DIU Blog

It wasn’t so long ago that women who dared to lift weights and put on a little muscle were seen as too manly, but no longer! Female bodybuilding does not have to equate to masculine or butch or unattractive. In fact it’s completely the opposite.

The attractiveness of a fit, toned female physique is now being recognized as the optimum look for a lady, and the best one, in my opinion at least. And I’m not alone. People are being turned off the super skinny size 0 and prefer the athletic look. Primarily because you can have curves and still be fit and healthy.
The good thing ladies, is, that if you make a few small changes to your workout you can go a long way towards that look yourself.

Here are some tips to doing it right:

Use Male Weights:
You’ve probably seen them, and if your gym is progressive enough you may have even used them. The ladies dumbbells. Light, shiny and possibly in an attractive color, these are pretty much a waste of time apart from to the absolutely weakest people anywhere.

I think the manufacturers of these products play on the fear of women fitness enthusiasts. Women don’t want to end up with giant muscles so they stay away from challenging weights. The simple truth is that you need a great deal more testosterone than you have to build those sorts of muscles. Men have that in abundance, most of them anyway, but women do not. So nothing to be scared of. And what’s also beneficial is that lifting weights can make an almost immediate and dramatic positive change to your physique.
And don’t be worried if you put a pound or two on of healthy muscle. That’s completely normal and will without doubt look more attractive than a flabby or muscle free body.

Cardio:
Women seem to gravitate towards the cardio section and never leave. My observation is that women look the same before and after cardio. Whether it be 30 minutes Stair mastering or 6 months of daily treadmill. If you don’t look like you’ve had a heavy workout you probably won’t feel like you’ve had a heavy workout and you won’t reap the rewards of a heavy workout.

Instead of doing the same old cardio, try something new. Really put some effort in. Cardio is like strength training to some degree. When something you are doing becomes easy or not really challenging, you’ll need to mix it up. So either increase the intensity or the duration. And if that’s still not enough to have you red faced, sweating and panting, it’s intervals time.

Instead of doing 30 minutes of what you’re used to, go hell for leather for 30 seconds, 30 seconds easy to medium and repeat until you’ve done 30 minutes that way. It will be hard, very hard, but the results will be amazing. Cardio, the female bodybuilding way.

Food:
Don’t resign carbs to the ‘do not eat’ pile just yet. You need a balanced diet and carbs will be part of that. Avoid simple carbs. That’s white bread, white rice, sugar. Unrefined carbohydrates aren’t as bad for you and they can give much needed energy. So stick with complex carbs and carbs you get from vegetables, before and after workouts and you’ll be brimming with energy.

Fat. The dreaded ingredient. I think we all know by know that fat can should be part of your diet anyway, but hopefully healthy fat like omega 3 from fish oil and unsaturated fat. The big issue with fat is that fat free food often replaces it with sugar which is far worse for you in the long run. Excess sugar can spike your insulin levels and not only does this make you hungrier and liable to eat more, it makes you more likely to store fat and can have serious implications in the future.

Include fat in your diet, include carbs in your diet. Follow a healthy eating plan and it will slowly but surely have a major positive impact on your appearance, energy levels and general well being.

The Female Bicep:
The female bicep isn’t situated on the arm. It’s the butt. While men all want to work their biceps and get big guns, ladies are more likely to work their glutes. A muscley rear end is a must for women (apparently) and in female bodybuilding this is the pinnacle of achievement.
Squats (1 and 2 legged), lunges and hamstring curls, weight assisted, will all contribute to rock hard cheeks and to really get there, you’ll need to really work at it.