WEIGHT TRAINING 101: For the Ladies (3 Workout videos included)
Warning: Adult language
Please do not read any further if you are offended by adult language.
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Don't believe that crap about how weight training makes you all bulky and big. Weight training can give you a sleek sexy definition that is molten hot!
Does the picture below come to mind when you think of weight training?
If it does, you can stop that ridiculous shit right now!
This sort of build is extremely rare and takes a very specific kind of training. To achieve this build, you must live and breathe weights, eat your weight in food each day, and bench press minivans. This doesn't just happen to anyone who is weight training.
This article is going to cover all the basic information you will need to start a weight training program for yourself. At the end of this article, you will find three weight training instructional videos where I show you how to do each and every exercise. All three workouts are also written out for you AND there is also a FREE printable link so you can print out the workouts and have them at your fingertips. You'll find this free printable at the end of the article with the workout videos.
There will be no friggin excuses after reading this article. No more sitting around thinking weight training isn't for you. No more thinking if you lift weights, you're gonna turn green and explode out of your damn clothes every time you get pissed off. It's time to put all the myths aside and get down and dirty with the truth. Weight training is not as hard as you think and you need to start doing it to achieve optimum health.
It makes you feel soooo good. I promise. I can't do the work for you, so if you want to experience this 'feel good' feeling I'm talkin' about, you gotta get off your ass and make a change. Once you read this article, I think you'll be a little less apprehensive about starting up something new. A little knowledge goes a long way. Let's start with why you should weight train.
Why Oh Why Should You Weight Train?
The benefits of weight training are endless. But I will name a few of the biggest sellers. First, we all want a faster metabolism, right? Well folks, there is nothing that will guarantee a faster metabolism than building lean muscle mass.
Lean muscle mass burns calories for us all day long. Even while we are sitting around lounging or catching some zzz's. As these muscles burn all these extra calories, our metabolism is shot into hyper drive. It's a beautiful thing. Take advantage of it.
Secondly, building muscle mass makes us physically stronger (duh), increases our muscle endurance, helps us become more coordinated and more balanced, elevates our mood, heightens our self-esteem and self-confidence, and gets us closer to a true fit and healthy state.
Weight training also strengthens our bones, which is especially important for women and our high risk for osteoporosis. As we get older, our bones weaken and thin out. This thinning process happens to EVERYONE as you age, but it's much more progressed in those who have osteoporosis. Penn State researchers who were studying the effects of weight training discovered some jaw-dropping findings. They were able to make 95 year olds as strong as healthy and fit 55 year olds through weight training. Moreover, they were able to make 65 year olds as physically fit as healthy 30 year olds!!
Um...seriously, that's some crazy business right there...straight up.
Because weight training makes us stronger, we are more easily able to fend off the strains, pulls, and injuries that many people experience every day. Did you ever wake up and your back hurt for no apparent reason? Or were simply getting into your car and heard something pop? We are forever dealing with unexplained neck strains, back aches, and muscle soreness.
But guess what?... It's not really unexplained after all. The reason for all these aches and pains is NOT "Oh, it must be my new shoes" OR "Oh, I must have slept wrong."
Slept wrong??? Are you friggin kidding me? Hey, I used to say that same shit ALL the time, so I get it. I mean, I guess the fact that I was heaving and hoisting an extra 120 pounds around had nothing to do with my aches and pains. Man... we will seriously tell ourselves anything to not have to get up off our ass and do the right thing. It's ridiculous. But, it's hard to face the truth. And the truth is, you are OUT OF SHAPE!
Your muscles have atrophied and you are carrying around extra weight which further strains those weak muscles. Come on people! Slept wrong?? Let's get serious. And let me stop you before you say your muscles aren't atrophied. YES they ARE! If you don't use it, you lose it. It doesn't matter what your age, if you sit around and do nothing, you will become weaker and lose muscle mass.
And the less muscle mass you have, the higher your fat percentage will be. And the higher your fat percentage is, the more unhealthy you become. See a pattern here?
Not to mention that when we do get older, we DO lose muscle mass. It's a fact. It's a physiological process. Unavoidable. And it starts in your twenties. Your muscles are not getting enough work and use from your everyday life which means you are losing even more muscle mass and bone density than the normal amount due to getting older. Everyday chores DO NOT give us what we need to prevent muscle and bone loss. I don't care how much you clean your house or pick your kids up. Nope. Not enough.
But I'm going to end this benefits section with citing the most popular reason people weight train. And that is...it makes us look good. Ya, we all wanna be healthy. We all wanna be stronger. But let's get serious. More than anything...we wanna be hot and sexy. It's okay to admit it. We might as well lay it all out there. Well, if you wanna be hot and sexy, weight training will certainly help you with that. For reals.
Weight training causes HUGE changes to happen to your body, inside and out. Nothing else will tighten you up, pull in your fat, and make you look smaller than weight training. NOTHING. It can actually change your body shape and tone and sculpt every inch of you. I honestly used to have a flat ass. Even when it was huge and wide, it was still flat. Now, my butt is rounded and lifted. It is simply amazing.
Before I go further, I want to get one thing straight. I need to banish a long-standing misconception right here and now.
MUSCLE AND FAT ARE TWO COMPLETELY DIFFERENT THINGS. ONE CANNOT BECOME THE OTHER. Ever.
You hear people say things all the time like "I need to turn some of my fat into muscle" OR "Oh, he let himself go, all his muscle turned into fat."
Muscle cannot turn into fat and fat cannot turn into muscle. They have never and will never be the same thing. You must understand this so that you can understand the science behind losing weight and building muscle.
Muscle is active tissue that is constantly burning calories all day long. However, fat is just stored energy. It just sits there and does nothing. So once you start weight training and see differences in your body such as more definition in your arms or tighter legs, that is not your fat that has hardened or tightened! That is muscle that you have toned and built.
Okay, I've convinced you. My words have resonated within you. You have never read such inspiring and compelling words before this and are ready to dive into the world of weight training. Ya ya, whatevs...throw me a bone, would ya? Alright, let's get to it.
How do you start?
{This article contains affiliate links. See bottom of page for details.}
HOW DO YOU WANT TO WEIGHT TRAIN?
There are many forms of weight training. Free weights, weight machines, home gym systems, medicine balls, resistant bands, kettlebells, body resistance, etc. You need to figure out which one you want to try first.
{You can check out my kettle bell workouts HERE. }
The absolute easiest forms to start with, in my opinion, are dumbbells and body resistance.This is why. First of all, they are the cheapest options. Secondly, they are the most straight forward and simplest forms of weight training.
You would just need a set of 3 lb, 5 lb, and 8 lb dumbbells to start with. You could grab them individually or in a set. And as for body resistance exercises, well..uh, you're just using your body, so no cost at all there. That shiznit is completely free, so you can't argue with that!
The most popular or maybe I should say the most recognized form of weight training is using a weight bench or gym equipment. The problem with this for beginners is:
It's much more expensive and it's most likely you don't have this equipment at home already.
Most people who are out of shape and embarrassed of that fact, don't want to go to the local gym to weight train for all the world to witness the wiggly jiggly (not to mention the money thing again, gym memberships can be pricey).
With a lot of exercises, you need a spotter. This makes quick and easy workouts more difficult if you have to rely on someone else to help you out.
This seems to be the most intimidating form of weight training to many beginners.
Okay, so you picked how you want to weight train. Now what?
Well, how often do you want to weight train? Weight training 2 days/week is a good place to start. Once you get more acclimated, you can bump that up a little and shoot for 3x/week. But here's the thing...
You need to work each muscle group 2-3 times/week, BUT you mustn't work the same muscle group two days in a row.
This is why.
Rest days are JUST as important as workout days. It is in these periods of rest that the muscles grow. The days you are weight training, you are actually causing damage to the muscles (this is not a bad thing, just part of the process). It is when the muscles repair and heal during the rested state, that they grow stronger and bigger. This healing occurs on your rest days. If you over train, your muscles will stay in a state of disrepair and will not grow and it will become a wasted effort. And come on, ain't nobody gots time to be wasting time.
A lot of beginners will design one workout that targets ALL of the muscle groups and will perform this workout 3x/wk, perhaps on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. This is a good strategy and a good place to start if you are a true beginner. As you get further into your weight training program, you will want to design more advanced workouts where each workout targets a specific muscle group. But start small and build from there.
HOW DO I KNOW WHICH EXERCISES TO DO?
Good question. Well, let's operate on the assumption that you are a true beginner and you will be following an all encompassing workout that hits all muscle groups. You'll be working up to doing this regimen 3x/week. Form your workout by including at least one exercise from each major muscle group. This will usually workout to be about 8-10 exercises. Your eight major muscle targets are: Chest, back, shoulders, biceps, triceps, quadriceps, hamstrings, and abs. You can always add more, particularly to a muscle group you want to focus on. But keep it simple at first.
Once you have a list of 8-10 exercises, this is called a set. When you perform all of the exercises once, the whole way through, you have completed one set. As a beginner, just start with doing one set. This is just until you get the feel of what you're doing. It will take a couple workouts to get the hang of things. It will be in these first workouts that you will be learning to master form, feeling out how much weight/resistance you need, and becoming more comfortable in general with weight training. You'll tweak it as you go, it won't take long. You will want to build up to three sets (going through your list of exercises three times).
After the first week or so, add a second set, then add the third set a week or so after that. Go at your own pace, you'll know when you're ready to move forward.
Now, when you are performing each exercise, you will have to perform reps. For example, let's say your very first exercise in your workout is a chest fly. You will have to perform a certain number of chest flies in a row before you move on to your next exercise. These certain number of chest flies are your reps. Moreover, if you do 10 chest flies, you are doing 10 reps. So how many reps should you be doing for each exercise?
How many reps you perform depends on your goals. Here's how you decide:
Do you want to tighten your body and lift that ass of yours?
If so, you will want to complete 12-15 reps per exercise with lighter weights.
This will give you a sleek muscular definition and your body will look sculpted and tight. This is the most plausible option for people who want to lose the most amount of fat.
Do you want to build strength?
If so, you will want to perform 8-12 reps per exercise with moderate weight.
This will help your muscles grow faster and you will become stronger than you would with the first option of higher reps/lower weights. This is the most plausible option for people who have lost most of their weight and now have a new goal of obtaining even more lean muscle mass and building true strength. This will keep the metabolism stoked and burn mad calories even during sleep to help you maintain your weight.
Do you want to start bodybuilding, grow some mega muscle, and possibly even compete?
If so, you will want to perform 6-8 reps per exercise with heavy weights.
Low reps with heavy weights will build a lot of muscle. Very low reps will help you achieve more of 'the bulk' that a lot of people talk about. This is the most plausible option for people who do not want to lose weight and are interested in building some serious muscle.
The easiest way to think of how many reps you need is this:
LOWER REPS = STRENGTH BUILDING
HIGHER REPS = WEIGHT LOSS
Important note:
You will want to lift your weights until failure. In other words, you want to make it so that when you get to your last rep, it is physically the last rep you can perform. Yep folks, there's gonna be some grunting and groaning by the time you get to that last rep. It's okay... keep them neighbors guessing ;)
Remember, you want to damage the muscle. You want to tax it until it is too fatigued to perform even one more rep. In your tweaking stage, you will figure out which weight you need through trial and error.
VERY IMPORTANT WEIGHT TRAINING TIPS:
1. WARM UP:
Do 3-5 minutes of some light cardio before you begin your workout. Perhaps jog in place while swinging arms. You can also do an ultra light set of your planned exercises. This will warm up every actual muscle that will be involved in the full strength version. Warming up prevents injury. You mustn't work cold muscles. You can't go from watching COPS one minute to banging out dead lifts the next. Give your body a little warning.
2. USE PROPER FORM:
If you do not practice proper form, you will not only be risking injury but you will also run the risk of NOT targeting the intended muscles. Make sure to stand up straight AND to engage your abs in each and every exercise.
3. DON'T USE JERKY OR SWINGING MOVEMENTS:
Weight training is all about slow, precise, and controlled movements. You should be lifting AND lowering the weights slowly. If you are distorting your body and have to look like you're having some sort of seizure to perform the exercise, that should be a heads up that you are doing it the wrong way. If you find you cannot perform an exercise with slow and controlled movements, chances are you're using too heavy of a weight.
4. DON'T HOLD YOUR BREATH:
You need to breathe properly. Resist the urge to hold your breath. Exhale as you are performing the exertion part of the exercise. Inhale as you are performing the resistance part of the exercise. For example, if you are doing a bicep curl, you would exhale as you lift the weights up and inhale as you slowly drop the weights back down to starting position. Your body needs the oxygen. Don't go turning blue and getting light-headed. And if you are about to die on rep #1 and feel like you can't breathe, um, well...slow down killer. Again, chances are you're using too heavy of a weight.
5. CONTINUE TO INCREASE YOUR WORKLOAD:
As you get stronger, it is vital that you change the workout. You can do this by increasing the amount of weight, switching exercises, and/or changing the amount of reps/sets. Being consistent about changing things up will avoid plateaus. Reaching a plateau isn't actually a bad thing. It means your body has reached the state of Adaption, meaning it has become stronger and more efficient and has adapted to what you wanted it to do. It is your body telling you that you need more. This is to be expected and if you don't reach a workout plateau, something is wrong. I personally change my workouts once a month. I always want to keep my muscles guessing and growing. It sucks sometimes because when your workout gets easier, it's a nice change of pace. But you gotta buck up and be honest with yourself because an easy workout isn't doing anything for you. It's really just a big waste of your precious time.
HERE ARE 3 BEGINNER WEIGHT TRAINING WORKOUTS. EACH USES A DIFFERENT FORM OF RESISTANCE.
Please Note:
These were some of my very first YouTube videos back in the day so please forgive the grainy and basic videography. At the time when I made these videos, YouTube was cutting off anything over 10 minutes. For that reason I move quickly through the exercises, much more quickly than I would've liked. Please keep in mind when you are doing these workouts, you are NOT to rush through the exercises. Take your time and focus on your form.
Warning:
Please talk with your doctor before starting any new fitness regimen.
BODY WEIGHT RESISTANCE WORKOUT
12-15 Reps for each exercise (for maximum weight loss).
SQUATS
LUNGES
PUSH-UPS (REGULAR)
BICEP PUSH-UPS
TRICEP DIPS
BICYCLE CRUNCHES
CALF RAISES
DUMBBELL WORKOUT
12-15 Reps for each exercise (for maximum weight loss).
SQUATS
LUNGES
TWO-ARM CHEST FLY
ONE-ARM BENT OVER ROW
FRONT SHOULDER RAISE
TRICEP EXTENSION
BICEP CURLS
AB TWISTS
RESISTANT BAND WORKOUT
I am using this elastic band set in this video
12-15 Reps for each exercise (for maximum weight loss).
WATER SKI SQUATS
HAMSTRING CURLS
ONE-ARM CHEST FLY
BACK ROW
LATERAL RAISE
ONE-ARM PREACHER CURLS
TWO-ARM TRICEP KICKBACK
KNEELING AB CRUNCH
STANDING AB TWISTS
CALF RAISES
Here's a convenient FREE PRINTOUT of all three workouts for you!
You can find more workout videos at halfofgabby on YouTube.
You can do this! Weight training is NOT hard! It's so much easier than you think. Get started today! You won't believe how much better you feel in just a few weeks! Tighten up that bod and chase your sexy down like a dirty dog!
““ In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own.””
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Related Links Below:
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/women-weight-training-metabolism.html
http://www.askmen.com/sports/bodybuilding/bodybuilding16.html
*The information on this site is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. All content in this article is for general information purposes only. I am not a doctor, nor am I a dietitian. Talk to your physician before making any changes in your diet or exercise regimen. The information found in this article is from various sources which include, but are not limited to, the sites listed above. I encourage you to do your own research and talk with your physician before making any changes in diet or exercise. What has worked for me may not work for you. This information in this article or on this website should never replace or serve as medical advice.
NEVER DISREGARD PROFESSIONAL MEDICAL ADVICE OR DELAY SEEKING MEDICAL TREATMENT BECAUSE OF SOMETHING YOU HAVE READ ON OR HAVE ACCESSED THROUGH THIS WEB SITE.
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