Yoga for Female Fitness

If you’re a relative newbie to yoga, don’t be scared - you are about to embark on an amazing health and fitness journey.

For women, yoga is a very good workout technique to try for a variety of reasons. For one, it can help you focus and manage your stress levels, making it easier to cope with day to day activities, a high-pressure job or other stressful events.

Of course, yoga can also help to alleviate a variety of health problems and symptoms; add muscle tone and increase flexibility, as well.

Many pregnant women also find that yoga poses designed specifically for use during pregnancy can help relieve typical pregnancy symptoms like morning sickness!

While there are many physical benefits to participating in yoga exercises, women should also be aware of the mental benefits as well. Not only can yoga help reduce stress, anxiety, and physical sickness/pain, it can also help you become more in tune with yourself and your body.

Over the next couple of weeks, I will be introducing a variety of Yoga poses, articles and information to help you learn the basics of yoga. I hope you’ll join me on this journey, and if there’s anything in particular you’d like to see covered please let me know!

Sets and Reps - Long or Short Rest Periods?

People don’t think enough about the amount of rest needed in between sets. Different amounts of rest are needed for a strength workout vs. a mass building workout. The same goes for the amount of pause in between each rep. Doing non-stop reps affects your muscles in a much different way than pausing a second in between each rep. Let’s address how rest affects the outcome of your workouts.

[She makes resting look sexy!]

The Principle of “Cumulative Fatigue”

Have you ever heard of cumulative fatigue? I’m surprised it isn’t addressed more often in the bodybuilding world, because it is crucial to gaining muscle quickly. I am not into gaining excessive muscle so I do my best to avoid this when working out. Basically cumulative fatigue is taking short rest periods in between sets, so that the muscle isn’t fully recovered before hitting the next set. Each set builds upon the previous set. If the rest periods are too long, then less fatigue occurs. If your goal is to build a muscle, then you need to fatigue it with a high volume of sets. Shorter rest periods maximize the fatigue and as a result it creates a great condition for muscle growth to occur.

High Tension NOT High Fatigue for Muscle Definition

Muscle definition is maximized when strength is gained without a corresponding increase in muscle size. Think about that for a second…what must occur if you get stronger without getting bigger? Well…the muscle has to contract harder. True lasting muscle tone is a result of an efficient nervous system…getting stronger without getting bigger. An example of this type of muscle tone is an Olympic gymnast. They need to have very efficient muscles, not large muscles.

Rest Longer in Between Sets to Generate Maximum Tension

Since you are not striving for maximum fatigue while training for tension, you can rest a bit longer in between sets. When lifting for maximum tension you want your nervous system fully charged up to deliver strong impulses to the target muscle. Feel free to rest up to 3 minutes in between sets to generate high tension in the muscle. Note: You probably don’t need to rest a full 3 minutes in between sets. The first few sets of an exercise, you may just want to rest a minute or two. Just let your nervous system rest a bit to charge up for the next set. I sometimes rest up to 3 minutes in between my last set or two on a day I’m lifting heavier than normal.

Cumulative Fatigue Occurs In With “Reps” as Well!

A bodybuilder typically does reps in a non-stop fashion. Each rep builds upon the previous rep and fatigues the muscle. The ideal set for building mass is when a muscle fails around the 6-12 rep range. Bodybuilders often will do forced reps to fatigue the muscle even further. Another reason bodybuilders like to do continuous reps is that it creates a “pump” in the muscle as well. The combination of creating a pump and fatiguing the muscle is ideal if building muscle mass is your goal.

Pausing In Between Reps for Maximum Tension

If you pause for a brief moment in between reps, you allow your nervous system to charge back up a bit. This slight moment of rest allows you to contract the muscle a bit harder for the next rep than if you did a continuous set without rest. You can almost think of a each rep as a separate entity when training for maximum tension…the reps really aren’t building upon each other like in a typical mass building set.

High Tension Training Feels Different Than Fatigue Training

When I first began doing high tension training, I left the weight room and barely felt like I got a good workout in. My muscles didn’t feel tired and they weren’t really pumped up. They actually felt energized to a certain extent. Also…I didn’t get sore the following day, or the day after that. This type of training feels nothing like what a typical lifting session feels like. The great thing is that you have a ton of energy to “kill it” with cardio. You will also get stronger at a surprising rate without getting bigger.

Brief High Tension Training & Intense Cardio…a Killer Combo

Since muscle fatigue isn’t part of the equation in high tension training, you don’t have to worry about a high volume of sets and reps. To be honest, you can work a muscle group well with a 6-10 total sets. Even with slightly longer rest periods, your workout should be pretty brief. This will give you more time and energy to really burn some calories doing intense cardio. This additional cardio is going to strip away body fat to reveal the dense and toned muscles created by high tension training. This creates a very impressive physique that is extremely defined without being bulky or “puffy” looking.

Note: Circuit Training and Turbulence Training have short rest periods, but use a different energy system than resistance training for mass in the 6-12 rep range. These types of training methods are basically a way of doing interval training with weights vs sprint intervals on a treadmill. They create the same boost in metabolism and HGH increase that a typical HIIT routine would on a piece of cardio equipment. These training methods are used to get lean, not build mass.

Mind and Body Fitness for Lifelong Good Health

Mind and body fitness? Many people who want to get into shape don’t realize there is more to fitness than well-toned muscles. There’s no shortage of exercise regimes that just promote the perfection of the body, or the idea of fitness as a part of a weight loss plan.

Centuries ago, Western culture lost its focus on the interconnectedness between the body and the mind or spirit, and how each has the power to affect the other. Cultivating a love of movement can help you get beyond the concept of physical fitness as separate from mental fitness – and toward a lifelong program of good health through mind and body fitness.

Whether you choose yoga or another form of movement for exercise, remember that our bodies are made to move to feel good. So when you incorporate regular activity in your life, you’re moving closer to overall mind and body fitness. But if you are overweight, this can be more difficult. You can improve your mind-body connection for better mind and body fitness – it’s just important to choose realistic fitness options.

You might consider redefining exercise as any activity that unites your mind and body and reduces your stress level. In fact, high levels of stress have been linked to weight gain, and certainly can lead to emotional eating. Finding activities that are both enjoyable and easy to do is important when developing any type of exercise plan.

It’s important to be realistic about what we expect from ourselves. Consider your goals. Is 30 to 60 minutes on a treadmill a reasonable time frame at this point in your life? Are you setting yourself up for failure or success when you create this expectation for yourself? Would it be more enjoyable to you to do some stretching and a shorter period of time on the treadmill?

Developing an exercise plan that fits your lifestyle and your desires is critical. Surprisingly, long-term weight loss is linked more closely to whether a person sticks to their fitness routine than to what that routine actually consists of. A routine that is gentle and pleasurable is more likely to lead to the long-term gains you are seeking.

All-or-nothing thinking about exercise leads us to first bite off more than we can chew and then give up all together. Just walk into a gym in the month of January and try to get on a Stairmaster. There’s a good chance you’ll have to wait in line. But by March or April, there are usually plenty of free machines.

It is also important to tailor your fitness goals to your preferences. Some people like the idea of getting out of the house in the evening and going to the gym. Others prefer staying home and doing a quieter exercise routine after the demands of a stressful day. Either approach, or a combination of the two, can result in improved mind and body fitness.

What is critical is for you to come to know yourself and to take yourself seriously. If you like to be home in the evenings, find things to do in your home or consider an occasional walk with friends or family. If you crave the company of others, head for the gym. Think about what would please you most, and follow your inner voice.

Many people who are preoccupied with food and body issues tend to pay too much attention to the needs of others, while paying too little attention to their own needs. While you may intend to benefit your children with their countless activities, the added stress can cause an imbalance within your family. Can you take a look at your schedule (or your family’s) and reschedule some time for yourself? What would it be like to say no?

Long-term weight loss can take time. And we can get demoralized when we don’t see immediate results. But remember that maintaining an exercise routine is associated with physical as well as mental well-being. Where has our focus on the numbers on our scale gotten us? Some would say it has taken us to more harsh thoughts, more bingeing and grazing on food, and, ironically, less fitness rather than more.

It may be that the best exercise you can do right now is to throw your scale into the garbage. Focus on how you’re feeling with your exercise routine. Is it something you enjoy and can maintain? Is it reducing your stress level and allowing a connection between your mind and body? If so, you’ll probably keep it up, and fitness of mind and body and spirit will be yours.

Don’t forget how important it is to see your physician before starting any type of exercise routine, and to following his or her recommendations. So try to be gentle with yourself and realistic about how to proceed.

There is tremendous confusion in our society about how to approach health and fitness. You may have tried losing weight before and failed. But consider the possibility that we as a society have not failed at dieting and weight loss. Rather, dieting has failed us as an effective tool for fitness.

Remember that fitness of mind and body belong together, and that exercise is very narrowly defined in our society. So redefine exercise as any activity that reduces stress and connects your mind and body. You’ll be more likely to continue your exercise plan and achieve the outcome you’re looking for.