I remember a time when resistance training for women was new. You rarely saw women in the gym hitting the weights. You might see them attending an aerobics class, if you belonged to one of those kinds of clubs. But, being muscular was not a desirable attribute for a woman. Of course, I'm probably quite a few years older than you are.

The first women's "physique" championship was not held until 1978. The first Ms. Olympia was not named until 1980. Rachel McLish was the winner of that title. She wrote two books about weight and resistance training for women. Over the years, those books have been followed by many more.

In recent years, fitness and figure competitions have become increasingly popular for women. Rachel's appearance was actually closer to that new category than to what is now considered female bodybuilding. In fitness and figure competitions, the emphasis is on muscle "tone" rather than size.

Depending on your current level of fitness, you may want to increase the size, strength and tone of your muscles, as well as decrease the amount of fat that you have on your body. In order to do that, you need strength building exercises. Resistance training is one way to build strength.

You also need to focus on your diet. Your protein, fat and carbohydrate intake should be well balanced. You should be sure that you are getting enough calories to support your body's functions. If you get too many calories from dietary fat, it ends up getting stored on the body. It would be difficult to get too much protein. If you get too many carbs, your body will burn that for energy, instead of its fat stores.

Since the goal of resistance training for women is to build more muscle mass, you must give your body what it needs to do that. The necessary ingredient is protein. If your diet is too low in calories, because you are trying to lose weight, your body will break down your muscles to get at the protein and other nutrients stored within them. So, you should be able to see why your diet is so important.

The most effective form of resistance training for women makes use of elastic bands. Not only do the bands work the muscles harder and prevent cheating, they are also more convenient and safer to use than free weights. With a good set of bands, you can perform almost any exercise that you might see in a gym and you can do it in the privacy of your own home.

If you have trouble controlling your weight, building more muscle will help. Resting muscles use free fatty acids as their choice fuel. In other words, muscular people burn more fat-stores when their bodies are at rest.

You don't have to spend hours at the gym. In fact, you shouldn't. There are short programs that provide maximum intensity resistance training for women. These programs allow you do get the best results, in the shortest amount of time.

By: Fraser Baillie
Fraser Baillie is a passionate advocate of living a healthy lifestyle and a researcher of resistance training for women. Visit his site now at http://www.quickweightlossexposed.com to discover which resistance training for women Fraser recommends after extensive comparisons.

This is one of THE best overall abdominal/core exercises I've EVER found. If you want a stronger core and you want it fast, this is the exercise to focus on. It's tough, but very effective.

The Curl Squat exercise is deceptively simple...basically, you're going to do a squat while holding the barbell in the top of the barbell curl position. That's it!

So what makes this exercise different from a front squat (where you support the weight across the front of your shoulders)? And what makes is so extremely effective for training the core (which is the real reason for doing this particular exercise, not for working the legs)?

I'll tell you!

Holding the resistance in front of your body in the top curl position takes away the shoulder support that you would normally get with a front squat. ALL the supporting tension goes directly onto the muscles of the core, instead of having much of it being taken up by the shoulders. ALL your core muscles will have to contract HARD throughout the entire movement in order to keep the barbell from falling forward.

The difference in position may seem subtle, but it's tension that you have to experience to believe!

This exercise also helps you to get a feel for how to properly use the abs during a squat, which is EXTREMELY important for maximizing your squat strength.

Using the abs while squatting (especially at the bottom of the lift) is something that does not come naturally and is very rarely taught or explained to trainers. And believe me, it has the potential to add pounds to your squat FAST.

Another great benefit to this exercise is that your breathing muscles (the intercostals) NEVER get a chance to relax during this movement. From top to bottom and back up (even while you're "resting" at the top), your breathing muscles are being challenged because of the weight they're being forced to support.

This can build up great breathing strength (the term "breathing strength" may sound strange but watch a strongman explode a hot water bottle just by inflating it with lung power and you'll know what I'm talking about!) and carries directly over to your work capacity in the regular barbell squat as well as most other demanding exercises and sports!

How To Do It:

To do this exercise, all you really need is a barbell, but if you have access to a power rack, even better. The rack will make it easier to get into position for the exercise and will serve to "catch" the bar when you're done.

Set the rack up so that the racking pins are one notch below where you would normally set them for squats. The reason you want to set those pins one notch below is that by the time you're done with the exercise, it may be very hard to get the bar up to the height where you would normally rack the bar! With the racks a little lower, you'll have an easier time getting the bar back onto them.

Set the safety rails just above where you normally set them for regular squats the first time you try this. When you develop a better feel for how it's done, you can lower them a little to get the full range of motion.

The weight should be about the same as what you would use for barbell curls for about 8 to 10 reps. This is a starting point - you can add weight as you get stronger with the exercise.

Step in front of the bar and hold it in the top position of the barbell curl. Now stand up, unracking the bar. Don't allow your elbows to brace against your midsection. This will take away from the supporting tension on the abs. Take a step back and get your feet set.

Now, holding the bar in that top curl position through the entire movement, squat down as far as you can then come back up. You don't actually curl the bar while doing the squat, you just hold it in the top curl position.

To increase abdominal stability, you will be holding your breath during parts of this movement. As you start to lower yourself down, inhale. Begin holding your breath just below the halfway point of the squat as you come down to the bottom position. Continue to hold it until you're about 1/4 to 1/2 of the way back up.

If you don't want to or are unable to hold your breath, exhale through pursed lips (as though you're blowing up a balloon). Keeping the breath held towards the bottom will maximize core stability and allow your abs to function more effectively during the movement. Since this exercise uses relatively light weight compared to a regular squat, holding your breath is not nearly as potentially dangerous.

That being said, if you DO feel lightheaded at any point in the exercise, rack the bar and rest. Always use your best judgement here. The idea is to work yourself in a SAFE manner.

When doing the exercise for the first time, it's a good idea to start with just the bar, no matter how strong you are. This will help you get a feel for how the movement is done, where to set the safety rails and how far down you can comfortably go.

When you're comfortable, work your way up slowly from there as fatigue will come quickly. It's a movement your body will be totally unused to, no matter how many abdominal exercises you've done in your training career before this. The muscles of the core will tire before your legs do. Be sure to keep your lower back arched and tight while performing this movement.

If you're able to, go all the way down until your elbows touch your knees. This will give you the fullest range of motion. Tense the abs hard, especially at the bottom as you're coming back up. For extra resistance, pause at the bottom for a few seconds. This will give you the best feel for how the abs should be used when squatting.

With this exercise, having the resistance in front of the body (similar to when you're doing a front squat) allows you to keep a more vertical body position. The majority of the tension WILL go onto the abs, but be aware that there will also be some tension going to the lower back.

Because you're holding the weight out in front of you, the lower back must also contract to help stabilize the spine. As you keep up with the exercise, your lower back will get stronger.

COMMON ERRORS

1. Doing this exercise after a bicep workout

As you can imagine, performing this exercise is not going be as effective if you've just finished a bicep workout. The biceps will already be fatigued and you'll limit the amount of weight you can use and how long you can hold it for. Use this exercise on non-bicep training days, if possible.

2. Going too fast

Dropping down quickly in the squat will put extra stress on the biceps as you come up and reduce the tension on the abs. This exercise should be done very deliberately with no bouncing or fast movements. If you have a tendency to do this, pause at the bottom for a few seconds to stop the bouncing.

3. Using too much weight

Since the legs are so much stronger, it's tempting to use too much weight for this exercise. Remember, our goal here is NOT to work the legs or the biceps but to work the abs. The legs and the biceps are only here to help push the abs. If your biceps fatigue before your abs get a good workout, you need to reduce the weight.

4. Leaning forward

Try to keep your upper body as vertical as possible with this one. It's very similar to a front squat - having the weight in front of you allows you to stay vertical more easily. Leaning forward will cause the barbell to shift forward, which will put more tension on the biceps, causing them to fatigue prematurely.

As you start to fatigue, you will notice you have a tendency to lean forward. This is because the supporting abs are weakening. Do your best to keep vertical. Once you start to move too far forward, end the set.

5. Bar too close to chin

If the bar gets too close to the collarbones, you will lose some of the tension in the abs. Keep it at least a few inches away to maximize the supporting tension and torque demanded of the abs. If it comes too close, it may be tempting to rest the bar on your collarbones, which will turn it into an uncomfortable front squat.

6. Letting the elbows brace strongly against the midsection

If you let the elbows press strongly into the midsection, it will take away some of the tension on the abs. A little contact is fine, especially as you get tired, but don't rely on using this technique or it will make the exercise less effective.

Letting the elbows sink in like this will also tend to hunch your back over, putting pressure on the lower back. This will in turn pull your torso and center of balance forward, putting more tension on the biceps, making you dig the elbows in more! Keep the elbows out front, away from your body and you'll keep a better body position and do a more effective set.

TRICKS

1. Look forward and slightly up

When you squat, keeping looking forward and slightly up. This will help you to keep an arch in your lower back and keep you from leaning forward. We want to avoid forward lean as it causes the biceps to fatigue prematurely.

2. Don't breathe too deeply in or out as you're coming down or pushing back up

Breathing too much during this exercise reduces core stability and can compromise your form. For best core stabilization, keep your breath carefully controlled. At the bottom, you can hold your breath for a few moments to get the most solid stability.

As you come up, you can exhale through pursed lips after you've come about 1/4 to 1/2 of the way. This technique shouldn't be used if you have blood pressure issues, however, as it does cause an increase in blood pressure. Keep a careful eye on how you feel if you do choose to do this - and if you feel any dizziness, end the set and then don't use this technique the next set.

3. Pause at the bottom

To really maximize the tension on the abs, pause for a few seconds at the bottom and focus on really squeezing and tightening your abs hard. As you start to come back up, try to push with your abs as well. This will help you to feel what it's like to use the abs to help push out of the bottom when doing regular barbell squats.

CONCLUSION:

If you're serious about improving core strength, DEFINITELY add this exercise to your list. It simply one of THE most effective core strength exercises I've ever found, and will provide you with dramatic increases in abdominal stability and strength.

By: Nick Nilsson
Nick Nilsson is Vice-President of BetterU, Inc. and has been inventing new training techniques and exercises for 17+ years. Nick has written many training books including "Muscle Explosion! 28 Days To Maximum Mass" & "Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss" - http://www.fitness-ebooks.com

Do stomach exercises like crunches give you that flat sexy core you want? Not usually; you see you already have washboard abs. But if you can't see them then it's probably because they are buried under a layer of fat. Doing things like crunches or sit ups do not burn fat! So many women think that doing these exercises will make them skinner but they won't.

Many women also think that they can control fat loss and lose fat in certain spots instead of others. This is called spot reduction and you can't do it. Your body has a natural order that it will follow when you are losing fat. Think of it like someone taking water out of a pool. You can't just decide that you want one end to be deeper than the other so you are going to take the water out of that end of the pool. No matter where the water is taken out of in the pool it will replace its self in a certain manner. You can lower the level of the pool but not in one specific spot.

So women need to burn fat and they can't just lose fat in their hips or thighs or stomachs. And crunches are going to strengthen your abdominal muscles but they won't burn fat and so all you will end up with is a strong, and fat stomach.

How do we remove this fat covering our stomachs? The first thing that we do is eat better.

This does not mean that we go on the all water diet or in any way starve ourselves! In fact not only is this unhealthy for us but it is also ineffective. We what need to do is find a combination of changes in the things that we eat and the times that we eat.

I usually think that most people can continue to eat everything that they are already eating! I just like to reduce the amount of "junk" food, increase the amount of "good" food and change the time of day and even the days that we eat specific foods. Because your body will handle specific foods different at different times of the day, and it even makes a difference on what particular days you eat certain foods.

Another thing that will be a big help for women looking to lose weight and get a flat sexy core would be lifting weights.

Now there is quite a bit of difference between the types of women that may be reading this. Some of you may want to get bigger and quite ripped. But no doubt most of you are thinking "I don't want to lift weights and get big and bulky, I just want to reduce my waist size and get a nice stomach" well don't be afraid to lift weights.

Everyone has testosterone, male or female it doesn't matter. But men have much more of it. These big muscular women that you see, the ones that are bigger then a lot of men. They are usually the result of a combination of good genetics, many years of intense and focused lifting and steroids.

The average women can't get "to muscular" without the help of steroids. So if you stay away from steroids you shouldn't have much problem. And even if you are one of these very genetically gifted female's that is capable of getting very "big" you will only get that way after much training and you will be able to see yourself slowly changing that way.

So don't think that you are going to pick up the weights one day and wake up the next day looking like a world class bodybuilder.

What lifting weights does do for you is burn calories, both during lifting and afterwards. Your body will burn many calories well you lift and that's great news. But what is even better news is that weight lifting can speed up your metabolism for up to three days. Actual the more muscle that you walk around with the more calories that you burn, so if we have two girls doing the same activity but one is quite a bit more muscular then the other, guess which one is going to burn the most calories? The girl with more muscle. Remember most of you will never get too muscular without artificial help.

By: Shanice Edwards-Wie
Shanice built a website with her brother, covering female ab training. http://flatsexycore.com