One of the biggest questions I get asked during my consultations with women is what are the best exercises for women to lose fat?
Although this question comes mostly from women I know it is also a concern for many men. Most people take up an exercise program because they want to look better or they are finally ready to do something about their clothing not fitting right. I would also hope that women are also concerned about the benefit of preventing heart disease, lowering cholesterol, and increasing their cardiovascular health. One of the biggest factors in shortening the life of women all across the world is heart disease. Having a good exercise and nutrition plan can help eliminate this from your future.
When creating an exercise program for a female client who wants to lose fat I must take several factors into account. Do they have kids? What type of work do they do? What is their medical history? Women who are after fat loss are usually extremely busy taking care of their kids, husbands, taking care of the household, or working fulltime. One thing I have learned in my 20 plus years of Fitness Coaching is that most women take on a lot of responsibility taking care of those around them but do not take care of themselves. That needs to change!
After getting a brief medical history I will dive into program creation. When creating a program for a woman who is after fat loss I will generally make sure to make 60% of the program focusing on cardiovascular exercise. Bringing your heart rate up to 85% of your maximum heart rate (220-age=maximum heart rate) will not only allow for the client to burn more calories but will also increase their level of fitness. This in turn will help their cardiovascular system with the ability to handle more stress and may eliminate the possibility of heart disease later in life.
Starts off by choosing cardio equipment that you enjoy doing. Maybe start off on a treadmill then move on to an elliptical. Once your fitness level gets better then you may want to move onto the step mill. The key to burning the most calories is to choose an exercise that uses most of the major muscle groups. Big leg movement or a mix of upper body movement and leg movement usually work best. You should work up to sustaining 85% of your maximum heart rate for 40-50 minutes.
One thing that women cannot forget is to include some type of resistance training into their fitness program. Unfortunately there are a lot of women out there that do not perform resistance exercise for fear of getting “too big.” Well I am here to tell you that this will not happen! It really takes a routine that is designed to produce major muscle growth for a woman to build big bulging muscles. So please do not use this as an excuse for not training with weights.
What I like to do is schedule a resistance program for women that utilize several muscle groups at the same time. For instance I may include squat presses in to the program. The way to perform this exercise is to use a set of dumbbells and place them in a shoulder press position. Then squat down keeping the dumbbells at shoulder height. Then while reaching the top of the squat (standing up) press the dumbbells overhead. By performing the squat-press you are using the full complement of your lower body (quads, hamstrings, glutes) during the squat portion and your deltoids, triceps, and back muscles during the press portion of the exercise.
You can vary this by doing lunge presses or squat arm curls. Either way if you allow your creative juices flow there are many different exercise variations that will allow you to use multiple muscle groups in each exercise. For women to lose fat they must not resist exercising with weights.
I think another big problem for women to lose fat is to come up with an exercise program that is easy to follow, is short in duration, and utilizes multiple muscle groups. Creating these types pf programs can be very confusing. There are so many different exercising programs that it can become overwhelming. That is why I have started an Online Fitness Coaching program that is affordable and gives detailed video and text descriptions that are easy to understand. You will have a Fitness Coach right there with you every step of the way. Check out how you can sign-up for a FREE trail by contacting me through the form below!
If you are ready to get started why not try my FREE Fitness Challenge the Leg and Butt Blaster Challenge!! Sign-up today!
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1 Comments
Tracee
Awsome article and straight to the point. I am not sure if this
is actually the best place to ask but do you guys have any thoughts
on where to get some professional writers? Thanks 🙂