Women and Weights

"I want muscle, but I don't want to bulk up, so I don't lift weights." WHAT???? Do you honestly think her physique came from cardio alone???

If that's the case someone has clearly misguided you. Lifting weights WILL NOT bulk you up if you are doing it the right way. Most women have the misconception that weight lifting is for men and bodybuilders. It is far from true. That myth needs a stop put to it & I'm here to help you understand that lifting weights, the proper way will not bulk you up.

I started working out 4 1/2 years ago. I began by becoming a cardio junkie & becoming accustomed to the rush of adrenaline I got from a nice 45-60 minute, workout that had me breathing hard and my heart rate high enough where I could feel the blood flowing through my body. Were weights a part of my routine? Nope. Was I wondering why I wasn't seeing muscle develop in my body? Yep. Better believe it. I wasn't satisfied. I was burning myself out daily believing that all I needed to incorporate into my workout routine was proper nutrition & cardio. Boy was I wrong, but so very elated that I took time to research what I was doing wrong in order to get what I wanted. 

Turbo Jam was great for me. When I found it, I began to not only keep cardio as a part of my routine, but also get strength training in as well. Chalene Johnson, the celebrity trainer who got me to enjoy my workouts, finally helped me realize what I was missing from my workouts for so very long. By tuning in and listening to her advice, I was finally on the track I wanted to be on instead of constantly burning myself out & wondering why I wasn't getting the results I wanted. 

For years I have heard from so many women "if you lift weights, you'll bulk up & look like a man." Goodness if I could kick the old me in the ass for not realizing the truth when I should have! No joke. However, I won't say I'd take it back. It was a learning process for me. Not only did I discover for myself that I wouldn't bulk up lifting weights, but I was finally able to slow way down & build the lean muscle mass I wanted.

In 2009 Beachbody released a program called ChaLEAN Extreme, the creator of course being Chalene Johnson, whom I looked to as a hero and still do. I of course was all over this program, considering Chalene had taught me that is it necessary to strength train if I was going to develop the arms, legs, glutes & back I wanted to get. I started using the program the day it arrived at my door on March 27, 2009. I had close to 40 pounds to lose & was not going to let anything stand in my way. Not only did I start a new exercise routine but I also began a new chapter in my life learning about nutrition and what kind of foods I needed to be eating to get me through the weight routines. No longer was a drive thru going to cut it. This was simple steps to cut out ALL the crap I had occasionally been eating & really focus on what was going to build my muscles.

I did it. After the first round of ChaLEAN Extreme (or as some call CLX) including 3 months of the Lean For Life phase where I put together workouts that would alternate with each other to get me into the best shape of my life, I lost 38 pounds and gained lean muscle mass. I was NOT bulky. In fact, by listening to Chalene, I learned and realized that FAT is bulky, not muscle. If you are building it the right way, you will develop LEAN muscle definition in your body and you will NOT look like a man. 

I have continued to lift weights. I will never stop lifting weights. If you are lifting heavy, slow & doing the right amount of reps, you will not bulk up. What a lot of women fail to realize is its MUSCLE that burns fat & you CANNOT properly gain muscle by doing cardio alone. You HAVE TO incorporate weights into your routine. From ChaLEAN Extreme to P90X, I have learned many different ways to build my muscle. I have more definition in my body than ever before. The clean, lean foods I consume help me make it through the tough workouts I do on a daily basis. My routine consists of weights, cardio, stretch, yoga, ab routines and rest. By incorporating all the components of fitness together, you will develop the body you have always wanted to develop. You will still get your adrenaline rush by lifting weights and you will also escalate your strength to help maintain a strong core which is what everyone needs to help prevent back injuries. Our core is what holds us together. Without the strength of it, you are weak & susceptible to injury. Learn to add weights into your workout regimen. You will be glad you did and finally realize that its ok to slow down with the cardio, stop working against your body by too much of it and enjoy the process of creating a strong and beautiful physique!

Knowledge Is Power When Applied

You're a beginner. You come into this world knowing nothing, but have the *necessary tool* to learn what you will need for life. Power; comes from the ability to learn, know & apply it to your life. When you begin something new, you have to be willing to apply everything it takes for you to focus and learn about whatever it may be. When you decide to do it, you will be equipped with the knowledge of how to do it and in turn create the results you are looking for.

We all desire to learn new things whether its sitting in a classroom, reading a book, watching a documentary, hearing a true story.......whatever it may be, the knowledge we gain from these things gives us the ability to apply what we need to accomplish whatever goals we have. When we use the knowledge, that is when the power comes into play. It works either for or against us depending on how we decide to use what we have gained. Learning only part of something creates chaos and inevitably ruins what you set out to do. Be careful in researching everything before you decide to apply something to your life.

My profession is to help people become healthy & fit using the knowledge I have gained over the years from having first hand experience with losses & gains and working with credible people. I have faltered and reached goals many many times because I didn't take the initiative to learn everything as a whole to begin with, and instead had to take losses on what I was trying to accomplish before I came to the realization that there was and ALWAYS IS more to be learned so I may benefit from what I am doing. Taking the fundamentals of exercise, nutrition, hydration, supplementation, rest, injuries, stretching & more are just SOME of the ingredients to becoming as healthy & fit as I possibly can. Not only for myself but if I am to help others, I need to inform them as well on what it is that needs to be done.

Every one's body composition is different. We need different foods, different supplements, certain amounts of water, rest, etc. Not one person has the same DNA or "Make Up" as another, even if you have a twin. Some people can strength train more than others & some can't. For some it causes more bulkiness & for others it helps lean them out and get the muscle definition they need. When it comes to cardio, not everyone loves it, some do. Cardio is important to any one person's workout regimen no matter how bad we may dread it. Everything fits as puzzle pieces in order to aid in our physical & mental growth. Nutrition is different for everyone because some people need thousands of calories due to being intense athletes & others not so much because of sedentary lifestyle choices. 

What we consume depicts what we will look like on the outside as well as inside. The very very first thing I tell people is "FITNESS BEGINS ON THE INSIDE." Period. No questions asked. If you do not fuel your body the correct way, & you are hitting drive thru after drive thru, it will reflect not only on the outside, but on the inside as well. Which in turn gives your doctor information about how you are really treating your body. If you want to be fit, inside and out, paying attention to the foods you eat and the liquids you drink play a crucial role everyday. Take the initiative to learn the difference between clean & dirty foods. Notice what the nutrition labels are telling you when you purchase something. The front of the item can be made to catch your eye & make you think what you are getting is great. Turn it around, read & learn.  

The point of this blog is to give you insight about why knowledge is power when its applied. You can have all the knowledge in the world, but if you don't apply it, what good does it do for you or anyone else? Whatever it takes, learn everything you can & keep learning. Its the only way we can grow both mentally & physically.

A Comprehensive Health Plan

Rome wasn't built in a day. That's what just resounded in the background of my home. Its one of the truest statements that cannot be argued. The same goes for our bodies. We were not created in a day. It took 9 months if not longer for some. Why? Because its a solution as a whole. We have to have every part of ourselves properly developed in order to be able to fully function when we come into this world. Just as Rome had to be completed in order to be considered a functioning city. So what does this have to do with health & fitness you might be asking? Good question. Its what I'm here to address. So here we go.

Your body. Structured to keep you functioning on a day to day basis. Composed of a skeletal structure & muscle to support us. Covered in skin to protect our insides. Functioning in all areas for multiple purposes from the eyes to movement. We need every part to fully function as we were intended to. Well exercise & nutrition balance each other the same way. Its a complete system of combined elements that work in sync to get us to where we want to be. Nutrition, Hydration, Exercise & Supplementation. 4 of the compounds that make us lean, help us stay healthy, build muscle, helps with our cardiovascular health, keep us energized naturally & hydrated so we don't dehydrate. We need every last bit of the equation for it to work for us. 

So why can't I eat what I want & do crunches or run everyday & get the results I want? First of all, if you aren't applying the correct elements of becoming healthy from the inside out, your body just won't respond. Sure for 30 days you might do most of the same thing 80-90% of the time & lose a couple pounds, but then it stops. Why? Because your body has become immune to what you are doing on a daily basis. It knows you aren't gonna change your routine or eating, hydration & supplement habits so its no longer challenged. There's no muscle confusion like Tony Horton has taught so many people. Even still I have people on these fabulous workout programs who won't see results because they refuse or are just uneducated about how to incorporate all the ingredients of becoming healthy & fit, even if its staring them in the face. 

All of us who get involved in health & fitness start from scratch. We come into this like babies beginning to walk not knowing everything we need to know immediately because its too much. So how do we do it? What steps do we take to learn how to become healthy & fit? We research. We go through trial & error by experimenting for ourselves. Sometimes we don't listen to what is being said to us by professionals, even if we know deep down they are telling us these things for our own good. There is a cycle if you notice & it consists mostly of trial & error for ourselves. 

Whether we see it or not, at the time we become upset, some give up, become depressed & figure its not worth it. What we don't realize is during that process of finding what does & doesn't work, we're learning very important aspects of health & fitness. We are learning it as a whole & realizing that we need every single aspect of it to become successful & get the results we want. That should be the driving force for us not to give up because one thing didn't work. It should build us up to become stronger so we can teach other people about what works for or against the body. Everyone is different. But one thing is for certain, what you put into your body, from food to hydration to the supplementation, it MATTERS. Our bodies cannot & were not created to process all this manufactured junk that's been created. None of this stuff was around hundreds of years earlier. Everything was natural, from the earth & better absorbed by the body because none of the food was butchered with High Fructose Corn Syrups, sugars, fats & more. It was grown & consumed straight from the earth. Our fertilizers & the chemicals in soil these days are killing even our fruits & vegetables. We now have to be careful when we buy those & be sure to wash them thoroughly to avoid any contamination. Which is one of the very reasons I incorporate Shakeology in my daily eating regimine. Its truly amazing and completely pure & natural. What I can't get from other foods, I can get from Shakeology.

The point of this is, you can't just do a quarter or half of the equation & expect the results you want. It all comes together the way gas makes your car run. Without it, you'll find us on the side of the road. If a tire blows out, it has to be replaced & the car is no good until it is. Well, if we blow out, because we choose to eat crap & drink sodas and high calorie sugar infested coffee & energy drinks, we have to replenish ourselves with water, clean food, vitamins & minerals to replace the nutrients we've lost to keep from dying out. We have to exercise our heart with cardio to keep it strong & healthy, we need to build muscle to support our bodies structure & maintain strong postures & we need stretch and Yoga to make gains in our strength. If you think that you can miss a few of these key elements to health & fitness, you're gonna miss out on what your body can really become, be disappointed & feel like you've wasted your time with any of it. 

Its one step at a time. Its one day at a time. Its one pound at a time. You'll get there if you are consistent, pay attention to what you consume, practice all elements of exercise, pick up books to read & ask questions. Don't be afraid to not know something about health & fitness. If you are new, ask people who know. Don't go through what most of us do when we begin & try to figure this out on your own. There is tons of support from people everywhere. Find your soul mate fitness program, create a healthy diet & make a choice to live the lifestyle as a whole. You will reap all the benefits & more if you take the time to apply all elements that make the equation work.