As a woman in the gym? Avoid these 5 mistakes!
New year, new me! With this resolution, many women register in the gym at the beginning of the year. But defining and building muscles is not that easy. But if you avoid our top 5 most common gym mistakes, you’re on the right track.
1. Afraid of having too many muscles
Do you want to define your body? Then you should build muscles, because they shape your feminine curves . Many women fear that strength training will automatically turn them into professional bodybuilders . But this fear is unfounded, because women have far too little testosterone in their blood. The “male hormone” has an anabolic effect, ie it builds muscles and is therefore a basic requirement for huge mountains of muscle. In men, the daily testosterone production is 7 mg, whereas in women it is only 0.7 mg. So as long as you don’t use illegal means or have a genetic defect, you don’t need to fear too many muscles.
2. Only train problem areas in the gym
You cannot determine where your body is losing fat. Instead of focusing only on your problem area during training, you should try to train the muscles that burn the most calories . Therefore, it is smart to focus on large muscle groups such as leg, buttock and back muscles. Ideally, you should use basic exercises – i.e. squats, deadlifts, rows, bench and shoulder presses. They strengthen the entire body. By the way, you also train small muscle groups, such as B. the abdominal muscles as you stabilize yourself over them.
3. Too much cardio in the gym
Many women can only be found in the gym in the endurance area. It is not uncommon for them to sweat for hours on cardio machines. Although a lot of calories can be burned through endurance units, this is only conditionally beneficial for a defined figure. On the contrary: the so-called “Skinny-Fat-Phenomenon” often appears. At first glance, you may look slim, but if you take a closer look, you can see fat deposits on your stomach and legs and sometimes cellulite. This is because the body fat percentage is relatively high and the muscle percentage is low despite the low weight. To look well trained, we recommend training with heavy weights and short, high-intensity cardio units such as HIT or interval training. These are the best prerequisites for losing fat and building muscle.
4. Don’t leave your comfort zone in the gym
Having a (training) plan is good. Throwing it overboard sometimes is better. If you only do the same exercises over and over again, the body adapts quickly and you need less energy for your training. In order to increase yourself, you need a steadily higher intensity resp. a new stimulus that should be stronger than the last. If you only train in your comfort zone and never grow beyond yourself, the muscle will not grow. You set new stimuli by heavier weights or more repetitions . On the other hand, if you give your body too little time to adjust nervously to the exercises through constantly new training plans, there will be no muscle building. So you should have been doing the same exercises for a few weeks.
5. Insufficient calorie intake
For the desired training success or muscle building, you absolutely have to provide your body with sufficient energy supply. Make sure you have a balanced, healthy diet. The best thing is a slight excess of calories, but a adequate protein supply should also be kept in mind as a beginner. If that doesn’t happen, your body is in a constant chain reaction. If you do not eat enough before training, you have no energy, you can move less weight and not set any new stimuli . You should also consume enough energy after your workout so that your muscles regenerate sufficiently between workouts.
Our most important gym tips:
- With our Pre- and post workout shake you are well looked after before and after training.
- Our gainer will help you if you have problems have to consume enough calories.
- You can use our protein powder to increase your protein intake.
- Focus on the basic exercises and the big ones Muscle groups.
- Take sufficiently heavy weights that you can barely manage the last rep of your set with.
- For endurance training, rely on short, intense HIT or interval training.
- Be patient and be aware that changes do not happen overnight.