Strength Training: Not Just For Men

So many women who are looking to lose weight and get in shape avoid strength training out of fear of bulking up. They don't want the masculine appearance of muscles and assume that their bodies will look just like that of a man's if they participate in strength training on a regular basis. This is a myth!

In fact, not only will you not bulk up you will actually increase your metabolism, look slimmer, feel better and even lose weight much quicker than you would without it. The common fear is that gaining muscles will cause you to gain weight, but the opposite is true. The more muscle you gain the more calories your body burns even while resting. Adding just 5 lbs. a muscle is an extra 250 calories a day that your body will burn.

Muscle replaces fat and takes up less room in your body. Two women can weigh exactly the same, but one woman can be dramatically thinner even if they are the same height. The difference is, the more muscles a woman has in place of fat the smaller and tighter her body is. Extra muscle is the path to truly changing the way your body works in a positive way.

What should you be working on? Specifically your body is broken into three regions for strength training. Your upper body, core and lower body all need to be worked in order to gain overall muscle with maximum benefits.

Your upper body is made up of your arms, shoulders, upper back, neck and chest. You can work with free weights or machines to target these specific body parts. The bench press is one obvious method for targeting your chest muscle.

Your lower body is made up of your hamstrings, quads, calves and tibialis and these parts can be worked with lunges, squats, the leg press machine, and leg raises. The more muscle you have in your legs the easier it will be to accomplish rigorous aerobic exercises.

And finally, your core is made up of your lower back, obliques, hips and groin. These areas can be worked with crunches, back extensions and other machines that target these regions. Core strength is essential for preventing injury.

Always remember to give your body time to rest in between strength training sessions so that you can build new muscles. New muscles cannot grow if you continue to break them down, the healing process and the aches you have after a workout are actually good things!

Your body is building new muscle and growing! Each time that you do strength training try to push yourself using weights that actually challenge your body. It's a big mistake to lift light weights many times instead of heavy weights a few times. A higher weight lifted combined with fewer reps will ensure muscle growth. Make sure that you always increase the amount of weight you are lifting to challenge your body and always separate your regional workouts. Never do two upper body workouts in a row, it is important to mix them up.

About the Author:

Fat Loss 4 Idiots is the recommended diet plan by Sarah Elena Elliott.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Strength Training: Not Just For Men

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The Best Thing You Can Do for Yourself: Hire a Quality Fitness Trainer

Why Investing Into A Fitness Trainer Is the Best Decision You Can Make. It Will Save You Time, Effort And Money In The Long Run.
For those interested in obtaining quality fitness results, a fitness coach is the only correct way to go.
For those wanting to waste their time with ineffective methods, a fitness coach is not the solution for you.
On the other hand, if you are one of the many people looking to improve their level of fitness without wasting valuable time and resources, a fitness coach is the correct choice.


The Benefits Of A Fitness Coach

The benefits of a fitness coach span longer than the rap sheet of a career criminal. Some of the benefits of using a fitness coach include:
1. You receive exclusive fitness knowledge from the person who is an expert on the subject.
2. You receive access to invaluable assistance that will help you reach your fitness goals.
3. When you have a fitness coach you get to focus on your actual exercises not the planning.
4. Finally, a fitness coach allows you to learn ways on how you can keep the body that you are trying to achieve.

If these reasons are not enough to pursue you to hire a fitness trainer, then you probably aren't that serious about trying to improve your personal fitness.
Giving the gift of better personal fitness to yourself is one of the best gifts that you can receive, so you should reward yourself today by employing the services of your local fitness trainer.

Free Fitness Tips
A great advantage of having a personal fitness trainer is that he or she will have many fitness tips that will assist you in achieving a higher level of fitness.
On the quest for greater fitness, you will probably lack the specific knowledge that a personal trainer will have to help you achieve your goals. Speak to a fitnes trainer and find out have these special fitness tips.

Benefit #1: Fitness Assistance
Another positive reason for having a personal fitness coach is that you will have access to fitness assistance. Many people simply lack the knowledge on how to exercise properly. A personal fitness trainer can assist you with a specific workout plan that is made for you.

Benefit #2: Fitness Is For Exercise, Not Planning
By hiring a fitness trainer, you can allow him or her to plan your personal fitness plan. By doing this, you will be able to concentrate on exercising those pounds off while your fitness trainer will inform you on how to do so. You will not have to think about what type of exercises you will need to do to achieve desired results.

Benefit #3: Keeping That Body Fitness Helped You Achieve
Perhaps the thing that most people struggle with after achieving a higher level of fitness is that they will revert back to their old ways simply because they lack the knowledge on how to keep their new and improved body in shape. Your personal trainer can give you the inside tips on how to keep your body looking great, even years after you hired the fitness trainer.

Call Your Local Fitness Coach Today

What are you waiting for? If you read this article, you are most likely a person looking to improve their level of fitness. If you are serious about improving your fitness, do yourself a favor and schedule a meeting with a fitness trainer today.
By doing this, you will be taking the first step to improved fitness.

About the Author: Zach Hunt is a Fitness coach expert in Spokane WA, personal trainer and owner of Physzique, a fitness coaching service in Spokane, WA. Go here: Spokane Weight Loss Spokane for more fitness tips.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - The Best Thing You Can Do for Yourself: Hire a Quality Fitness Trainer

Free Weights Are Best For Building Muscle

Free weights consist of barbells, dumbbells and weight plates. They are called free weights because they have no cables, pins or pulleys.

Available as normal weights or Olympic weights, be advised that Olympic weights are generally much more costly. The Olympic bar is also thicker at the ends to accommodate the larger hole present in Olympic weight plates.

Barbells come in all shapes and sizes. They consist of a bar that is usually 4' to 7' in length and can weigh from 20 to 45 pounds.

The Olympic bar that you find in most gyms is 45 pounds. This is the one you find on the squat rack and bench press.

So, if you use this bar and add a 45-pound plate to each side, you're bench pressing 135 pounds.

Varying weights are attached to the ends of the bar. The weights are attached using collars or sleeves. You can find barbells in a fixed collar design.

This prevents the weights from sliding off the end of the bar, but they are limiting as the weights cannot be removed. With adjustable collars you can add and remove weights to suit your own purposes.

The longer 7' bar that is generally referred to as an Olympic bar can hold 500 to 1500 pounds. As mentioned, these are usually more costly. There are also other Olympic specialty bars available that are designed for specific purposes such as biceps and triceps.

The weight plates that fit the ends of the bar come in standard increments of:

2 1/2 pounds
5 pounds
10 pounds
25 pounds
50 pounds

If you stick with cast iron weights you are pretty much guaranteed that the weights will remain constant over time as opposed to those that are plastic encased or other metals that could warp over time.

If planning to go with the home gym, sticking with standard weights is probably best for you. One of the advantages is that you can find standard weights available as a package that will include your bars, weights and collars. Most standard weight packages also come with dumbbells.

You will also need to have a weight bench. There are varying types of benches. You can find adjustable types that you can set for different inclines. This is a good buy because by adjusting the incline or decline, you can create a number of different exercises to work out different muscle groups.

If you are lacking the money to join a gym, you can set yourself up with everything you need, just by getting some dumbbells, barbells, and a bench. Total cost can be less than $200.

Or, if it's more convenient to work out at home, it's simple to set up an effective gym right in your basement.

Free weights are also effective than machines when it comes to building muscle and increasing your strengh. That's because you have to do all the work and balance all the weight yourself when using free weights.

With machines, much of the work is being done for you. You just have to lift it up and down. As a result, you use less intensity and less overload than with free weights.

Less overload and intensity means less muscle building possibilities.

So don't worry if you can't make it to a gym or if you don't have the money to get certain machines for your home.

When it comes to building muscle, nothing beats a good set of free weights.

About the Author:
Learn how to set up your weight training, cardio, and nutrition to get the most muscle and definition possible. Check out Shawn Lebrun's "Simple Steps To Get Huge And Shredded" training program: Simple Steps To Get Huge And Shredded"

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Free Weights Are Best For Building Muscle

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Boxing - Much More Than Physical Exercise

If you want to improve your health and physical fitness a boxing training program may be what you are looking for. As well as building body strength and fitness it can also go a long way to improve your personal confidence. Of course, by taking part in boxing workouts you will also improve your fighting form.

People who have tried boxing as a form of exercise find it to have very positive results, arms and legs usually gain a lot of strength and become more defined in shape. However, the benefits are not all physical. People also find that they gain a greater sense of inner strength and feel more emotionally balanced.

Boxing as a form of training and exercise became part of the large fitness training arena a few years ago. Great benefits can be found from boxing workouts on muscle toning and the cardiovascular system. It was the release of many videos featuring Tae bo and kick boxing workouts that made boxing rise in popularity.

The many innovative variations on boxing such as power punches, defence and punch and kick exercises have all the components of aerobic exercise. As you progress you will find your strength will build along with your confidence as you are taught how to execute punch and kick moves more effectively for a far more intense workout.

Kicks and punches which are performed in various combination on blocks are done with an imaginary opponent, you have no doubt seen this many times on television etc. where the participant through punches and kicks into the air. There are also training facilities where there is the necessary equipment such as punch bags and so on. In some cases there may even be a real opponent to hit, they have very good padding on their hands of course!

Cardin kick boxing gives many more benefits other than the physical factors, it is an excellent way to burn off excess calories. In just one hour of kick boxing you can expect to use in the region of between 350 and 500 calories. It is also very good for maintaining a good heart rate of somewhere between 75% and 85%. This has been proven to be the ideal rate for anyone in training or exercising.


Boxing as exercise is beneficial for the whole body. As well as increasing arm and leg strength through the repeated sparring and jogging whilst punching at the same time,it also helps increase resistance and strength whilst greatly enhancing the reflexes and flexibility of all your muscles.

The workouts involved help to greatly enhance balance and co-ordination which in turn gives you body great form and increased stability and also allows joint movements to be more flexible giving fantastic results in physical fitness.

There are many benefits to be gained from all types of boxing training, that is on top of the physical benefits. In the training process you will learn a great deal about defense skills which, in today's world could prove to be invaluable. A great sense of satisfaction, self confidence, motivation and relaxation can also be gained from training.

The stresses and strains of modern living can be lifted and any anger and aggregation which may be building up inside can be released and lifted giving more peace of mind and help you relax more.

A number of aerobic fitness instructors do recommend some boxing training instruction for people starting out. This allows each individual to take things at their own pace depending on how fit you are already. The other extreme is boxing classes which will push you to your limit. In this case it is important that you have a safe environment with fully trained instructors on hand and that you are already physically fit.

You will see many positive results if you take up boxing training, you will be much more fit physically and mentally. You can take things at your own pace and most of all enjoy the fun of being involved in a training program.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Boxing - Much More Than Physical Exercise

Author: Kenneth Scott

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Benefits of Yoga For Athletes

More and more athletes are turning to yoga as a supplementary exercise routine to fix the imbalance in their body and to improve their performance in their chosen field of sport. Whether you are a golfer, basketball, tennis, or football player, the mind body connection in yoga is an important element in producing peak performance.

Although proper breathing technique is the foundation of many sports, it is often ignored by many athletes. Yoga will help fix this lack of breathing skill and develop the correct breathing technique that is very much required in any game of sport. The integration of mind and body through correct breathing patterns helps to build stamina and endurance in an athlete. Proper breathing techniques also bring more focus and attention to the mind and sharpens one's intuition. This gives the athlete an advantage over his rivals.

The various poses in yoga helps to build a strong mid-section and the different types of contractions of these poses and movements act as a form of resistance training to the typical gym-based workouts. But unlike in a gym, you can practice yoga outdoors without having to bring heavy equipment. Imagine doing yoga exercises by a windy beach with the sound of waves in the background, on a hill top with a great view and fresh air, or in a zen garden.

Frequent yoga practice increases flexibility and range of motion and the slow movements is perfect for athletes. Many athletes are already using yoga movements as a warm up and warm down routines in their sport. Athletes in sports field such as tennis and golf will notice improvements in their swing as a result of this flexibility of the muscles and joints. In any given sport, the addition of yoga as a supplementary routine training has been known to improve the performance of the athletes.

Most athletes are involved in some form of weight training and other resistance training that uses repetitive motions that only develop certain muscle groups, while ignoring others. That creates imbalance in the body. Yoga is able to fix this imbalance and help to develop the muscles that have been ignored through the contraction of these muscles in the various poses.

Yoga is also a good workout to relieve boredom in athletes who perform the same types of exercises year in year out by adding variety. It is also an important element in recovering the body from hard aerobic and strength workouts. The numerous poses in yoga can be done in a low or high intensity workout according to the athlete's needs. Overall, yoga is not only important in bringing in more strength, balance and flexibility to an athlete, but also brings more alertness, attention and focus that is so much needed by athletes in their very competitive world.

About the Author:

Azmi Adnan is a writer and a yoga practitioner. Subscribe to his newsletter for interesting articles on yoga at his website http://www.power-to-live.com/yoga.htm

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Benefits of Yoga For Athletes

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