Are strength exercises in the gym good for girls?

For some reason, most of the fair sex, succumbing to stereotypes, still believe that doing physical work in the gym is only useful for men. Well, for women - only aerobics, shaping, or other types of fitness designed specifically for them. We hasten to dissuade you. This is a completely wrong position! And, despite the presence of all sorts of “advanced” techniques, there is still no better way to tighten muscles, get rid of subcutaneous fat and correct your figure than exercise in the gym. Slimness without various painful diets, strong muscles, excellent health - strength training will give you all this.

If you ask any girl why she doesn’t go to the gym, then with almost one hundred percent probability everyone will say that all women who perform strength exercises with weights look similar to men. Yes, in specialized bodybuilding magazines and on Internet resources dedicated to athleticism you can find photographs of female bodybuilders who resemble the stronger sex...

But, firstly, these are professionals who have dedicated their whole lives to this. They train several times a day, lead an appropriate lifestyle, eat a lot, and, naturally, use specialized pharmacological drugs. After all, testosterone, which is necessary for the growth of muscle mass, is practically absent in the female body. Therefore, they need to introduce chemicals into their bodies that block the release of the female hormone estrogen, and take artificial testosterone. This is where these monsters come from.

But you are not like that... Believe me, the classes we offer just a couple of times a week will not turn you into a slender girl like some Schwarzenegger or Sue Price (a famous bodybuilder who looks like a man). Even if you really want it! And what most novice gym goers take for strong muscle growth is actually not so. It’s just that microtraumas of muscle fibers occur during training. This is where the pain comes from. And in order to quickly eliminate these injuries, the body collects lactic acid around the muscles. Fluid is retained in the muscles, and they visually increase in size. But this is not scary at all, when you wake up in the morning, there will be no trace left of your “muscle growth”...

Sample women's program for beginners.

The program we propose is not a dogma. If you don’t like any of the exercises for girls in the gym, then you don’t have to do it. In any case, classes should be fun.

Very often, girls in the gym want to pay attention to the problem areas of their body. It is not right. All muscles should be developed proportionally. So that everything in your body is harmonious. The body itself will figure out where to remove and where to add.

It all starts with a warm-up. The muscles need to be warmed up and prepared. Blood flow should be activated. Work on the elliptical trainer or run on the treadmill. After this, we proceed to the elements of the main complex.

You can do squats with weights on your shoulders, but the leg press is much safer. This way you will not cause any damage to your knee joints. And the effectiveness of such a press is at least no lower. You lie in the machine and squeeze weights, straightening your legs. Movements should be smooth. Four counts for lowering and two for rising. We do 3 sets of 12 repetitions.

Another very effective “cure” for your feet. A cuff is attached to the lower block, which is put on the ankle. The weight of the burden should be 10 kilograms. No more. Now you should smoothly move your leg back so that tension is felt in the gluteal muscle. And return your leg to its original position. We do 3 sets of 12 repetitions on each side.

The effectiveness of this exercise is much greater than that of classic pull-ups. And if for an ordinary girl it is quite problematic to do pull-ups on the bar, then in a simulator with compensation, anyone, even a child, can do it. In the machine, you should set 30% of your weight, grab the handles and slowly rise and fall. We do 3 sets of 12 repetitions.

The most famous exercise, thanks to which the muscles of the chest, triceps and biceps are perfectly pumped. The technique is very simple: kneel down and place your hands on the floor. The angle between the floor and hands should be straight. Tighten your abs and, maintaining your posture, push up from the floor. We do 3 sets of 12 repetitions.

To complete the complex in the simulator, perform an ab crunch movement. We do 3 sets of 12 repetitions. Do 3 approaches as much as you can.

Classes should not be ended abruptly. After the complex is completed, do a few stretching exercises, pedal an exercise bike, or run on the treadmill. Such a smooth “cool-down” with good stretching helps to quickly remove waste products from your tired muscles, and increases their strength and elasticity.

This complex should be followed for the first month. Then it should be changed by adding a few new exercises.