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 By: Josh Henkin Women, you are being LIED to! Everyday you are being bombarded with commercials, gimmicks, and everyone telling you how you should look. These companies make billions of dollars on your desire to work hard and empower yourself with being proactive in your health and fitness.
Often women are more interested into learning how to train correctly than men, are not ego driven by weight, and many times are much TOUGHER than men! Yep, you heard me, they tend to not whine and complain as much as their male counterparts. So, women, this is for you!
TRUTH: The truth is performing more repetitions will often create more muscle growth. Bodybuilders often utilize repetition ranges of 8-15 to stimulate greater lean muscle mass. This method is also known in the scientific community as the repetition method. Because of the increased work, also known as volume, this is one of the most efficient ways of increasing one's muscle mass. This means if you want to add muscle mass, using two to four sets of eight to fifteen repetitions will fit the bill. Don't hesitate to use this method though women. You will not get as big as Arnold because you have 1/16 the testosterone of men. Women also do not possess as much upper body muscle mass as the men. What adding some muscle will accomplish is increasing metabolism, helping to achieve a more "defined" look, and setting a base for more intense training programs.
So, you say that you don't use that few of repetitions? What, you actually perform sets of twenty or more repetitions? For some reason this is often recommended to women, yet, there is little scientific evidence to support the usage of such high repetition training. Such training methods are used to build muscular endurance which generally has little training effect other than some caloric expenditure. Such extreme endurance training is the reason that endurance athletes generally do not have appreciable levels of muscle and have higher body fat levels than their higher intensity training counterparts. The classic example is the body of a sprinter versus a marathon runner. While I am not saying one is better than the other, most people do like the more defined and muscular appearance of the sprinter. It is also important to understand that the body can do only a few things. The body can lose or gain body fat, and/or gain or lose muscle. Therefore, when women often ask to increase their "definition" or "tone", they are actually asking to lose some body fat and gain an appreciable level of muscle mass. This is why only combining nutrition and a well planned training program can provide the results that you are interested in obtaining.
TRUTH: It is true that certain exercises stimulate more muscles, but this does not guarantee more muscle mass. Athletes such as Olympic weightlifters always use compound lifts in their training, but can often maintain a lean muscular look without being bulky.
Therefore, it is important to realize that it is not only the exercise, but the other training variables such as volume and intensity that influence the result. As mentioned above certain repetition and set schemes are more specific to certain goals. Below is listed some of the more common recommendations:
Strength: 3-5 sets, 1-5 repetitions Power: 3-6 sets, 2-6 repetitions
What does this mean for your training? Even though these methods make things look mutually exclusive, this is not necessarily the case. In some people lower repetitions will stimulate more muscle growth because they possess more of the fast-twitch fiber make-up. Beyond just the stimulation of more muscle, combining various training methods allows for increased variation which makes training far more enjoyable. This approach also guarantees you will find positive results in your training because you are not relying on one specific method. Few people that train still appreciate the influence of the central nervous system (CNS). The CNS is responsible for how much force the body produces and how much muscle is activated. So, by combining methods such as strength and power training, a lifter increases their chances of benefiting from their hypertrophy training.
TRUTH: By now there have been hundreds of articles describing how the old idea of performing this method of training is not the most beneficial for fat loss. In fact, it has been proven in the labs and anecdotally that performing higher intensity exercise for a shorter duration does more to promote the loss of body fat.
Such training styles that meet this criteria are jumping rope, sprinting, and interval training. You will notice that all these forms of training are far more intense than the typical walking on the treadmill. Such training methods stimulate calorie burning for hours after training and cause specific physiological changes that will generally spare lean muscle and burn more body fat.
WOW! So, what does one do with this new way of thinking? Don't sweat it, the goal is not to worry about creating the "perfect" training program. Instead, think about developing a program that allows you to be consistent and implement as many of these methods as possible.
Step 2: Think about how many days of training you can devote to performing on a consistent basis. Remember more is not always better! Step 3: Realize if you are a beginner, intermediate, or advanced lifter. Don't rush into performing complex routines or exercises that you are not confident in executing correctly.
Step 4: Start delegating specific time frames to different areas of training. Many times 45 minutes of strength training and 20-35 minutes of various interval training is more than adequate. Step 5: Begin to organize exercises on specific days. Unless you have the ambition to become a professional bodybuilder, you should try to avoid using programs that focus on one muscle group at a time. This is often not practical or the most efficient strategies for most lifers. Below are some easy and effective splits.
Day 2: Lower Body Day 3: Upper Body Next week rotate
Day 1: Hip Dominant/Trunk Flexors There are many other, hopefully this stimulates some ideas. For more ideas, click here.
Step 7: Heavier weights should be implemented when the body is fresh at the beginning of the program. Higher repetition ranges should be placed towards the end.
Back Squat 4 sets of 5 repetitions with 90 second rest-Beginning of routine Back Extensions 3 sets of 12 repetitions with 60 second rest-End of routine
Not sure how to use a log? Here are some great ideas from Bodybuilding.com writer Chris Zaino:
Any time I want I can look back and see exactly what I did to bring my conditioning to the point it was when I won any of my bodybuilding contests. This is a must tool for any bodybuilder. With each competition you will become better and better when keeping a journal to ensure you will look your best the Saturday of the show and not peak the day before or after. If the daily journal is kept, you will be able to pinpoint if you needed more or less food that last week for your next show. I consider my daily journal a major component in my training. O.K.! Now, let's go over the major components in creating a complete daily journal. Remember we want to be able to keep track of the variables in our day that we can control. The valuable elements constituting the daily journal are: Go grab that empty notebook and start keeping a daily journal. There are NO excuses to not finding the time to complete one. This will help to discipline you more and serves to make you more in tune with your body. Remember we need to have a plan and with keeping a daily journal, no one knows your body better than you do. Until next time, Train Hard, Train Smart!
I have worked with hundreds of women ranging from athletes to grandmothers. So, trust me when I say these methods work, but don't take my word for it. Implement them, research them, and see how much more fun and productive training can become! Take action now, don't wait!
About The Author Josh Henkin is owner of Innovative Fitness Solutions (www.ifsstrength.com) in Scottsdale, Arizona. Coach Henkin has presented nationally in the field of fitness and sports enhancement. He is also the author of High Octane Sandbag Training manual and DVD (www.sandbagexercises.com). You can reach him at josh@sandbagexercises.com. Recommend this article to a friend by e-mail here! Visitor Reviews Of This Article!
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