Prada, Gucci, Christian
Dior, St. Lauren and Chuck Taylor are just some of the names I hear when I ask
my female friends (or listen to Uptown Funk) what it means to look
good. But if I followed this standard myself, I would probably end up the impeccably
well dressed trainer living in a van down by the river.
If you are like me, and
you lack the fundage to invest in a million dollar closet (or you just want to
look better in your clothes), what we can do is invest in a body which rivals
the same standard. This is done through a specific set of tools (or strength
exercises) which get the absolute most out of your body in the least amount of
time.
Today's post goes out to
all of my female clients who have ever feared they will
get "too bulky" if we add weight to exercises or lift heavy
objects in the gym. Does this perception actually have merit and which strength
training exercises actually do build the body of your dreams (versus looking
like AHnold)?
I must admit
that I have been a bit guilty of feeding in to these perceptions
when I ask them if they would like AMAZING results like these:
But the truth is that
this is only done to break up the monotony of doing 50 burpees and it would be
hard, if not impossible, for a female to gain this sort of muscle by natural
means.
On the other hand, there
is certainly truth to the statement that females can pack on significant bulk
with strength training done wrong. What I see most often are women training
exactly like men by bench pressing, squatting heavy, and doing walking lunges
across the gym with the form on a drunken elephant (if this applies to you,
understand YOU do not look like an elephant but your lunge may!)
As stated above,
exercises are merely tools to do a job and after training hundreds of figure
and pageant competitors, strength training for the female physique is all about
building muscle in the right places to accentuate a tiny waist line, sexy
shoulders, toned arms and a butt that just doesn't quit. And yes,
I probably think about this waaayyy to much.
With this in mind, I am
going to give you the three most effective exercises I know. So throw
out the biceps curls and spending hours in the gym and perform this routine 3
days per week for 30 minutes to build that million dollar body.
Directions:
- Perform each exercise back to back for 8-10 reps. Repeat circuit three times.
- If you can do more than the allotted rep range, add 5lbs and start over or add additional reps.
- Rest 60 seconds between each exercise.
- With each workout, you should be able to make your exercise a bit harder by either adding weight or reps. When you begin to plateau for 3 sessions or more, simply change to one of the variations listed below.
1. Overhead press:
Area worked: Shoulders
Exercise tweaks: If
shoulder pain exists with going overhead, choose the corner barbell press or
shoulder raises below the level of the chest.
Variations:
- Barbell overhead press
- Corner barbell press
- Dumbbell alternating overhead press
- One arm dumbbell overhead press
2. Deadlift
Area worked: Butt
Exercise Tweaks: Watch
this video on proper deadlift form and begin with the sumo deadlift
until maxing out the dumbbells at your gym. From there, I will usually progress
my clients to the barbell RDL and end up with the barbell sumo deadlift. The
barbell floor deadlift is the most physically stressful of our bunch, but you
can also elevate it on plates or steps to lessen the range of motion if back
exists in the back or form breaks down.
Variations:
3. Chin up
Area Worked: Back
Exercise Tweaks: A
strict chin up is a thing of beauty but takes a bit to get there. Watch
this video on chin up progression and begin with band assisted chins
and eccentric slowly reduce the size of the band until you are able to do
a full chin up unassisted.
Variations:
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