Strength Training - 3 Times Per Week

We get this question a lot - "How often should I lift weights and for how long?" The answer is simple. Three times a week and make sure you work all of your major muscle groups each session. You can combine your strength training program with or without high-intensity cardio intervals. Either way, your strength training session should take you less than an hour per workout.

Lifting two times per week will offer some benefits, and one is better than nothing but isn't going to do much good. On the other hand, more than three is not likely to give you enough time to recover in between workouts, which is when the strengthening of your muscles is happening.

(Government recommendations for heart health include 30 minutes of the equivalent of brisk walking most days, so you might want to add a few days of that to your routine—it's not going to interfere with recovery from the weights.)

Strength Training - Stability Ball

A stability ball is an inexpensive "must-have" for quick strength training routines. Training on the ball challenges the whole body to participate in order to maintain correct posture and balance, and to perform dynamic exercise movement. Because it is a little unstable the body is constantly adjusting and moving as an entire unit. This type of movement compares to how you move about in a normal day and therefore is a great source for "functional" training.

There are hundreds of exercises that can be done using the stability ball to strengthen and tone the entire body. Just imagine all the ways you use a workout bench or chair and use a stability ball instead. Check out www.youcanmakeitfit.com for some great stability ball workouts. It's great way to improve strength, balance and flexibility.

Strength Training - Push Ups

It's no secret that the push up has been a staple move in fitness over the past several decades. It tones and shapes the chest, back, arms and core with just one move. We know you despise them - that's because they aren't easy. But try a doing them a new way with a stability ball.

Roll out on to the ball so that your hands are shoulder width apart on the floor and either your knees, shins or toes are on the ball. The further out the ball, the more difficult it is. Inhale and lower your chest down to the ground by allowing the elbows to bend out away from your body. Exhale and push through your chest, arms and palms back to starting position. Repeat a total of 10 times.

Strength Training - Forget the Barbie Weights

As a trainer who works with woman each and every day, I am constantly battling with ladies that don't want to lift weights heavier than 5 pounds for fear of looking too big and bulky. Guess what ladies - if you have children you have been lifting heavier than five pounds since the day your child was born. How about those laptop bags - those are certainly heavier too.

To quote Lou Schuler who said it best in his book The New Rules of Lifting for Woman, "Hard work includes lifting heavier weights. If the weights do not challenge you, your muscles won't grow. If your muscles don't grow, they wont look any better than they do now, even if you could somehow strip off whatever fat sits on top of them. Unless you're an extreme genetic outlier, you can't get too bulky. Your body won't allow it." Woman are naturally deprived of the amounts of testosterone that would make this worry a true concern.

So, the next time you pick up the weights, don't waste precious time with the 2 and 3 pound barbie dumbbells. Make your workout more effective in less time by choosing weights that challenge you. It won't be long before you begin to notice the difference in your figure.

STRENGTH TRAINING - Stong Abs by Just Sitting

Squeeze in a few V-sits while you are sitting around during the day. You can do this exercise in an office chair, on the bed (sit forward on the edge of chair/bed), on a curb, on a stair or on the floor.

Sit up tall on your sits bones, keeping a long spine. Recline upper body back slightly and bring feet up off the ground so that the lower body and upper body make the shape of a "V". You can keep the hands behind the thighs or you can reach them out in front of you. Be sure to keep the belly tight, you do not want the belly button to scoop out toward the spine. Hold for 10 seconds. Each time you do the exercise see if you can add on 5 seconds to your total hold time. Try 3 V-sit holds per day this week.

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