Reasons Women Should Weight Train

When it comes to losing weight women choose diet or exercise, exercise usually consists of running or cardio machines in the gym. It seems that women generally neglect the idea of resistance training for fat loss even though there is scientific evidence to show this is the best form of training to lose fat.

How does this work?

When you complete resistance training your lean muscle mass will increase, this doesn’t mean you will suddenly look like Arnold Schwarzenegger, it just means that your body will carry a few extra pounds of lean muscle.

A female carrying out weight training will not gain the size a male does from lifting weight because women carry on average twenty times less hormones than males that cause muscle size increase.

Interestingly science has shown that on average a woman who carries out resistance training three times a week for a month will gain a pound of lean muscle but actually lose 1.75 pounds of fat.

What happens is that the body burns extra calories every day to carry out its normal functions for every extra pound of muscle a person weighs. The typical value of calories burned for every extra pound of muscle is roughly 35 to 60 calories per day.

This extra calorific usage is caused by your resting metabolic rate increasing as your lean muscle does.

One of the reasons women do get put off from weight lifting is because when they weigh themselves they are not losing that much weight, this is because if you lose 1.75 pounds of fat but gain 1 pound of lean muscle the scales will only show a loss of under a pound.

To combat this the best way to monitor your weight loss performance is to measure your body parts monthly, as long as your body is reducing in size your on the right track to achieve your goals.

Measuring your success

Get a tape measure and once a month (same date and roughly same time) measure the following:

Waist (Just below the belly button)
Chest (Measure under arm pits and over fullest part of bust)
Arms (Measure shoulder to elbow and use the halfway point)
Thigh (Measure hip to the knee and use the halfway point)

Keep a log of the measurements and you should see the measurements reduce in size and your clothes start to feel more baggy or even become too big!

Ignore the Body Mass Index BMI

The Body Mass Index is a basic measurement that works out if someone is underweight, within normal weight ranges, overweight or obese by using just height and weight.

The measurement is very simple, take your height in metres and times by two then divide your weight in kilograms by this number as shown.

The thing is that if you ask any body builder or powerlifter they ignore the BMI index and so should you even if fat loss is your target.

The problem with the body mass index (known as the BMI) is that there are too many shortfalls in the equation. The BMI does not take into account someone who has a very muscular frame so someone like me is borderline overweight because of the extra weight I carry in muscle (My current BMI is 24.8).

In a short time period when I have added more muscle mass through training I will be overweight even though I have an average waist size and have a good diet.

If you are serious about finding out how well you are achieving whether it be in weight loss or increasing muscle mass then I suggest speaking to your gym and asking if they could measure you body fat percentage.

To do this calipers are used to measure the fat on different areas of your body and this then translates to a body fat percentage, this can then be used to see whether you are in the normal range dependant on your age. Please see the body fat guidelines below for both males and females.

Its important to note that women always carry more fat than men, this is natural and this is why women have a normal fat percentage level that is higher for the normal range.

Weight Loss Regime

So you have entered the new year wanting to lose a few pounds? Well forget those celebrity fitness DVD's you see being advertised heavily on the television and concentrate on a real workout that will help lose weight, tone up and give you a better feeling of well being.

Here at Musclepowershop the aim is to give you the tools you need to achieve your goals, these fitness videos give you a workout that is okay for the beginner but dont really support your long term goals....so here we go...

Firstly before even starting a workout I wish to tell you about your eating plan. To lose weight effectively so you are not crash dieting and the weight wont creep straight back on you need to know your calorie intake and eating habits.

Calorie intake and eating

To lose weight take your calorie intake in pounds (for those who only know kilograms its your wieight in kilograms times 2.2) and times this by 12. This is your guidline calorie intake.

Next it is important to know that you DO need to eat fats and proteins. Your calorie intake should be made up of 60% carbohydrate, 20% fat and 20% protein. The fats you should eat though should be good fats called Monounsaturated fat and Polyunsaturated fat (collectively called Trans fats). These fats are essential for your body so check the labels of foods you eat to see that these are contained.

Below is a list of foods that you can gain your essential fatty acids from

• Fish (Tuna, Herring, Mackerel among others)
• Cereal
• Whole grain wheat
• Nuts (Peanuts, Walnuts, and other nuts)
• Oils (Olive oil, Sunflower oil and Safflower oil)
• Bananas
• Seed (Hemp seed and Flax seed among others)

Next its important to know when to eat, lets have none of this skipping breakfast malarkey, its important to eat your meals. In fact to lose weight its better to eat five or six meals rather than three, to do this you need to eat five or six meals spaced about three to three and a half hours apart. By eating small amounts regularly you are keeping your metabolism at its highest rate so your body is working at its most effective and expending its most amount of energy while also reducing the size of your stomach by eating smaller meals.

The workout

You should wokout four times a week, this should be for 30 to 40 minutes each time. Below is a sample of workouts you can mix and match to suit you, plus there are many others available which can be found here on Musclepowershop or elsewhere on the Internet..

• Workout 1 - Jog for 30 - 40 minutes
• Workout 2 - Cycle for 30 - 40 minutes
• Workout 3 - Boxing - 10 x 20 punches with 60 second rest between each set (gloves, pads and partner required)
• Workout 4 - Squats, lunges, calf raises, press ups, star jumps, situps (complete 3 x 15 of each)
• Workout 5 - Fast walk 45 - 50 minutes
  

Summary

Losing weight can be fun, you dont need to eat just greens you can eat anything within reason as long as you eat healthier and watch your calories a bit more. Fitness will come in time and you will feel better in yourself so please do try to complete your workouts three to four times a week.

Dont Be Scared Of Lifting Weights

Many women are scared of lifting weights because they think it will make their muscle grow so their physique will look more manly and too muscular, but this is not at all true.

If you ever saw my interview with Lisa Stokes then you will have seen a photo of Lisa that showed her not being a huge, musclebound female even though she lifts a very, very respectable amount of weight. The reason why Lisa has this strength but is not huge in stature is because of the way Lisa trains.

I believe women should not be worried about visiting the gym and lifting weights, truth be told lifting weights can actually support weight loss so should be an addition to any training regime!

Did you know that for every extra pound of muscle that you carry on your body you are burning an extra 60 calories a day without moving?

The best form of training for women who wish to lift weights is actually the powerlifting technique, this means lifting very heavy with low repetitions (upto 5 reps) building your strength without cumbersome, huge muscles.

Lisa Stokes Interview

Today we are very lucky to have an interview with Lisa Stokes, a female powerlifter from Australia. I say very lucky but this does not go far enough to give Lisa the respect she deserves as Lisa is a powerlifter in the Australian National Powerlifting team who has achieved so much in such a short period of time in the sport.

Lisa Stokes - Image courtesy of Dallas Olsen

Interview:

What made you start out in Powerlifting and how old were you?

I had no plan to become a Powerlifter, and in fact I didn’t really know what Powerlifting was until I was sitting back stage after a figure competition and chatting to guy from my gym. I was obviously looking pretty unhappy and he asked what was up. I had said that I loved training, and had always been into sports but there was such an anti climax for me competing in figure competitions; there was no competition, no event that got the adrenalin pumping. He suggested that I give Powerlifting a go, and 4 weeks later I started training and had to learn how to do each lift. I was 38 years old.

How did you become professional?

In Australia Powerlifting is an amateur sport, but I first made the Australian team (IPF) in 2007.

What is your favourite exercise in the gym?

Hmm....I love to bench, well these days anyway. When I first started lifting bench was my weakest lift, and after getting my shoulders fixed and working on my technique I really started to love it. Now when I lie on the bench I feel like I am “home”.

What are your personal bests in

(At 60kgs in weight)

Squat 122.5kgs
Bench Press 75kgs
Deadlift 140kgs

What does your weekly training schedule consist of?

It depends on where I am in my training cycle of course, but I generally do 4 dedicated lifting sessions per week. If I am away off from comp I also do interval training which could be anything from hill sprints, stationery bike or rower intervals. When I first started lifting my coach had me do a lot of outside plyometric training, although these days it is more gym based speed work. Right now I am off season so I am taking the chance to do some circuit style training with sets of over 6 reps!

Well done for winning the Bronze at the IPF World Masters in October 2008, where do you see your future from here?

Thanks, it was certainly a buzz and quite unexpected. Right now I am having a break as I have been hitting it pretty hard since I started lifting 3 years ago. The first competition I have committed to for next year is the Australian Nationals in July 2009. I am still only a relatively new lifter and have been really happy with my progress to date and my coach and I are hoping to see continued progress over the next few years. I am keen to compete at the IPF Open World Titles in 2010 and to gain a top 3 ranking at home here in Australia the same year.

Do you have any words of motivation for our female readers?

I love Powerlifting for women because it builds a strong functional body which is really sexy. Sure it is great to be able to out lift the guys in the gym, but it is more about feeling amazing and strong when you walk down the street. I also love the fact that powerlifting is not at all about how we look (in fact the equipment pretty much assures the opposite J).

If I can start a sport at 38 years of age and make the national team, you can do anything you want to do.

I'm sure you will all agree this was a great interview! If you would like to find out more about Lisa please visit Lisa's website at http://power-preparation.blogspot.com/

Fat Burning Zone

I have talked previously of the fat burning zone when on the topic of muscle definition but thought I would go further into the explanation of how this works and what it is all about.

When training we tend to put the highest intensity into what we are doing as we believe this will burn the most amount of calories thus help us lose the most amount of weight through fat loss, this unfortunately is not the truth.

As the body is using energy it does so in three ways...firstly the body uses carbohydrate stores, then fat stores and finally protein stores. The higher the intensity of your workout the more likely it is that you are utilsing your protein stores rather than your fat stores.

The end story of this will mean that your cardiovascular system will get stronger due to the high instensity of your workout, GREAT!, but you will also be in a position where prolonged training at this intensity will see muscle reduce with little fat loss.

The optimum way to train is at a medium intensity within the fat burning zone, the fat burning zone will see your body use carbohydrates and fats for its energy needs. This fat burning zone will ensure that the optimum amount of fat is lost through training.

So how do you find your fat burning zone?

To gain your fat burning zone we use your heart rate. Take your maximum heart rate (220 minus your age) and multiply this by 60% to find what your fat burning zone base heart rate is.

To find your ceiling fat burning zone heart rate take your maximum heart rate (220 minus your age) and multiply this by 70%.

Example

I'm 27 so...

220 - 27 = 193
193 x 60% = 116
193 x 70% = 135

This means when training in the fat burning zone my heart rate should always sit between 116 beats per minute and 135 beats per minute.

If you train four times a week for forty minutes in the fat burning zone along with a healthy diet you are sure to see great fat loss results within four to six weeks while retaining our bodies muscle mass.

Muscle Definition

One of my new female readers has posed the question of me debunking the myths on muscle definition and slimming so today I want to address these by giving the answers.

Muscle definition is an interesting one, I get quite a few people ask me how they can define a specific part of their anatomy and the truth is its not as easy as targeting a specific area...unfortunately.

Contrary to common belief it is not right that to gain muscle definition you need to train with light weight and very high reps (15 to 20 range). In fact at this level you are in the realms of sarcoplasmic hypertrophy (building larger muscle mass to you and me).

Muscle definition is gained through fat loss, by losing fat but retaining lean muscle you will notice muscle contours start to appear.

To gain muscle definition what is needed is a balanced diet and a good exercise program that utilises the fat burning zone.

Did you notice when talking about muscle definition I said fat loss not weight loss? This brings me neatly on to the diet!

Your diet should retain proteins, carbohydrates and essential fats as these supply the body with energy and aid the body in every day life. You will find for fat loss your diet will also have a slightly reduced calorific intake.

When training your body will use carbohydrates and fats to sustain your energy needs. If you do not have a good level of energy stores and you train to a high intensity your body will then start using your muscle store for energy sustenance.

The training regime should be of an intensity that sits in the fat burning zone rather than the cardiovascular zone. For those burning with desire to get in to the fat burning zone the simple way to gauge this is as follows.

To get in to the fat burning zone we lower the intensity of the training workout (treadmill, cross trainer etc). The fat burning zone is the level at which you are training and your heart rate sits between 60% and 70% of its maximum heart rate.

To gain your fat burning zone heart rate take your maximum heart rate (220 minus your age) and multiply this by 60% to find your fat burning zone base heart rate is. To find your ceiling fat burning zone heart rate take your maximum heart rate and multiply this by 70%.

Example

I'm 27 so...

220 - 27 = 193
193 x 60% = 116
193 x 70% = 135

This means when training in the fat burning zone my heart rate should always sit between 116 beats per minute and 135 beats per minute.

Ladies Only

I have had some positive feedback about Muscle power shop in recent times but one thing has become apparent, I am not catering to the ladies of this world!

To right this awful wrong I am creating the ladies only category on the blog. Here I will detail all that ladies need to know about building lean muscle for definition and using weight training as part of a fat loss regime.

Over the coming weeks and months the ladies only section will become a library of everything a woman needs to know to achieve her goals.

What I think will be important in the ladies section is explaining how weight training will support goals and why it will help along with the usual nutritional support.

Ladies I hope you will enjoy the ladies only section and hope you will coment on the information provided so I can make the ladies only section tailored to your needs.

Now to apologise for not having created the ladies only section sooner! ....SORRY!!