Strength Training is For Women - Ladies, Grab Those Weights

Strength training was once a practice reserved for male competitive athletes and bodybuilders. Fortunately, those outdated ideas are where they belong, in the past. Strength training has been proven to benefit all populations and it is absolutely essential if we wish to change the look of our bodies.
Women especially reap huge benefits both physically and mentally from weight bearing exercise. Strength training creates strong ligaments and tendons, which serve to support the joints and decrease the likelihood of injury from other activities. It is the best thing a woman can do to reduce her risk of osteoporosis because working with weights increases bone density. Strength training also increases your metabolism as well because by creating muscle tissue, you are creating tissue that is active and uses energy (calories) even when at rest. And maybe one of the sweetest surprise benefits of strength training for women is the confidence and sense of control it can give you, not to mention the ability to perform daily activities that require lifting with ease. (No more waiting for your husband to get home to open a jar!)
So how many of you women out there are afraid that if you lift weights you will get muscles that are too big? This is a common fear and nothing more than a myth. The vast majority of women cannot build large muscles because it is a genetic impossibility to do so. Women have high levels of the hormone estrogen and so the increase in muscle size that men (who have high levels of testosterone) have can never be the same for women.
When women strength train they will see a difference in muscle tone, strength and endurance and not necessarily in size. Do not be afraid of the weights, ladies, strength training is something wonderful that you can do for your body!
Another common myth is that you need to lose your fat before working on toning your muscle. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you are overweight and wanting to lose fat, you should be performing weight-bearing exercise along with cardiovascular exercise. By challenging your muscles with weights you are burning more calories than if you did cardio alone, you are building muscle tissue which in turn burns fat for fuel and you are less likely to have droopy skin from losing weight because you will have the toned muscle underneath.
A routine consisting of cardio activities such as walking, jogging, aerobic classes, etc. combined with lifting weights is without a doubt the most effective way to achieve your weight loss goals. We all know that women today are very busy. Have no fear because strength training need not be time consuming. A good weight-training workout can take as little as 20 minutes. Some things to consider; do not be afraid of challenging your muscles! You want to feel challenged when you are lifting weights. For example, if you are doing bicep curls and aiming for 12 repetitions, you should be feeling them by the tenth repetition and the twelfth should be very challenging. If you are not challenging your muscles than you are wasting your time and energy! Also, it is important to work all major muscle groups to keep your muscles in balance. In other words, you would not only want to do bicep curls, you want to also work your triceps so that the final result is the nice toned and proportionate look your going for.
For the safest, most effective program, seek the advice of fitness professional. You can also pick up a book or For the safest, most effective program, seek the advice of fitness professional. You can also pick up a book or video on the subject or join a gym. Get yourself familiar with strength training and get started! It is a decision you will not regret!
Barry Lovelace is an internationally recognized personal trainer and fitness professional. Visit his website for FREE health and fitness tips and a FREE Ebook titled 'How To Juggle Your Health and Fitness'.
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Aerobic Training

How to start your aerobic training program:
Consider first setting your goals for sometime in the future; make sure they are realistic. Start easy, be kind to yourself. Many of us start out joining a gym and telling ourselves that now we will train every day! Six out of ten people going to gyms drop out in the first month. That’s a staggering 60% of the people. The numbers are just as high for those that buy exercise equipment and don’t use it. So you need several ingredients, not necessarily in order of importance, but because you want to be successful in your training.
1. Desire or motivation that is from who you are, not to get something.
2. Energy: This means you need to start thinking about eating better. No matter
where you are with nutrition you can always improve (see nutrition for details). You
need nutrients as well. Vitamins, power foods, high technology nutrition is available;
you just need to make the effort. Without good fuel it’s hard to get the energy to
train.
3. Set your goals within yourself and make them realistic. Remember, there is no
cause and effect so you can’t cause health; you can only live it.
4. Make the time, create a loose schedule with alternatives, if need be.
5. Stick to it. Remember, consistency is more important than intensity.
6. Understand the basics of bio-mechanics, even for walking (posture, the
muscles, the stretching, the meditation and imagery) to get the most from your
efforts.
7. If you are in a family or a relationship, you need support and encouragement,
not grief for leaving them alone so often. Get them to start with you (that’s really
tough sometimes). It’s always easier if your partner is doing a similar program with
you.
8. If you smoke, start making an effort to cut down, if that’s really what you want
to do. If not, it will not make a huge difference so much as your attitude towards it
will. Use coltsfoot, an herb you can buy in health food stores and smoke it. It will
cleanse your lungs, and help you to get off tobacco. You will find the desire will
slowly fade away as you get healthier. We don’t need to harp about it. JUST DO IT!
QUIT.
9. If you eat more than a plate at a sitting, just start eating less, and limit snacks
to fruit.
10. Maybe it’s some of the food you eat. Cut down on fats, sugar, liquor, canned
food, and packaged food full of hidden fats and sugars. I’m sure you already know
the stuff that doesn’t really help your body.
11. Eat more of the good stuff: fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, whole foods, grains,
etc.
12. Drink more water, read more books, and have more fun in your life. Why not?
Of course there is more, but this would be a great start. Remember that when you
work holistically you have a better chance at success. You will be working on several
levels of health at the same time.
A few days you make it, then you miss one, and eventually another. I know, and I’m
a professional trainer, it happens to me. Life is always changing, that’s the beauty of
it. That does not mean we give up; just go with the flow. Set some realistic goals,
and know that you will miss some days. Make it up again, and don’t beat yourself
up about it.
The majority of people drop out of their health programs primarily because it is very
hard to get motivated. There are a few myths about motivation for working out --
that knowledge will do it, or maybe we feel guilty because we are overweight -- but
the key is if you don’t have the energy none of that will matter. It’s really about
metabolism. Once you get older if you don’t exercise, your own body will start to
think you don’t need the hormones and energy. Basically, it starts to shut down.
When you do exercise, it’s hard and your body feels like it’s really stressed. It’s not
very pleasant, in fact, it hurts many times when you start to train.
To really increase the energy level and have your body and brain work with you, you
need to take the nutrients to get your body working again. The food you eat needs
to be better quality with more servings of natural fruits and vegetables. If you are
eating junky food there is no way your body will be able to have more energy.
You need to consider antioxidants, vitamins, and some form of growth hormone like
DHEA or Deer antler extract which is natural (IGF1 which is a pre-curser to HGH).
Take care with Human Growth Hormon always consult your doctor. I personally
don't recomend HGH, because if you take it your body stops producing it, there are
alternatives. You can’t take very much of this as it turns to testosterone and so you
need to consult a doctor for medical advice. (see my web page for more information
about this along with other nutrients). Most doctors don’t recommend very high
doses of either of these nutrients, so get professional advice. A small amount can
do wonders for the human body. These nutrients increase metabolism, build
muscle, and help the body to become anabolic (for building and repair of tissue).
This is important: to not be catabolic (destructive down cycle) any longer. If you can
use these health products, they are the best.
The research necessary to take the vitamin and nutrient business to its highest level
is being done with these products. Your success in a fitness program is dependent
on your nutrition program.
The minimum goal for an aerobic activity is five times a week for over thirty minutes
each session, and even up to sixty minutes if you are only going to walk. Five times
a week, not three times as we have heard. That doesn’t mean it has to be all running
or all walking. You can play tennis, golf, and walk briskly, or take a nice walk with
the family. Families that train together, stay together. Play ball with the kids, for this
to be effective and considered an aerobic activity, you need to do it over a half hour
and get your heart rate up about 60 to 70% of your max. By then you start to burn
some fat. As you increase this ability to burn some fat your brain says “Hey! This
person is active. Let’s improve the metabolism.”
As you exercise you also decrease your appetite so you eat less. This is when your
body will start to create more hormones, endorphins, and pain-reducing substances
called antefolins, which will help you to feel better. Remember, you have to get over
the hump before you feel good from exercise. Then weight is not a big problem and
you will slowly and naturally level off to your natural weight. This all helps to reduce
your stress as well as helping you to feel more successful and some enhanced self-
esteem. Balancing your body this way also helps reduce the risk of heart disease as
well as diabetes. It helps you create more of HDL, which is the good cholesterol, and
reduces the LDL & VLDL, the bad cholesterol.
A moderate exercise program always helps you sleep better. It enhances the
digestion and the lymphatic systems (the cleanser of the body tissues). All this helps
your body to work at the ultimate level. Remember, this is going to take time. Diets
or any fast way will not last. We know now that when you diet or change anything
too drastically your body goes into shock. Then the next time you eat, it holds on to
it. You gain all the weight back, your body just needs to know you are not a couch
patato.
So it’s best to not focus on the weight. When your body is operating at its optimal
level, you will be at your correct weight eventually. It all depends on your body type,
anyway. You could still be heavy and be incredibly fit and healthy. Isn’t that the
purpose of all this?
A sample schedule for the beginner fitness enthusiast:
Note you can replace walk for run- if you have been a runner, if not don't start
running unless you are prepared to find all your sore, and injured places coming to
the surface.
Day One.
Take an easy twenty-minute walk at a nice brisk pace. (Walk ten minutes from your
starting point and turn around.) Find a nice place to walk, away from lots of cars. If
your neighborhood is good place well, great. If not, take the extra time to drive to a
park, beach, pasture or the country. No sense huffing and puffing more carbon
monoxide. (Living in Los Angeles is like smoking ten cigarettes every hour.
Cherniscki). You need to be able to keep up a conversation. If you are in oxygen
debt you won’t burn calories as well so take it easy at first. Upon returning, spend
about ten or fifteen minutes stretching.
Consistency is more important than intensity. If you don’t do it regularly the brain
thinks “well, this body doesn’t need much energy so we can store all these extra
calories in the thighs or butt.” But if you start with some regular activity, just
everyday stuff can contribute the message to the brain saying “hey we need more
energy.” The brain begins to think this body is active and needs to increase the
metabolism. Every two hours do something for at least ten minutes is another
technique. Then your brain will take you to a higher metabolic level. As you increase
your exercise program you will have more byproducts called free radicals. This is
more reason for us to work with nutrition as well, because you need to increase the
antioxidants to keep the body healthy from the free radicals.
Day Two
Just stretch for ten to fifteen minutes. If you are near water, maybe swim for ten to
fifteen minutes. Or do a more easy walk if you are sore.
Day Three
Walk briskly for twenty-five minutes. Stretch for fifteen, or if you have it down, it
could only take ten minutes to get a good stretch.
Day Four
Swim and stretch for at least twenty minutes and ten, respectively.
Day Five
You might miss one. . .Or walk maybe longer and easy or hard depending on how
you feel.
Day Six
Walk a good deal faster for thirty minutes. If you feel tight walking, stop after you
break into a light sweat and stretch for a few minutes. Regarding the legs and
gluteus muscles. Then continue, finishing up with a good ten minute stretch.
Day Seven
If you didn’t miss one day, take an easy walk, swim or stretch, maybe do something
with family or friends. If you got sore at all during the week, then rest and just
stretch or swim. Note: I like to add crunchies to all my workouts, strengthen the
abdominals is a good way to trim the belly.
Continue this program until you can walk thirty minutes without losing your breath
at all. This can take two weeks for most people and up to four weeks for others. If it
takes you longer, stay with twenty-five minutes for two months, and then move into
the next level. If within two weeks your body serves you well, you can proceed with
the next level.
We will have an easy day and then a hard day for the rest of the training. If you miss
an easy day, don’t worry about it.
Continue on the following day with a brisk walk for thirty minutes. Now we will start
to burn some fat. From now on, you workouts should last about forty-five minutes.
So give yourself an hour to work it into your daily routine, if you don't feel like
training don't know that you can do something easy.
As you get stronger, your easy days become more like your hard days when you first
started. Walking can increase to five times per week within the first few months,
depending on your body. You have to listen to it and pay attention. If you can get
the advice from a certified personal trainer, please do. It never hurts to have more
information. At this level it’s not as critical as it will be when we start the
strengthening program using weights, running or strengthening exercises.
Six to Eight Weeks
Most bodies will start to enjoy working out from here on out. After six or eight
weeks, start your strength-training program. Once again, listen to your body. If you
don’t feel quite ready at six weeks, take eight. What’s the rush? You have your whole
life ahead of you. At this point is when I recommend the use of a certified personal
trainer.
You can go in either of two directions with this addition to your program, with
various levels of intensity depending on your body and your abilities.
If you are able and willing to run for your particular goals, you may now start to run.
Start with easy jogging for twenty minutes every other day, and weight training
every other day. Running at this time should be at least three days a week, the same
for weight training. There is some evidence, however, that we could get by with two
days of weight training (solid whole body sessions) and still do okay. Include one
day of rest. The day you rest could be a very easy workout, either stretching,
swimming or family fun.
For weight training we need to start just as easy. Many of us think that weight
training will build large muscles. We see all these big bodybuilders, and although
some of us admire the dedication it takes to build that kind of body, it is not
necessarily true that weight training builds large muscles. It all depends on how you
train, how much you train, and your age as well as the system of training. We know
that by stressing any muscle naturally (exercises) or unnaturally (weights) we work
with the law of irritation and adaptability to produce the result we want.
Basically, this means the body will adapt to irritation. Adapting can mean for size of
muscle as well as for the functioning of the muscle. Adapting also can mean the
heart and lungs adapting to more stress and improving the functioning of this
system (aerobic conditioning). The irritation could be considered the stress exerted
on the body (heart and lungs) by running or walking more and increasing time and
duration. Then we consider strength in the muscles by more and more progressive
exertion (making the body work progressively harder). This can be achieved by
doing more and more pushups or other exercises. Using weight training for
increasing strength, as well as burning more calories, we would have to build by
lifting more times and more weight.
There is another way to use weight training to develop strength as well as
endurance. This system works on the premise that using progressively more weight
builds size and strength. Starting with more weight and then progressively reducing
the weight with longer repetitions, we build endurance in the muscle instead of
bulk. This is a good way to shape the body without building mass.
It’s widely known now that for older women weight or resistance training is
beneficial to stave off osteoporosis.
Please note: This section is not to take the place of medical advice. I recommend
that you speak to your doctor before undertaking any kind of exercise program,
especially weight training. See a professional; it will be a good investment in your
body.
see web pages http://www.molinamassage.com or [http://www.betterbacksystems.com]
Othon Molina Ph.d. c LMT has been involved in the health field as a manual therapist and personal trainer for over thirty five years. He has studied with some of the top doctors and healers of our times. His specialty is treating sports injuries, back problems, and teaching others how to improve their health or athletic competition using nutrition and fitness technologies.
One of his specialties is Kinesiology. He has been a runner all his life, and competed in many triathlons, 5k's, 10k's and marathons. Competing at an elite level gave him the experience to help train others. Recently he coached and worked with the female champion of the German team of triathletes.
Some of his clients include: Bob Hope, Jane Seymor, Essam Kashoggy, Jim Nabors, Tony Robbins, Mark Victor Hansen, Carol Burnett, San Francisco Ballet, Allvin Alley Dance troupe, some of the top Olympic and international elite athletes, team doc and new trainer for the German professional triathletes. He also trains massage teams worldwide, as well as health professionals in Hawaii.
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Building Muscle Mass - Body Building Tips

Women Build Your Bones for Better Health and Prevent Osteoporosis

Exercising with weights has many different benefits for women such as improve posture, strength, energy, protection and faster weight loss. One of the most important is to prevent osteoporosis throughout life especially post menopause. Osteoporosis attacks 1 in 3 women, leaving the bones to become thinner from the inside of the bone becoming more porous and less able to support the body, leading to breaks and fractures. By the time a woman reaches the age of 70, she may have lost as much as 30 percent of her bone density, something you really don't won't to lose in the years to come. Good strength, energy and bone density are essential for general health and fitness, now and in the future. It is very common for us to neglect what we cannot see. We spend hours looking at what we see from the mirror, such as your curves, muscle tone or neglected areas which may need some work! If we cannot see it we tend to ignore it! And that's very common with our bones.
Having worked with many women, a large part of my work is to ensure bone density and muscular strength is at it highest. Lifting weights is not only to help break down body fat and elevate the metabolism but to also strengthen the main skeletal frame. No one wants to have curvature of the spine when we get older. We want to maintain a strong upright frame with muscles that support our strong bones.
Remember a strong body is healthy body and without strength your body will break down, due to the acids our body produces. So how do we prevent this from happening fast and effectively?
To prevent osteoporosis you need to follow these rules. If you don't already, now is the time to change your lifestyle for the better. It's never too late to get active or if you are already exercising then its time to step it up to the next level and not just through the motions of pushing machines in the gym.
Take part in exercise today and start lifting weights, free weights if possible.
Once a week push near maximum weights at around 80 percent of maximum lift.
Make sure you are taking enough calcium and vitamin D
Avoid drugs, to much alcohol, to much caffeine or fizzy drinks
And of course don't smoke
The good news is that osteoporosis in women can be prevented by a combination of good nutrition and exercise. Weight bearing exercises help prevent bone loss and encourage bone growth. Remember this, always start slowly and consult your doctor or a certified fitness professional before taking part in any exercise to find out whats the best way to start.
An ideal programme should consist of bone loading and specific aerobic weight bearing exercises three to four days per week. You will need to take part in some walking, jogging, weight training, body weight exercises and aerobics depending on your capabilities. In fact any exercise that stimulates as many different bones as possible. Start to think about walking more often rather than driving and take stairs rather than lifts. Every little bit counts. If you like to walk long distances then use some hand weights or ankle weights. This is to increase the weight load placed on your bones. I have even told clients to take a small pair of plastic hand weights outside and power walk.
I don't want big muscles!
If you are concerned about building too much muscle and getting to much muscle mass then don't. It's not that easy to build large muscles as a woman. Building big bulging muscles takes a lot more effort then just lifting weights. You need specific muscle building nutrition, a specific muscle building weight progressive designed programme and lots testosterone. Just think about firming, conditioning and strengthening and that's what you will achieve. Don't ruin the benefits of using weights with negative thoughts that will Improve the quality of your life in many ways.
Remember as the saying goes "only the strong survive in this world". So get strong and you will find your energy will lift considerably, which will make your day much more positive, enjoyable and productive.
An important area that needs to be addressed is nutrition. Eat a high calcium, high fibre, and low in saturated fats diet. Did you know that two thirds of your bones are built up of by calcium?
Vitamin D helps to build calcium and one of the best sources of vitamin D is the sun, but beware of obvious skin damage. Milk and other dairy products offer the same benefits. Eat these foods that also help boost your calcium.
Nuts, seeds, beans, peas
Fish with bones
Lots of green vegetables
Quality Cod liver oil supplements.
By preventing osteoporosis and staying, strong, fit and healthy, start exercising with weights and follow a healthy diet. By taking care of your bones you will stay strong and healthy throughout your life and strong bones lead to a strong body which also means a healthy mind.
Hi my name is Lee Skinner. I am the owner of http://www.totalfitnessstockholm.com here in Lidingö and Stockholm, we are also based across the sea in Marbella, Spain. I have over 15 years of qualifications, diplomas and experience in the fitness industry and thousands of personal training sessions to many happy clients in London, Spain and here in Stockholm. Health and Fitness has been a major part of my life and career in 3 different countries. my passion, goals and motivation is to help you to be the very best you can be. Check out some of the testimonials which clients have made about training with me and Total Fitness Personal Training. I am Originally from London UK where I began my fitness career working for major health clubs and large well known corporate companies, Such as, IBM, Lloyd's of London, Merrill Lynch, etc. My career has led me to managing some of the largest and best fitness clubs" The Fitness Exchange in London". Working in as a fitness manager, club manger, gym management, personal trainer manager and of course personal trainer. I now own my own personal training company in Spain and here in Stockholm, Sweden.
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