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.

How to train effectively in 20 minutes

How to train when we are short of time? Do not expect wonders from small investment although some progress can be made even during 20 minutes. And even a small step forward counts.

'As you sow so shall you reap' 

...also works in exercising. Let‘s take a personal trainer. Usually, he charges about 10 EUR per session. In ten hours he cashes in one hundred, which isn’t bad (here in Slovakia). But there is also an older trainer at the gym who is more experienced, he works with fitness models and has good results. He can afford to charge 15 EUR. For him it is enough to work 6.6 hours to earn the 100. And he can go on to chat up girls. His works carries more added value but it is also more demanding. He must adjust the rest of his time to do it well, it includes proper nutrition, relax and from time to time he must read a book or visit a workshop.

The more time I put in - the more profit I can expect. However, if I learn to do the thing more effectively, I can get the same result in shorter amount of time.

Now I try to apply it into training. There are folks who complain that they have only 20 minutes three times a week to exercise. It gives them one hour total time.  When I compare this hour to the rest of the week; I end up facing ration 1:168! Is one hour strong enough to affect the remaining 168? It can be if I improve the quality of the time spent in the gym - like the personal trainer who makes 100 in almost half the time.

Intensification methods are the key

During a 20-minute training, I must pile up the volume and intensity to the degree that it will make my body recovering from the load even during the time I am out of the gym. It can be achieved by intensification methods. Try cutting the breaks between exercises, combining the exercises into super-sets, even three-sets, include intervals of cardio – rope skipping or burpees – in between the sets and so on. Circuit training and CrossFit use similar principles, to perform a series of exercises/moves in limited amount of time.

Twenty minutes in such intensity is enough to force the organism to start making changes. In a way, one hour can affect the remaining 167 in the week. However, we must spend some time on preparation in order to make the gym hour count. It includes nutrition planning, relax, studying magazines...

Naturally, the above mentioned principles aren’t suitable for newbies in the gym. Young trainer who just finished his degree can’t walk into the gym and charge fortune for a session. This applies to all walks of life. But if I don’t see the desired results even after a few years, there is time to make a change.

The following routine can be the change...

Back conditioning workout

     

Pull ups on the bar improve the grip strength and work your back all the way down. Who wants to get the max effort, try this.

Set 3 minutes on the timer.
Start doing pull ups for maximum reps.
When you cannot do any more, immediately move to the rowing machine and row 250 metres as fast as possible.
Rest till the end of the 3 minute interval and repeat 6 to 8 times.
This gives you a great workout and you also work your aerobic capacity. Not to speak about the accumulated energy deficiency that helps you to burn some fat while doing other things. If you do cannot do pull-ups (learn pull-ups!) do pushups. If you do not have rowing machine, run or do burpees.

I follow similar pattern. When I am not preparing for some competition, I exercise only about 4 hours a week and I am stronger and in better form than at the college when I used to do sport for about 12 – 13 hours a week.