The Ultimate Fitness Plan for Women

The Ultimate Fitness Plan for Women
If you want a fitness plan for women that builds lean, “toned,” sexy bodies, then you want to read this article. If you’re like most women, you want a very specific type of body. You want to be lean but not too skinny (and most definitely not “skinny fat“). You want a toned upper body but don’t want to look like a “bulky” weightlifter. You want a flat, defined stomach. You want tight, shapely legs, and last but most definitely not least… You want that perfect, gravity-defying butt. Well, you–yes, lil’ ol’ you–can have all these things. Seriously. You don’t need top-shelf genetics or a lifetime of training to look like a million bucks. You have to know what you’re doing, though. Forget what the fitness magazines have told you–you don’t become a “goddess” through starving yourself and doing an unconscionable amount of cardio. Instead, you need to take a completely different approach. And believe it or not, a much healthier, more enjoyable, and sustainable one. In this article, you’re going to learn exactly what that approach is and how to build the body of your dreams. If that gets your attention, then keep reading, because we’re going to start with what you most definitely shouldn’t be doing… The Worst Fitness Plan For Women If you follow the bulk of mainstream fitness advice for women, you’re almost guaranteed to wind up skinny fat. Here’s what I’m talking about: Little weightlifting (and no heavy weightlifting) Long (2+ hour) workouts 6 to 7 days per week Sounds familiar? And what do you think you get when you subject yourself to this tortuous prescription? Misery. Tired all the time…hungry all the time…dreading your workouts…daydreaming sensually about bingeing on carbs…counting the days until you can finally live again… It sucks. That’s not all that sucks, though. Even worse is what happens to your physique. You’ll lose weight, of course, but you’ll also lose a considerable amount of muscle. And the more muscle you lose, the worse your body begins to look even at a low body fat percentage. What most women don’t know is just how different low body fat levels look with and without good muscle development. For example, check out the following pictures: Whose body would you rather have? Most women would choose the second…and would be surprised to learn that both of these women have about the same body fat percentage. What makes the second more attractive, though, is muscle mass. She has significantly more. You see, muscle is what gives you curves, shape, and tone when you’re lean. Without adequate muscle, the best you can hope for by lowering your body fat is something best described as “scrawny.” Here’s another striking example: Can you guess her weight in each of these pictures? Would you guess…the same? Well, that’s the transformative power of improving body composition instead of just obsessively “losing weight.” When you reframe your goals in terms of losing fat and gaining muscle, you open the door to real progress. That’s how you build a killer physique. So…the question isn’t if you should gain muscle, it’s just how much. For example, I’ve worked with thousands of women and the look most want (athletic, lean, and defined) requires they gain 10 to 20 pounds of muscle and reduce their body fat percentage to the 15 to 20% range. Your numbers will ultimately depend on how you want to look. If you want to be healthy, lean, and athletic, you probably don’t need to gain more than 10 pounds of muscle and go any lower than 20% body fat. If you want to look like a bikini competitor, though (like the girl above), you’re going to need quite a bit more muscle and quite a bit less fat. The “sweet spot” for most women seems to be around 10 to 15 pounds of muscle gained and 17 to 18% body fat. This is where you look both feminine and fit and it’s also a look that can be maintained year-round. So, now that we’ve dispelled some myths and located true north, the next question is…how do you actually get there? It’s pretty simple, actually. Lift a lot of heavy weights. Don’t do too much cardio. Use a moderately aggressive calorie deficit to lose fat. Balance your “macros” properly. That’s it. Let’s take a closer look at each point. Doesn’t Heavy Weightlifting Make Women “Bulky”? If that question is bouncing around in your head after reading my list above, I understand. I’ve spoken with many, many women that were afraid that any type of serious weightlifting would turn them into an NFL linebacker. Well, it doesn’t work like that. Even remotely. In fact, if there’s one lie that prevents women from getting the bodies they desire more than any other, it’s the claim that heavy weightlifting makes them “bulky.” The idea seems plausible at first blush. Boys train with heavy weights because they want big, Hulk-like muscles, right? So why would women, who want long, lean, “toned” muscles do the same thing? Crossfit hasn’t helped the matter, either, which many women think is representative of what heavy weightlifting does to the body. Well, a quick Google search of “Crossfit girls” serves up stuff like this: And that’s enough to make most women swear on their children to never, ever do a heavy squat, deadlift, or overhead press in their lives. “Whatever I do…I don’t want to look like that,” they say. Well, if that was your first thought, I have good news for you: It’s much, much harder to look like that than you probably know. You don’t hit the gym every day and wake up one morning, look in the mirror, and scream in horror. It takes the right genetics and many years of training and eating like a barbarian…and in many cases, steroids as well. That said, there are still many women seriously into weightlifting that don’t look like that but are still bulky enough to give you pause. Well, here’s the reality: Heavy weightlifting doesn’t make you bulky–being too fat does. Harsh, I know, but let me explain. First, a question: would you consider the following woman “bulky”? Probably not, right? Well, you might be surprised at how much different her body would look if she gained 15 pounds of fat because she has a lot more muscle than the average woman. Her legs would lose their sleek lines. Her core would bulge and grow. Her arms would fill out like sausages. The reason for this is simple: When you gain fat, the majority accumulates inside and on top of your muscles, so the more you have of both, the larger and more formless your body tends to look. Thus, a rule of thumb for women that want to be lean, toned, and defined: The more muscle you have, the leaner you have to be to avoid looking bulky. For example, a woman with little muscle might feel rawboned at 18% body fat and comfortable at 25%, whereas a woman with a significant amount of muscle will probably love how she looks at 18% but feel downright YUGE at 25%. This is why I mentioned earlier that most women I’ve worked with are happiest when they’ve gained 10 to 15 pounds of muscle and dropped their body fat percentage to about 18%. The muscle gives the shape and the (relatively) low level of body fat lets it shine. What “They” Don’t Want You to Know About Cardio Honestly… How many marathon runners do you see with enviable bodies? Probably not many. Sure, you have the outliers, but on the whole, people that do a lot of endurance training look rather unimpressive. This is a direct result of how they exercise and it shows you exactly what you don’t want to do in your workouts. So, if you think you have to sacrifice your life to a treadmill or Stairmaster to look great, you don’t. Unfortunately, most women don’t know this. They think that cardio is the key to losing weight and getting fit. Ironically, research shows that this guarantees little in the way of weight loss (even when you do quite a bit). In fact, studies have found that you can just wind up fatter as a result, mainly by negating cardio’s already meager weight loss benefits by unconsciously eating too much and/or reducing other forms of physical activity. Hence the throngs of overweight people in your gym slaving away on the cardio machines, wondering why they’re still not losing weight. Doing large amounts of cardio has another downside: it can result in a fair amount of muscle loss. As you know, this only makes it harder to get the body you really want. So, should you just forget cardio altogether then? Some “experts” would say yes, you should use only weightlifting and proper calorie restriction to lose fat. While they’re right in telling people they don’t have to do cardio to get and stay lean, I disagree that it should be shunned. When done properly, I believe cardio is worthwhile. It can burn quite a bit of energy and thus appreciably speed up fat loss (and especially when combined with weightlifting and with certain supplements as well, which I’ll talk more about soon). What constitutes “proper cardio,” though? Well, if you want to maximize fat loss and minimize muscle loss, high-intensity interval training is the way to go. (And if you’re not ready to jump into the deep end yet, start with walking.) Thou Shalt Not Starve Imagine… You have the lean, sexy body you want and you maintain it by eating foods you like every day, including treats normally considered off limits. You never feel starved or deprived and thus rarely feel the urge to binge or even overeat. You do this for the rest of your life and live happily ever after. Okay…I’m no raconteur but this isn’t a pipe dream. Millions of women are living it right now and you can too. Repeat after me: You don’t need an eating disorder or tapeworm to be lean and happy. You can eat more than you probably think. Not only that, you can eat many more types of foods than you probably think. In fact, no foods are off limits. That said, if you want to lose fat, you do have to eat less energy than you burn (and not so little than you lose muscle and/or impair your health). The key to all of this is knowing how to regulate your caloric and macronutrient intake based on your total daily energy expenditure and lifestyle and food preferences, which I explain in detail here. The Ultimate Fitness Plan for Women If you’ve made it this far and are eager to learn more, I highly recommend that you read my book Thinner Leaner Stronger. It will break down everything you need to know in terms of diet, training, and supplementation to build your best body ever. That said, I want to leave you with an action plan that will prove that the strategies I’ve laid out in this article work for you. So here we go. Do the weightlifting workouts below every week for 8 weeks. If you would like to do cardio to lose fat faster, use this article to determine how much you should do (and what kind). Now that you know how much exercise you’ll be doing, use this article to work out your dietary numbers. Once you have your numbers, use this article to work out a meal plan that will work for you. Use this article to track your progress. Watch your body transform. Yup, it’s really that simple. Here’s the weightlifting workout: DAY 1 CHEST & CALVES Incline Barbell Bench Press 3 light warm-up sets 3 sets of 4 to 6 reps (8 to 10 reps if you’re new to weightlifting) Incline Dumbbell Bench Press 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps Flat Barbell Bench Press 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps Optional: (Train your calves if you want more defined calves. Don’t if you don’t.) Standing Calf Raise 3 sets of 4 to 6 reps Seated Calf Raise 3 sets of 4 to 6 reps If you can’t do dips, find out whether your gym has an assisted dip machine. If it doesn’t and you still want to do 3 more sets in your workout, you can do 3 sets of flat dumbbell presses. DAY 2 LOWER BODY & ABS Barbell Deadlift 3 light warm-up sets 3 sets of 4 to 6 reps (8 to 10 reps if you’re new to weightlifting) Barbell Squat 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps Barbell Row 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps One-Arm Dumbbell Row 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps 3 to 6 Abs Supersets (Do the following 3 sets back-to-back to complete one superset.) Cable Crunches 1 set of 10 to 12 reps Captain’s Chair Leg Raise 1 set to failure Air Bicycles 1 set to failure If you have lower-back issues, remember that you can swap the deadlift for a more lower-back-friendly variation like the sumo or hex deadlift, or you can replace it with an exercise like the T-bar row. If you can’t do pull-ups or chin-ups, you can use a machine that assists you. If your gym doesn’t have one, you can do dumbbell rows instead. DAY 3 SHOULDERS & CALVES Standing Barbell Military Press 3 light warm-up sets 3 sets of 4 to 6 reps (8 to 10 reps if you’re new to weightlifting) Side Lateral Raise 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps Bent-Over Rear Delt Raise 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps Optional: Standing Calf Raise 3 sets of 12 to 15 reps Seated Calf Raise 3 sets of 12 to 15 reps DAY 4 ARMS & ABS Barbell Curl 3 light warm-up sets 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps Close-Grip Bench Press 3 light warm-up sets 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps Alternating Dumbbell Curl 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps Seated Triceps Press 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps 3 to 6 Abs Supersets Cable Crunches 1 set of 10 to 12 reps Captain’s Chair Leg Raise 1 set to failure Air Bicycles 1 set to failure DAY 5 LOWER BODY Barbell Squat 3 light warm-up sets 3 sets of 4 to 6 reps (8 to 10 reps if you’re new to weightlifting) Leg Press 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps Romanian Deadlift 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps Hip Thrust 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps That’s it–just 9 to 12 heavy sets for each workout with some optional additional sets if you feel you still have energy in the tank. Rest 2 to 3 minutes in between each heavy set and 1 minute in between the bodyweight sets. This will give your muscles enough time to fully recoup their strength so you can give maximum effort each set. Once you hit the top of your rep range for one set, you move up in weight. For instance, if you get 10 reps on your first set of squats, you add 5 pounds to each side of the bar for your next set and work with that weight until you can squat it for 10 reps, and so forth. I guarantee that if you do this workout and eat right for the next 8 weeks, you’ll be very happy with how your body responds. What About Supplements? I saved this for last because, quite frankly, it’s far less important than proper diet and training. You see, supplements don’t build great physiques–dedication to proper training and nutrition does. Unfortunately, the workout supplement industry is plagued by pseudoscience, ridiculous hype, misleading advertising and endorsements, products full of junk ingredients, underdosing key ingredients, and many other shenanigans. Most supplement companies produce cheap, junk products and try to dazzle you with ridiculous marketing claims, high-profile (and very expensive) endorsements, pseudo-scientific babble, fancy-sounding proprietary blends, and flashy packaging. So, while workout supplements don’t play a vital role in building muscle and losing fat, and many are a complete waste of money…the right ones can help. The truth of the matter is there are safe, natural substances that have been scientifically proven to deliver benefits such as increased strength, muscle endurance and growth, fat loss, and more. As a part of my work, it’s been my job to know what these substances are, and find products with them that I can use myself and recommend to others. Finding high-quality, effective, and fairly priced products has always been a struggle, though. That’s why I took matters into my own hands and decided to create my own supplements. And not just another line of “me too” supplements–the exact formulations I myself have always wanted and wished others would create. I won’t go into a whole spiel here though. If you want to learn more about my supplement line, check this out. For the purpose of this article, let’s just quickly review the supplements that are going to help you get the most out of your efforts to build muscle and lose fat. Creatine Creatine is a substance found naturally in the body and in foods like red meat. It’s perhaps the most researched molecule in the world of sport supplements–the subject of hundreds of studies–and the consensus is very clear: Supplementation with creatine helps… You may have heard that creatine is bad for your kidneys, but these claims have been categorically and repeatedly disproven. In healthy subjects, creatine has been shown to have no harmful side effects, in both short- or long-term usage. People with kidney disease are not advised to supplement with creatine, however. If you have healthy kidneys, I highly recommend that you supplement with creatine. It’s safe, cheap, and effective. In terms of specific products, I use my own, of course, which is called RECHARGE. RECHARGE is 100% naturally sweetened and flavored and each serving contains: 5 grams of creatine monohydrate 2100 milligrams of L-carnitine L-tartrate 10.8 milligrams of corosolic acid This gives you the proven strength, size, and recovery benefits of creatine monohydrate plus the muscle repair and insulin sensitivity benefits of L-carnitine L-tartrate and corosolic acid. Protein Powder You don’t need protein supplements to gain muscle, but, considering how much protein you need to eat every day to maximize muscle growth, getting all your protein from whole food can be impractical. That’s the main reason I created (and use) a whey protein supplement. (There’s also evidence that whey protein is particularly good for your post-workout nutrition.) WHEY+ is 100% naturally sweetened and flavored whey isolate that is made from milk sourced from small dairy farms in Ireland, which are known for their exceptionally high-quality dairy. I can confidently say that this is the creamiest, tastiest, healthiest all-natural whey protein powder you can find. PHOENIX Fat Burner With the weight loss market valued at a staggering $60.5 billion and more than one-third of U.S. adults obese, it’s no surprise that there’s a glut of “fat burners” for sale these days. And for the same reasons it’s also no surprise that fat burners are some of the most expensive supplements on the shelves and feature some of the loudest marketing claims, often making big promises of “scientifically proven” rapid fat loss. The reality is most “fat burners” are junk but there are a handful of natural, safe substances that have been scientifically proven to accelerate fat loss. And that’s why I created PHOENIX. PHOENIX’s caffeine-free formulation is helps you burn fat faster in three different ways: It amplifies the power of fat-burning chemicals produced by your body. It increases the feeling of fullness from food. It accomplishes this through clinically effective dosages of several ingredients, including… Synephrine. This increases both basal metabolic rate and lipolysis, inhibits the activity of certain fat cell receptors that prevent fat mobilization, and increases the thermic effect of food (the “energy cost” of metabolizing food). Naringin. This stimulates the production of a hormone called adiponectin, which is involved in the breakdown of fat cells, and that it activates a type of receptor in fat cells that regulates fat mobilization (the PPARα receptor). Through these mechanisms, naringin also works synergistically with synephrine and hesperidin to further accelerate the basal metabolic rate. Hesperidin. Like naringin, this also stimulates the production of adiponectin and activates the PPARa receptor. It also improves blood flow and reduces the inflammation of blood vessels. Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). This inhibits the activity of a different enzyme also responsible for breaking down neurotransmitters that induce lipolysis. It has also been shown to reduce abdominal fat in particular. Forskolin. This increases blood plasma and intracellular levels of a molecule known as cAMP. When cAMP is high, it signifies a lack of ATP (the most basic form of cellular energy in the body) and thus initiates a process to make more ATP by burning through energy reserves (body fat). Research has show that supplementation with forskolin accelerates fat loss and increases testosterone levels. And more… The bottom line is if you want to lose fat faster without pumping yourself full of stimulants or other potentially harmful chemicals…then you want to try PHOENIX. Pre-Workout Drink There’s no question that a pre-workout supplement can get you fired up to get to work in the gym. There are downsides and potential risks, however. Many pre-workout drinks are stuffed full of ineffective ingredients and/or minuscule dosages of otherwise good ingredients, making them little more than a few cheap stimulants with some “pixie dust” sprinkled in to make for a pretty label and convincing ad copy. Many others don’t even have stimulants going for them and are just complete duds. Others still are downright dangerous, like USPLabs’ popular pre-workout “Jack3d,”which contained a powerful (and now banned) stimulant known as DMAA. Even worse was the popular pre-workout supplement “Craze,” which contained a chemical similar to methamphetamine. The reality is it’s very hard to find a pre-workout supplement that’s light on stimulants but heavy on natural, safe, performance-enhancing ingredients like beta-alanine, betaine, and citrulline. And that’s why I made my own pre-workout supplement. It’s called PULSE and it contains 6 of the most effective performance-enhancing ingredients available: Caffeine. Caffeine is good for more than the energy boost. It also increases muscle endurance and strength. Beta-Alanine. Beta-alanine is a naturally occurring amino acid that reduces exercise-induced fatigue, improves anaerobic exercise capacity, and can accelerate muscle growth. Citrulline Malate. Citrulline is an amino acid that improves muscle endurance, relieves muscle soreness, and improves aerobic performance. Betaine. Betaine is a compound found in plants like beets that improves muscle endurance, increases strength, and increases human growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor 1 production in response to acute exercise. Ornithine. Ornithine is an amino acid found in high amounts in dairy and meat that reduces fatigue in prolonged exercise and promotes lipid oxidation (the burning of fat for energy as opposed to carbohydrate or glycogen). Theanine. Theanine is an amino acid found primarily in tea that reduces the effects of mental and physical stress, increases the production of nitric oxide, which improves blood flow, and improves alertness, focus, attention, memory, mental task performance, and mood. And what you won’t find in PULSE is equally special: No artificial sweeteners or flavors.. No artificial food dyes. No unnecessary fillers, carbohydrate powders, or junk ingredients. The bottom line is if you want to know what a pre-workout is supposed to feel like…if you want to experience the type of energy rush and performance boost that only clinically effective dosages of scientifically validated ingredients can deliver…then you want to try PULSE. What do you think is the best fitness plan for women? Have anything else you’d like to share? Let me know in the comments below! I'm Mike and I'm the creator of Muscle for Life and Legion Athletics, and I believe that EVERYONE can achieve the body of their dreams. If you like what I have to say, sign up for my free newsletter and every week I'll send you awesome, science-based health and fitness tips, delicious "diet-friendly" recipes, motivational musings, and more. THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE HAVE USED MY BOOKS TO BUILD THEIR BEST BODY EVER. WILL YOU BE NEXT? If you want a "paint-by-numbers," step-by-step blueprint for building a muscular, lean, strong body...faster than you ever thought possible...then you want to check out my bestselling books. Here's a little sneak peek of what you'll learn inside... The 7 biggest muscle building myths & mistakes that keep guys small, weak, and frustrated. (These BS lies are pushed by all the big magazines and even by many trainers.) How to build meal plans that allow you to build muscle, lose fat, and get healthy with ease…eating foods you love (yes, including those deemed “unclean” by certain “gurus”)…and never feeling starved, deprived, or like you’re “on a diet.” The 5 biggest fat loss myths & mistakes that keep women overweight, disappointed, and confused. (These BS lies are pushed by all the big magazines and even by many trainers.) An all-in-one training system that delivers MAXIMUM results for your efforts…spending no more than 3 to 6 hours in the gym every week…doing workouts that energize you, not wipe you out. A no-BS guide to supplements that will save you hundreds if not THOUSANDS of dollars each year that you would’ve wasted on products that are nothing more than bunk science and marketing hype. And a whole lot more! The bottom line is you CAN achieve that “Hollywood body" without having your life revolve around it. No long hours in the gym, no starving yourself, and no grueling cardio that turns your stomach. My book will show you how. Get it today and let’s build a body you can be proud of. Original article and pictures take http://www.muscleforlife.com/the-ultimate-fitness-plan-for-women/ site