Fitness Program For Women

A fitness program for women isn't going to turn them into the female version of the Incredible Hulk unless the woman works at it day and night in a program especially designed to do that and uses supplements or take steroids. You need more testosterone to accomplish that feat.  If you're simply working out three days a week, you'll find that your training simply tones the muscles so you don't sound like a helicopter when the wind catches the skin under your arm or have that cute little donut waist hanging over the edge of your pants.

Women of all ages need a good exercise program.  Besides the potential for a beautiful shape, a healthy heart and toned muscles, younger women need to have a healthy body for childbirth. The stronger your core muscles are, the easier the labor. Once you approach the age of wisdom, menopause, you need to keep up the workout to help prevent heart disease and osteoporosis. In addition to that, you simply look better in a fit and healthy body. Your immune system benefits as well as your confidence level. Stronger doesn't mean bulkier but it does mean confident.

The best fitness program for women focuses on three areas; strength or muscle tone, flexibility and aerobic endurance. Most women can easily fit a few minutes of exercise into their daily schedule with some planning and by breaking down the exercise to small sequences.

If you don't have time to jog a few miles a day or the desire, consider a burst program, which takes as little as 12 to 16 minutes a week. You read that correctly, per week not per day. Burst training every other day proves as effective as traditional aerobic training but doesn't take nearly as long.  You follow a sequence of patterns that alternates between a high burst of energy such as an all out run lasting 30 to 60 seconds, followed by a slow paced breath-catching jog for the same length of time. Simply doing this pattern as few as four times in a row (four minutes at the shortest) can get you back into shape and breathing better. As you start to improve your tolerance, work up to the full minute of burst and recovery and increase the repetitions but never do more than 10 in a day and NEVER do this every day, your body needs recovery time.

Flexibility is another important focus for every woman's workout. The more flexible you are, the less prone you'll be to pulling a muscle or tearing a ligament. If you love burst exercise and want to mix it with being flexible put the program to music. Begin your program with five to ten minutes of stretches to music and then put on a fast song and rock away. Remember, you're not taking your act to Broadway so you can do your 30 to 60 seconds of burst in any manner that gets your heart pumping. After that, simply slow it down with stepping in place to the music. The higher and faster you lift your knees, the more you make your heart pump. End the exercise with more stretches.

You can build strength by finding exercise everywhere you look. If you're in the kitchen, lift those heavy cans above your head a few times. Carry the grocery bags yourself rather than asking for help. You can slide several bags over each arm and increase the number you carry as you walk from the car to the house. Lift your arms and lower them as you walk. Do a few squats while you watch television, or add an isometric exercise for the stomach. If you stand with your body slightly bent, hands on the knees and blow out all your air, you can pull your stomach muscles in dramatically. Tighten them as much as you can and stand erect. Hold for a second and then inhale. This simple exercise is the bomb when it comes to flattening the tummy.

You can create two lists of exercises, one for flexibility and cardio and the other for flexibility and strength.  Create a list of exercises you can do anywhere and then use those spare minutes during the day to get them checked off your list. A fitness program for women doesn't have to involve a gym or extra time from the day as long as you first take a few minutes to prepare.

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