Female Workout Help

[_Kayla_]

Okay so I recently started using fitbit and so far have lost 13 lbs. It may sounds like a lot for some but I have a long way to go yet (just over 100 lbs). I know cardio is very important in losing weight and I have gotten back into jogging. I am hoping to slowly add a workout routine into my busy schedule too but don't want to build a lot of muscle, mostly just tone. I am not really sure where to start so I was looking for some help 🙂

[Jeroen]

The best way to lose weight is to follow a solid training system that targets weight loss. A system takes into account your entire lifestyle, workout, diet, sleep, and supplements. Why? Because all of these things affect your body's ability to change.

The key to weight loss is to change your metabolism. While it's easier to alter your metabolism through weight training than cardio, both will do it if the workouts are well designed. The word you're looking for to make this happen is intensity. By that, I mean you need to force your body to work in the anaerobic realm. Because your body depends on air to live, forcing it beyond its ability to breathe causes it to release performance-enhancing hormones to survive. When done consistently, these hormones change your metabolism.

Of course, you'll die if you stay in the anaerobic zone for too long, which is why you only do anaerobic work in short intervals. In between these intervals, your heart is working out aerobically to recovery. As long as the breaks between your anaerobic sets are strategic, you get a powerful cardio workout during every anaerobic workout. For example: circuit weight training—consisting of many sets to failure, with short breaks—is not only a great anaerobic weight training workout, but also a very effective workout for your cardiovascular system as well.

The next factor when it comes to boosting your metabolism and losing weight is recovering properly between workouts. This is why having a system is so important. Intense anaerobic training is stressful for your body. You need this stress to change your hormone balance, but if you overstress yourself, it will lead to problems in the form of overreaching and, if you do it too long, overtraining (both responsible for maladies from lack of results to injury or illness). A proper exercise program takes this into account by scheduling different styles of workouts next to each other to create a balance between intensity and recovery.

Your nutrition and lifestyle are very important for proper recovery. The better you eat, the faster you recover. Ditto for sleep. (I don't care how many episodes of Game of Thrones you need to catch up on.) Sleep is when your body produces its natural PEDs (performance-enhancing drugs). So get your shuteye!

[Dominique]

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@_Kayla_ wrote:

don't want to build a lot of muscle, mostly just tone.

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My understanding is it's really hard for women to get bulky muscles, even if they'd want to. As to "toning", it really means decreasing your body fat % so that whatever muscles you have become visible. This is primarily done via nutrition.

[_Kayla_]

Well no worries on cutting myself short on sleep, I am miserable without my 8-9 hours 🙂

As far as my current workout goes it really just has been mostly cardio. Before starting out I was lucky if I got a mile distance in my day. Now that I have been using fitbit I have increased my overall steps and distance and go to the track 3-4 times a week (usually a day in between, sometimes two days in a row but never more than that). I started out only being able to jog (very slowly) a half mile. Just a few weeks later I am already up to at least doing a mile on the days I go sometimes more (yesterday I pushed for 1.5 because it was going good). I know strength training is important and now that it has been about a month I want to start slowly adding it to my schedule but really just don't know where to start. I don't have the money for a personal trainer or anything so how do you suggest I find a workout routine that fits me?

[Dominique]

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@_Kayla_ wrote:

how do you suggest I find a workout routine that fits me?

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Sparkpeople has a lot of workouts that you can do without expensive equipments:

http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/resource_center.asp?id=33

[CRuff]

Very useful information Jeroen....thx

[annajwagner]

I used to do BodyPump regularly at the Y. I'm actually looking to start it up again as soon as I join a gym in my new city. It's high-rep, low-weight weight lifting with some cardio mixed in. I absolutely loved it and definitely saw great results in muscle tone and definition from just that. Had I combined it with more cardio, I likely would've seen even better overall results. I believe most Ys offer BodyPump, and other gyms probably offer a similar type group fitness class. 

[CAGIRL]

Cardio and weights will both be important in reaching your fitness goals. I would also focus on interval training. So, for example, I would run/jog in the mornings and then lift weights at night. Here is a video that will help establish a routine with arms.

http://www.popsugar.com/fitness/10-Minute-Arm-Workout-Video-22959099

[TandemWalker]

Ditto on interval training!

 TW  

[TandemWalker]

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@_Kayla_ wrote:

Okay so I recently started using fitbit and so far have lost 13 lbs. It may sounds like a lot for some but I have a long way to go yet (just over 100 lbs). I know cardio is very important in losing weight and I have gotten back into jogging. I am hoping to slowly add a workout routine into my busy schedule too but don't want to build a lot of muscle, mostly just tone. I am not really sure where to start so I was looking for some help 🙂

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Hi Kayla. Hasfit at http://hasfit.com/workouts/ has a whole series of videos of varying intensity and age groups. I like them a lot and best of all, it's all free. Many of their routines incorporate both strengthening (weights) and cardio.

TW

[CAGIRL]

Thank you. Until recently my workouts have lacked interval training. I feel stronger now that I'm doing interval training and I've noticed a difference in results as well.

[pinkpink]

Kayla congrats! your doing a great job

keep going ; nutrition is 80% of weight we lose and working out is 20%

i'd say to help don't be shy to do a strength class twice a week! you will not get bulky it will help ur metabolism

also. b careful to have the right pre and post workout snack for strength. this is will stop 'overeating' and encourage good healthy muscles to grow ❤️

(pre workout snack: yogurt w berries post workout: 1 scoop protein powder + ice) 

enjoy it have a good time! good luck

[CSB54]

I've been weight training heavy for 30+ yrs, my bulk is from FAT not muscle.  Before I let myself get fat, no way in hell I was too bulky.  Weighed 115 lb, 5'5".  I wish this myth about women getting bulky with weights would disappear!

[Tylluan]

You also don't need cardio 😉

Do it if you enjoy it, but if you find you enjoy strength training more, do more of that, and heavier.

[akinsfarms]

I can't believe the number of times I still see women say "I don't want to get bulky".  I thought that misinformation died out a long time ago.  My daughter wears a t-shirt "Strong is the new sexy".  At 48, I want all the muscle I can get.  I like to be able to eat!

[kelfran]

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@akinsfarms wrote:

 At 48, I want all the muscle I can get.  I like to be able to eat!

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Amen sister!  

[BurdsNest]

Great information that you supplied.  Was  very helpful to me because I follow the same guidelines.  I started my journey, July 2nd 2013 @ 166pds, and 5.'3".  Today with the proper diet, guidance, Weiht Watchers, cardio, weight training, high intensity training, and a whole lot of determination, I am a health 127lbs and a size 4.  My goal now is to maintain.......which is why I decided to join the "FitBit" Crew!  Something new, different and exciting.

I do have a question, I track my workouts and I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) as I look at my data, that I'm burning fat and calories in cardo, but I'm burning stored fat in my "fat burning" zone.  In cardio, my body needs the energy to keep up so it breaks down my carbohydrates which attacks the recent fat and calories. So.....which do I get the most bang for my buck?  Yes, I do realize that you can't stay in cardio where you are out of breath for a long period of time.  I run a mile a day on the treadmill before class and most of that is in cardio (which by the way I believe is attacking my belly fat) but I am mostly in "fat burning" zone when I'm toning of course.  One of my instructors agree that fat burning is where we want to be.  Agree?

[kaelarenee7]

Yoga and bodyweight exercises would be good to incorporate. I was in physical therapy for a back problem last year and a lot of the exercises that they had me do were yoga poses to strengthen my core. You can look up yoga poses and bodyweight exercises online and find some to do anywhere. They'll help build muscle too. As far as building muscle and becoming bulky from it, that's not really a thing that just happens. You have to be trying to gain a lot of muscle to end up bulky.

[BurdsNest]

It won't disappear until women stop assuming that they will bulk up when using weights.  Unless you are body building, you won't!  Let me tell you what using 12 pd weights did for me........I have Angela Basset arms when she played Tina Turner in "What's Love Got To Do With It"  And.....excuse my language.......my not so healhy pups are sitting up!  🙂

[Nick17]

A very simple rule to follow if you are just starting out with weight training is to do a knee dominant exercise (squat, lunge, leg press), hip dominant exercise (kettlebell swing, deadlifts), horizontal push (bench press), horizontal pull (rowing), vertical press (overheard dumbbell press) and vertical pull (pulldowns).

Start slow, maybe with one set of 10-12 reps, then go to two sets after a week, then 3 sets once you feel like you're in the groove.  If you can't afford a personal trainer, talk to other people who do strength train.