Ladies, Increase Your Speed And Endurance While Sculpting Great Toned Muscles

Last Updated on November 12, 2012 by Jimson Lee

This article is guest blogged by Taylor Ryan from The Art Of Weight Lifting.

Ladies, Increase Your Speed And Endurance While Sculpting Great Toned Muscles!

It doesn’t matter if your goal is to increase your marathon time or to just be able to walk up the stairs without getting winded… in the long run it’s the same: you’re looking to increase your endurance.

Many people have heard the old weight training rumor:  you can’t burn fat and build muscle at the same time.

For some reason a few “gurus” have put out the word that if you want to gain muscle definition than you have to eat more and that you will inevitable gain more fat at the same time. And then of course there is the opposite side as well… if you are trying to lose fat you will lose muscle mass too.

And I don’t think either of those options sound good for any women!

But the reality is that you can gain muscle and lose fat all at the same time… you just have to have the right workout. And on top of that toned muscles aren’t the only thing you will gain, increase your endurance and your speed too.

Below are the top exercises to help you do just that. You will notice a trend, these exercises are explosive moves, or plyometrics “jumping” exercises. They treat your muscles like a rubber band (think of a sling shot), you stretch the muscles and then explode up having them return to their natural state.

Athletes and coaches use plyometrics all the time because research as proven them to help get great athletic benefits and great physical results. It’s just too bad that when most women workout in the gym they don’t use these more, they would probably be a lot more satisfied with the results.

Top Endurance And Muscle Toning Exercises For Women:

• Squat Jumps – Lower into a standard squat with the weight on the heels and jump up as quickly and as high as possible. It’s more than ok to go beyond parallel with these, I recommend squatting all the way down until your bottom is at your heels.
• Lunge Jumps – Start in a standard lunge (knee over the front ankle) and quickly drive upward and switch which your legs. Repeat as quickly as possible for set number of reps.
• Explosive Push-ups – From the push-up position lower the body down (chest close to the ground) and quickly and powerfully push up to jump your hands off the ground, the goal would be to clap in the middle of each push-up!
• Box Jumps – Just like it sounds, stand next to a bench or box with feet together and jump up and down (always keeping feet together), don’t step off of the box.
• Horizontal Jumps – This one needs some space but the goal is to jump as far as you can and as quickly as you can.
• Burpies – Burpies are possible one of the best body weight exercises around! Start standing and jump your feet behind you so you are in a push-up position. Complete the push-up and jump your feet back into the middle of your hands and jump straight up. Repeat the move.

All 6 of these moves should be performed as quickly as possible to get the best results for endurance, fat burning and muscle toning. If you’re new to working out, I would recommend 8-10 reps of each exercise. If you’re a seasoned pro go for 15-18 reps. Move from exercise to exercise with little or no breaks.

You can do these moves as an entire workout or just add 1-2 of them to your current strength training workout to still see great results!

About the Author

Taylor Ryan is a certified trainer and the head trainer of the all women’s workout site The Art Of Weight Lifting. On top of being a trainer, Taylor is also a figure competitor and athletic trainer! Visit the blog Lifting Revolution to get great women’s workout tips and find out about current contests and events.