Women generally tend to frown upon the term 'body building'. The common myth is that if a woman starts weight training she'll look like those wrestlers on TV, and no woman wants to give up her feminine shape. You should know this is totally misunderstood.
Not only can woman body-build, they can look even more feminine if they do so. Women can never look like men as a result of weight training or body building. The hormone that causes men to pop muscles the way they do, testosterone, is present in one-fifth amount or less in women. So what happens when women body build? They burn fat, loose excess weight, gain strength and build lean muscle. How do you think the super models look so great?
So how should women go for their muscle growth? Here are a few essentials:
1. Balanced Diet: the key to healthy living, as any physician, fitness trainer or athlete will tell you, is a sound and balanced diet. Focus on lowering carbs in your diet and increasing high quality protein like chicken and fish. These will help your body grow lean muscle. Also use healthy fats in your diet like olive oil and avocados. Green vegetables will do more than just wonders for your skin; they will provide you with necessary minerals.
2. Women Trainers: not all trainers are men. There are a good number of women in the industry. There's no hard and fast rule that you have to work with a trainer of your own gender, but it helps to talk about any misconceptions you may have about your own body building. Your female trainer can be a role model for you as to what the results of training may look like.
3. Take Care of Calcium: one very important mineral for women is calcium. This is crucial for your bones. Make sure your diet incorporates it. If you don't get e healthy dose of calcium from food, ask you physician to recommend a good supplement. The reason I stress this is because women go through more physical changes than men e.g. pregnancy, meno-pause etc. the first part of your body that is in danger of weakening is your skeleton; you may have noticed many women shrink a little in height when they cross 50. The best remedy for you is to start taking calcium supplements your physician recommends. While you work out, not only will your muscles tire, so will your bones, while your muscles will need proteins to heal and grow, your bones will need calcium.
4. Short Sessions: Keep your work out sessions short, between 50-60 minutes is fine. If you're working on building muscle, then your body doesn't need to have its muscles crushed continually with weight lifting for hours. Focus more on increasing the intensity of the work out rather than the time period.
5. Progression: muscle building is the result of the body adapting to what it perceives as a higher need for strength. If you continuously follow the same routine, your body will get used to it and then no further changes will take place. The key to muscle growth is to do one more rep every new session or add a bit more weight to every work out.
6. Incorporate Variety: for the same reasons that you most have a progressive routine, you must also have one with variety. Your body needs to constantly feel new and different demands on its stamina and you need to keep yourself from getting bored.
7. Free Weights are the Best: it's just a lot of hype that machines are custom designed to improve your muscle growth. Any experienced body builder, male or female, will tell you that free weights are the most natural way to build your strength and muscle.
Not only can woman body-build, they can look even more feminine if they do so. Women can never look like men as a result of weight training or body building. The hormone that causes men to pop muscles the way they do, testosterone, is present in one-fifth amount or less in women. So what happens when women body build? They burn fat, loose excess weight, gain strength and build lean muscle. How do you think the super models look so great?
So how should women go for their muscle growth? Here are a few essentials:
1. Balanced Diet: the key to healthy living, as any physician, fitness trainer or athlete will tell you, is a sound and balanced diet. Focus on lowering carbs in your diet and increasing high quality protein like chicken and fish. These will help your body grow lean muscle. Also use healthy fats in your diet like olive oil and avocados. Green vegetables will do more than just wonders for your skin; they will provide you with necessary minerals.
2. Women Trainers: not all trainers are men. There are a good number of women in the industry. There's no hard and fast rule that you have to work with a trainer of your own gender, but it helps to talk about any misconceptions you may have about your own body building. Your female trainer can be a role model for you as to what the results of training may look like.
3. Take Care of Calcium: one very important mineral for women is calcium. This is crucial for your bones. Make sure your diet incorporates it. If you don't get e healthy dose of calcium from food, ask you physician to recommend a good supplement. The reason I stress this is because women go through more physical changes than men e.g. pregnancy, meno-pause etc. the first part of your body that is in danger of weakening is your skeleton; you may have noticed many women shrink a little in height when they cross 50. The best remedy for you is to start taking calcium supplements your physician recommends. While you work out, not only will your muscles tire, so will your bones, while your muscles will need proteins to heal and grow, your bones will need calcium.
4. Short Sessions: Keep your work out sessions short, between 50-60 minutes is fine. If you're working on building muscle, then your body doesn't need to have its muscles crushed continually with weight lifting for hours. Focus more on increasing the intensity of the work out rather than the time period.
5. Progression: muscle building is the result of the body adapting to what it perceives as a higher need for strength. If you continuously follow the same routine, your body will get used to it and then no further changes will take place. The key to muscle growth is to do one more rep every new session or add a bit more weight to every work out.
6. Incorporate Variety: for the same reasons that you most have a progressive routine, you must also have one with variety. Your body needs to constantly feel new and different demands on its stamina and you need to keep yourself from getting bored.
7. Free Weights are the Best: it's just a lot of hype that machines are custom designed to improve your muscle growth. Any experienced body builder, male or female, will tell you that free weights are the most natural way to build your strength and muscle.
No comments:
Post a Comment