Of course - I do appreciate the amount of work that Body builder's put into their strong physique, but girls; do not fear...it takes a lot of work for females to have such obvious muscle definition.
We all know about the predominantly male hormone; Testosterone. It's the hormone responsible for muscle building, a deepening voice in males, extra hair growth, sometimes aggression, the production of sperm cells and of course growth and muscle development.
Women only produce testosterone in small amounts so it is actually quite difficult (and takes some heavy lifting, and often unnatural growth hormone assistance!) to develop large muscles.
According to this Personal trainer friend of mine, most women want to achieve a toned body, lose weight and feel an increased sense of 'fitness'.
Adding weight training into your fitness program will:
- Speed up your 'toned physique' (think tight booty, no more 'tuck shop lady arms' and firm abs!),
- Speed up your metabolism (increased muscle mass needs more energy than fat),
- Assist in bone strengthening (particularly important for women as we get older to prevent osteoporosis),
- Increase our strength (imagine how much easier carrying shopping bags, lifting up our kids and many day to day tasks will be ....you won't need a man around the house!!!!)
- Reduce our risk of injury and improve posture (as many stabilizing muscles are strengthened),
- A Harvard study found that women who were depressed often increased their confidence, and therefore improved their depression by including weights 2-3 times a week into their program.
Ok - sounds good, but how do I start a weight training program?
- If you go to a gym, ask an instructor for some advice and to write up a short program for you, or grab a friend by the arm and pull her along to a 'Body Pump' group fitness session (weights to music!),
- Flick through any of the women's health and fitness magazines at your local newsagency (many are available online) for some ideas of exercises you can do at home or in the park while your kids are playing on the playground,
- Grab some soup cans, or fill up water bottles with sand or water to use as weight while you get started (you can walk while you carry them, follow a few magazine exercise tips and 'train' while you watch TV!),
- There are lots of exercise DVDs available to complete in the comfort of your own home (some may need some light dumbbells or 'soup cans'!),
Try to include some weight (or body weight) training 2 - 3 times a week (you only need 10-20mins...it's express, low sweat training- woohoo!!).
Have a go and get back to me about how you're feeling in a few weeks......I know you'll love it!!!
A couple of links for example workouts to get you started :-)
http://www.womenshealthandfitness.com.au/fitness/workouts
http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/tipsandtricks/a/basictraining.htm
No comments:
Post a Comment