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Dispelling the Myths
Attention women: Do you not lift weights because you think itwill make you become muscle-bound? Do you only do a couple setsof 15 reps on exercise machines because you only want to “tone”?If so, this article will show you that these and other mythsaren’t true and also explain why lifting weights using barbellsand dumbbells is the best workout possible. As an added bonus,this article also has a workout to help you begin building thebody you desire.Dispelling the Myths 1. Lifting Weights Makes You Muscle-Bound While strength training will help you build muscle, womensimply don’t have enough testosterone, a key hormone forbuilding muscle, to become muscle-bound and appear masculine.The muscle you are able to build lifting weights will onlyimprove your appearance and femininity.2. If You Lift Weights, Do High Reps to “Tone” YourMuscles Most strength training workouts for women prescribe 2-3 sets of12 or more repetitions. While higher repetitions have theirplace in your workout, they do little to improve yourappearance. If looking and feeling your best is your goal, mostof your workouts should utilize sets of low to moderaterepetitions (5-8) for multiple sets. Performing 3-5 sets of 5-8reps is especially beneficial when dieting, as it is the bestrep range to use to ensure you hold onto your muscle. The moremuscle you can hold onto when dieting helps you burn fat fasterand keep it off once you achieve your weight loss goals. Sets of12-15 reps will only make you look and feel worse during yourdiet.3. You Should Use Machines Instead of Dumbbells andBarbells While training with machines has its place, such as helping youlearn the basics of strength training, workouts using freeweights (barbells and dumbbell) are the way to go. Free weighttraining produces greater benefits than machine only workoutsfor many reasons with the most important being the fact that itenables you to perform exercises that train many large musclegroups at once. This means you burn more calories for every setyou perform and will get better results faster. The followingexample illustrates this, doing a set of barbell or dumbbellsquats trains your calves, quads, hamstrings, glutes, lowerback, and abs. Compare this to a popular machine exercise forlegs such as leg extensions which targets only your quadriceps.Other benefits of barbell and dumbbell based workouts is thatthey are superior to machines for improving your strength,balance, and bone density. These benefits become especiallyimportant as you get older, since being stronger and maintainingbalance will help you better perform daily tasks and decreasethe risk of injury from falls. Increasing bone density will helpdecrease your risk of osteoperosis and its related complications.4. You Must Lose Weight First Before You Lift Weights Last but not least is the myth that you should lose weightbefore you start lifting weights. This myth exists because womenoften become discouraged when they diet and lift weights sincethe weight loss that occurs isn’t reflected on the scale. Thisis because the weight lost is body fat, not the muscle you needto stay healthy. Lifting weights while dieting will help youkeep the muscle you have ensuring the weight you lose is bodyfat. Studies confirm this showing that combining aerobicexercise, dieting, and strength training leads to greater lossesof body fat and weight than when you only diet or diet and doaerobic exercise.Getting Started Below is a workout that will help you build the body youdesire. It’s a 3-day a week workout that should be performed onalternating days, Monday, Wednesday, Friday for example. Eachworkout includes exercises for the entire body, and uses sets of8 reps to help you burn as many calories as possible at eachworkout while building, or at a minimum, holding onto your hardearned muscle when dieting. Combine this workout with 2-3 daysof aerobic exercise and a proper diet and you will get the bestresults of your life.Guidelines 1. Always use correct technique. If you need any of theexercises explained to you, consult with a qualified personaltrainer. If one isn’t available there are many web sites thatgive animated demonstrations of correct exercise technique. Onegood source is http://www.exrx.net.2. Use a weight that you can perform for 2-3 more reps than whatis prescribed. There is no need use a weight that causes you to’fail’ at the end of each set. You should leave the gym feelingenergized, not exhausted.3. Increase the weight used when you can do 2-3 more repetitionsthan the 8 prescribed on the last set of a given exercise. Onlyincrease the weight used if you can do so without sacrificingproper technique.4. Start a new routine after doing this one for 4-6 weeks. Thiswill help keep your progress on track and keep your workoutsenjoyable.5. Lift weights before aerobics. If you want to do an aerobicworkout on the same day you lift weights, that’s fine. Just makesure to do it after you lift. This ensures you have ample energyto perform all of your exercises with correct form.6. The exercises in the workout below are divided into groups(A1/A2, B1/B2, etc.). Each group is to be performed one afterthe other with about a minutes rest between sets for the totalnumber of sets given. Once you have completed all of theprescribed sets for each exercise in a group, move on to thenext group of exercises after 1-2 minutes rest. Doing theworkout this way burns more calories, and you’ll accomplish morein less time. Also, if you are just getting into shape you mayneed more than a minutes rest between sets and groups ofexercise. If this is the case, rest for as long as you need inorder to perform the exercises with proper form, decreasing theamount of rest as your conditioning improves until you reach 1minute.Below is an example of how this workout is to be performed. * A1 Lunges: Set 1 * Rest 60 seconds * A2 Dumbbell Bench Press: Set 1 * A1 Lunges: Set 2 * Rest 60 seconds * A2 Dumbbell Bench Press: Set 2 * Rest 60 seconds * A1 Lunges: Set 3 * Rest 60 seconds * A2 Dumbbell Bench Press: Set 3 * Rest 60 seconds and move onto the next group of exercises. The Workout Monday Exercise Sets Reps Rest Between Sets A1 Lunges 3 8 60 secA2 DB Bench 2 8 60 secB1 Leg Curl 3 8 60 secB2 DB Row 2 8 60 secC1 Crunches 3 8 60 secWednesdayExercise Sets Reps Rest Between SetsSeated Row 3 8 60 secStiff Leg DL 2 8 60 secInc DB Fly 3 8 60 secDumbbell Squat 2 8 60 secBack Extension 3 8 60 secFridayExercise Sets Reps Rest Between SetsDB Shldr Press 2 8 60 secDB Step-Ups 3 8 60 secReverse Fly 2 8 60 secCalf Raise 3 8 60 secReverse Crunch 3 8 60 sec
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