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Weight training is the fastest way to shape your body and, unfortunately, the easiest type of training to do wrong. Normally men want to pick up the biggest weight in the gym and just move it regardless of technique, thinking, it’s the way to get big quick. In general, women use very light weights thinking they are some how over-night going to become muscle-bound.
The way to achieve the body shape you want is to use a reasonably heavy weight in a correct & controlled manor, regardless if you’re a man or woman. Muscles are on all of us in same place and need the same work to shape them.
To start it’s important to find a weight on each exercise that will challenge you without ruining your technique, if the technique is poor then really you’re wasting your time and a great deal of effort. When you start on a piece of equipment choose a weight, try to do the exercise 15 times (15 reps). If you found it easy and could have held a conversation while you were doing it or carried on for another 5 or so reps, too light! If by the time 10 reps comes along and you have to shorten the range of movement of the exercise, too heavy. Give yourself the time to find a weight that you can perform the exercise for 15 reps with a struggle to get there, but you do get there with good form.
Many women don’t like to weight train because they ‘blow up so quickly’ thinking that their muscles are getting so big, this is a bit of a myth, let me explain. If you imagine you’re in your tightest pair of jeans, you know the ones you practically have to jump into from a great height to get into! Once you’re in them any fat you have around your muscle will be squeezed in there, if your muscles are soft they will be squeezing in there too but the shape you have is the shape of the jeans rather than showing the shape of your toned body (surely the look we are all working towards). Once you’ve been weight training for a while you might find that you can’t get into those jeans any more, so you think you’ve put on too much muscle. Really all you’ve done is made the muscle under any fat harder so it can’t squeeze into those jeans but you will have improved your shape or your muscles wouldn’t have started to tone up and harden.
To ensure you get the full benefit from your weight training do incorporate cardiovascular workouts and think about the foods you are eating. If you are committed to improving your shape you need to take advantage of everything you can, use weight, add cardio to your weekly sessions and eat food that will help you get to the shape you want.
It sounds easy I know, but once you get the hang of it and start seeing results it spurs you on and you will get there, just be patient with yourself and give yourself time to get there. In all honesty you will need about 3 months to start to see the new you shaping up, it will be a tough 3 months but I promise you it’s worth it.
When I first started weight training I got bigger because I was under the impression that all I needed to do was train my muscles to get them in shape, that’s true if you don’t carry much body fat but no too many people are that lucky, food is just as important. I wanted to compete in body building competitions as I thought, and still do, that a natural female body builder looks great. They curve in all the right places, nothing seems to jiggle when they walk and, this one is the biggie for me, their bum looks great and where it should be rather than looking like it’s trying to slip down the back of their legs!!
It took me 8 years of training to get in shape to be brave enough to put on a tiny bikini and stand on a stage in front of 100’s of people, but it didn’t take any where as long as that to get into a good enough shape to be happy when I looked in the mirror. I made many mistakes when I started and don’t want other people to make to same mistakes and waste so much time achieving nothing, hence this article and the training video you can see on this web site.
Just remember that you can achieve a shape you want regardless of the genetics you have. My genetics are poor for a body builder; I have narrow shoulders and wide hips. Weight training has helped me shape my shoulders and glutes giving me more of an hourglass shape than I was born with, it can do the same for you.
Karen Mason
Fitness Trainer, Body Builder, Personal trainer
