 | Ladies! Quit wasting time and effort with fad diets and pointless workout routines that don't yield results. Learn the basics of what your diet and training should consist of! |
By Craven
Ladies, ladies ladies.
What's not to love about you all? Guys love just about everything about women, flaws and all, but what really makes an impression on every guy is when a girl knows how to maintain herself: mentally and especially physically.
For as long as I can remember, there has been loads of misinformation and myths propagated regarding females and fitness. The biggest one, which I hope has been fully debunked by now, is that lifting weights makes women HUGE.
Let's dispel this myth right now.
Lifting weights DOES NOT make women huge.
Eating surplus amounts of food and not exercising: THIS makes women huge.
A few others include "high reps for that TONED look" and "make sure you do cardio if you want to lose weight." Firstly, it's impossible to selectively "tone" any part of you body.
Muscle tone is a term applied to the overall appearance a body part in respect to the size/density of the muscle and level of body fat around it. The bigger and more dense the muscle and lower the body fat, the more TONE that body part will look.
Secondly, cardio is not the end all-be all for fat loss. In fact, it's relatively ineffective in most cases and used improperly in most programs. I'll get more into this in the next section.
For the time being, I would just like to provide a brief rundown on what women should focus on to improve their overall health, nutrition, and fitness levels to guarantee them continuous progress and happier lives.
Ladies, ladies ladies.
What's not to love about you all? Guys love just about everything about women, flaws and all, but what really makes an impression on every guy is when a girl knows how to maintain herself: mentally and especially physically.
For as long as I can remember, there has been loads of misinformation and myths propagated regarding females and fitness. The biggest one, which I hope has been fully debunked by now, is that lifting weights makes women HUGE.
Let's dispel this myth right now.
Lifting weights DOES NOT make women huge.
Eating surplus amounts of food and not exercising: THIS makes women huge.
A few others include "high reps for that TONED look" and "make sure you do cardio if you want to lose weight." Firstly, it's impossible to selectively "tone" any part of you body.
Muscle tone is a term applied to the overall appearance a body part in respect to the size/density of the muscle and level of body fat around it. The bigger and more dense the muscle and lower the body fat, the more TONE that body part will look.
Secondly, cardio is not the end all-be all for fat loss. In fact, it's relatively ineffective in most cases and used improperly in most programs. I'll get more into this in the next section.
For the time being, I would just like to provide a brief rundown on what women should focus on to improve their overall health, nutrition, and fitness levels to guarantee them continuous progress and happier lives.
Know your Macro-Nutrients! Nutrition
Just about EVERYTHING hinges on nutrition. Yes, EVERYTHING, and I'm not exaggerating. The way you look, and more importantly, the way you feel can all be determined by what you're eating on a daily basis. Always remember this.
Now, as far as health and fitness goals are concerned, everyone's going to have a different goal and idea of what they want to look like.
I'd like to preface this by saying know what you're eating, and TRACK YOUR CALORIES AND MACRO-NUTRIENTS for every meal. This goes for everyone. And here's why:
If you expect to lose body fat, you need to know some important numbers. Numbers like how many calories your body needs to perform basic functions (BMR) and how many calories you expend in a 24 hour period (TDEE). Sounds intimidating, I know, but its really not that complicated. Check out this MacroNutrient Calculator for plug and chug numbers to make things easier. It's so simple it's stupid. Honestly, don't make it harder than it has to be.
You can't simply expect to "eat clean" whatever than means, and expect to get fit. Just because your food has been deemed "healthy" by some arbitrary source, doesn't mean it will make you look and perform better. Eating a large bowl of sliced fruit with oatmeal and a low-fat yogurt IS NOT an optimal breakfast, ladies. All you're doing is consuming probably a day's worth of sugar in one sitting and wreaking havoc on your metabolism and shutting off mechanisms that regulate and promote fat burning! Read up on why this is in my articles on Dietary Fat and Insulin responses. Flexible Dieting is also a great option to consider if you're looking to adjust your calorie consumption while not having to deprive yourself of foods you love. I have an awesome article on that HERE.
Depending on how serious you are about your body composition and the amount of body fat you'd like to lose, I like to recommend a Carb Nite type diet for women, for several reasons.
If your goal is just to enjoy yourself, eat the foods you love, limit exercise, and not put on body fat, then guess what: yup, tracking your calories and macroeconomics will be extremely beneficial.
Go ahead and enjoy your life, just make sure you don't over do it with all the food.
Believe me, I love eating donuts and cheesecake as much as you (probably more than you!) but I know how much I can have and have learned the importance of not splurging. Remember this: it's perfectly FINE to eat "junk", just know portion control and make sure you're getting quality foods alongside those fun foods.
Just about EVERYTHING hinges on nutrition. Yes, EVERYTHING, and I'm not exaggerating. The way you look, and more importantly, the way you feel can all be determined by what you're eating on a daily basis. Always remember this.
Now, as far as health and fitness goals are concerned, everyone's going to have a different goal and idea of what they want to look like.
I'd like to preface this by saying know what you're eating, and TRACK YOUR CALORIES AND MACRO-NUTRIENTS for every meal. This goes for everyone. And here's why:
If you expect to lose body fat, you need to know some important numbers. Numbers like how many calories your body needs to perform basic functions (BMR) and how many calories you expend in a 24 hour period (TDEE). Sounds intimidating, I know, but its really not that complicated. Check out this MacroNutrient Calculator for plug and chug numbers to make things easier. It's so simple it's stupid. Honestly, don't make it harder than it has to be.
You can't simply expect to "eat clean" whatever than means, and expect to get fit. Just because your food has been deemed "healthy" by some arbitrary source, doesn't mean it will make you look and perform better. Eating a large bowl of sliced fruit with oatmeal and a low-fat yogurt IS NOT an optimal breakfast, ladies. All you're doing is consuming probably a day's worth of sugar in one sitting and wreaking havoc on your metabolism and shutting off mechanisms that regulate and promote fat burning! Read up on why this is in my articles on Dietary Fat and Insulin responses. Flexible Dieting is also a great option to consider if you're looking to adjust your calorie consumption while not having to deprive yourself of foods you love. I have an awesome article on that HERE.
- Here's a fantastic article sent to me by Dr. Layne Norton written by Mike Samuels about Flexible Dieting! Guest BioLayne Blog Post: How to Recover From ‘Clean’ Eating by Mike Samuels
Depending on how serious you are about your body composition and the amount of body fat you'd like to lose, I like to recommend a Carb Nite type diet for women, for several reasons.
- Women are quite different from men when it comes to energy metabolism. Men utilize a lot more of their glycogen stores when training, where as women tend to hang on to their glycogen and utilize more fatty acids during training. This isn't a horrible thing, but it means women should limit the amount of carbohydrates they consume if they expect to lose body fat.
- The Carb Nite diet limits the amount of carbohydrates you consume during the week and maximizes fat burning by focusing on fat and protein as the main macros in your diet. (see my article on Dietary Fats) Depending on your level, big carb meals are implemented every few days to replenish gylcogen in your muscles so you can train intensely, and so you can enjoy a night out for some sushi with the girls. It's an exceptional plan and I highly recommend it to all women (and men) who want to improve their body compositions and over all health. If you're interested in starting a Carb-Nite style diet, please contact me for getting you started with this!
If your goal is just to enjoy yourself, eat the foods you love, limit exercise, and not put on body fat, then guess what: yup, tracking your calories and macroeconomics will be extremely beneficial.
Go ahead and enjoy your life, just make sure you don't over do it with all the food.
Believe me, I love eating donuts and cheesecake as much as you (probably more than you!) but I know how much I can have and have learned the importance of not splurging. Remember this: it's perfectly FINE to eat "junk", just know portion control and make sure you're getting quality foods alongside those fun foods.
Training
Lift Weights. Let me repeat this.
Lift weights. I cannot emphasize this enough.
Lifting weights is beneficial on so many levels, especially if you're looking to shed body fat and tone up, as the expression goes.
I completely understand if lifting weights isn't your thing, but it shouldn't be because you're afraid of getting HUGE. That won't happen. Your bodies lack the necessary "equipment" to get you looking even remotely manly.
If you don't like lifting weights because it's not fun or it's hard, that's fine too. Plenty of guys feel exactly the same way, but let me tell you this: You won't achieve a curvaceous, healthy looking figure without lifting.
Sorry, but it just won't happen.
Ladies, don't be intimidated by weights. At one time, the weight room and gyms used to be a MAN-ONLY world, but that's changed significantly. If you go to any commercial gym, it's almost an even ratio of guys to girls these days. That's impressive to see. If you don't know much about lifting weights, do some homework on your own, watch youtube videos, ask your best bro friend for advice, walk up to a random dude with a good physique (he'll be more than happy to help and flattered) or hire a personal trainer (this is a last resort, as a lot of personal trainers don't fully understand how to train women, or most people for that matter.)
I can't make specific training programs for you because I don't know you're individual fitness levels and goals, but all women should incorporate these fundamental lifts:
How not to train: Girls, PLEASE don't insist on making bosu balls and obscure gym toys the foundation of your training. And if you happen to come across a trainer who advocates you prioritize one legged squats standing on a medicine ball while balancing a 5 pound dumbell on your nose while playing the harmonica, get yourself a better trainer that will make squats, deadlifts, and presses the foundation of your training! I exaggerate (not by much from what I've seen).
A few words on Cross-Fit
People seem to really bash on crossfit as of late, and I FULLY understand why. I have no problem with the program itself, as it's really motivated a lot of people to engage in exercise, which is fantastic for this country. But the best part about it is it works EXCEPTIONALLY WELL FOR WOMEN. The workouts and exercises performed in a crossfit routine make the most of the females biolological disposition. Sadly, it hasn't proven to be as beneficial for men (they still get in decent shape) but women have tremendous results.
Also, the best part about Cross-fit is it's given women a community to engage in and feel comfortable when working out. Gyms can be off-putting and intimidating, but cross fit has a large following and the workouts are usually performed in groups with like-minded individuals with similar fitness levels and goals. If you're hesitant to start your own program and go out into the wild, then join crossfit.
While I can't whole heartedley endorse the entire organization (especially some of it's participants) I do think its a good jumping off point, especially for women.
Lift Weights. Let me repeat this.
Lift weights. I cannot emphasize this enough.
Lifting weights is beneficial on so many levels, especially if you're looking to shed body fat and tone up, as the expression goes.
I completely understand if lifting weights isn't your thing, but it shouldn't be because you're afraid of getting HUGE. That won't happen. Your bodies lack the necessary "equipment" to get you looking even remotely manly.
If you don't like lifting weights because it's not fun or it's hard, that's fine too. Plenty of guys feel exactly the same way, but let me tell you this: You won't achieve a curvaceous, healthy looking figure without lifting.
Sorry, but it just won't happen.
Ladies, don't be intimidated by weights. At one time, the weight room and gyms used to be a MAN-ONLY world, but that's changed significantly. If you go to any commercial gym, it's almost an even ratio of guys to girls these days. That's impressive to see. If you don't know much about lifting weights, do some homework on your own, watch youtube videos, ask your best bro friend for advice, walk up to a random dude with a good physique (he'll be more than happy to help and flattered) or hire a personal trainer (this is a last resort, as a lot of personal trainers don't fully understand how to train women, or most people for that matter.)
I can't make specific training programs for you because I don't know you're individual fitness levels and goals, but all women should incorporate these fundamental lifts:
- Squats. Squats 'til you drop! If you haven't heard a bunch of chicks boasting about their booties by squatting, then you've been missing out. Squats work. Learn to do these correctly, and watch your entire half take shape and improve almost overnight! They're highly effective, and have a high intensity workload associated with them. This means they'll boost your overall metabolic rate, allowing you to eat more, burn fat, and really shape the lower portion of your body. Who wouldn't want this, especially eating more!
- Deadlifts. A potentially intimidating lift, but phenomenal for rear chain development (glutes, hamstrings, lower back, upper back, arms) and body composition. The load should be pretty heavy, and workload is intense and has the same metabolic benefits as squatting. Learn to love these.
- Presses. You know these. Bench press, shoulder press; either free weights or machines. It's mostly a matter of preference, but just make sure you're working hard and striving to progressive overload (increasing the weights/reps pretty frequently)
- Ketllebell workouts: I haven't had much personal experience in the way of kettlebell training, but the studies have shown for it to be great for improving body composition by increasing metabolic rates and increasing lean muscle mass
How not to train: Girls, PLEASE don't insist on making bosu balls and obscure gym toys the foundation of your training. And if you happen to come across a trainer who advocates you prioritize one legged squats standing on a medicine ball while balancing a 5 pound dumbell on your nose while playing the harmonica, get yourself a better trainer that will make squats, deadlifts, and presses the foundation of your training! I exaggerate (not by much from what I've seen).
A few words on Cross-Fit
People seem to really bash on crossfit as of late, and I FULLY understand why. I have no problem with the program itself, as it's really motivated a lot of people to engage in exercise, which is fantastic for this country. But the best part about it is it works EXCEPTIONALLY WELL FOR WOMEN. The workouts and exercises performed in a crossfit routine make the most of the females biolological disposition. Sadly, it hasn't proven to be as beneficial for men (they still get in decent shape) but women have tremendous results.
Also, the best part about Cross-fit is it's given women a community to engage in and feel comfortable when working out. Gyms can be off-putting and intimidating, but cross fit has a large following and the workouts are usually performed in groups with like-minded individuals with similar fitness levels and goals. If you're hesitant to start your own program and go out into the wild, then join crossfit.
While I can't whole heartedley endorse the entire organization (especially some of it's participants) I do think its a good jumping off point, especially for women.
She's got the right idea. Cardio isn't always necessary for fat loss! But I NEED to do my cardio! ...No, you don't.
As I alluded to earlier, cardio is not a necessary component to losing fat. It's a tool, one of many, that can be implemented when necessary.
Not all cardio is created equal. Cardio just isn't running a few miles. It's essentially broken down into two types: aerobic and anaerobic. Aerobeic means longer duration and a lower intensity (jogging, eliptical, treadmill, etc) and anaerobic means short duration (sprints, jump rope, recumbent cycling)
I want to get this point across, because I see so many young ladies spending HOURS on the elliptical chasing a body that will never be, all because THEY'RE DOING EXCESSIVE CARDIO. Here's what happens:
You know the girl, let's call her Susie Q.
Susie Q shows up to the gym and starts hitting the eliptical 5 times a week and decides to diet, slashing her calories from a usual 3000 per day to 2000, in hopes to lose weight. Low and behold, she does...AT FIRST.
The first week, 2 pounds comes off. This is motivating for Susie Q. She keeps it up for a few more weeks, but fat loss progress has slowed, and the scale isn't moving. In hopes to drop some more weight, she increases her cardio from 5 hours to 8 hours a week, and cuts some more calories.
Ah, more progress. But very small progress. Maybe a pound comes off this time. A few more weeks into it, no more fat loss and the scales not moving. Frustrating to say the least.
Susie Q not ups her cardio to 10 hours a week and slashes calories to 1500 a day. There we go, another pound down! A few more weeks go by, and nothing changes. No fat loss. Actually, she ends up gaining almost 2 pounds after several months.
This can't be possible???
Oh, but it is. And it happens ALL THE TIME.
This is known as metabolic adaptation. Your body is intelligent, and will do what it must at all costs to survive and maintain energy storage. With such a low caloric intake after several months of steady state cardio, her body ADAPTED to the energy needs by slowing the rate at which energy is consumed (fat burning). In fact, her body became very efficient at hanging onto body fat and not mobilizing it the way you'd imagine.
To make a point, fat loss IS NOT LINEAR. Especial when stead state aerobic cardio is the means used. Limit this type of cardio (jogging, elliptical, treadmill)as much as possible.
If you're at a point where you'd like to utilize cardio to take your fat loss to the next level (once nutrition and training is in check), i highly recommend High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).
Simply put, you perform at a high intensity (sprinting, or any movement that's like sprinting) for about a minute, then rest/slow for about 2 minutes. That's one cycle. Repeat for 3-5 cycles.
It works by increasing your metabolic capacity. This means you're less efficient at storing energy (we want this), allowing your body to use it's glycogen and fat stores better. This translates to you burning calories at an increased rate for the days following your HIIT sessions!
So what sounds better? Hours of dreadful plugging away on the elliptical machine, or 15 minutes of quick sprints on the stationary bike? You decide.
As I alluded to earlier, cardio is not a necessary component to losing fat. It's a tool, one of many, that can be implemented when necessary.
Not all cardio is created equal. Cardio just isn't running a few miles. It's essentially broken down into two types: aerobic and anaerobic. Aerobeic means longer duration and a lower intensity (jogging, eliptical, treadmill, etc) and anaerobic means short duration (sprints, jump rope, recumbent cycling)
I want to get this point across, because I see so many young ladies spending HOURS on the elliptical chasing a body that will never be, all because THEY'RE DOING EXCESSIVE CARDIO. Here's what happens:
You know the girl, let's call her Susie Q.
Susie Q shows up to the gym and starts hitting the eliptical 5 times a week and decides to diet, slashing her calories from a usual 3000 per day to 2000, in hopes to lose weight. Low and behold, she does...AT FIRST.
The first week, 2 pounds comes off. This is motivating for Susie Q. She keeps it up for a few more weeks, but fat loss progress has slowed, and the scale isn't moving. In hopes to drop some more weight, she increases her cardio from 5 hours to 8 hours a week, and cuts some more calories.
Ah, more progress. But very small progress. Maybe a pound comes off this time. A few more weeks into it, no more fat loss and the scales not moving. Frustrating to say the least.
Susie Q not ups her cardio to 10 hours a week and slashes calories to 1500 a day. There we go, another pound down! A few more weeks go by, and nothing changes. No fat loss. Actually, she ends up gaining almost 2 pounds after several months.
This can't be possible???
Oh, but it is. And it happens ALL THE TIME.
This is known as metabolic adaptation. Your body is intelligent, and will do what it must at all costs to survive and maintain energy storage. With such a low caloric intake after several months of steady state cardio, her body ADAPTED to the energy needs by slowing the rate at which energy is consumed (fat burning). In fact, her body became very efficient at hanging onto body fat and not mobilizing it the way you'd imagine.
To make a point, fat loss IS NOT LINEAR. Especial when stead state aerobic cardio is the means used. Limit this type of cardio (jogging, elliptical, treadmill)as much as possible.
If you're at a point where you'd like to utilize cardio to take your fat loss to the next level (once nutrition and training is in check), i highly recommend High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).
Simply put, you perform at a high intensity (sprinting, or any movement that's like sprinting) for about a minute, then rest/slow for about 2 minutes. That's one cycle. Repeat for 3-5 cycles.
It works by increasing your metabolic capacity. This means you're less efficient at storing energy (we want this), allowing your body to use it's glycogen and fat stores better. This translates to you burning calories at an increased rate for the days following your HIIT sessions!
So what sounds better? Hours of dreadful plugging away on the elliptical machine, or 15 minutes of quick sprints on the stationary bike? You decide.
Wrap it up, Dude
To summarize, do this:
That's it, Ladies. I hope some of this information proved insightful for you all and will be helpful at improving your everyday lives!
To summarize, do this:
- Know what you're eating, and learn to track your calories and macro-nurtients. If fat loss stalls/increases, you know where the problem is and you have numbers to adjust to get things moving in the preferred direction
- Lift weights. Again, Lift weights. If you don't know how, someone will teach you. You're a girl, just smile and ask nicely, that's how you all get things in life, right??
- Use cardio only when necessary. Running 3 miles a day in hopes to shed those love handles is not optimal, and you'll burn out quickly. Focus on nutrition and weight training, then implement cardio when necessary.
That's it, Ladies. I hope some of this information proved insightful for you all and will be helpful at improving your everyday lives!
