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Cardio Fitness For Women Tips
Build Your Activity Step By Step
One of the most important fitness training tips is the stepwise principle.
Here's how it works: As you increase your exercise, don’t add more and more activity each day; follow a stepwise progression. That means building up your level of activity gradually to allow your muscles to develop and to reduce your risk of an overuse injury.
For example, if you are moderately active and you do aerobics and the stair-climber, but you want to start running, start with 20 minutes of running every other day for a week. Then, the next week, run for 30 minutes one day, but then back down and run for 20 minutes the next day, then 30. As you get stronger, gradually increase the amount of time, alternating with less time or shorter distance. Don’t start out running 5 miles one day, then 8 the next day, then 10 the next day.
If you build up your activity level gradually, you can prevent injury and you’ll enjoy yourself more because you won’t get frustrated from pushing yourself too hard.
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Thigh Exercises
When you look at your legs, do the words “thunder thighs” come to mind? You’re not alone! Many women store fat in their butt and thigh areas. Here are some thigh exercises that will get your legs looking toned and trim:
Wall squats are one of the best thigh-toning exercises. Stand against a wall with your feet shoulder length apart. Keep your back flat against the wall and slide to a sitting position with your weight evenly distributed on each leg. Hold the position for 10 to 15 seconds and slide to a standing position. Do two sets of 12 to 15 reps.
Lunges are a great thigh exercise that works almost every muscle in your thighs. Stand with your legs shoulder width apart and arms at your side. Take a big step forward with one foot, lowering your bodyweight onto the outstretched foot until your thigh is parallel to the ground and your back leg is at a 90 degree angle. Return to the standing position. If you would like to add resistance, try the same moves with weights in each hand.
To firm up your inner thighs, lie on your left side on the floor with your head resting on a pillow or towel. Bend your right leg in front of you and rest it on the floor. Extend your left leg until it is straight and lift it about six inches off the floor. Hold it for three seconds and then lower your leg to floor. Do two sets of 10 reps on each leg.
The ball squeeze is another thigh slimming exercise. Lie on your side with a large exercise ball between your calves. Squeeze your legs together, hold in your abs and lift the ball in the air. Hold and repeat 10 times before switching sides.
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The Best Cardio Workouts Are Bone-Builders, Too
When it comes to cardio, the best exercise for women is any activity that gets your heart pumping and your blood flowing, because cardiovascular exercise has been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease.
But, the best exercises for women will include some weight-bearing activity to help build and maintain strong bones. Building strong bones with regular exercise helps reduce a woman’s risk of developing osteoporosis later in life.
Exercises that promote bone-building include running, step aerobics, jumping rope and using stair climbing machines. But remember that total fitness is more than just cardio workouts. Cardio workouts are essential for good health and weight maintenance, but be sure to include strength training, as a bone-building part of your overall fitness plan.
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Pilates exercises
Many women are taking advantage of the mind-body exercises that make up Pilates. Pilates exercises are excellent for pregnant women as they help you develop a strong core, build flexibility and reduce stress. Pilates highlights proper breathing techniques and focuses on pelvic and spinal alignment, making you acutely aware of your body's movements and positioning. Here are a few beginner Pilates exercises you may want to try. Remember to focus on deep breathing in order to maximize the efficiency of each move.
Pelvic Curl: This is one of the best butt and thigh exercises. Lie on your back with your palms up and your knees bent with your feet flat on the floor. Make sure you maintain spinal alignment. Inhale and exhale, focusing on your abdominal and pelvic muscles. Lift your pelvis towards the ceiling, pressing down on your feet and curling your tailbone forward. Try to make a straight line from your shoulders to hips. Repeat the move three to five times.
The Hundred: This move is great for your abdominals. Lay on your back with your knees at your chest. Keep your pelvis and spine in alignment and exhale as you bring your chin towards your knees, using your abdominal muscles and curling your spine towards the floor. Keep your shoulders and neck relaxed. Next, extend your legs and arms outwards, pulsing your palms up and down for five seconds. Repeat the move three to five times. Focus on breathing.
One Leg Circle: This move stretches your abdominals, thighs and hips. Lie flat on your back, focusing on your spinal alignment and breathing. Pull your abdominals in and lift one leg towards the ceiling. Try to keep your leg straight, but if you have tight hamstrings you may bend your knee slightly. Keep your weight evenly distributed on your hips and shoulders. Drop your leg towards the floor a few inches and slowly move it in circles, practicing control and stability. Do five circles on each leg three to five times.
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Step Aerobics
Step Aerobics was created by fitness expert Gin Miller. When the program came out in the 1980s, it rapidly gained popularity. Step aerobics involves, as you might guess, stepping up and down from a 5-12 inch platform. The workout is done to music. Depending on the instructor, the step patterns can either be very simple are highly complex. Some classes use complicated arm patterns, others keep the arms in a relaxed postion.
If you are not comfortable with a step class, there are smaller home products that will fit in most living rooms. You can also purchase step aerobic videos.
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Elliptical Aerobic Machines
Elliptical trainers are that simulate walking or running. Since the circular movement of elliptical machines does not cause stress on the joints, they are usually the most popular machines at the gym.Since they also provide fantastic lower body definition, some people consider elliptical trainers to be the best exercise for women.
Elliptical trainers provide a low-impact cardiovascular workout that varies from light to high intensity. Some elliptical trainers have moveable handles that work the upper body along with the lower body. Others can provide a gradual inclination, which can make your workout more challenging. If you like to hike in the summer train, this is an excellent training method. The upper level inclination is also great for developing an attractive butt. To get a well-balanced workout, look for machines that allow you to reverse the direction of your peddling. If you plan to do a heavy upper body workout after your cardio workout, do not use too much resistance on the machines with the moveable handles.
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Cross Country Skiing
When temperatures drop, many women like to stay indoors. This is one of the reasons that we tend to gain weight over the winter. Can you imagine a winter without weight gain? Better yet, can you imagine participating in a sport that will actually help you lose weight over the winter? Imagine cross-country skiing.
When it comes to outdoor aerobic exercise programs, some people consider cross-country skiing to be the best exercise for women. If you have any doubts, next time there is a television show featuring cross-country ski racing, take a look at the female racers' bodies. You will surely be inspired.
Depending on your weight, your age, the intensity of your skiing, and whether or not you choose to ski the hills, a cross-country skiing workout might burn between 400 and 1400 calories per hour. Cross-country skiing involves a simultaneous use of the arms and legs. As a result, in addition to the aerobic benefits, you get a total body-toning workout.
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Snowshoeing
Come winter, many women fall victim to a condition known as Seasonal Affective Disorder, commonly called SAD. According to the Seasonal Affective Disorder Association, is caused by a biochemical imbalance in the hypothalamus. The shorter hours of daylight and lack of winter sunlight is thought to be the catalyst for this somewhat disturbing condition.
If you experience depression, inactivity, and excessive eating during the winter, you might have SAD. Sometimes, a vicious cycle might result from this condition. For some women, the weight gain that results from lack of exercise is often one of the causes of the depression. Others simply miss the endorphin high they get from their outdoor running workouts.
If you have been an active runner in the warmer months, you might find it challenging to run on the icy streets during the winter. However, you need not give up running. Al you need is a pair of snowshoes! Snowshoeing does not require any advanced technical skills. In fact, on today's short, lightweight snowshoes any woman can enjoy winter hiking trails or snowshoe running by simply putting one foot in front of the other.
Snowshoes grip the snow with crampons that are located at the toe and the heel. This allows you to walk without slipping. Planting the snowshoe flat on the surface enables the crampons to grip the snow and provide stability. The best news is that snowshoeing can burn over 1,000 calories per hour, making it an excellent form of winter outdoor conditioning.
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Fitness Training Tips for Long Duration, Low Intensity Cardio Exercise
If you are more than 20 pounds over weight, and if you been sedentary for most of your life, you will want to start your cardio workout plan with long duration, low intensity aerobic exercise. Throughout this workout, you heart rate should stay between 40 and 60 percent of your maximum heart rate. Since long duration, low intensity workouts should last at least 40 minutes, the key to this sort of cardio workout routine is proper pacing.
Start slowly, and then gradually build up your speed. You can be can be walking, cycling or jogging. Throughout this workout, you should be comfortable carrying on a conversation. Since this is a milder form of activity, you can perform long duration, low intensity on a daily basis. To avoid mental burnout, try to vary the types of workout that you do each day.
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If I Could Run on Water: Hydro Aerobics Fitness Training Tips
Water aerobics is perhaps one of the coolest (pun intended) forms of exercise around. Although it was once considered to be in the exclusive domain of seniors, pregnant women, the obese, and women who are recovering from injuries, in recent years, it has begun to gain respect in its own right. Thus, in many ways, water aerobics can be the best exercise for women who are looking for a warm weather cardio cross-training plan.
In aqua aerobics, the water gives you added resistance, which adds challenge to your workout, while your buoyancy in the water creates a workout that poses far less stress on the joints and ligaments than most traditional forms of aerobic exercise. To add more variety to your water workout, you can use props such as specially designed water weights, kick boards and water "noodles."
If you are a runner, and you are looking for a good cross-training program, consider aqua jogging. The aqua jogger is a belt that can suspend your body to shoulder level in the water, thereby allowing you to take a "weightless run." For running in shallow water, there are also a number of water aerobic shoes available on the market.
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Choreographed Cardio Exercise Routines
Do you love to dance? Does the music motivate you? Are you looking for a great cardio workout? If you answered "yes" to these questions, you might enjoy a choreographed aerobic class.
Choreographed aerobic classes come on a variety of styles. Some, such as Jazzercise, are pre-choreographed and predictable. Others are more spontaneous, and will feature different choreography either at weekly intervals, or when the instructor gets inspired. Some classes are based on specific types of music, such as Latin, Salsa, Oldies, 50s, Swing, Motown, Rap and Hip Hop. Others are less choreographed, such as cardio kick-boxing.
If you like the idea of choreographed cardio workouts, but are afraid that you will have trouble following the moves, or keeping the beat, here are some suggestions. All aerobic music is in 4/4 time. As such, aerobic combinations are arranged in 8 counts of movements. Next time you listen to the radio, listen closely for the base. This is where it's easy to hear the 8 count beat. Practice counting to yourself: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8. After awhile, you'll be dancing like an aerobic Diva.
In the beginning, concentrate on getting the leg movements, instead of the arms. It's the large muscles of the body that burn major calories. Once you have the legs, you can add arm movements, or simply make bigger leg movements to up the intensity of the workout.
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Butt Exercises
Ice cream, chips, pastries, French fries and all the rest of the good stuff likes to camp out around women’s derrieres. It can be difficult to work off the extra pounds around your middle, but luckily there are quite a few exercises that can whip your butt into shape.
Position yourself on your hands and knees. Put a leg weight on your right ankle or a dumbbell in the crux of your knee. Lift your leg up, holding it at a 90-degree angle with your foot flat. Hold for a moment and slowly lower your leg towards the ground. Do two sets of 12 to 15 reps on each leg.
Lie flat on your back with your arms by your side. Raise your pelvis toward the ceiling, squeezing your butt and putting your weight on your heels. Extend one leg in front of you, while maintaining the pelvis in the air and return to the floor. Do two sets of 12 to 15 reps with each leg.
Jumping squats are one of the easiest and most effective butt and thigh exercises. Start in a crouching position, using your hands for balance. Jump from the crouching position into the air as high as you can, and bring yourself back down into the crouching position as you fall. Do two sets, jumping 15 to 20 times, without resting between jumps.
There are lots of cardio fitness activities that will tone your butt as well. Yoga and Pilates exercises are particularly effective, as is running, cycling, hiking and climbing stairs. Pretty much any activity that involves moving your legs will be great for your butt.
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Exercise in 10-minute Segments
Any exercise you can get in throughout the day is helpful when dieting. A little exercise goes a long way, even if only in 10-minute segments. Use your break to take a walk, stretch or grab a pair of hand weights.
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Rev Up Your Workout With Interval Training
Interval training involves working at varied intensities in order to challenge your cardiovascular system. It is a great way to mix up your workout and helps you beat your fitness plateau. A great place to start is to do high intensity training for 2 minutes followed with low intensity training for 2 minutes. Once you have mastered this interval, mix it up!
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Cardio and Weights
Women tend to focus on cardio because it burns more calories fast. However, cardio and strength training are both very important for fitness. Combining the cardio and strength training two to three times a week two is especially important for women, who tend to have lower metabolisms, less muscle and more body fat to begin with as well as being more vulnerable to muscle atrophy and decreased metabolism as they age. While your body doesn't need any extra calories to maintain a pound of fat, it uses 30-50 calories every day just to maintain a pound of muscle. Using cardio and strength training in conjunction will help you reduce your body fat and increase your lean muscle mass and metabolism.
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Using Weights During Cardio Exercise
Many women carry small weights in their hands or attatch weights to their ankles during cardio exercise. While it is true that carrying weights during cardiovascular or aerobic exercise can slightly increase the number of calories expended, most experts agree that the practice is unsafe and can lead to unnecesary strain and injuries. Using weights, even light ones of only 2 or 3 pounds, requires proper form and technique that is difficult to maintain throughout a cardio session. Furthermore, you run the risk of dropping a weight on yourself or someone else and causing injury that way.
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Understanding Your Heart Rate
The standard formula for determining your maximum heart rate during aerobic exercise is to subtract your age from 220. However, these formulas are decades old, don't take into account individual fitness levels. A more modern approach, and one that is recommended by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) is to use the Borg Rating for Perceived Exertion (RPE). The RPE is measured from 6-20. A 9 on the RPE scale would be extremely light exercise, like a healthy adult going for a stroll. An easy way to monitor yourself using the RPE during exercise is the talk test. A person who is working out at a light intensity should be able to talk easily. It should be a little more difficult to talk while working out at a moderate intensity, and if it is very difficult to speak, that means you are working out at a very high intensity. Experts recommend spending most of your cardio workout at a medium intensity, RPE of 12-14, where you can talk while working out. You can find more information on RPE from your doctor, personal trainer, or on the Centers for Disease Control website www.cdc.gov.
