How to Look Fit and Still Look Feminine

How to Look Fit and Still Look Feminine

Posted on 13. Feb, 2011 by in Fat loss

Note: The rest of the post will be talking mostly to women and how they can achieve the fit and feminine look. Guys, please feel fee to forward the information to your lady friends :)

Okay, I admit, I have done workouts that were designed for men before. I did not have a lot of choices back then. I was also still learning a lot of new things about fat loss, health and fitness during those days. I also did not know I can achieve a certain look with my workouts or even control how I end up looking when I reach my fitness goals. Today, thanks to John Barban and Rusty Moore, women now have many workout program choices in terms of getting the feminine look while still looking fit and without looking like you’re trying too hard in the gym. Let’s be honest – women do not want to look like a “she-male.” That is not a very attractive look.

The current trend I’m seeing is there are now more and more workout programs designed for women. If you’re a regular subscriber of my blog, you’ve probably read my blog post about one of the things I learned from the Venus Index. If you have not done that, you can read it here: “How Many Calories Should I Eat Daily?”

So, instead of doing a “review” of Rusty Moore’s Visual Impact for Women (which is a wonderful resource for women of all shapes, sizes, and fitness levels), I wanted to share with you one thing I learned that will help women achieve the fit but still feminine look.

How to Get Toned Muscles, Not Bigger Muscles

Rusty discusses the concept of Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy versus Myofibrillar Hypertrophy. He explains these concepts in a very simple way that everyone can understand:

Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy is an increase in the muscle cell fluid (called sarcoplasm) within the muscle cell. This is a fast way to increase the size of a muscle, but since sarcoplasm is a fluid and can’t contract…it won’t make the muscle significantly stronger.

Myofibrillar Hypertrophy is actual muscle fiber growth. Since muscle fibers can contract, growth in this area leads to dramatic improvements in strength. This leads to very limited gains in muscle size.

Visual-Impact-for-Women-Video

By looking at these definitions, we can say that if you’re a woman who is happy with the size of your muscles but want to gain strength and increase the density of your muscles then you would want to stick to Myofibrillar Hypertrophy. In practical terms, this would translate to about 5 repetitions per exercise per muscle group.

One example that can make these concepts more clear to you would be women who are content with the size of their arm muscles but want to increase the tone and density of those muscles. These women would have to perform 5 repetitions of arm exercises for about 4-5 sets. The goal is not to go to “failure” which is the point when you can not lift a weight anymore because when you reach this point, you will be training your muscles to get bigger.

Another example that Rusty gave was one with women who may have bigger hips or thicker legs than they would like and are having trouble finding a pair of jeans that fit comfortably. If you are one of these women and you would like to decrease the circumference of your hips and legs but want to maintain the muscles in those areas, Rusty suggests you do not perform and butt and leg exercises but use the “Fat Torching Cardio” strategy which he included in the program. I’ve come to know Rusty’s cardio strategies to be very effective because I have been using them for the last 12 weeks. He takes High Intensity Intervals to the next level so you can burn off free fatty acids in your system after your workouts.

Who is Visual Impact for Women For

Besides the obvious fact that this program is designed for women, this would be a great fit for women who want to learn (and really learn) more about how they can still look fit and feminine without looking like they’re trying too hard. When I say “really learn,” I mean learning the concepts and reasons behind how the workout program is designed so you make your own tweaks to it based on how you want your body to look. If you have a thicker midsection, you will learn how you can make it smaller. If you have bigger calves than you would like, you would learn how to make it smaller. Seriously, the possibilities are endless and you will not be stuck with a generic program that’s designed for everyone else.

Visual-Impact-for-Women-Cover

Besides the concepts I discussed here which I thought were really ground breaking since you will not read them on popular women’s fitness magazines, you will learn a lot more helpful strategies that will make fat loss simpler for you. Rusty specializes in techniques on how to get ready for a big event, like a wedding or a once in a lifetime vacation, and he does not skimp on the content.

Even if you don’t buy this product today, Rusty has some tips over at his blog about creating a fit, feminine look. You can check it out here: “Visual Impact for Women, Jazzed to Introduce My New Women’s Course

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  • http://www.fitnessbreakout.com Alykhan – Fitness Breakout

    Anna,

    I think you definitely touched on the most valuable parts of the course in this post, although the entire book provides excellent information. The chapters on strength training and cardio and how women should strategically tweak these to achieve the type of look they want are worth the money alone.

    Alykhan

  • http://pathtofatloss.com annadornier

    I totally agree. The cardio e-book is phenomenal!

  • catherinejar

    HI ANNA,I actually found out about this program through your blog way back but only recently purchased it. I’m trying to find a forum where I can ask questions about the program but can’t seem to find one. Maybe you can answer my question. Regarding the principle not to train to failure – does this mean that the weight training portion of the workout should feel fairly easy? I am used to training my legs using squats etc but since he says that we shouldn’t need to if we’re doing the intervals, I’m following his workouts and not finding it all that challenging. 
    I thought maybe you could give your opinion on this? (I realize it’s not your program but wondered it you’d tried it). There’s nothing I hate worse than feeling like I didn’t get a good workout.

  • http://pathtofatloss.com annadornier

    Hi Catherine, he did say not to train to failure but it does not mean not to lift heavy. With the lower reps described in the program, you can go a lot heavier. If you are not feeling like you are not getting a great workout, maybe you have not lifting heavy enough. It should definitely not feel easy. You may also contact Rusty if anything is unclear. He responds pretty quickly. I hope this helps.

    Anna D.