Women's Safety Information

Nowadays, everyone has heard of Pilates. There has been a media blitz touting the benefits of this highly unusual method of stretching and toning exercises. No one would argue that Pilates improve blood circulation and flexibility in its practitioners. But, can this make you fit? There has been much debate over whether or not it can improve the overall cardiovascular and general fitness level of the participant. Some people tend to think that Pilates alone will not greatly increase a person’s fitness level, although he or she will benefit from the reduce in stress and increase in flexibility that Pilates will provide. However, devotees to it report a definite increase in strength along will the other benefits.

Unlike traditional weight training, Pilates uses breath control, balance and body resistance to increase muscle mass. If you want to pump up your work out routine without adding a weight segment to it, it can help you build lean muscle mass by using the body as its own resistance. You won’t build the incredible muscle mass associated with body building and lifting free weights, but the body can provide enough resistance to itself to strengthen the muscles to a great degree. Some of the balancing poses and stretches require a great deal of strength to hold. That natural resistance builds lean, elongated muscle. While aerobic activity is great for the heart and weight lifting strengthens the muscle, Pilates can benefit the body in its own ways.

In addition to the benefits of strengthening muscles that Pilates provide, the method uses controlled breathing techniques and proper spinal alignment. The breathing techniques focus on the individual breathing through a series of ever-increasingly difficult poses. The control, concentration and strength needed to accomplish the exercises give the practitioner a sense of peace after he is finished. The exercises also promote proper spinal alignment, which has untold benefits, everything from sleeping better to fewer colds and headaches.

Even if you choose doing Pilates as a supplement to your regular exercise program, or as your main strength-training exercise, it can help your muscles to grow strong, balanced and supple. In fact, Pilates requires you to hold certain positions for a period of time during the space of several deep breaths. This feat in actually much more difficult than conventional exercise, where the movements can allow momentum to help carry your muscles through till the end. Holding the poses in this actually allows the muscles to realign, becoming more balanced. Also, instead of isolating a particular muscle or set of muscles, Pilates recruits smaller muscle groups around the large set targeted to help with balance. Since you’re not overworking the larger muscle groups in isolation, you are less likely to be hurt during your exercise program.

Pilates has multiple benefits. It is considered an exercise program for the mind and body.

These positions and controlled breathing focus the mind inward instead of focusing on the distractions of everyday life. Using this as a mental exercise with benefits of strengthening the back and muscles, the practitioners can achieve a better mental state and better overall fitness.



By: Dominic Ferrara

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Women’s Fitness Bootcamps are becoming the most popular training method today. Women meet up from 2 days a week to 5 days a week to shed inches and burn body fat from problem areas. An important part of bootcamp training is a warm up session. Warmups prepare the body for exercise but shouldn’t be confused with stretching, although stretching is an essential part of the warm up

The warm up serves to elevate body temperature by one.4 to 2.8 degrees Fahrenheit. The comprehensive warming up session practiced in women’s bootcamps includes three essential parts: general warm up, stretching, and specific warming strength activity. A general warm up, where muscles are loosened and warmed is performed before starting up each bootcamp session.

Due to the importance of the warm-up, personal fitness trainers in bootcamps demonstrate and instruct women how to perform it correctly, in order to avoid risk of injury from engaging later in specific strength and stretching exercises.

Women’s Bootcamp warm ups are split into: joint movements and various aerobic exercises. The joint rotations go down the body. Such rotations are targeted to improve joint motion by lubricating the joints. Bootcamp trainers demonstrate circular movements to improve the rotations and include circular rotations to the wrists, elbows, shoulders, neck, waist, hips, legs, knees, ankles.

Next, comes the light aerobic warm-up which includes a few minutes of aerobic activity such as jumping a rope to increase the cardio-vascular function. This continues to raise the body temperature and blood flow before effective strength and stretching training can take place.

Then the stretching phase of the warm-up includes both static and dynamic stretching exercises, where static stretching should precede the dynamic stretches in order to avoid potential risk. Static stretching usually starts with upper body and goes down the lower body with emphasis on the muscles that will be used during the core workout.

Dynamic stretching comes next with some arm swings and leg raises to increase flexibility. The last phase of the bootcamp warm-up session includes specific strength exercises to warm muscles that will be used heavily later on during the bootcamp. This phase includes exactly the same bootcamp strength exercises but at reduced intensity to enhance the strength, balance, and coordination during workouts as well as prevent potential injury.

All that women have to do in order to take advantage of such carefully designed fitness programs-is join a successful women’s bootcamp that conducts assessment of women’s weightloss and physical conditions prior to starting the workout itself and provides women with personally tailored programs that incorporate the right amount of warmup exercises, stretching exercises, and strength exercises before the actual workout- to ensure the best fat loss and workout results over time.

By: Eric Bonilla

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Women demand a different sort of fitness program than adult males in order to lose weight and build long lean muscles instead of bulky ones. Women’s only physical fitness plans are especially designed to aid women in getting what they need out of a workout. Unfortunately, not every woman who tries such a program will succeed and there are many reasons why. Here are five points that can be applied to ensure that the women’s physical fitness program you choose is successful and helps you meet your goals.

1. A Healthy Diet

Maintaining a healthy diet on a daily basis is one of the most important things that you can do to ensure the success of your women’s only fitness program. A diet comprising of plenty of non starchy fruits, green leafy veggies, lean meats and proteins, as well as a lower level of carbohydrates is ideal. This type of dieting allows you to maintain a sense of fullness, have enough energy for your workouts, all while helping you lose weight.

2. Set a Time

One of the biggest mistakes that women make that causes their fitness programs to be unsuccessful is not having a set time each day in which to exercise. If you have a preset time that is the identical each day for your fitness exercise, then you are much more likely to stick with it over time. Doing this minimizes the distractions and the risk that something can be used as an excuse for not coming through with your plan.

3. Target Trouble Zones

A good and successful women’s only fitness program will target the trouble zones of a woman’s body. These zones tend to be the thighs, abdominal area, hips and upper arms. While overall aerobic activity should be done for rapid weight loss, a targeted routine should also be developed to tone the muscles of these trouble zones and get noticeable results.

4. Don’t Make Common Mistakes

There are many common mistakes which can be made to deter the success of your fitness program. In order to see the results you want in a short amount of time, it is necessary that you avoid such mistakes. These include quitting your program because you cheated on your diet one day or feel as though you have not made enough progress. Another common mistake is pushing yourself too hard in the beginning so that you quit after only a few days. It is essential to avoid these and other routine errors and not let anything stand in your way of success.

5. Stay Motivated

Another important step that you can take to ensure the success of your women’s only fitness program is to keep yourself motivated. Set goals for yourself that can be achieved every week or month and create rewards that can be gained with the goal has been met. Additionally, you can build a support system of supporters and family members that can help keep you driven or you can even join an online support group to get help and advice 24/7.

Not every woman will encounter success when she starts a physical fitness program. Nevertheless, there are measures that can be considered to ensure that your women’s only physical fitness curriculum is as successful as possible. The five tips above are just a few of the ones available that can help you meet your goals.

By: Raz Chan

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