The most doable fitness tips for women, ever!

As the summer months approach, Sexy Solutions consultant and Your Dream Body Come True author Edward Mendez shares his tips on how to achieve a truly toned, fit and bikini-ready body!

1. Weight training, (assisted by cardiovascular exercises) is the single best way to sculpt your body.

The greatest problem a woman faces is holding on to the notion that working out with weights will make her bulk up like a She-Hulk. WRONG! Men and women have different hormonal compositions. Women have hormones called estrogen that are responsible for their biological functions and development, while men have testosterone that are responsible for their manly physique and bodily functions. Even if women weight-train intensively, it is still impossible for them to become as muscular as men because they lack a certain amount of testosterone. Women in bodybuilding competitions have to resort to extraordinary/ artificial means in order to achieve their masculine features. 

2. Cardiovascular exercises are great when one is interested in burning fat.

However, it does very little in terms of shaping and sculpting one’s body. The best strategy in realizing a fit and toned physique is to combine both weight training and cardiovascular exercises.

3. Muscles are the furnaces that burn fat.

A pound of muscle burns 50 to 80 calories per hour at a resting phase! It therefore is logical to conclude that the more muscle one has in the body, the more fat burning abilities that body has. Muscles however, are smaller in size than fat and therefore occupy less space.

4. Throw away your scale!

A scale cannot show you how small your size is becoming. Instead, opt for measuring your body with a tape measure. It is very possible for a person to maintain the same weight but shrink in dress sizes due to the loss of fat and the gaining of muscle (muscles weigh more than fat).

5. Eat more often than you’re used to.

The average number of meals a person eats is normally three times a day: breakfast, lunch and dinner. Typically, the serving from each meal is enough to keep a person full for five hours or more. But from now on, instead of three big meals per day, try eating five to six small meals — enough to keep you full for the next three to four hours. The purpose of increasing the frequency of your food intake in  portions is to significantly amplify your metabolism. By eating more often, the body gets programmed to keep burning energy as it gets used to metabolizing food every three to four hours instead of every five to 10 hours. When smaller size meals are eaten, it becomes easier for the body to digest and assimilate nutrients into the muscles. With a big meal, only a portion of the food gets metabolized properly since the excess become unnecessary substances that end up being stored as fat.

6. Short-burst cardio training is a great method of exercise for fat-burning and cardiovascular fitness.

Short-burst training only takes a few minutes and is more effective than low-impact aerobic exercises that lasts for an hour. Short- burst training is a 23-minute routine that alternates bouts of high-intensity running lasting about 60 seconds with a recovery time of lower intensity running/jogging for about one minute down to a fast-paced walk for yet another minute then back to a high intensity run. It’s ideal for fat burning because alternating between high- and low-intensity training raises your metabolism and enables the muscles to continue to burn calories as the body recovers.

7. Do not combine your weight training and aerobic workouts on the same day opting for alternate days instead.

Also, do not combine both upper and lower body weight training on the same day. If on the first week you intend to devote two days to upper body training and one day to lower body training, make sure to do two days of lower body training and one day of upper body training on the next week.

8. Eat a protein-rich meal immediately after a workout.

Protein helps repair muscles. Muscles are made up of 100 percent protein that is composed of branched chains of amino acids. Without the adequate amount of protein in the diet, your body cannot completely repair, build and reshape itself.

9. An ideal nutritional meal composition is:

50 percent good carbohydrates; 40 percent protein; and 10 percent good fats.

10. Although weight training greatly contributes to creating muscles, it is important to know that muscle tissues are built when you are not weight training.

More specifically, muscle-building is most productive during sleep. Weight training without adequate rest is an absolutely wasted activity. Lack of sleep contributes to muscle loss and an increase in body fat

(Edward Mendez’s book Your Dream Body Come True is available in all National Book Store, Fully Booked and Powerbooks branches.)