Circuit Training For Women Should Include These Exercises

The fact is, there are no reasons why circuit training for women should be any different from circuit training for men. Granted, women’s reasons for taking up exercise may differ slightly to men. For example, according to some surveys, women tend to take up exercise because they want to look good, whereas men tend to do so for more competitive reasons. Other than this, training methods and exercise routines are more or less the same for women as they are for men.

I say more or less because there are subtle ways to manipulate your workouts to target the needs of women better.

The previous statement needs clarification because the needs of the fitness enthusiast are different to those of an elite sports person. Performance training is performance training, and the needs of your event or sport must be paramount as you plan your training. However, for the fitness enthusiast there are definite ways to design your circuit training for it to target the needs of female participants.

Circuit Training for Women – The Method

Circuit training is a method of exercising with the objective of making improvements in both cardiovascular fitness and muscular endurance. You should carefully choose six to twelve exercises, and perform each, one after the other, with very limited recovery/rest between each exercise. When constructed correctly, circuit training will utilize fats as its primary fuel sources and under these circumstances it is an excellent training method for women to use to melt away excess body fat.

Once a predetermined level of fitness has been reached you should organize your routine based on the “high-intensity interval training” (HIIT) method . What this means is that you will perform the exercises for your circuit at a very intense level. There is some evidence that suggest that working out in this way will burn body fat during and post-exercise.

The only downside is that to make best use of this method of training you will need to have a relatively high degree of fitness first. However, a circuit training session lasting 15 – 45 minutes, designed with HIIT in mind can consume a lot of fat as fuel – you can see why women would love it.

Circuit Training for Women – The Exercises

Where I feel circuit training can come into its own for a woman is when we look at the individual activities themselves. The exercises I am about to suggest are not for women alone. Indeed, men should and do utilize them too. Nevertheless, if I were putting together a workout of circuit training for women, I would pay particular attention to the design of the exercises.

For example, women tend to be weaker than their male counterparts in the upper body and can develop physical problems due to lack of strength in that region. There are other areas of the body where females may also want to tone for aesthetic reasons!

With that in mind, I would suggest the following exercises for upper and lower body:

Single Arm Bent Over Dumbbell Row

Mature women, can sometimes show signs of developing rounded shoulders. It is a problem that is caused by a number of different issues such as bad posture. However, the problem can be due to just weak upper back muscles (the trapezius, deltoids, and latissimus). Strengthening these muscles in your circuit training routines will promote an improvement in your posture.

Squats

We talked earlier about women tending to take up exercise to improve their appearance. For a whole host of reasons, the female of the species tends to store their fat around their hips, thighs and bum. Well, squats are perhaps the most effective exercise you can do for overall leg development. Squats are a compound exercise that hits the entire upper leg complex including the quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes. For women this exercise should, therefore, be a must among their many exercise choices.

Twisting Bi-cycle Sit-ups

All core exercises done properly are effective. This particular exercise, however, activates your upper and lower abdominals, your obliques, and your hips. Strong core muscles will again help you with your posture and minimize your risk of injury around your lower back. Again these areas are primary fat storage sites in females.

Before I wrap things up let me be clear about my reasons for proposing the exercises above. I am not for an instance suggesting that by performing these activities that you will lose fat in those areas of your body. You have to expend more energy in work than you take in from food or other nutrients if you want to lose weight. In addition, you cannot target through exercise alone where you lose fat on your body.

 

However, circuit training will certainly help you to improve your fitness, your tone and strengthen your body in the areas highlighted in this article.

To create a routine around circuit training for women whose goal it is to be healthy and who also want to look fabulous, you should:

1. Utilize the methodology suggested;
2. Include these exercises in your workouts;
3. Employ a balanced, calorie-controlled diet.

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