Seven Tips for Women On the Go

Unless you're a competitive weightlifter, your concern is development of strength and muscular tone, not the demonstration of strength. By swinging the dumbbells while performing bicep curls, you will demonstrate greater strength but create momentum, which may inhibit the development of muscular strength. A good way to ensure you're lifting with little momentum is to watch whether the weight or machine arm floats or recoils. If this happens, there's too much momentum.

6 Incorporate variety into your regimen. Carrie Auger, a bill collector from Houghton, Michigan, says, "An exercise program of any sort without variety is one I'll be quitting!" Auger is not alone. According to Mark Nemish, director of strength and conditioning for the National Hockey League's Nashville Predators, to keep from becoming physiologically or psychologically stale, it's important to change your exercises, repetition targets and number of sets every four or five weeks.

7 Stay fired up! The best way to keep trainees fired up is to help them feel a sense of competence and control over what they're doing. To do that, learn how to perform correctly so you can demonstrate your skills consistently. A sense of control provides motivation through ownership. Ownership comes from playing a part in the design of your program and its implementation.

It's my experience that there's no one "best" workout for everyone. However, by learning from experienced people, acknowledging the constraints of your life, progressively working harder, executing exercises with discipline and enthusiasm and using variety, you'll find one of the many "perfect" workouts for you.

For Further Reading

Strength Training for Women by James A. Peterson, Cedric X. Bryant and Susan L. Peterson (Human Kinetics Publishers)

Building Strength and Stamina by Wayne Wescott (Human Kinetics Publishers)

A Practical Approach to Strength Training by Matt Brzycki (Master Press Publishers)

Fitness Weight Training by Thomas R. Baechle and Roger Earle (Human Kinetics Publishers)

Tim Wakeham, M.S., CSCS, is an assistant strength and conditioning coach at Michigan State University.

COPYRIGHT 2000 Aerobics and Fitness Association of America
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group