Maybe Your Pink Dumbbells Aren't Really Pink

As I've mentioned before, the inspiration for naming my blog and my fitness boot camp came from a great Bill Hartman blog post, which you can read here ==> Too Much Pink

Back when I named them, it was rare to see anything other than very light dumbbells that were pink- one, two, maybe three pounds, but that was about it.

Nowadays, although I still don't see many heavier dumbbells in pink, there are kettlebells...



sandbags...

weight plates...

etc. that could get you into serious shape if used properly.

So, it's important to understand that when people refer to "pink dumbbells", it's not about the actual color of the weight; it's more of a shorthand way of referring to light, non-challenging resistance.

Although I've never been to a gym that had 10-pound pink dumbbells, I'm sure they're out there. Let me say again that it's not about the actual color. It's not even about the specific number on the weight you use; it's about the workload on your muscles.

It's all relative. A 5-pound weight may be enough resistance for a beginner or on certain exercises. The point is to challenge your muscles. As a general guideline, use a resistance you can only perform 6-10 times. Contrary to the "light weight, high reps to tone" myth, doing 25 repetitions using 3 pounds is not an effective or efficient way to achieve the body you want.

When you can do 10 reps with good form, increase the weight slightly at the next workout (this is where Plate Mates come in super handy if you use metal dumbbells). As long as you can perform at least 6 reps with the higher weight while using correct form, you're good. Then, just continue to increase your reps as you're able, until you reach 10. Once you can do 10 reps, repeat the process. For best fat loss and strength results, you should always be striving to increase your reps or your resistance (always with good form, of course).

So, as long as the weights you use challenge your muscles, don't worry about what color they are. (The 1-pound dumbbells at Body & Soul Fitness are blue.)

You think anyone's going to tell this woman she's not working hard?

 
If you're seriously interested in dropping body fat, getting fit, and reshaping your body, check out Rachel Cosgrove's new book Drop Two Sizes: A Proven Plan to Ditch the Scale, Get the Body You Want & Wear the Clothes You Love!or Craig Ballantyne's TurbulenceTraining program.

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Women Have It All Wrong by Rachel Cosgrove

I posted this a excellent article a few years ago and it deserves to be seen again. I originally received it via e-mail and for some reason, Rachel never posted it on her blog so I can't give you a direct link.

If your goal is weight loss, you really need to read this. It's long but do yourself a favor and check it out.


Women have it all wrong!
By Rachel Cosgrove

Women have it all wrong when it comes to weight loss. The average woman when she joins a gym looks at how many treadmills there are and the aerobics schedule to see if there are classes that fit in her schedule. When women want to lose weight they torture themselves with repetitive movement for hours on end spinning their wheels or running to nowhere like a hamster in a habitrail! If you take a look at all of the women walking on the treadmills you'll notice none of them have the body most women want.

The problem is that most personal trainers haven't figured it out yet either. They get a female client who hires them to change their body and they think, "Oh man...another one of those stupid toning programs in the ladies only section with the pink dumbbells doing lots of reps..." Most trainers don't realize that they need to challenge women to get their bodies to change and to stop being afraid of pushing her to gain muscle to boost her metabolism to change the way her body looks, permanently.

Weight Loss Program the average woman does:

* Endless hours of cardio or aerobics classes

* Avoids strength training because she doesn't want to get "big and bulky" or maybe she uses some rinky dink pink dumbbells to "tone" for lots of reps

* Cuts back her diet to practically starve herself

* Focuses on the scale weight and a number she wants it to say

What works about this plan: NOTHING!

What is wrong with this plan: EVERYTHING!

She will lose weight but it will be a mixture of muscle, water and maybe some fat so she'll end up looking like a smaller version of her same self but in the process she will have dropped her metabolism so there will be no way she can keep the weight off and will gain it back guaranteed. This is the cycle most women have been through many times throughout their lifetime. Yet, when they want to lose weight they do the same thing again. The definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over and expect a different result.

Weight Loss Program the average Women SHOULD do:

* Metabolically demanding full body strength training program lifting challenging weights. This should be their priority workouts 2-4 days a week.

* Boost their intensity and drop the duration on their cardio sessions performing interval style workouts for no more than 30 minutes at a time.

* Fuel their body with healthy food every couple hours getting their metabolism revving.

* Focus on how her clothes fit and how she looks and feels and not on a number on the scale. Focus in Fat Loss, not Weight Loss.

What works about this plan: It will boost her metabolism, it will change her body, it will make her feel confident about herself, she can eat and she will be able to maintain her new body!

What is wrong with this plan: NOTHING!

To really change their bodies permanently women need to start checking out the strength training floor. They need to get out of their comfort zone and push their bodies beyond what it is used to. No more walking to nowhere on the treadmill! I am not talking about bodybuilding routines where you split up each body part and bomb and blitz the pecs or pump up the biceps. It is not necessary for a woman to isolate any muscle group to get the defined look she wants.

Instead a woman should do a full body, metabolically demanding program in which she alternates between an upper body compound movement such as a push up or chin up with a lower body compound movement such as a squat or lunge. Keep the rest periods short and use a weight that is challenging. Use 3-4 pairs of exercises working out for no more than an hour at a time.

The woman with toned arms and defined legs looks that way because she has the very thing most women are terrified of, muscle. They are so afraid to lift weights in fear of bulking up that they never get their bodies to look the way they want them to. They have it deeply seeded in their subconscious that as soon as they touch anything over 10 pounds, they will sprout humungous muscles! Even if they do use weights, they probably still aren't lifting heavy enough and pushing themselves hard enough to get the look they want. Most women don't know what their bodies are capable of and tend to not push themselves hard enough. There was actually a research study done on this where they showed that women when left to train on their own, lifted loads below what they were capable of.

Maybe it is because women have been conditioned our whole lives to exercise from the point of view of what we "can't" do, rather than what we can do. Women grew up doing "girl" push ups, because we were told we "can't" do actual push ups or hanging from the bar instead of a chin up because girls "can't" do chin ups. The first woman to run the marathon had to sneak in dressed as a man because women "can't" run a marathon, and that was only in the 70's, not that long ago. Women "can't" lift too heavy, they will hurt themselves. We still subconsciously hold ourselves back when it comes to training whether we realize it or not.

We need to start training from the standpoint of- What CAN you do? How much CAN you lift? How strong CAN you get? And stop letting "can't" enter our vocabulary. As women start to push themselves in the gym, lifting weights and building lean muscle tissue, their metabolisms will be revving and they will be the toned, defined body they have always wanted.

So how do you get your body to change? You have to lift enough weight to build muscle to increase your metabolism, fuel your body with healthy food and turn your body into a fat burning machine. Stop pounding your body with hours of cardio and stop starving yourself!

Rachel Cosgove is a triathlete and personal fitness coach. She and her husband Alwyn own Results Fitness in Santa Clarita, California.


www.RachelCosgrove.com



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7 Tips To Shake Up Your Strength Training - Katherine Hobson

I found this great article via Rachel Cosgrove's blog. Be sure to check out the 8 Strength Training Tips for Women link later in the article, too.

Your Strength Routine: 7 Tips to Shake It Up
April 29, 2009 | Katherine Hobson

If you haven't already done so, check out our 10-week workout routine. Those of you already following our calendar are beginning the strength-training element this week. If you've never done resistance training or a strength routine before, simply learning the exercises is plenty. But once you've mastered the basic moves, you'll need to shake things up in order to progress. Here are seven tips for doing that from Rachel Cosgrove, a personal fitness coach and owner (with her husband) of Results Fitness in Santa Clarita, Calif. Her first book, The Fit Chick Body, will be published by Rodale in October.

Accept that you can't just go on autopilot. It would be nice to be able to memorize one strength routine and simply repeat it with the same set of dumbbells, three times a week, for the rest of your life. But the key to getting stronger, says Cosgrove, is to vary and change things on a regular basis.

Keep a program for four to six weeks. "You don't want to change too often, because then your body can't conquer things," says Cosgrove. Take the first week to master the workout. In the second week, add a second set of each exercise. By the third week, maybe add some more weight or add a third set. By the fourth week, add enough weight to make it really challenging. "We usually say to change one variable at a time," says Cosgrove.

Your program doesn't have to be totally new every time. If you can only do a pushup against a wall, try that for four to six weeks. The next time, you can do the move on your knees, and in your next four- to six-week period, try a regular pushup. (But don't be afraid to try new equipment, too—I've recently discovered the medicine ball, and my abs and arms are thanking me for it.)

Play around with reps and weight. The number of reps is the first thing your body gets used to, says Cosgrove. One way to mix it up is to use heavier weight than you're used to, fewer reps (six to eight), and more rest in between sets for a four- to six-week period. During another period you could focus on slightly lighter weights, but with 10 to 15 reps and less rest in between sets.

Don't be afraid to increase the weight. This isn't usually a problem for men, but women tend to be scared to lift more, afraid they're going to get huge. The fact is, most women are probably already hoisting a lot more than 10 pounds at a time during the course of their day (starting with their purse). "Women are lifting 30-pound kids and 20-pound grocery bags. And then they get to the gym and think, 'I don't want to bulk up,' " says Cosgrove. Women simply aren't built to develop massive, shirt-busting muscles; the ones who do are specifically trying to do it (and it's really hard).

[Check out 8 Strength Training Tips for Women.]

Soreness is not a sign of success. A little soreness is to be expected the first time you do a new program, says Cosgrove, but it shouldn't persist. If you're chronically sore, you're probably not recovering correctly.

[Read Aches and Pains: Sizing Up Soreness After Exercising.]

Get help. It's entirely possible to create your own progressive routines, but it can be helpful to have instruction, too. If regular coaching or training is not within your budget, do what a lot of Cosgrove's clients do and schedule a session every four to six weeks to get a new program. Or turn to books or magazines. (I got my own latest workout from Cosgrove, via Women's Health.)

Collected Fitness Wisdom #5

Women are just really terrified of weights. They're on cardio machines, elliptical for 60 minutes and wondering why they don't see definition and tone. The missing link is strength training.

~Jessica Matthews


Normally, arguing with a pilates instructor over the internet is about as exciting as playing Marco Polo with Helen Keller, but I’ll play along and make this short and sweet. For the love of god, pilates DOES NOT lengthen (or elongate) your muscles.

~Tony Gentilcore


Consistency is key. Challenging yourself 2-3 days per week, week in and week out, is much better than going all out for a couple months and then completely burning out, getting injured, and falling off the wagon.

~Doug Jackson


Effective doesn't mean excessive. This applies to cardio AND weight training. Strive to get the best results from the least amount of work.

~Brad Pilon

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Collected Fitness Wisdom #2

First off, happy birthday to my brother Mike!

Here's another installment of great quotes I've collected from other fitness professionals. You can find the first one here. If you're a fan of traditional cardio or mislabeled "functional" training, you may want to stop reading now.


"The reality is that most guys need to check their ego and cut back on the weight and focus on fixing their skitzoid form. Most women need to lift heavier."

~Mike T. Nelson, CSCS



"Standing on half a balloon (actually known as the BOSU ball) with one leg and then doing an overhead dumbbell shoulder press isn’t going to help you at all. When’s the last time you were in your driveway and you needed to walk on a balloon to get inside your house while carrying groceries?

~Dan Grant, CPT



"The fact of the matter is that nutrition and training are like the two wheels of a bicycle; you cannot ultimately be successful if only one wheel is spinning."

~Chris Mohr, PhD, RD



"Do people think there are invisible fat sucking trolls living beneath the treadmills? Well I have looked and let me assure you there are not.

If people spent 1/4 the time doing exercises like squats and deadlifts as they did on the damn treadmill they would be leaner, stronger and (last but not least) healthier. Plus they would be out of the gym in a fraction of the time."

~Joshua Carter, CPT



"I think people know what to do, but just aren't doing it.

e.g. for getting lean: Did you train today? Did you do something that will elevate your metabolism? Did you eat supportively? Post workout shake? 5 meals? Protein at every meal? EFA's?

Stop trying to figure out a better plan if you aren't already doing all of the above.

A lot of the time it's an application of knowledge that is the missing link - not a lack of knowledge per se."

~Alwyn Cosgrove, CSCS

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