Strength Training for Women - Personal Trainer Harrogate

When I did my qualifications many moons ago to become a personal trainer you get taught some basics about resistance training with weights and 'rep ranges' the general consensus is:

• 5 or less for pure strength
• 8-12 muscle building
• 12-15 and above for endurance/tone

What should you be lifting and for how many reps?

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The Truth About Female Fat Loss

While some of the above holds true the advice can be skewed. Strength training is predominantly low reps due to the loads lifted, the type of exercises performed and the subsequent stress on the central nervous system.

The 8-12 hypertrophy range is a happy medium of weight and volume allowing recruitment of muscle fibres to encourage growth.

Finally the higher rep range for endurance-this is again down to recruiting muscle fibres of another type to improve endurance, thus the weights are lighter to allow for the higher rep range.

This is where the problems begin...one of my biggest bug bares about this is that females think they must work in this higher range so they only 'tone' up as opposed to build bulky muscles! If only it was that easy! I can deadlift over twice my body weight yet I would not come anywhere close to the bodybuilders that step on stage. The fact of the matter is building solid muscle takes serious consistent hard work, lots of good quality food (to gain muscle you must eat a calorie surplus) and finally testosterone - what the average female trainer is lacking unless she is secretly taking testosterone supplements! Generally, without being sexist, a woman's main training aim is to lose body fat and 'tone up' therefore they should be eating a calorie deficit (to lose weight) and unless they are genetically 'gifted' (or supplemented with other substances) they will not have a great amount of testosterone in their system, so gaining slabs of muscle is nigh on impossible.

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See It With Your Own Eyes

As the video below shows (albeit very cheesily) if females lift heavy weights-in line with their capabilities- they will gain strength, tighten the muscles, increase metabolism and overall create a big shift in body composition to create a 'figure to die for' so what are you waiting for ladies hit the weights, don't be intimidated by the guys-you never know, you could even be stronger than some of them ;)

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Find Our More

To talk to an experienced personal trainer about your body composition and how you can change it with the help of resistance training, contact Paul Greaves, a professional, certified personal trainer in Harrogate.

To discuss Thai Massage in Harrogate head on over to see May from MayThai massage!