fit women, motivation, and workouts

"women's fitness, how we can get motivated, challenging workouts, etc?"

"Women's fitness"

Here is another thing i think the fitness industry has done horribly wrong (though being an INDUSTRY can you really blame it for simply following the profit?) "women's fitness" is no different than mens. fitness is fitness an exercise is the same for both genders the only difference is the difference that all humans share no matter the gender, ethnicity, background, etc; WE'RE ALL DIFFERENT, the only reason i believe the fitness industry made the whole "women's niche" is of course for the marketing options, all these zumba classes, pink dumbells, and specialized clothing that makes one feel more athletic before actually doing anything, "im gonna start being athletic and lose this weight blah blah blah starting new years", buy the merch and feel fulfilled and end up giving up before you even start. and of course there's the whole "conspiracy" (dont let that connote negative ideas) that the government doesn't want strong Americans because they would have power. but i digress, the separation of genders has led to a decrease is the strength of women, as LBEB stated in this article, weak men absolutely demand that a woman stays weak as well, there's no reason women cant be strong the only thing that needs to change is most training methods that MOST (notice it says most not ALL) women employ are flawed, each individual is different so im not going to spew a cookie cutter workout but you should seek evaluation and work on an actual routine built for you and progress into your strength. YES because women lack the levels of testosterone that men have and YES that does make upper body strength and muscle gain a bit slower but hey! if it wasn't a challenge you wouldn't be stronger because of it!

One thing i will say to you ladies is this: GET. OFF. THE. CARDIO. MACHINES. freakin hell just stop, if asked ill make an article explaining the multitude of reasons that cardio machines should be avoided at all costs but for the sake of  the readers ill stay on topic. Women have more raw ability for gaining leg strength and mass than men do (to a point) simply stated, women, if you're not squatting and deadlifting:

Fat cat judges your lifts

Just because testosterone implies masculinity in the minds of all who hear it, doesn't make it a hormone specifically reserved for men. both genders have amounts of both hormones, but women can make damn good use of increased testosterone through NATURAL methods, i.e. lifting heavy and eating testosterone boosting foods. NO you wont get bulky, NO you wont look like a man, and i swear if i hear you say the word toned i'll throw some 45 plates at you. Another thing you can do to maximize natural testosterone secretion is to eat lots of animal food products and eggs (cholesterol helps boost testosterone production)[1] and avoid soy like the plague because soy in its non fermented forms (including tofu in this instance because american tofu is still terrible) is highly estrogenic and YES that's a bad thing. higher than necessary levels of estrogen in females causes higher levels of fat accumulation in the obvious areas, potential increase in breast cancer and a whole slew of bad things[2] so now that we're established that through natural methods and means Estrogen < testosterone is preferred for health, vitality, strength, and longevity. NOW ONWARD!

Motivation

i dont have much to say on motivation besides this: if it's not intrinsic, you'll eventually give up, quit, or not work as hard as you should, for a better grasp of what i mean watch this:

Challenging workouts

good stuff, do them, if you wanted an idea from me i'd have to evaluate you, your imbalances, your goals, and your current level of athletic ability, i don't hand out cookie cutters, all i can say though is if you're not squatting and dead lifting you're doing it wrong, "it" being fitness. 

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testosterone#Biosynthesis

[2] http://www.livestrong.com/article/164740-what-are-the-side-effects-of-high-estrogen-levels/

Crunches

No doubt you've seen this tom foolery

Just about everyone knows what a crunch is, its quite prevalent in conventional athletics, and therein lies its problem, conventional athletics doesnt do much for being athletic anymore. Your basic p.e. classes are now based and kids doing quarter squats and knee pushups, and running a mile in lower and lower times, OH! and dont forget crunches.

The abdominal crunch is a very controversial exercise, the battle over it could be equivalent to the intensity between republicans and democrats, except in THAT instance, neither is correct. In my opinion and take on the matter, there are a multitude of core exercises that are just as, if not more effective at certain jobs than the crunch, and the crunch has only become so popular simply because its so prevalent in modern society.

As i stated in the last video response video i made, the core is used to stabilize the body during motion and when not in motion. the crunch would make bigger/stronger rectus abdominus muscles (dem 6 pack abs) now i didnt say core did i? i said the rectus abdominus, so when you focus all that effort and work on just one part of your core you can cause an imbalance, namely tight stomach pulls your upper body down slightly towards your pelvis causing rounded shoulders, thorasic kyphosis and eventally a potential for upper crosses syndrome or simply called chicken necking. the core like your body is meant to work as a unit, in muscle groups and synergies isolation of muscles has very little use unless you know HOW to utilize them in a training program, but i gear this more towards newbies, who should focus on total body movement and recruit the most muscle fibers they can in their workout. 

So my professional opinion is to skip the crunch, there is no "god" of all core exercises that will get you all the things you want, pick and choose, try them all out, but the crunch is such a hot topic and there are plenty of other good things out there, why risk it is all im saying.

Video Response #2 free at home core workouts

"Hey man, I got some questions I was hoping you would answer? I was wondering: what is a good at home core workout I could do without any equipment? And can you do core workouts everyday, or do they have to rest like other muscle groups?? And what's a basic workout that I can start off with? I am focused on consistency, because that's my biggest vice. Sorry for the huge post, and thanks for any feed back. :D"

Strength v.s. Endurance

someone get these boys a sandwich and a barbell

I've said before that strength is a physical change in the actin and myosin filaments in the individual muscle fibers where as endurance and conditioning are chemical changes in the efficient uses of energy present in muscles i.e. glycogen and then you could get into such sub topics as carboloading and sport performance and what not but what this is all leading to is a wonderful article i've found on T nation called Conditioning is a Scam by Mark Rippetoe  and its well worth the read by all personal trainers on why novices should be exposed to strength building exercises in the start of their training before conditioning because without a proper base the chemical change is useless if there's not much muscle to use to begin with. So check it out.