weight you use when you work out and you will see big improvements in your muscle tone and overall appearance, but you will not see the development of huge bulky muscles.

For more information on fitness and health topics please see Official Fitness and Health.com.

You want the body of a goddess so you have to get fit. It’s easy to say but it you are like most other women there are some hard yards ahead to achieve a goal like that one mentioned above. Don’t be disheartened yet. Give it a go!

Here are great tips that will help you to achieve the fitness level that you desire:

1. Plan a program: You may need to get help from a fitness trainer or personal trainer to at least start. Get a program that best suits you. Every woman is different. You may have had surgical history where a particular exercise may not be suited for you.

2. Set realistic targets. Be real and understand how far you can go. Give yourself adequate time and your frustration levels will not increase straight away. Make sure that the body you prefer in a period of time is achievable and realistic. Also, make time for yourself and the program that you choose.

3. Exercise all your muscle groups (even the fantastic ones!): Exercises should work on the parts of your body where muscles are. The reason mainly is, when you develop muscles, you burn more calories and then you lessen the fats in your body. Multi-joint exercises and weight lifting are recommended. Learn what exercises work on certain parts of your body. Multi-joint exercises are also said to be effective but time saving.

4. Exercise regularly: Be systematic on working on your muscles. Your muscles should be working harder over time. Repeating the same sets of exercises and same weight without getting your muscles to work harder will not give satisfactory results. You can record your daily results and make the progression based on your previous data. A daily log will also motivate you since you are able to track how far you have gone. It builds confidence since there is a written proof something that was successfully accomplished. Then you can boast about it and tell your friends how easy it really was!

5. Repeat exercises: Perform a set of exercises in 10 repetitions. Every number that was accomplished is called a repetition. Try to make every repetition with less momentum as much as possible. The lesser the momentum, the harder your muscles work. And the harder they work, the bigger they become.

6. Maintain Flexibility: Be flexible and perform a variety of stretches and exercises. Every exercise program should have a variety. Ask your fitness trainer to change your exercises, goals and sets every month to keep you motivated and on the go. Doing this will help you prevent being bored and losing energy physically and mentally.

7. Be Motivated! The best way to keep the energy levels of trainees is to allow a healthy competition and allow them to have a sense of control. Having control is having the sense ownership where everybody gets a part in implementing a program.

You can achieve almost any goal if you give it your all, but it is better to be realistic with fitness goals because it can be hard work. But do it because you will feel better and you will improve your stamina for all the things that you do in your life!

For more information go to http://sites.google.com/site/healthcreatorsclub/

Most of the people know that the experts had already made many extremely compelling arguments regarding the benefits of the weight training for the women. Despite of this, not most of the women take such advices seriously. I have visited quite the number of fitness centers and gyms & I had seen very similar, the identical pictures everywhere I went through. This forced me in giving out these short but stronger arguments the people can really use in the improvement at much faster rate. These curves for the women fitness centers are proved with the practice as well as the theory by the science on the fitness / the women body shape.

Most of the women are now spending their most of the time in doing the cardio exercises by machines, & less time doing the exercises related to the weight lifting. Cardiovascular exercises had its benefit and place but do please just take the few minutes to read this article IF you are the women who is longing for the greater looks, healthy and sexy body as you can be benefited to a greater extent. No “the energies fitness for the women” or the other wain phrase can help you in getting faster & better results without being motivated & guided properly.

The very first thing that you must understand is that the proper weight lifting exercises having a few times greater effectiveness to challenge & shape your whole body. In the following article I will try my best in giving you some of the reasons that will make you think & can help you to decide that what is the best exercise for you to keep your body fit?

You have the options & you are indebted to yourself for exploring them. There are the specific women fitness centers available now, in the past ten years it was not like this, so use the same for your benefits as far as possible!

1) You will Burn Fat and Shape Up.

There are the dozens of the scientific studies regarding how the women’s body responds on the resistance training. Less or more they show that the average woman who is lifting the weights in 2-3 times the week can gain around 2-2.5 pounds of the muscle and can lose about 3.5-4.5 pounds of the fat in the average of the two months time period. As the lean muscle tissues increases therefore do your metabolism rates too! Results are that your body will uses more calories in 24h a day. Keep in the mind that for the each pound of the muscle you gain, you are burning about 40 to 50 more the calories.

2) Decreases the Osteoporosis Risks.

The results of the scientific medical researches are showing that the weight training increases the spinal bone density by the percentage of 14.5% in a half year period of time. If you are added to these adequate amounts of the dietary calcium, that can be yours best protection against the osteoporosis.

Women are more prone to obesity. They have to exercise every day for as little as 10-30 minutes. This will enhance their quality of life.
Importance of exercise to women at different stages of life:
A woman, whatever her age, has to have some sort of physical activity to keep herself physically fit. The benefits derived from physical activity are enormous. This little extra activity adds to the quality of life a women can have. Now we shall examine the need for exercise at different stages of a women’s life.
Early days
Before the advent of computers and televisions, children were not required to exercise. But once the computers became popular, studies conducted has found that a little exercise for children is also a must. A child sticks to her computer or television which takes away from her the option of playing on the ground. This lack of exercise will lead to unhealthy adults’ generation. The present age killer is the cardio vascular diseases. This disease can attack men and women alike and it is due to the lack of exercise. So the prime time for developing healthy lifestyle and good habits is in childhood and adolescence.
Middle age:
When a woman is in her middle age, the most common complaint she has is that of weight gain. The weight gain is slow but persistent. The major belief for this weight gain is due to hormonal changes. Yet some others link this weight gain to reduced amount of lean muscle tissue. This decreased amount of lean muscle tissue results in a slower metabolic rate. Research has shown that women, who have adopted some extra physical activity, have more lean muscle tissues even in their middle age. This helps them to an increased rate of metabolic activity and the rate of weight gain is less.
It has also been found out that many other common complaints of women can be avoided or even controlled by exercising. Exercise not only improves sleep but also helps in improved energy levels during the day. Exercise also controls diseases like blood pressure, arthritis, high levels of cholesterol etc. One of the crucial reasons for women to at least start exercise in her middle age is to keep off from osteoporosis. A woman’ s density of the bone starts declining from her middle age and bone loss speeds up after her menopause. Thus to avoid this women can adapt herself to walking, jogging or strength training to reap the benefits of healthy life.
Elderly
Elderly women can also live a good and healthy life style if she takes up to lighter exercise. Research has found that even those who are in their 90′s can also be physically fit. The best of exercise is that it is never too late to start. So starting to exercise at a later stage of life can also keep a women fit and lead a quality life. So women of today what are you waiting for? Start today right now and discover the secret to a healthy life.

So you decided to start incorporating weight training into your exercise regimen to firm up those muscles and rebuild your physique, but where do you start? Simply going into the weight room and throwing some dumbbells around will give you less than stellar results. Here is how to build a beginning weight lifting program.

Begin with an all-body routine. This will introduce your muscles to the stimuli of weights and build up your neuron activity. Choose one to two exercises per body part and do 3-4 sets of 10-12 reps. Do this workout 3 times a week, with at least one day of rest between workouts. Here is an example:

Chest – Bench Press

Shoulders – Shoulder Press, Lateral Raises

Biceps – Curls

Triceps – Pressdowns

Back – Lat Pulldowns, Bent Over Rows

Legs – Squats, Lunges

Hamstrings – Curls

Calves – Calf Raises

Abs – Crunches, Reverse Crunches

Do this routine for 4-6 weeks, you should notice yourself getting progressively stronger. At the end of the six weeks, graduate to an upper/lower body split routine.

An upper/lower body split means you work your upper body one day, then lower body the next. You can also perform more exercises per body part in the same amount of time. Do each upper body and lower body workout twice a week. Here is an example:

Upper Body

Chest – Bench Press, Cable Flye

Shoulders – Shoulder Press, Lateral Raises

Back – Lat Pulldowns, Seated Cable Row

Triceps – Skullcrushers, Pressdowns

Biceps – Curls, Concentration Curls

Lower Body

Quads – Squats, Lunges, Leg Extension

Hamstrings – Curls, Romanian Deadlift

Calves – Calf Raise, Seated Calf Raise

Abs – Crunches, Reverse Crunches, Oblique Crunches

So for example, you can do upper body on Monday and Thursday and lower body on Tuesday and Friday.

Now you have built up some muscle mass from the beginner workouts and are ready to graduate to a split routine. Split routine means you work each body part once or twice a week; this allows you to concentrate on each muscle group and really build the muscle. Allow 48 hours before working the same body part again so it can repair and rebuild itself. Here are a few split routine examples:

Day 1 – Chest, Shoulders, Triceps

Day 2 – Back, Biceps

Day 3 – Legs, Abs

Day 4 – Rest

Day 1 – Chest, Back

Day 2 – Shoulders

Day 3 – Arms, Abs

Day 4 – Legs

Day 5 – Rest

Day 1 – Quads, Hamstrings

Day 2 – Chest, Back, Calves

Day 3 – Shoulders, Arms, Abs

Day 4 – Rest

You can really mix it up any way you like; it is very versatile. Just remember to not work the same body part two days in a row.

For each body part, pick 2-4 exercises and complete 3-4 sets of each with at least one set completed to failure.

Do your compound exercises first when the muscle has the highest amount of strength and energy. For example, if you are working legs, do squats and lunges first, then follow up with leg extensions and calf raises.

If you are training shoulders, do shoulder presses and upright rows first, then follow up with lateral raises, front and rear raises.

You want to switch up your split routine every 6-8 weeks so your body doesn’t adapt to it and stop growing. This is called periodization. With seemingly endless combinations of split routines, you should have no problem incorporating new workouts.

Many women consider cardio to be their sole source of exercise, however they are missing out on the many benefits of resistance exercise.

Weight lifting improves metabolism in two ways. It incorporates more muscle fibers when performed, therefore you will notice a gentle boost in metabolism for up to 48 hours after a weight lifting workout. Cardio only boosts metabolism for 1-2 hours afterwards. Also, weight lifting builds muscle mass which requires more energy to maintain than body fat. The more muscle mass you have, the more calories you need to maintain it. Another addition is that when you do cardio exercise you will be burning more calories because of the additional muscle mass.

Weight lifting sculpts your physique and keeps your womanly shape. Ever see those women with tiny waists, rounded backsides and shapely legs? They didn’t build that doing endless amounts of cardio! If you want to sculpt the muscle, you need to stimulate it to grow with resistance training. No, you will not look like a man! Women do not have the proper amount of hormones to build a bulky physique. So don’t be afraid to pick up those heavy weights and give your muscles a challenge.

Weight-bearing exercise is proven to build bone density. Women who train with weights have lower incidences of osteoporosis as they get older and suffer from less fracture breaks. Combined with calcium and other minerals, weight lifting is a staple for building bones.

Weight lifting builds confidence and self-esteem. According to a recent study, women who weight train are more likely to be self-confident, assertive, goal-oriented, and have higher self-esteem. They are more likely to consider themselves successful and have more fulfilling relationships.

With so many benefits of weight lifting, what are you waiting for?