Hey Ladies, how’s it going at the gym? Are you getting the results you are hoping for? More often than not the percentage of male to female in the weight room is 15 to 2.
Here are some tips to be successful from Enell. Well the tips are really from my friend Holly Perkins – from her new book! Read on Ladies! She is awesome.
#1: You Don’t Even Show Up!
You’ve at least peeked inside the weight room, right? A mere 17 percent of women actually go in and work out; it’s an abysmally low number of women strength training. That number looks so much worse when you consider the wealth of health benefits waiting for you on the other side of those machines and you’re just throwing them away. In Holly Perkins’ new book Lift to Get Lean, she says you only need a minimum of two days a week of strength training to reap its vast benefits.
#2: You’re Intimidated
It’s not your fault though. “The biggest problem with the current landscape of women’s fitness is that men have dictated the rules of the gym,” Perkins wrote. Women don’t feel like they belong in that “bro”-centric environment, when the reality is women need to be there even more than men do. “You should feel confident about that,” she said. Learn how to use the machines (especially to suit your body and your goals) and walk in that weight room like you own the place. It won’t take you long to see the results and wish you’d shaken the fear so much sooner.
#3: You’re Not Strategic
“Women aren’t strategic or focused in their technique or execution of the moves the way men are,” explained Perkins, who says the few women who are in the weight room do so aimlessly and without purpose. However, when you have a strategy and work a program that tells you how many reps to do, how much time to spend, and when to rest, then you can effectively execute and benefit from a strength training regimen. Then you’ll see results, and when that happens, you’re more likely to stick to it!
#4: Your Technique is Way Off
Dude, you’re working out like a man! Not only has the environment in the gym been built around a man, but the methods for using the machines and even the set-up of those machines has been done so with a man’s body in mind. Most male trainers will tell their female clients to do a squat with their toes pointed straight ahead, which is difficult for a woman. Perkins tells her female clients to point their toes out toward 11 and 1. Now do that same squat; suddenly your hips and your pelvis are aligned in a way that your body can actually perform. “For every one-inch shift in direction in your body, there’s a change in your muscles,” she explained.
