Can Women Get Bulky From Lifting Weights? SLim Chance

By Ahmed Hajouj.


Strength training or weight lifting is the lifting of weights and/or resistance in a prescribed manner as an exercise or in athletic competition. Notice I said weights and/or resistance. It doesn't have to necessarily be a weight plate or a dumbbell. There are numerous TV reports, magazine articles, radio shows that explain all of the benefits of lifting weights, yet so many women seem to not be “hitting the weights” for one reason or another. One very good reason is that they don’t know how much lifting weights will actually change their body (more so than even running or any of the other cardiovascular activities). Another reason is that a lot of women are confused about what to do exactly (what exercises, how many repetitions, how many sets, etc.). 

This article will help shed some light on why it is so important that every woman be involved and adhering to a strength training program.

You actually might be involved in a strength-training program right now. Even if you are, I want you to really pay attention to what we're going to cover for the rest of the article.  I'm sure it is going to have you thinking differently about why you should be lifting weights from now on.

We're going to talk about why developing a strength training program will ultimately help you lose weight, add some muscle tone, look better and feel better about yourself. We will go over some "myths" about strength training and the real facts behind them. So, whether you're new to strength training or you've been doing it for years, pay close attention.

Let's first clear up some of the misconceptions about strength training and the truth behind these myths. This first myth is the "biggie" and it has prevented many women from strength training. It sounds a little something like this; "I don't want to lift weights because I don't want to get bulky."

 Let's explore that myth a little. When you think of weight lifters, you probably think of body builder's, right? You think of the men and women on ESPN parading around in little swimsuits with big bulky muscles popping out all over the place.

There are three reasons for this:
1.)These people are an extremely minute percentage of the population.
2.)That is their livelihood and they spend 4 to 5 hours a day in the gym.
3.)Most of them are using performance-enhancing drugs (steroids, etc.) to look like that.

So if you can get that image of the "bodybuilder" out of your head and think in terms of the average everyday person, you will see why the myth about getting bulky is just that, a myth!


What we're going to talk about next is simple. When you lift weights your body builds muscle. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn (even at rest).   The more calories you burn the less you weigh. Let me give you an example of this that might make it a little easier to understand.

Let's say two women are sitting on the couch watching some T.V. Woman #1 strength-trains 3 times a week, but woman #2 does not. After an hour of watching T.V goes by, who will have burned more calories? The common answer to that would be that they both burned the same (almost nothing), since they were just sitting and not moving.

But the actual answer would be that woman #1 burned more calories, and I'll tell you why for one simple reason. THE MORE MUSCLE YOU HAVE THE MORE CALORIES YOU BURN!! Now you might say to yourself, "But if I lift weights, my muscles will get bigger, I will appear big and bulky, and wind up weighing more." This is also a myth.

That myth being one of the most popular in the world of exercise, which is, "muscle weighs more than fat."

That's like the old joke, "What weighs more--10 lbs. of steel or 10 lbs. of feathers?" Hopefully by now you know that the answer to that question is that they both really weigh the same.  10 lbs. is 10 lbs. no matter what it is made of. Let's examine this point in a little more detail.

Muscle is much more compact than fat. It actually takes up less space than fat does because of its density. That makes sense, right? Fat, on the other hand, is very soft and jelly-like and occupies more space than muscle does. 

Let me give you another example to clarify this a little more.

If you were to take 10 lbs. of fat and 10 lbs. of muscle and roll each of them into a ball, the 10 lbs. of fat might be the size of a bowling ball. In comparison, the 10 lbs. of muscle would be about the size of a baseball. Now let’s use this as a real life example using woman #1 and woman #2 in an example again. Let’s say for arguments sake, both women are 5' 5" tall and both weigh 140 lbs. Woman #2 does not lift weights or do any kind of strength training. Her dress size is a size 12. Woman #1on the other hand, lifts weights and follows a strength-training program each week.  Her dress size is a size 8. If these women were standing side by side people would definitely think that woman #1 weighed less than woman #2. But in reality they both weigh exactly the same.

How can that be?

Think of what I said before, muscle takes up less space than fat. Of those 140 pounds that each woman weighs, what’s the percentage of fat and muscle on each woman? I would venture to guess that woman #1 has a very low body fat percentage and woman #2 has a much higher body fat percentage. How did woman #1 get such a low percentage of body fat?  Two words—STRENGTH TRAINING (in addition to cardio exercise and eating healthy, but this article is just touting the immense benefits of strength training). 

That brings up another good point I’d like to make. The weighing scale is the worst indicator of losing FAT. It will tell you that you’ve lost weight, it’s great at that. But what if you lose 10 pounds of fat and replace it with 10 pounds of muscle?  Will you have lost weight? According to the scale, NO! Will you have lost FAT? Absolutely, and I guarantee that your clothes will be a lot looser on you and you will look a lot better. If you can do one thing with your scale I would recommend throwing it in the garbage, or at least getting rid of it.

Well all right, you say, "I'll lift weights, but I'm only lifting light weights and doing lots of repetitions."

This is another mistake a lot of you are making. This is not the ‘wrong’ way to lift, but it is certainly not the only way to go about strength training if your goal is weight loss. There is and should be a place in your fitness program for higher repetitions, but it shouldn’t be the only thing you do with weights.

Women do not have enough of the male hormone, testosterone, to get big muscles. You probably couldn't even get big and bulky if you tried to. So, is it all right for you to lift heavy weights with fewer repetitions? ABSOLUTELY!!

Let's take a moment now to recap some of the main ideas to take away from this article:

•Lifting weights will not make you bulky (it will make you leaner and more toned).
•Muscle is more compact and denser than fat and actually takes up less space than fat.
•The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn (even at rest!).
•Every good strength training program should include light weights with more repetitions and heavier weights with fewer repetitions.

A Home Gym and Walking = a Great Exercise Program

By Ahmed Hajouj.


With the busy lifestyles today few adults with families can afford to take the time necessary to go the health club or neighborhood gym on a regular basis.  Heck, even if it's within a short distance, we're talking about several hours commitment per session.  Who has time for that!?

Still, we all recognize that exercise is just downright good for you.  If you name any random 10 medical conditions and diseases, I'm willing to bet money that some form of frequent exercise is a good treatment or preventative measure for at least 9 of them.  Diet and exercise pop up as treatments and preventative measures in so many of the diseases that ail us today, and both of these areas are a good place to focus on if your concerned about your health.  Even just some simple walking for exercise can go a long way to improving your health.  Walking for exercise is fun, easy, and is a great stress reducer but more on that in a minute.

Another idea is that of home gym equipment.  now we're not talking about enough equipment to fill up the basement or several bedrooms.  What you want is something that you enjoy that can be done in the privacy of your home whenever you desire.  My son, who's working on his muscle tone has a resistance weight training program with 1 piece of equipment.  The wife likes the aerobic action of a small trampoline and treadmill.  The idea of home gym equipment need not be a daunting enterprise, just something that will save hours and allow the exercise program that your desire right from your own home.  Another great workout however is simply walking!  

The great thing about walking for exercise is that you can do it anywhere.  You have absolutely no excuse for not getting up and walking around for at least 30 minutes a day.  So it’s raining out?  Take an umbrella!  Seriously, just get out for a short walk around the block a couple times and you'll thank yourself for it later.  If its absolutely miserable out, just walking around your house or apartment a while is better than nothing. 

Walking for exercise is extremely low impact, and so anyone of any age can do it safely and frequently without worrying about damaging themselves.  Running and other more strenuous forms of exercise can cause all kinds of joint pain and soreness, and isn't recommended unless you are in otherwise good shape.  

A lot of recent studies into different forms of exercise are showing that walking is every bit as good for you as running or other more vigorous exercises, you just need to do it longer.  If you are walking for exercise, go for at least 30 minutes or even an hour.  The more the better, as you can't hurt yourself by walking too much.  

There are a lot of exercise programs that are beginning to realize the benefits of walking for exercise.  As it is something virtually anyone that can walk can do, there is a huge target market for walking programs.  I'd recommend any program that motivates you to walk frequently.  Even without one, there are hiking and walking clubs all over the place to join.  Not only can walking for exercise be a way to maintain good health, but it can be a good way to meet new people and form new networks.  

With so many benefits and virtually no cons, you can't go wrong with walking for exercise.  Its only drawback is that it takes time to do, but it is time well spent.  What is the value of good health and longevity?  Add on a favorite piece of gym equipment and you have everything needed to develop a healthy workout and exercise program without the inconvenience of going to the gym all the time.

Workout Plans for Women - An Effective Five Days Plan

If you do a search in the Internet for some of the best workout plans that you can follow in order to lose weight, you'll certainly encounter workout plans that were made solely for men and only a few of these are for women. So if you are looking for the best workout plans for women, read this article now as we share to you the most effective 5-day workout plans for women. Be sure to understand the purpose of the exercises included on the workout plan, before you perform each exercise.

Monday - Start with a 10-min warm up exercises so as to increase the temperature of your core and in order to prepare your muscles and joints for the movements that you have to do. Next, perform squats by doing any of these squat exercises that you are familiar with - standing squats, leg press, hack squat and squat with the use of dumbbells. After doing 10 sets of squat exercises, follow it with three sets of leg extensions and leg curls, standing calf raises, barbell curls and bicep cable curls, making sure that the arms should be shoulder height and curl cable is towards your head.

Tuesday - Start your workout by doing cardiovascular exercises for 20 minutes up to an hour and it is highly recommend that you do up to an hour of cardiovascular exercises for three to five days in a week. You may alternate it with different modes, like doing 10 minutes of stationary bike, 10 minutes of stair climber and finish it off with a 10-min run on the treadmill. Perform three sets of ten repetitions for each exercise and make use of barbells, dumbbells and any other exercise machine.

Wednesday - It's time that you do some interval training for your cardiovascular exercises through alternating in between low and high intensities so as to increase and lower your heart rate. For example, you can jog for two minutes and then sprint for 30 seconds or walk one lap and then run for one lap as well. The third day is the best time to work-out your back and triceps, so try to do three sets of ten repetitions each.

Thursday - As usual, start your day with a warm-up exercise and do it for 8 up to 12 min, and focus more on working your legs as well as your biceps. So perform three sets of ten repetitions for the following exercises - Lunges, straight leg dead lifts while holding the dumbbells, seated calf raises, preacher curls and chin-ups. End it by doing up to one hour of cardiovascular exercise.

Friday - Just like the previous days, begin this day with a 20-min cardiovascular exercise and focus on your chest, shoulders and triceps. End it by performing three sets of ten repetitions of flat bench press exercise, overhead press, and overhead dumbbell extensions and triceps kick-backs. Use exercise equipments like barbells and dumbbells for this last day of your workout plans for women.

There are several other workout plans for women that you can choose from. Regardless of the kind of workout plan that you choose, do not forget to perform warm up exercises and always do some stretching right after your workout. And if any case, you feel some discomfort all throughout your workout plan sessions, stop your exercise and see your doctor right away or ask some help from a fitness trainer.

Check out how you can utilize your daily activities as your exercise session at workouts for women at home. Also, don't forget to learn how to incorporate a healthy diet at diet plan to reduce weight.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Jean_Wilson

Drop Those Last Few Pounds With Easy Fitness Solutions

Are you working out, eating healthy, doing all the right things and still finding it difficult to lose those last few pounds? Believe it or not research from the University of Pittsburgh's medical department shows that those last 5 to 10 pounds are truly the hardest to lose. The reason is that as you lose weight you become smaller which means your body needs less energy to sustain itself therefore, making it harder and harder to lose additional weight.

The good news is that with just a few tweaks to your already healthy lifestyle you can break through that plateau and get the scale moving in the right direction! According to prevention magazine for every pound you lose your metabolism can slow by up to 20 calories per day; so the more weight you have lost the more substantial those calories become. Diet and calorie consumption is definitely only one area to fine tune but keep in mind just cutting your calories is not going to do the trick! Typically women should eat no less than 1200 to 1500 calories per day and men should consume no less than 1500 to 1800 calories. So how do you adjust, adapt and improve to lose those last few pounds? Fine tune your diet, increase your exercise intensity and burn more calories!

Fine tune your diet:

Be sure you are eating the proper amount of macro nutrients everyday. According to information from the Mayo Clinic you should aim for the following:

- 45 to 65 percent of your daily calories from carbohydrates

- 10 to 35 percent of your daily calories from protein

- 20 to 35 percent of your daily calories from fat

Know your serving sizes and keep in mind you can over eat good, healthy food and unknowingly consume more calories than you were aware of. When possible read the nutrition labels on packaged food. Often times what appears to be a single serving size is a lot more. Finally, be aware of hidden calories found in dressings, condiments, beverages and alcohol.

Increase your exercise intensity:

Keep in mind cardiovascular exercises burns the most calories when you are performing the exercise, strength or resistance training allows you to keep burning additional calories even when you are finished exercising.

Work harder and burn more calories during cardio training by increasing your over all speed by just a few points, adding high intensity intervals throughout your workout or by adding just a few more minutes to the end of your workout. When strength training be sure the weight you are lifting is heavy enough, keep your rest time between sets to no more than 30 seconds or give circuit training a try. Perform every exercise in your workout without a break, then take a break and repeat the exercise circuit 1 or 2 more times.

Burn more calories in everyday life:

Stand Up! Studies conducted at the University of Iowa show that for every hour you stand during the day you can burn an extra 50 to 100 calories.

Fidget! If you tap your feet, twiddle your thumbs or just move around you can burn up to 350 more calories in a day than someone who remains stationary according to a study at the Mayo Clinic.

Be Fit, Be Healthy, Be Happy! ~ Tanya

Tanya specializes in helping people achieve optimal health with a highly individualized approach to fitness exercise. She is the founder and creator of http://getinshapeforfree.net/ featuring a "6 Week Shape UP Challenge" with Sequential Progression. This national fitness and exercise website is completely Free and available to everyone who has the desire to be fit & healthy. Tanya's philosophy has always been that a fit & healthy lifestyle is a process that you build upon; that's why her approach to exercise with Sequential Progression is so effective. Tanya's clients have successfully improved and achieved their health and fitness goals because of this approach. And now with http://getinshapeforfree.net/ so can YOU!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tanya_Stroh

Fitness Training at Home: The Solution to a Fit and Healthy Lifestyle

Are you a victim of over-eating? Are you feeling depressed of gaining more and more weight every day? Are you wanting to start your exercise regime but just don't have the time? If you answered yes, Fitness Training at Home is the solution for you!

Most people are gaining more weight daily due to the reason that they just don't have the time to go to the gym or fitness center. Others may feel uncomfortable exercising with other people watching them. If you're one of them, no need to panic, Fitness Training at Home is the way to go!

Imagine losing all those body fats without having to battle against annoying traffic, or squeezing into crowded gyms, or even without sharing grunts and sweats with other gym members. Even just in your undies, you can definitely stay fit at home! Isn't that amazing?

Another amazing thing is, you don't have to pay membership fees. You can simply build your own gym at the comforts of your home. Fitness Training at Home is really easy. Let's get started!

First thing first, create your fitness training master plan. Before getting started on your training workout, take note of the basics. You must first plan out your venue. Where do you plan to exercise? If you have a wide living room space, it's best to set up your training there. It would be comfortable for you to move around and since you have your television and player there, you can get a bit of help for your training by watching workout videos.

Next, you have to schedule your training time. When is the best time and how long should you workout? If you work day shift, say from 8am until the afternoon, you can schedule your training around 5am in the morning, or even at night after you get home. It's really up to you. Just make sure you choose the time you feel you'll be most productive for training.

After that, create your home exercise list. What time of exercises will you be doing? For starters, it's best to start with simple exercises like jogging and sit-ups. You can do more advanced exercises as you go along. Also, you can use home weights to facilitate your workout. You can use every day items around the house as training equipment. You can also get exercise tips by purchasing home training videos and even by searching online. Once you're done creating your plan, you should start your training right away!

Staying fit is never easy, especially when you just don't have the time to visit the nearest gym. But, there's no need to make excuses for not staying fit. With fitness training at home, you can definitely stay fit easily and conveniently despite your hectic schedule!

Start your training today! Check out http://www.trainingfitness.info. We have a free 7-day ecourse to assist you in getting started!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mark_C_Madison

Personal Fitness - Losing Weight The Easy Way

If you desire to lose weight, it can be tempting to fall victim to attempting unhealthy ways to weight loss. You might be considering some of these unhealthy ways to lose your unwanted weight, but keep in mind that there are much healthier alternatives.

Diet pills and fad diets are not only set up to make you fail, but they can be extremely dangerous. If you are looking for a natural and safe way to weight loss and keep it off, then this article is for you. Read on to discover healthy ways to shed those unwanted pounds once and for all.

The first thing that you should do when beginning a weight loss routine is to develop a game plan about how you are going to achieve your goals. Setting an ultimate goal is important, but it is just as important to understand how you are going to reach it. Celebrate each time you achieve one of your goals and let it be motivation to keep you moving forward.

Next, you must adjust your eating habits to include healthy and nutritious foods. Be aware of every piece of food that you put in your mouth and how it will impact your weight loss efforts. Cut out unhealthy foods and foods with no nutritional value and replace them with fruits, vegetables, nuts and lean meats. Eating healthy will not only help you to lose weight but is great for your body as a whole.

Exercising can be the hardest part to incorporate into your weight loss routine. If you are not used to exercising, than start small and ease your way into it. Try going for a walk everyday to start and as you get more comfortable walking, start walking longer distances. There are many different ways to get your exercise in besides walking like strength training, cardiovascular exercise and aerobics are just a few.

Find out what it is that you like and stick with it. Strength training helps your body to burn excess fat and calories which can really speed up your weight loss efforts. Losing weight can be intimidating and finding the easy way out can end up being harmful in the long run. The best recipe for losing weight is diet, exercise and effective goal planning. Losing weight does not need to be hard or complicated.

Apply the advice from this article and you will be on your way to losing weight and keeping it off for life.

Marc Ouellette is a certified fitness trainer through ISSA. Do you want to learn how to lose weight, burn fat and add lean muscle? Get my free report! Go now to http://personaltrainingalliance.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Marc_R_Ouellette