Women's Fitness

           “Ryan, you are a man.” Yes. Technically. I’m not much of one but I am a man. “So, does your program work for women?”

           First of all “Hello” to all the ladies reading this blog. Hi, both of you!

           As far as I am concerned, muscle is muscle. Men are genetically stronger and women have a different center of gravity but building a bicep muscle is identical if you are male or female. As long as you stick with the hypertrophy theories (explained earlier), then you will be absolutely fine.

           I see ladies at the Wellness Center all the time that come in, hop on the cardio machines for an hour, and then head back out. It makes me want to scream. If cardio was all it took to get a perfect body, then everyone would just come in and just do cardio. I am afraid it just doesn’t work that way. Scientific evidence is piling up enough to create a small mountain, all touting the health benefits from lifting weights – for both men and women.

           I have talked to women in the gym, telling them that they need to do more “clanging and banging.” I have even joked that if they will get on the bench rack with me, I will get on the cardio machines with them. The answer I am given is almost always the same. “I don’t want to get all big and ‘muscley’.”



This is not achieved through cardio alone

           My response to this is always the same. “I have been doing this for over a year TRYING to get big and ‘muscley’ and I cannot do it.” You are not going to turn into She-Hulk by doing one set of bench presses or concentration curls. But if you want that butt like [insert pop star name here], you are not going to get it on the treadmill. You are going to get it in the squat rack.

           Now, just to show you why I am right on this one and to prove this is not just my personal opinion, I will throw a medical sounding fact your way as well. There is a thing called your Basal Metabolic Rate which is how many calories you would burn if you just laid in bed all day. The average BMR is 72 calories per hour. Multiplied by 24, that means… carry the one… denominator, you average person burns 1,728 calories in the course of a day. The more muscle you have, the higher your BMR is. So the more muscle you develop means the more fat you burn in the course of a day. And that is 24-hour, ‘round-the-clock burning, not just the amount you burn while working out.

           This reinforces my belief that the more success you get, the more success you want, and the more you develop, the more success you are going to see. So yes, ladies, the answer is get clanging and banging. And as you will see, bodybuilding is not about throwing around 100-pound dumbbells. I always go heavy for my first three circuits that begin my workout but then it begins to shift to more sculpting exercises that actually work with less weight. It goes back to an earlier article where not all bodybuilders want to be ‘roided out gorillas.

            And if you want a booty like that pop star, you gotta get off the Stairmaster and get under a barbell. Many people avoid the weights because they can be intimidating. Don’t let this stop you! Most of my sculpting exercises involve light weight to develop a total physique.

           Those are the key words: Total Physique. It is an all over program and you get that by performing a blend of cardio and resistance train. Lifting weights are basically the anti-Borg. “Resistance is not futile.” Resistance is the key to success.