Because I want to always keep you motivated and ready to have the best workouts for women (duh) here are some fun facts on women’s strength training plus some other things I think are worthy of your reading!

Pick up some weights today!

• It takes just 2 weeks of high intensity training to increase metabolism significantly.
• 30 min to 2 hours of exercise per day can cut breast cancer risk by 1/3…
  
• 73% of Americans say they don’t want a more balanced diet because they don’t want to give up their favorite foods
• Recent study in Preventative Medicine showed that just lifting weights for four weeks caused a 3% drop in cholesterol… 5% in LDL
• By 2030 its estimated that 83% of American adults will be overweight or obese
• Without cutting out any calories, the average women can decrease her body fat by 3% in just 10 weeks (this may sound like a small number, but 3% is quite significant).
• women typically don’t gain size from strength training because women have 10 to 30 times fewer muscle building hormones that cause muscle hypertrophy than men.
• Increase spinal bone density by 13% in just 6 months with strength training
• Americans are spending more than $150 million on products related to weight loss. Interestingly, most of these products have no medical backing and little to show by way of proven results.
  
• Only 21% of women partake in strength training workouts

We are on vacation right now visiting family in Philidelphia, it’s been great so far except for one thing… within minutes of walking in the door I was informed that the diet I am so used to will pretty much go out the window this week… BOO.

It’s not terrible but when you are used to eating a certain way, and I am used to a very clean diet then little changes throw my body off. What the heck am I talking about?

Well, I have no protein so my normal breakfast is out the door. No whey souffle for me, its all about Grapenuts.

Desserts, we don’t want to hurt our hosts feelings even though they do know we don’t eat lots of sweets but after dinner we were taken for a walk to get homemade ice cream, sure it was good but as I am typing my stomach is yelling at me.

And lots of other changes- different breads, no organic all-natural peanut butter, no skim milk, but what we do have is a great line up of meals! This is my week to relax and I have decided to stop worrying and just enjoy the olive bread (awesome by the way) and the carb filled breakfasts.

I did not have a good day in the gym. I don’t know if I am just tired or what the deal is. But when it came time to do my walking lunges/good morning superset I couldn’t clean the bar to get it behind my head!

The thing is it’s the same weight I have been doing for a week with my g’mornings so there was no excuse. After the third attempt I just improvised instead of putting myself at risk for injury. The rest of the workout went by fine.

It pisses me off when I have days like this because I make sure that each workout is improved from the last. Whether that means 1 more rep, 5 more lbs or a combination. I just felt like I was at a standstill with the barbbell and no matter how much I gave it the stare it came out winning.

I also think it’s my body telling me to chill out. I am so glad its Friday so I can rest and get up to speed for Monday. And after next week my body can look forward to a few days off or atleast lighter days as I will be on vacation!

My cardio of choice is interval training; or HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training). It’s great for blasting calories… blasting a lot of calories; burning fat and keeping your muscle right where you want it. Which isn’t what I can say for the typical steady state endurance cardio which burns your muscle away to keep you going.

Just one idea… 2.5 hours of interval cardio workouts for women is equivalent to 10.5 hours of steady state (going the same speed) cardio. I don’t know about you but I have a life! I am all about the 2.5.

So here’s the interval I did yesterday that killed me…

Min 1-3 warm-up with light jog

Min 3-4 recovery speed (light running pace 4.4-6.0 on treadmill).

Min 4-5 Sprint (run as fast as possible)

Min 5-6 recovery job

Min 6-7 Sprint

Keep this pattern up until you reach 20 minutes then walk or slow jog for 5 minutes of cool down.

And trust me… you’ll sweat, your legs will ache and your abs will be sore the next day!

If you’re tired of just walking in to the gym and doing the same old 3 sets of 1o exercises then change it up! You should be changing it up every 4 weeks anyways to keep your body changing and fitting it’s urge to plateau.

Pyramid workouts are great for a change. It’s one of the best workotus for women that is directed to strength gains.

Pyramid Workouts Kick Butt!

Sure you’ll burn fat and gain some muscle size but the biggest benefit is the amount of weight you will be able to lift after 4 weeks.

What Is A Pyramid Workout?

Yes, it is still 3 sets of an exercise but each set is at a different intensity. The first set should be a lighter weight which you can do for 8-10 reps (no more than 10), then rest and move the weight up so you can only preform 6-8 reps, rest and move up AGAIN… performing the final set at a heavy weight only hitting 4-6 reps.

If you can reach the upper part of the rep scale then that is a indicator that it’s time to up the weight to really push and get better gains in the gym.

This isn’t the only way for pyramids, you can also go backwards… from the heavier, more intense set back to the third being the lower weight. I prefer this because you get the harder part done with but when you get to that last set you still have to push yourself rediculously because your fibers are exhausted!

Heck yea knowing how to read nutrition labels is important escpecially of you are trying to eat healthy, live healthy and look amazing! It doesn’t just take having the best workouts… it’s also about the best nutrition.

Reading Nutrition Labels

There is not denying the fact that the women that follow great nutrition habits AND have great workouts look the best! And I can pretty much guarantee that these ladies look at nutrition labels when they shop.

Reading labels really takes practice. You don’t want to stand around the store staring a the back of a box of cereal, not really know where to look for certain things or what to look for. But once you get the hang of it you’ll just glance and know if it’s a good item or a put back item.

Ok… so what should you look for on nutrition labels?

Calories (don’t go crazy here though, but keep it reasonable)

Serving size… if it’s 500 calories and there is 2 servings but you know you would eat the entire item then that’s potentionall 1000 calories and that means a NO GO!

Fats… Mostly check to see for transfat and saturated fats. Go with the items with ZERO trans (or if it has hydrogentated listed in the first few ingredients that is a red light for trans fats) and choose the item with the least amount of saturated.

Carbs… but only if you’re counting them is this important. Just make sure you’re choosing whole grains and complex carbs. No sugary white stuff.

Sodium… keep it low, sodium is responsible for adding a puffiness to you. Keep it under 2400 mg of sodium per day, or about 1 teaspoon of salt.

Ingredients… Say no if you see these nasty words/phrases… high-fructose corn syrup; hydrogenated fat or oil; nitrides (found in processed meats like hotdogs and lunch meats) and pretty much any other words that you can’t pronounce (meaning it is processed and has preservatives and chemicals added).

To get you ready and comfortable for shopping I suggest grabbing a few items out of your pantry and practing on these nutrition labels to get a feel of what it is you need to pay attention to!

I changed up my workout this week to be a full body workout, and I went from lifting 4 days a week to lifting 3 days a week. The end result from my change?

My ass is killing me! As are my calves and my triceps… basically I just hurt all over! At least when I was doing upper/lower body splits it was just one region of my body in pain but now it’s total body pain!

It’s worth it though because I know i zapped a ton of calories and confused my body!  I needed a new change and this is perfect. I just hope I am feeling well enough to lift tomorrow (I lifted yesterday). I hate when my butt is sore because you can’t get around it… you have to sit to go to the bathroom, you feel the pain standing up, you feel the pain walking…

It is just one pain in the butt!

I am getting ready for a 5 K series… basically I am doing 4 5 K’s next month and I am really excited, well except for the fact that I live in Charleston, SC and during the summer months it is 95 degrees (or hotter) and the humidity makes it feel more like 115 degrees!

The 4% Incline Of Our Bridge is KILLER

So needless to say I have stayed indoors for my workouts but I have to aclimate my body to get used to being out in the heat (the runs are at 6 pm, still in the 90’s)… So I am going to start working out outside 1 or 2 days a week with these:

The Best Exercises For Outdoor Workouts:

(all of these are geared to increasing my endurance and speed)

• Interval sprints (50 yards sprint, 50 yards jog…)
• Squat and Lunge Jumps
• Push ups/burpies
• Hill Runs (up our beloved Cooper River Bridge as seen in the picture)
• Stadium runs at the local high school

Now obviously I won’t do all of these at one workout but a few at each 30-45 minute workout will kick my butt!

I get this all the time…

“Does it matter if I workout in the morning or evening?”

Who Cares... Just Get To The Gym!

The truth: workout when you can. Scientifically, there is some proof that working out in the morning helps pump up your energy for the day, and burns more calories throughout BUT really it doesn’t matter much and you shouldn’t stress if your morning is hectic and the only time you can get to the gym is 7:00 pm.

Workout when you can workout! Thats the message that I am driving home! Only 21% of women strength train, and more and more Americans are becoming Obese all the time, so just working out is helping you stay fit and healthy AND keeping you in the small % of healthy people.

So really just remember keep your workouts as a scheduled part of your day… whether its morning, lunch time or after work just working out regularly deserves a pat on the back!

Ever look over in the corner, spot your stability ball and wonder… what else can I do with that thing? After all kids see them as the coolest thing ever! So what other stability ball exercises can you do to take it up a step, going past the normal crunches and jack knives, and yoga poses…

Well, I came across these two videos and thought you might like them.. these guys had the same thoughts. They were bored and instead of just walking away decided to basically put their lifes on the line (at least risked a concusion) to show off their skills. A

And by the way ladies, I don’t recommend doing these stability ball exercises (atleast not by yourself)!

Stability Ball Squat (actually doing a squat on a stability ball):

Balance Training Stability Ball Jumping:

If you have any videos that you’d like to share just let me know! And I’ll put it up asap! I always love suggestions and all the other women here at Best Workouts For Women love to see what you have.