Girl Power in the Gym!

I've had some pretty cool experiences while working at Physical Therapy and in my major of Exercise Physiology.  I was asked to share a few tips on what I've learned, and am happy to do so!  I was going to get into the fundamentals of activity, diet, weight loss, and basic exercise but for those who have heard it a billion times it's not going to be very beneficial.  So let's talk about something a little different - weight training.

Many women are a little leery of the "free weights" at the gym.  The thought of being surrounded by massive, grunting men IS a little intimidating, I admit. However, this can be very beneficial for any ladies in many ways:  tone up, increase bone density (reduce risk of osteoporosis), improve posture and stature, improve balance, improve immunity, improve rest and sleep, become stronger and just feel good!  So tell the boys to move over, you've got some iron to pump!

If you're on a tight schedule, don't stress about not getting in as many reps.  One repetition has actually been proven to give about 70% of the overall result (varies by type of training, I'll go into this more later).  Another helpful tip is to do multi-joint exercises.  These are exercises that cross a few major joints of the body at once such as hip, knee, and shoulder and because of this they work many muscle groups instead of just one.  Good examples of this are the squat or Olympic lifting such as the power clean or deadlifts (caution:  if you have never done Olympic lifting, it is best to work with a trainer the first few times to receive proper instruction and lower risk of injury).

Now I know, I'm a girl too, many women are afraid to lift heavy weights because they don't want to "bulk up" and become masculine.  I can tell you, do not worry!  We girls really do not have enough Testosterone in our bodies to get huge, manly muscles and so even high weights are only going to slim and tone. The women you see all greased up and massive in competitions are definitely on some major supplementation and not the result of normal training.  Lifting higher weight helps to tone faster and builds strength, rather than endurance.

Maybe you want endurance?  Here's a chart for training according to your goals, be it power, strength, hypertrophy (increased size), or endurance:

Goal	Sets	Reps	Weight	Rest period
Strength	2-6	Up to 6	Up to 85% of 1 RM	2-5 min
Hypertrophy	3-6	6-12	67-85% of 1 RM	30-90 sec
Muscular Endurance	2-3	Up to 12	Up to 67% of 1 RM	Less than 30 sec
Power (single)	3-5	1-2	80-90% of 1 RM	2-5 min
Power (multiple)	3-5	3-5	75-85% of 1 RM	2-5 min

1RM = the most weight you can do, one time.  Finding 1RM is not necessary, basically each of these should be done at a weight that with these reps you are tired and need help on the last one.  That's a pretty good guideline for which weight to choose.

When training, I do a brief warm up (3-5 min jog) and then start.  If you are too tired, your body will not perform the exercises as well.  If you want to do cardio, do it after lifting and the results of both will be better.  Also, to finish off- for everyday purposes, one of the best recovery drinks is good old chocolate milk.  It has the protein and carbohydrate that your body needs without breaking the bank on supplements.

I hope this was somewhat helpful!  Good luck!!