A healthy body is the guest-chamber of the soul; a sick, its prison. Francis Bacon
Female Fitness: Special Considerations for Active Women
For female athletes and fitness gurus out there, heeding to popular advice about diet, energy, and even supplemental needs as they pertain to your level of fitness may not actually be in your best interest. In regards to gauging what your body needs in response to the physical stress of exercise, the needs of you, as a woman, are not the same as they are for men. To anticipate and address your needs as a female fitness guru, make sure the information you seek speaks directly to your needs not only as an active person, but also as a woman.
Common Pitfalls
It is probably a given that most women exercise to live healthy lives, decrease their risk of certain diseases, also to boost their self-confidence. But another reason that a lot of women become active is to lose weight. Active women who adapt low calorie diets to lose weight need to be aware that if their caloric intake is too low they are putting themselves at risk not only for vitamin and nutrient deficiencies, but also for stress fractures, low energy levels and the disruption of their menstrual cycles. Healthy female fitness should include adequate energy intake, which varies from person to person. Make sure your meals are timed around your workouts, allowing you enough time to eat a meal or snack before you hit the gym. The key to optimal fitness as a female is appropriate energy intake.
In regards to strength training for female fitness, a common myth that women often fall prey to is the notion that using added weight for resistance exercises will cause a substantial gain in muscle mass. Many people believe that using lighter weights with fewer repetitions is the best way to tone up the female body without bulking up, but the truth is that in order to increase your overall strength youre better off gradually increasing the weight youre using for your exercises. As long as youre mixing strength training and cardiovascular exercises you wont bulk up without an excess of caloric intake.
Carbohydrates
Even if youre not taking in a high number of calories each day to add muscle weight, many women use sports drinks, gels, bars, powders, etc. to supplement their workouts. While these products can be a very convenient way to meet your energy needs before and after a workout, women still need to pay attention to the content of the products theyre using. Recent trends in female fitness information seem to send the general message that consuming carbohydrates is bad, and ramping up your protein consumption is more conducive to becoming leaner. But your body needs carbohydrates before and after exercise, more so than it needs protein in that period of time. Not consuming enough carbohydrates before or after exercise will impair your bodys ability to recover from exercise, and to perform in the future.
Muscle And Fitness Magazine
abs
blackadder74 posted a photo:

Every year people make plans to loose weight, eat right and exercise but, invariably it fails without even reaching half way through the goal set; did you ever wonder why and what you can do to ensure this year your diet and fitness workout will deliver results.
You need to train your entire body for good fitness, and your muscles are included in that. If you end up grabbing a drink just to have something cold, start keeping a pitcher of water in your fridge. Besides the fact that you can bond with your family by exercising together there are a large variety of training courses to choose from group to individual classes depending on your individual needs. With good equipment, modern facilities, and even tanning, you should check Anytime Fitness out. If you feel that you cannot trust yourself to make and an honest to goodness assessment of your physical condition, you should ask a fitness expert to make an assessment of your present physical condition.
|