Women's fitness program

There is no universal fitness template that applies to all women. The most efficient training plan will always anchor your three variables of "physiological stage + core demands + available time" and dynamically adjust them. Any unified template that tells you "Follow me to lose 10 pounds in 7 days/build a peach butt in 30 days" is either to earn traffic, or it does not understand the physiological characteristics of women at all.

I met a girl who was working as an Internet operator in 1999. She often worked overtime from 9 to 6. She saved the "Fairy Training Plan" of a certain Internet celebrity. She did aerobics on Monday, Tuesday, shoulders, Wednesday, back, Thursday, buttocks and Friday. She was determined to squeeze in an hour to run to the gym every day. As a result, her aunt postponed it for 10 days in the third week and went to the hospital for a hormone test. The doctor said that she was under a lot of work pressure and she had to endure excessive exercise, which affected the function of the corpus luteum. Isn't this just a typical case of blindly copying plans without understanding one's own basic situation? It's really not a mistake.

Speaking of the physiological stage, this is the biggest difference between female fitness and male fitness. I also encountered this pit when I first started fitness: during the luteal phase, I always felt edematous and heavy, and I insisted on trying to PR in the deadlift as usual. As a result, my waist collapsed as soon as I pulled up the 40kg bar, and I lay at home for three days without even going to work. Now, I only need to take the initiative to lose 30% of the weight one week before my aunt's arrival. If I really can't feel energetic, I will go for a half-hour slow walk downstairs or do 20 minutes of yin yoga. I will not force myself to complete the so-called "training KPI" at all. There is no absolute right or wrong here. Some bloggers say that you cannot move at all during the uterine period for fear of stretching the uterus, and some rehabilitation practitioners say that as long as there are no symptoms of dysmenorrhea, doing some low-intensity exercise can relieve pelvic congestion. Just choose a method that is comfortable for you. There is really no need to be anxious after listening to what others say.

Oh, by the way, if you are preparing for pregnancy, during pregnancy, or just after giving birth, then all plans will have to be overturned. My best friend checked a lot of information when she was pregnant. Some obstetricians said that you can only take a walk in the second trimester. Some sports rehabilitation doctors said that if you have no history of placenta previa or miscarriage, you can do light-weight seated shoulder presses and clam poses, which can not only control your weight but also relieve back pain. She finally chose pregnancy yoga twice a week and walked for 20 minutes after dinner every day. She only gained 22 pounds during the entire pregnancy and recovered very quickly after giving birth. This thing is inherently different from person to person, so don’t apply other people’s standards to your own body.

Let’s talk about the issue that everyone is most concerned about. Many people say “I want to lose fat without gaining muscle” or “I want to have a peach butt but not thick legs”. Let me give you a solid foundation first: there is no absolute way to “build a curvy butt without thick legs”. It can only be said to try to adjust the force mode to concentrate the force on the buttocks. Girls who are born with dominant quadriceps muscles may feel that their legs are swollen even if they do crab walks. There is really no need to become anxious just because the legs are one centimeter thicker. If you just want to lose fat, don't listen to people's nonsense that "you must do 40 minutes of strength first and then 20 minutes of aerobics to be effective." If you can only squeeze out 30 minutes a day, just do 10 sets of kettlebell swings and 10 sets of mountain running, with a 30-second rest between sets. The consumption is no less than if you dawdle in the gym for an hour. I have a mother with a second child who practices at home for 25 minutes every day while her child is napping. She has lost 12 pounds in 3 months. Her efficiency is much higher than those who go to the gym every day to take pictures and fish. Of course, if you can spare more than 5 hours of training time every week and want to build some muscle and improve your basal metabolism at the same time, then the strength-first-then-aerobic plan is indeed less likely to lose muscle. Both methods are fine. The key depends on whether you are free.

There is another question that has been controversial for many years: Can girls train heavy weights? Will he become King Kong Barbie? To be honest, I have been practicing for 3 years, 4 times a week. Now the muscles in my arms only show up when I exert force. I still have thin arms when I usually wear a sling. Women’s testosterone levels are only one-twentieth of men’s. If you want to train to be as muscular as men, the difficulty is higher than taking the 985 exam. Those who say they got stronger after two days of training are either due to congestion that has not gone away after training, or they have not controlled their diet and gained fat. It really has nothing to do with muscles. Of course, if you like a soft feeling with no obvious lines, then it’s absolutely fine to do more aerobics and less strength. Fitness is for your own happiness, there is no need to force yourself to conform to a certain aesthetic.

I would like to give some practical advice to newbies. Don’t spend thousands on an annual pass to buy a bunch of fitness clothes at the beginning. A pair of well-fitting sports shoes and a yoga mat worth a few dozen yuan are enough to get started. If you are afraid that your movements will be wrong, spend a few hundred yuan to find a reliable coach to take 3 classes and understand the basic movements of squats, deadlifts, and hip hinges. It is much better than injuring your knees by practicing blindly for half a year.

Now I don't set a specific plan for how many times a week I have to train. Sometimes I am busy with projects and don't go to the gym for a week, so I walk two extra stops after get off work every day. Sometimes when I have free time, I go to the gym for two hours to train weights. I never feel anxious about not completing the training plan. After all, fitness is to make our lives more comfortable, not to add another KPI to ourselves to complete, right?