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The Best Workouts For Women
Health | May 23, 2014
I’ve been blogging about fitness and my own healthy lifestyle for over 7 years now and what I’ve learned is that I’m always going to be learning. It’s a never-ending and a very important part of being a human. You constantly learn in every area of your life. You can learn at school, from media, mentors, trials and errors, or from your own mistakes. The important thing is not to assume that you know everything and that there’s nothing new to learn or discover, because that type of attitude is not going to help you in a long run. I’m always very excited whenever I learn something new that I can immediately implement into my life, business, or fitness regimen. One of the things I’ve learned over the past several months is that there is a significant difference between men and women and the way they should train their bodies.
I know you’ve read or heard many times that women should be lifting weights and train like their male counterparts in order to get a sexy body shape. The problem is that we’ve translated that literally and even tho we’ve been working so hard and trying to follow all the advice that men give us, we forgot about one important thing. We’re women. Our bodies and our goals are different from men. What is it that we women, really want? We want to fit in skinny jeans and have a cute round butt. We want to have a slim waist, flat belly, and some of us want to show a six pack. We do like tight and shapely arms but we don’t want to get too big and bulky in our shoulders. I think I speak for the majority of women.
Now let’s take a look at men’s typical goals. Big muscular arms, shoulders, Chest, and back. Visible muscles around the neck called traps. V shape back which requires to build muscles on their upper back and of course a six pack or preferably 8 pack. I don’t think I’ve ever heard any man saying I need my butt to be more perky or I need to slim down my legs. The only thing men are interested in when it comes to their lower body is to build big muscular quads and calves.
What I’m saying is that we can’t expect to reach our goals if we follow workouts that were put together by men for men. I used to do a lot of workouts based around exercises that would target your upper body more then necessary, while neglecting the important parts like my butt and legs. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that we should avoid challenging upper body exercises, not at all. We just have to find the right ratio and balance so that we can reach OUR goals. I started implementing this strategy into my new workouts a while ago and so far I’ve been proud of the results. Rule number one, always include exercises for your butt and legs and make them the staple of your training. Rule number two. Stick with full body workouts that include cardio and abs. No woman should ever waste her time by splitting her routines into upper body, or arms and chest days. Unless you are a bodybuilder of course. So let’s embrace our female curves, and get on the right path to reach our goals!!
Big hug,
Z.
Private Member |
Amazing video and blogpost. Love it!! You are so right and i feel my body transforming more and more because of these workouts and learning to cut out all sugar, which has been the ONLY reason im not as fit as you.. I follow along with you and even are faster sometimes and also due many of my own HIIT combinations and just ran my first half marathon.. BUT my efing bodyfat is just not low enough, which is a shame, when i workout so much and love a lean body. But getting there step by step.
Private Member |
Be proud of your body for the all the hard work you have done. Low bodyfat is not healthy at all. Your brain needs fat to function properly and we all need carbs for fuel and basic survival. I don’t have abs like zuzka bc I have a layer of fat on top which is how humans store energy. I have the obliques abs showing which looks like a 6 pack at first glance but a layer of fat on the middle. I think its healthier and I love where I am at so you should too!
Private Member |
I want to start a workout routine using your videos but don’t know where to begin. Can you help with a plan?
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That’s just one perspective and everyone is different. I have to train with weights to achieve the same look that Zuzka has, and I happen to really LOVE powerlifting. I have nice musculature, however still maintain a feminine look. I just love lifting weights and feeling strong, and prefer a thick strong look when it comes to myself and other women. I use Zuzka’s workouts every now and then as extra cardio.
Private Member |
I agree Z. This is a great post for women. I’ve noticed a difference in your new workouts and now I understand. I’m intermediate-advanced and I’ve noticed a difference alone in just your butts and abs series compared to the usual Strength training I was doing. Thank you! 🙂 <3
Private Member |
I love this post, it’s totally true for me. You make so much sense Zuzka.
But I wish more men would work on their butts as well as all the other nice parts. When are they going to learn that women look at that too?
Private Member |
Love ya Zuzka! I’ve been working out with you in your Zgym for 40 weeks straight now, strictly following your weekly schedules, and my body has changed dramatically! So thank you! 🙂
However, just this week I realized that your workouts had changed. We do so few push-ups now, and so I did some and was so disappointed in my loss of strength. Before the Lifted Butt series, I could easily do 20 push-ups in a row without much effort. Yesterday I struggled to do 10 in a row. So I’m obviously losing arm strength.
Please do not exclude challenging upper body/arm exercises from your Zgym workouts. I not only love having strong arms, but need strong arms for my physically active lifestyle and job. Thanks again for being the only person to motivate me to workout for 40 weeks in a row!!! Thanks !
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Agreed!!
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I love this post!!! 🙂
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This is such a great post and I absolutely agree Zuz. I am also against dividing my whole week into parts and work on different muscle groups. Women should keep this in ther minds. We are different and we want to do with our bodies different things.
Private Member |
Great post!
Private Member |
Love this!!!! I couldn’t agree more!!!