Hello Divas first let me apologize for being away for so long. Life started happened while I was busy doing everything else and I had an overabundance of things on my plate, but I am back.
In our quest to keep fit, we may do lots of cardio, Pilates, yoga etc, but are we including strength training in our routines? Please, please, please stop thinking that strength training is for the bulky, top heavy gentlemen that you see in the gyms or the (ahem) ladies that you aren’t quite sure if they are male or female when you look at them because they have “strength trained” to the point that they have built up those large muscles, and you stop and go “hmmm”.
Anyway, strength training for women is a good thing. Why you ask? Because women in particular, see remarkable benefits from strength training. Strength training increases resting metabolism and women who are trying to reduce body fat will do so more easily. You will increase muscle fiber, and we all know that old saying “muscle burns fat”, well that saying is actually true.
I know we don’t want to dip our toes in the lake of “middle age” but let’s face it; it comes upon us like a thief in the night. One day you will wake up, look in the mirror and see your mother’s face staring back at you. But I am trailing off to another thought and topic (I have ADD sometimes). For women who have traveled to the land of middle age, strength training is the secret for helping to keep the middle age “spread” off.
Try Rubber Resistance Bands for strength training as opposed to weights. They are light, portable and you have very little chance of breaking your toes on them if you happen to drop them on your feet. Work all major muscles and do repetitions that produce muscle fatigue, maybe 10 -15 reps for both your upper and lower body. There are lots of strength training DVDs available. Try http://www.collagevideo.com/. They are an online retailer for exercise videos for all forms of exercise. They even take returns on opened DVDs if you purchase it, get it home and find out that you hate it (you know that you can’t even think of returning an opened DVD to your local sports & fitness store) and you get a chance to view a snippet of the DVD before you buy it as well; pretty cool.
There also is a new strength training DVDs designed especially for women from Pink Fitness. These exercises are lead by a woman and explained in detail. This set comes with a 5 lb weight bar & 10 lbs of weight plates, plus 12 total body power training workouts, and an eating guide. Check Pink Fitness out at http://www.pinkfitness.com/
Ok, I have to go. I feel like 10 miles of bad road today, body achy, headache, sore throat, combination of runny and congested nasal packages. Now I am not a doctor, so don’t quote me on this, but I think I may be coming down with a cold.
TTFN
Diet Diva 4 Life
In our quest to keep fit, we may do lots of cardio, Pilates, yoga etc, but are we including strength training in our routines? Please, please, please stop thinking that strength training is for the bulky, top heavy gentlemen that you see in the gyms or the (ahem) ladies that you aren’t quite sure if they are male or female when you look at them because they have “strength trained” to the point that they have built up those large muscles, and you stop and go “hmmm”.
Anyway, strength training for women is a good thing. Why you ask? Because women in particular, see remarkable benefits from strength training. Strength training increases resting metabolism and women who are trying to reduce body fat will do so more easily. You will increase muscle fiber, and we all know that old saying “muscle burns fat”, well that saying is actually true.
I know we don’t want to dip our toes in the lake of “middle age” but let’s face it; it comes upon us like a thief in the night. One day you will wake up, look in the mirror and see your mother’s face staring back at you. But I am trailing off to another thought and topic (I have ADD sometimes). For women who have traveled to the land of middle age, strength training is the secret for helping to keep the middle age “spread” off.
Try Rubber Resistance Bands for strength training as opposed to weights. They are light, portable and you have very little chance of breaking your toes on them if you happen to drop them on your feet. Work all major muscles and do repetitions that produce muscle fatigue, maybe 10 -15 reps for both your upper and lower body. There are lots of strength training DVDs available. Try http://www.collagevideo.com/. They are an online retailer for exercise videos for all forms of exercise. They even take returns on opened DVDs if you purchase it, get it home and find out that you hate it (you know that you can’t even think of returning an opened DVD to your local sports & fitness store) and you get a chance to view a snippet of the DVD before you buy it as well; pretty cool.
There also is a new strength training DVDs designed especially for women from Pink Fitness. These exercises are lead by a woman and explained in detail. This set comes with a 5 lb weight bar & 10 lbs of weight plates, plus 12 total body power training workouts, and an eating guide. Check Pink Fitness out at http://www.pinkfitness.com/
Ok, I have to go. I feel like 10 miles of bad road today, body achy, headache, sore throat, combination of runny and congested nasal packages. Now I am not a doctor, so don’t quote me on this, but I think I may be coming down with a cold.
TTFN
Diet Diva 4 Life
I love that Marilyn Image - a must for any woman's home gym. It's what convinced me that weight training isn't just for dudes.
ReplyDeleteLove your blogs! Wanted to let you know I gave you an Attitude of Gratitude award at my blog!
ReplyDeletehttp://superdivanotes.blogspot.com/2009/04/
attitude-of-gratitude-award.html