Weight Training For Women:the Biggest Mistakelast Part3rd
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STRENGTH TRAINING AND WOMEN2nd part
5. The biggest mistake women do with weight training
Women do not tax their muscles properly.They generally use very light weights incapable of eliciting a decent response and some satisfactory results.
Muscles need an adequate stimulant if a distinct difference is desired.
My view is that women fall victims to some deeply rooted stereotypes.According thesewomen being delicate creaturesare not compatible with heavy weights.
This I believe is very far from the truth!Women have excellent potential as far as it regards weightlifting.
Despite this the typical case is that of women performing endless repetitions with 23kg dumbbells.
This is a pure loss of precious time!
Do they seek muscle definition?
This is not the right way!To have some valuable insight into muscle definition I would urge you to read my article :
“Muscle definition:the absolute article”
Are they afraid of bulking up?
This is a competely groundless fear since the hormonal profile of womenmuch different from that of men will not favor bulking up for all natural female athletes.Full stop!
6. Therefore women should adopt the concept of progressive overload.Ounce by ounce!
And what is the limit?
You will never know until you reach it!
7.Your most efficient way to success:
3 workouts per week
only total body workouts
only compound/multijoint movements
high intensity with minimal breaks
duration: 20’30′
8. There is no upper age limit!
Most elderly women would reap tremendous benefits from weight training.
Get free from this kind of prejudices!
Having said thatI feel obliged to admit that elderly women dealing with weight training in Greece are in serious danger to be confined in the cuckoo’s nest!!
9. And one promise or admonition if you want to take it like that :
Weight training can make you fall in love with your mirror!
10. There is no possibility as with all other forms of trainingfor local weight/ fat loss.
Neverthelessweight training will always be a powerfl ally in your perpetual fight against fat.
11. Definetely you do not have to frequent the gyms to have some positive results.You can absolutely achieve them in the comfort of your home.The necessary equipment is minimal!
12.In the beginning you might find serious weight training as demanding and painful. However as the time passes and you reap the full benefits of your efforts you will thank yourself for your persistence and commitment!
13. Skip it if you are superstitious!
As you indulge in weight training you might notice to your dismay that the scale pointer is moving upwards.
This is both logical and expected since you build muscle and muscle is much heavier than fat.
It is high time to recycle your scale and trust your mirror or your beloved pair of jeans.
Chris Strogilis
About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;Civil engineer with postgraduate studies in MBA and Marketing.christosmacon.grhttp://maconwaterproofing.blogspot.com/http://totalfitnesschristos.blogspot.com
Weight Lifting Plateaus…and How To Avoid Getting On One
You have recently discovered the wonderful world of weight lifting. Just down the street from your home is a wonderful gym that is open twentyfour hours a day to accommodate the long hours you spend at your place of employment. For the first six months you have were working through a fatloss/muscle mass gain program devised for you by the trainer at the gym. Your BMI bodymassindex has shown a dramatic drop and the girth of your upper arm has increased substantially during this period. Then Wham!…for the last month you have been unable to post a substantial change in any of your goals you set when you started. My friend you are experiencing your first exposure to a weight lifting plateau. Your body has quit responding positively to the challenger you are giving it and something needs to change.
The biggest effect of a plateau is that it will kill your motivation. If this is allowed then you have wasted those last few months as well as those coming as you still fail to achieve your goals. You have hit this plateau because your muscles have become accustomed to the workload you demand and they just do not need to grow to get by. It is time for your weight training program to experience its own growthit is time for a change. Experienced bodybuilders incorporate changes into their routines before reaching a plateau and it is this change that allows them continued growth.
This is a good time to review the three essentials to increasing muscle mass. You first must stress the muscle through an exercise routine. This stress is accomplished by constantly demanding more and more from a muscle group until it reaches a limit. If your exercises do not make this demand then they need to be changes. Alter the amount of weight you lift in order to achieve this limit. Remember you no longer want your body accustomed to a routine but you want to raise the bar until you achieve the desired effect.
Your workout should be strenuous enough that your body screams for a break. Rest is of utmost necessity when working to improve muscle mass. Upper arm curls bench presses or squats; it does not matter. When you fatigue a muscle group through any lifting technique it is imperative that you allow time for recuperation. This allows the muscle to grow into the demands that have been made and lt;ugt;come back for morelt;/ugt;! So if you are not getting needed rest sleep! you should increase time allotted for this purpose. You will not be able to bypass this plateau until you change your rest cycles.
Now is the time to talk about those skinless chicken breasts and plates of sirloin steak. Nutritious food is the key for muscle growth. A proper diet is simple to design and implement and should be of primary concern to your workout programs. When you reach a plateau and no longer are able to log any improvements then you should redesign your menus. More protein? Maybe more carbohydrates? Is it possible that your fat intake is not where it should be? Any of these can affect your ability to gain muscle mass when working through your program.
So do not be afraid of reaching a plateau in your weight training life. The best way to bypass a plateau is to not get there in the first place. Educate yourself early in your bodybuilding career and constantly change your methods to keep you growing. However it you do reach a plateau there is still plenty of time for education that will help you work your way out of the situation.
About the writer: glchandler is an early senior 62 who is attempting to live his words and get on with life. Although disabled approximately eight years I have decided I do wish to live longer and better. Hope to see you around the gym! A few favorites include Escape Your Shape and Turbulence Training as well as No Nonsense Method To Shape Your Body
Using High Reps To Build Muscle? Three Ways To Do It That Will Shatter Any Muscle Growth Plateau!
When I say “muscle building” I’m sure the first thing that jumps into your head is NOT highrep training!
In fact when trying to build muscle most trainers will actively stay FAR away from anything resembling high reps and when I say high reps I mean anything more than 13 to 15 reps per set.
Here’s the thing…that can actually be a huge mistake!
Just like heavy weights and low reps the higher rep ranges can be a very valuable and even essential tool in your musclebuilding arsenal.
I’ve got three highrep training techniques I want to share with you right now. And I’m going to explain exactly why each one is critical to your musclebuilding success.
1. Very Light Weight Very High Reps
Yep I know this sounds absolutely CRAZY. How can light weight and very high reps do anything for building muscle? Here’s a hint…it’s not about resistance…it’s about physiology.
In order for a muscle to grow first you’ve got to stimulate growth by overloading it with resistance no argument there. But after you’ve stimulated the growth you’ve got to supply nutrients to the muscle cells to help them rebuild.
What if your blood supply is poor to the trained muscle? Got a muscle group that doesn’t pump up very easily? It’s probably one of your hardest muscle groups to develop. Poor circulation means fewer nutrients get to that muscle for recovery and rebuilding leading to reduced growth.
THAT is where light weight and very high reps come into play. You see very high reps have the effect of increasing capillarization in muscle tissue simply defined capillaries are the tiny blood vessels where blood cells release their nutrients to the rest of the cells in the body.
Bottom line you do a set of 100 reps and your body responds by increasing capillary density in the targeted muscle which sets the stage for future muscle growth.
The high reps sets don’t directly cause muscle growth the resistance isn’t high enough they just improve blood circulation to the target muscle so when you DO train heavy and for lower reps your target muscle gets more nutrients and can grow and recover more easily.
Want to put this tip to work?
Pick a “hard to pump” muscle and at the start of EVERY workout you do for that bodypart e.g. every time you train biceps do a single set of 100 reps with a very light weight. Basically pick an exercise and just crank out the reps. Do this every time you train that bodypart and you soon will start to notice a difference in how easily that muscle pumps up and how well it grows.
2. ModerateWeight HighRep Training
This sure sounds like an oxymoron. After all how can you use moderate weights when you’re performing high reps!
As a matter of fact you CAN. In fact it’s one of the best training techniques you can use for building muscle fast. It’s a technique even elite powerlifters who normally train with very low reps use to increase muscle mass.
There are definitely certain exercises that lend themselves more to heavyweight highrep training. Squats for example are the best example for this technique you may be familiar with the popular “20Rep Squat” program
This moderateweight highrep training has many of the same circulation benefits of the very high rep training but with the advantage of increased resistance which will help directly stimulate muscle growth in addition to helping improve circulation.
Using myself as an example I used squats with this technique and worked up to performing a set of 40 reps with 315 lbs believe me THAT was fun…. I’ve also managed a set of 25 reps with 225 lbs and a set of 70 reps with 135 lbs on the bench press.
This technique can be used with any exercise really. You’ll find some exercises work better for it than others but basically you’re taking a weight that is a bit lighter than your normal working weights and you’re just focusing on cranking out the reps.
Like the previous technique I find this is best done at the beginning of a workout when you’re still fresh. You’ll be able to get more reps out of the exercise that way. Some trainers like to use it as a backoff set powerlifters generally use it this way doing the highreps with moderate weight after finishing with the heavier stuff.
So next time you’re about to do squats put a moderate weight on the bar and just see how many reps you can crank out! Forget about what you’re going to do on the rest of your sets just get as many as you can. Your legs will be hit with a whole new musclebuilding stimulus!
3. HighRep Partial Training
This final tip brings us into an interesting area. Highrep partial training actually allows you to do highrep training with HEAVY weight! In fact you will be amazed at how much weight you can use with this style of training.
We’re going to be getting the benefits not only of the increased circulation that I mentioned with lightweight highrep training but we’re also going to get the substantial musclebuilding benefits of using heavy weights at the same time.
Another benefit…because you’re using heavierthannormal weights you’re going to be working your connective tissue very effectively as well. And because you’re using highreps you’re going to be forcing a LOT of blood into that connective tissue which is notorious for its normally poor blood supply. This helps immensely with strengthening and healing.
Highrep partial training is fairly straightforward to perform. It’s best done in a power rack where it’s easy to adjust the range of motion. For example using bench press you can set the safety rails to a few inches below the lockout position.
Working in only that top range of motion which is the strongest segment of the range of motion means you can use a LOT more weight than you normally could for the fullrange exercise.
So you set up the bench set up the rails and add some weight. Now you just perform as many partial reps as you can! To give you an idea of weight and reps I’ve done sets of 50 reps with 315 lbs on highrep lockout partial bench press.
Highrep partial training can be done at any point in your workout as an addition to your “normal” training 1 or 2 sets or as the complete bodypart workout on its own.
The Final Word
Overall I’m a big fan of highrep training for building muscle when PROPERLY used. These three techniques are very effective for not only setting the stage for muscle growth but actually building the muscle itself!
About the writer: Nick Nilsson is VicePresident of BetterU Inc. and has been inventing new training techniques and exercises for 17 years. Nick has written many training books including “Muscle Explosion! 28 Days To Maximum Mass” “Metabolic Surge Rapid Fat Loss” http://www.fitnessebooks.com