Many women get frustrated because even after taking a major effort to go to the gym despite hectic schedules, their fitness does not seem to discernibly improve; their weight hasn’t gone down and neither has their strength improved. Some typical mistakes that women seem to be making all the time that results in their fitness regime not showing results:
Post-Workout Treats
It is quite possible that after working out you are heading to your favorite café around the corner with your best friend to catch up with the gossip over a mug of coffee and a muffin. Innocuous as they might seem, you may be consuming as many as 500 calories that your workout may not actually be burning off totally. Therefore, the hour or so you have spent in the gym sweating it out may have been reduced to zero as far as the calorie burn is concerned. Once you are able to appreciate this, you could substitute your coffee date with a chat on the park bench over a glass of homemade smoothie that packs in protein and carbs that will help to build muscle and replenish the energy your body will be craving for after the workout.
Misjudging the Calories Burned
Women often overestimate their calorie burn after spending an hour in the gym. You may be feeling great at having sweated it out in the gym but the number of calories that you may have actually burned may be too few to make too much of a difference. You need to instead, focus on the intensity of the workout in addition to the duration. Instead of pushing yourself at a moderate pace for an hour, try and break it up into smaller sessions of intense exercise alternated with periods of rest. Interval training, according to fitness experts, is far more effective in burning calories and building stamina than conventional training. To add a punch to muscle building efforts, you can try out good steroids; however, it is best to ask your trainer first.
Being Afraid of Lifting Weights
Most women are very tentative about weightlifting because they fear that their muscles will start to bulge in a manly manner. However, what men can achieve with testosterone kicking in is simply not possible for women to emulate due to the presence of estrogen that restricts muscle growth. By not lifting weights, women miss out on a very good way of burning calories fast and building their core strength that helps to prevent exercise injuries. Weightlifting involves both forms of exercise, aerobic and anaerobic, and is proven to be among the best ways of losing weight. Additionally, by building stronger muscle and increasing the density of bones, women run a lesser risk of osteoporosis.
Conclusion
For your fitness objectives to be met you need to always push yourself; this means that maintaining the same pace without progressively trying to do more will not result in any incremental benefits as your calorie burn will also reach a plateau. You can also prevent disappointment by keeping your expectations realistic.
