Weight training isn't just for men!
Wednesday 11 March 2009
Yep! You heard that right.....
Although treadmills, aerobics classes and weightlifting machines still have a place in a woman's world (and will contribute to increasing your metabolism), more and more women are taking advantage of the fat-loss results weight training can bring!
Around 99.9% of the women I have had the pleasure of working with get that look of horror when I mention weight training because a large number of women have been misinformed by ridiculous rumours about training with weights.
Weightlifting makes women bigger, puts them at risk of injury and makes them look less feminine, so they were told. Nonsense!
There are simply too many benefits to lifting weights for women not to include a weightlifting workout in their quest for the perfect body.
Burning 500 calories a day doing nothing being one of them!
Here is the science... As we get older we lose around 10% of our lean muscle every 10 years. The problem here is that each pound of muscle burns around 50 calories per day.
Therefore, increasing your lean muscle mass by around 10 pounds means you can times this 10 pounds of muscle by 50 calories a day - that's 500 calories blasted away each day! So by increasing your lean muscle mass by 10 pounds you essentially increase your metabolic rate by 500 calories a day.
Over a week this adds up to 3500 calories which equates to 1 pound of fat. So effectively you will burn one pound of fat a week doing absolutely nothing! Sounds too good to be true, but this really does work.
I personally swear by this method and use it with all my clients. You really don’t have to worry about building a ghastly masculine figure. The female body simply can’t produce enough testosterone to build any serious muscle mass, instead your muscle will increase in density.
You will have more muscle fibres per muscle group and these newly built muscle fibres consume those extra calories.
Get started with weight training
The four key exercises you should start with are:
* The squat
* The standing military press
* Lunges
* Upright rows
It is important to give your body (especially your muscles) a chance to repair. For this reason, weightlifting should be done at least twice a week, and rarely should it be done on consecutive days if possible.
In terms of weight, repetitions and sets, consider doing 2-3 sets, with 8-12 repetitions each.
Want to find out more? Head to www.jameskingperformance.com