April 15, 2010 in Articles, Motivation by James Dawson Martin

Why Women need to lift weights!

I would like to take a few moments to address an issue that I deal with on a daily basis – Women in the gym who are afraid to lift weights, fearing they will become female versions of the incredible hulk just by touching anything heavier than a 2lb dumbbell.

They are many benefits for women when it comes to participating in regular weight resistanceworkouts.

Below I will list the top 3 reasons:

1. Shape and tone – Shape and tone comes from losing body fat and gaining lean muscle.  Women seem to be fine with the losing body fat part but when they hear the words ‘gaining lean muscle’ they begin to panic… WRONG.

Lean muscle is what gives your body shape with the tone you want. If you didn’t have muscle you would just be fat hanging from bone. You would have no tone to work with.

2. Burn more calories – The more muscle to fat ratio you have, the more body fat you are able to burn. If you have a high percentage of bodyfat and a low percentage of muscle, you will have a harder time being able to burn fat and keep fat off long term – another reason why fad diets alone without weight training does not work long term – it doesn’t help you gain lean muscle to help you raise your metabolism to fuel the fat burn process throughout the day.

My wife, Nicole, is a great example of a woman achieving great, feminine lean tone in the gym(just don’t wear the stilettos)

3. Health Benefits - By working out and eating correctly, not only can a woman look better on the outside.. They can feel better on the inside! Studies have shown that building healthy lean muscle is a great indication for longevity – more so than cholesterol or blood pressure levels.

By mixing endurance weight sessions with strength weight lifting sessions, women are able to increase their cardiovascular output, have healthier and stronger bones/joints, and be able to live longer!

Not to mention lifting weights can be even better for you than just doing cardio!
If done right, you can burn just as many calories, if not more, and burn more calories throughout the day because you have more lean muscle!
Copyright JamesDawsonMartin.com

February 21, 2010 in Articles, Motivation by James Dawson Martin

Get comfortable with you!

As a trainer, I always begin by having a client discuss their goals with me. These goals can range from general fitness, athletic performance, strength, and physical appearance.

The latter, in my opinion, counts for the majority of my clients main goals.

In terms of physical appearance, some of these clients wish to morph their bodies not

just by increasing muscle mass or decreasing fat, but to actually change the shape of their muscles -width and length.

This is the mistake many people make initially.

The way our muscles are shaped – the way our chest is formed and our abs are shaped - is mostly genetic.

Some people have a wide, broad chest and others have thick less broad chests. While we can work to change this, a lot of it is genetic.

It is important that one becomes comfortable in their own skin and body before beginning a workout – that they know that they can achieve fantastic results, that they can strip away that body fat and have abs that they dreamed of..But they must realize that those abs will be their own and nobody else’s.

We are unique individuals and have separate genetics.

Coming to this conclusion and focusing on the way your own physique will look like is one of the most important factors before starting a workout program.

You will not look like ‘Brad Pitt in Fight Club’..

You will not look like ‘Arnold Schwarzenegger in Commando’..

No. You will look like yourself -

You will look like yourself with toned muscles and six pack abs -

Unique muscle. 

So take this time.. Look in the mirror.. Look at your chest and the shape of it..

Think of it being lean, think of your stomach with six pack abs, the way it will all come together.

You will make amazing results happen.

Just Make sure you visualize yourself being ripped and muscular - not another person being it for you.

You are you. You are unique.. And that is an amazing thing my friend.