Reader Tfitz asked: “How about directing us to some decent exercise programs and DVDs?” Excellent suggestion, thank you. And I apologize for giving a rant without offering more effective alternatives.

So, some decent exercise programs. Where to begin… First off, I don’t think there is one one-size-fits-all exercise program that I would feel comfortable telling anyone and everyone to follow. Everyone’s body ranges in physical abilities and limitations (either due to lack of exercise or due to a prior or existing injury or physical condition). However, in terms of general guidelines to follow if going to the gym, there are a few things that should apply across the board, that will help a girl get the most out of her time and gym membership.

I’m making all of the following recommendations assuming the reader is a generally healthy woman, who is either a beginner or an intermediate exerciser.

First and foremost, incorporate various aspects of fitness into your routine: proper warm-ups, strength/resistance training, cardiovascular and flexibility/mobility. Doing so ensures that you lower your risk of injury, improve your body composition, strengthen your bones (yeah! very important for us ladies especially!), and improve your overall fitness.

*Ideally you would work with a trainer, even if not long-term, at least long enough to receive a proper assessment, so that the workouts you perform will be specific not only to your goals but can address and hopefully work to correct muscular imbalances or movement issues you might have. Working with a trainer, you can also learn how to perform exercises correctly, and learn how to put together your own workouts.*

I know most of us can’t afford the luxury, so I do like several resources that provide good examples of what I’m talking about.

Websites:

One of the coolest workout websites I’ve used is the Core Performance website. You can sign up for a free 7-day trial, which gives you some time to view exercises – images and videos, and it offers a pretty detailed program tailored to your level and needs to some degree. It’s also full of great articles about training and nutrition, so you’re bound to learn a thing or two in the process! If it turns out you like the site, it’s $9.99 a month to continue the membership, which is pretty reasonable considering the quality and quantity of the content. They also have two books – Core Performance, and Core Performance Essentials – based on the same training philosophy used on the website and at the author’s centers, Athlete’s Performance.

Another site with tons of free content, including videos and images of exercises is PhysicalFitNet
com. They don’t have as much to offer in terms of personalization but they offer a good variety of workouts to help you get started or to get an idea of what you can do on a particular day with regard to resistance training.

Books/DVDs:

There are also some books I think provide good guidance for building a basic workout routine.

Believe it or not, I think the Body for Life book by Bill Philips is a great introduction for anyone wanting to get started, or wanting to change things up. Lots of motivation, very clear explanations in basic language, and detailed pictures and instructions. Nutritionally, it also provides good guidance. Yes, there is now an edition for women, and though I haven’t read it, I have heard repeatedly from other women who have, that the original book is a better investment.

On that note, there are several other books that have an original version and then the authors came out with versions for women that were “just ok” though not as great as the originals. The basic principles of training apply to both men and women, so I’m going to list the originals, and if you decide to go with the women’s version, it’ll still be a good investment, but it’s up to you:

New Rules of Lifting by Lou Schuler and Alwyn Cosgrove
(women’s version here)

Strength Training Anatomy by Frederic Delavier
(women’s version here)

When I first started lifting weights, before I got with a trainer, I bought a book that, though not the “best thing ever” provided me with a good foundation, and helped explain some of the things I feared about lifting weights. It is called The Body Sculpting Bible for Women by James Villepigue. It has since been revised and now comes with a DVD. I recommend the book with reservations. I might build my workouts differently (see below, later), but I still think it’s a great resource solely for the detailed images and instructions on how to perform the exercises. The nutrition portion of the book is a bit drastic in terms of dieting. I don’t feel that it’s a realistic way for most women to approach the way they eat. I don’t really support the ideas presented in the book as sound advice for women just looking to get fit and healthy. It’s a little more geared toward people who want to diet for a physique competition. Follow that part at your own risk. I’d rather you learn to eat healthy consistently, which will provide long-term (ideally life-long) results. The reviews by some of the people who bought the book on Amazon.com seem to reflect my feelings about this, as well.

As far as building a good starter routine, a good way to start would be to work out 3-4 days a week, and out of those days have at least 2-3 days that you do more than cardio and flexibility. Lift weights, and optimize your time doing it. Total body workouts, supersets and circuits are one of the best ways to go for someone making a change. You’ll get much more out of the workout if you move away from the idea of training one body part per day (like “abs and arms”), though there are instances where that type of workout serves a purpose. In general though, push something, pull something, squat, lift. Below are some examples of what I’m talking about. And for all of the exercises mentioned, you can visit one of the website mentioned earlier, or check out one of the books. They’re all in there, and then some!

Warm-up:
1-2 sets of 10 to 15 repetitions of each…
Glute bridges (also called a hip raise)
Hip Flexor lunge stretch
Arm circles (forward and backward)
Walking Hamstring stretch (also called straight leg march)
Light resistance band rows

Resistance Training:

Pushup or Chest Press with Dumbbells
Squat (with dumbbells, a bar, or bodyweight if you are still starting and this movement by itself is still a challenge)
Pulldown/Pullup (yes, girls can do pullups, and it rocks when you finally get your first pullup ever!)
Step Up (with or without weights to start)
Dumbbell Curls
Side Raises
Plank

Or

Squat to Overhead Press
Row (with cable, dumbbells or barbell)
Lunge (forward, backward or walking)
Tricep Pressdown or Kickback
Reverse Fly or Resistance Band Pull-Apart
Hand Walkouts

Reps and sets are up to you. There are many ways to set it up. You can do a lower body exercise immediately followed by an upper body exercise. That’s called a super set. Go back and forth until you complete 2-3 sets, maybe of 10-12 repetitions. Or you could perform one set of each exercise with a very brief rest or none at all in between exercises, and then rest at the end before repeating the whole sequence again. This is called a circuit. Or you could perform all sets of one exercise before moving on to the next. If you want to, at the end, sure, you could throw in 1-2 sets of bicep curls, tricep pushdowns on the cable tower or kickbacks with the machine, etc. But honestly it isn’t really necessary.

Core strengthening (this would replace “doing abs”)

You could tack on a core exercise at the end of a circuit or as part of a superset, or perform several core exercises after you’ve finished doing the resistance training. A good core circuit could look something like this:

Planks (also called pillars by some people) - try to hold 30-60 seconds or work your way up to that.
Side Planks - 15-20 seconds per side, or work up to that
Bicycle crunches - pick a good even number like 30
Crunches on the ball (not necessary to do more than 10-12 reps, slow and controlled, unweighted)
“Bird dogs” - 5-8 per side, slow and controlled, paying attention to your posture

Cardio:

Again, this can be done in several ways. There is no one way that is better than another, and you should definitely vary the way you do it and the machines you use so you lower your risk of injury due to overuse. You can either do a given amount of steady state cardio – where you work at a certain intensity level the entire time, 20-30 minutes is cool. You can do intervals, where you work at various intensities in a given period of time. For example, start by warming up with an easy 5-10 minutes, then increase the intensity for brief amount of time 15 seconds to 2 minutes, up to you. Each of these higher-intensity periods is followed a period of work at an easier pace (lower intensity). Your intervals can be equally divided – 30 seconds hard, 30 seconds easy, for example – or they can be made easier or harder by making the hard time longer and easy time shorter or vice versa. Do this for no more than 10 minutes and then follow it up with about 20-30 minutes of steady state at a moderate intensity (on a scale of 1-10, 1=”zzzzz… do not disturb”, 10=”Call an ambulance!”, it should be like a 7).

Don’t be afraid to mix it up - treadmills are fine and dandy, but there are other machines in there. Ellipticals, stair mills (the escalator!), rowing machines, various types of bikes. Some gyms have a pool, and swimming is a pretty challenging total-body cardio workout. Jumprope. Or take it outside, walk, jog, ride your bike, run or walk up the bleachers at your local high school track… same general idea applies indoors or out.

Once you’ve got the basics, and are working out consistently, dedicating some time to each of these areas, if you have stopped making progress, you can start to fine-tune, change things up, try new exercises, reps/sets schemes, increase your weights (WHAT? You heard me! If you get stronger, go heavier!), maybe move from 2 days of resistance training to three days…

I’m still working on various other posts I want to make on this subject, so I am definitely not done with this list. But I hope it offers a good place to start!

Last Modified : July 29th, 2008 Filed under : Move Navigate : Previous post / Next post