How girls should work out or why to train your butt

Sometimes girls ask me what kind of exercise they should do to achieve some transformation of their body, most often to slim down legs and shape the butt. However, it is hard to give particular advice if I do not know a lot about the particular person. Recently I put together a few tips that work when you follow certain rules. Here is the original Slovak version.

• There is not magic exercise that would fix a problematic body part. You have to train the body as a whole and the results will come.
• Ab exercises such a crunches strengthen the abdominal muscles but do not burn much fat because they work only 4 muscles. When running, you activate 300 muscles, when swimming - over 500. Which burns more energy?
• To look healthy does not mean look like a model on the magazine cover.
• Muscles are heavier than fat. Though, they have nicer shape and burn energy even if the person is at rest.
• The few hours in the gym is just part of how we spend the rest of the week. 

If you follow the workout routines of professional fitness competitors you know that they focus on gluteus muscles - the parts around the hips. Although the goal of an average house-wife who wants to get in shape are completely different, the means and the target groups are the same. Women in the gym should focus on these muscles, thighs and hips. It is where usually fat stores down - with men it is the belly area. It human genetics. But glutes have are much more important than good looks.

Glutealis muscles are a big muscle group that engages in all movements in the hip joint. These moves are present practically everywhere - in sports, daily life, in bed - some glute exercises can be found in Kamasutra book. Therefore good glute workout is the key to overall strength and fitness and also can decrease the discomfort of some health issues typical of women. Moreover, strength exercises trigger the release of hormones that will put your body into fat-burning mode even if you do not exercise and the circulation of hormones can also boost up self-confidence. Do not worry, you wont grow huge muscles because the human biology (and lower testosterone compared to men) will not allow that. Just pick up the barbell!

Strength training is also useful for girls even if their aim is slim figure, not huge muscles.

Look at the sports where the legs get lot of stress and exhaustion. All skiers have strong legs, I have seen a  video, where the alpine skier Lindsey Vonn squats around 200 kg.

Traditional squat works thighs (quadriceps) and the glutes. The thighs of cyclists are strong but slim, due to the excessive aerobic training. Therefore fitness models train their legs in an aerobic manner, as if developing endurance. They do sets of 30 and more rep and combine exercises into super sets. For example stiff legged deadlift followed by leg curls - to achieve smooth transition between glutes and hamstrings. It shapes them and slims down.

How should a girl train in the gym?
Taking into consideration the general requirements, it should consist of complex exercises for strength development combined with toning exercises for the problematic parts. They can be put into super sets in order to boos fat burning. For example, a set of deadlifts followed by glute-ham bridge or heavy squats followed by jump squats or lunges.

I, Pull ups on the bar or cable pull down to the chest. Here is a demonstration.  It works the back and also prepares the body for the rest of the workout.

3 sets of 12 - 15 reps, breaks up to 60 s

II, squat variation with weights
In this video, IFBB Figure professional competitor Erin Stern demonstrates 10 squat variations, starting  from the basic ones to the most complex ones. Her legs are slim and trimmed despite the fact that she lifts weights. 

4 sets of 8 - 12 reps, breaks 60 to 120 seconds 4 

III, Number 3 can be lunges. This girl  is using barbell but it is enough to grab dumbbells or for the beginning no additional weight at all. Erin in the video also does lunges as the exercise no. 4 (around 2:00 min).

4 sets of 20+ reps, breaks short - up to 60 s

IV, Number 4 is lying leg curl, which works the rear part of the thigh - the hamstrings and glutes.  
You can also do dumpbell deadliftsm they work the same muscles but the movement goes more through the hip. Do them alone or combine into super-sers with  fit ball roll. Do one set of curls deadlifts and immediately carry on with fit ball for as many reps as possible. Rest 90 seconds and repeat.

VI, This exercise combines glutes with the core muscles. In plank raise the extended leg until you feel tension in the glutes. Hold for a second and change legs. Repeat until you drop. Here is a demonstration. 

3 sets with max reps. breaks 60 s

VII, Core also includes abdominal muscles. They were active at the exercise no 6, so just finish them with three sets of any ab exercise - as many reps as possible. Or, try the following program. 

3 sets of max reps

If you have some energy left for cardio, I recommend intervals. For example on a bike - 1 minute at full speed, one minute slow down. 15 minutes in this manner are enough.

Here is the leg workout of Ashley Kaltwasser, three times winner of Bikini Olympia.  
the la 

Around 1:15 minutes she does step ups on a bench - great exercise for shaping the glutes and if you do it for a large number of reps, it builds endurance. 

Who does not have access to a gym has to use imagination. Most of the above exercises can be done at home, it is enough to use small weights. Here is one workout for beginners.  

So much for now. Remember, that exercise is only one part of the success. The most important thing is to have some rules and follow them. Whether we lose weight or change a particular body part can be dependent on many factors - food and additives in the food that interfere with proper working of digestion, hormones - mainly insulin that is responsible for fat storage (also), stress and general well being. Try to keep all these things in check and you can will definitely see some positive results.

30 is the new 20

For the generation of young Europeans, the age of 30 might be the same as 20 was for the older generations. Respectively, the advances in thinking and longer life expectancy allow them to start at 30 what they parents had to manage in their 20s.

Research proved that the Generation Y is less family oriented and instead cares more about the 'self'': to get education, to find a good job, to be famous and get recognition. On one hand, it is a walk out on traditional values but on the other hand, it is enabled by the period: open borders, opportunities to study and technology. Sometimes the people are forced into this by their environment - house prices, problems with returning to work after maternity leave, life expenses...therefore it is logical that you aim to take care of yourself before you take over responsibility over someone else. And naturally, you want to enjoy life if you have the opportunity.

I mean that if you lead balanced life that brings some meaningful progress, you do not have to feel sorry that you still feel & live young at the age of 30. Of course, there are plenty of people who waste their years on stupid things and wake up on their parents' coach with no job or even reason to wake up in their thirties. The difference is in experience and priorities - not age.

In the past, at least in my country, it was expected that by 20 the person obtained everything they needed for life: completed the education (only few people entered university), work (everyone had to work and usually kept the place for life), social experience (they lived within an isolated community and marriages were sometimes arranged). The life was straightforward - one place to live, local economy, one partner for life. The average life expectancy was shorter so that people had to hurry.

Nowadays, the world is different. Due to opening, people are more open to new experience and some discovered that this experience helps them to live better than just following the trends of their parents. Actually, coming out of our comfort zone moves us forward. Unfortunately, not everyone agrees. Some people thing that it is enough to have what they parents had - but it does not have to be enough for their children. Population is ageing and the gap between active workforce and pensioners is closing. Maybe the people think that they will still have enough time after 30...

We live longer so that we can afford to more time on education, travelling, relationships, work experience. The only condition is that it moves us forward: we are smarter, more experienced and more skilled than a year ago. We can settle down in thirties and still enjoy 35 productive years - thanks the pension reforms - with experience that will make it really productive and happy.

original article in Slovak

The Spiderman Syndrome

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 Remember the story of Spiderman: young journalist Peter was bitten by a contagious spider and his body reacted in an amazing way – he developed super skills. It was a set of skills that many people dream of. However, with great power comes also big responsibility. The skills could easily turn against Peter if he did not control them. He understood that they should not be abused and must be used wisely.

Now, how Spiderman relates to my story. During the years of hard training – no pain/no gain – and overcoming in almost all situations, I developed a degree of resilience and pain tolerance. That’s why boxers and fighters train abdoominals so heavily – the neural receptors get used to fatigue and pain and do not give in during the fight. Usually, I am able to train and work under conditions when most of the folks would call it a day and go home. It is a good skill that enables me to accomplish many things. I am the last man standing at a party, helping the others getting taxis. Next morning I am the first to wake up, alcohol is broken down with efficient metabolism,  and I even have energy to do a little bit of exercise and some work on my computer.

However, with a great skill also comes great responsibility.

Lying here in hospital in Šahy, my home town for 18 years and I can't do anything because I have a needle in my forearm in order to get strong antibiotics straight into my blood stream. I contracted some infection while travelling home from Sarajevo and Belgrade - maybe a blister got infected due to absence of hygiene.

I travelled from Zagreb to Sarajevo all night without shower. On Tuesday, it seemed just like a bigger blister - so I decided to live with it. On Wednesday, it was much worse, the blister was swollen and it had all 50 shades of purple. I should have sought help in Belgrade but I decided to wait one day till I get home. I went to the emergency ward around 20:30 and the doctor got mad. He was talking about lethal danger and infections from underdeveloped countries - he told me off like a small child. I deserved it but I also presented my rational arguments why I did not seek care earlier.

With you health, you should never hesitate to make a coward decision. Never. I take a lot of risk in my life and this was too much. An innocent blister might have developed into an infection. Who would have thought that, especially a person with such a strong pain threshold? Pain tolerance developed through training and overcoming yourself is a great thing - a skill that helps you survive. But with a great skill comes also a great responsibility - responsibility to recognize the symptoms of your body and listen to them. It is like Spiderman: the bite from a contagious spider gave him superpowers but he must use them wisely - not to harm other people or abuse them for their own profit.

 One thing to remember- it is good to have some pain threshold but at the same time it is even more important to be able to listen to your body and avoid situations, when the pain threshold is tested.