Female fitness more than cardio

I feel like women's fitness at the University has confined itself to the ellipticals, the abductor-adductor machines and that glute machine in the middle of Ramsey.

Don't misunderstand me. Cardiovascular training, when coupled with a nutritious diet, is essential to weight loss and muscle definition. However, a common misconception is performing free weight exercises suddenly will transform you into a female version of the Incredible Hulk.

This is far from the truth.

Included in this article is a regimen targeting the lower body. You should perform each day's workout as a circuit, doing every exercise once and not resting between exercises. Once you've performed every exercise one time, rest for two minutes and repeat the circuit two more times.

If you have any questions about any of these exercises, just search the name online and it should pull up a picture with a matching description. The only exercises you may not find are ballet squats, dumbbell curl-to-presses and calf presses, so I'll do my best to explain those.

Ballet squats are performed with your feet a little wider than shoulder width apart, with your feet pointed at the 10 and two o'clock positions. Stand evenly on your feet and drop down like you're sitting on a chair and come back up to the original position. Keep your back slightly arched and slightly forward throughout the movement.

Dumbbell curl-to-presses combine a dumbbell curl with a dumbbell shoulder-press. Curl both dumbbells to your shoulders simultaneously without twisting your wrists. Then rotate your palms while pressing the dumbbells overhead.

Try to keep the movement smooth, without resting in between the curl and press. Don't clang the weights at the top of the movement as well.

Calf presses are performed on a leg press machine. With your knees almost locked-out and your feet half-on and half-off the pressing surface, press the weight up with your toes.

In addition to your strength-training routine, you should include three cardio sessions per week. Try to burn about four hundred calories during each of these three cardio sessions.

To make your routine successful, eat healthy. Don't try to pull a G.I. Jane and skip every meal in the spirit of weight-loss. The best way to lose weight and increase muscle definition is to eat the right food at the right time instead of not eating at all.

Think about it this way - you're more likely to maintain a diet and training regimen you enjoy over one you loathe.

Stick with this routine and in no time you'll be loving the results.

- Daniel Hanna is a columnist for The Red & Black.
Originally published in the Red & Black 3/6/07