Sculpting Her Body Perfect
Written by Shoshana Pritzker Monday, 17 May 2010 17:19
By Brad Schoenfeld, CSCS
Women’s fitness has come a long way. In the not-to-distant past, it was considered taboo for a woman to lift weights. Common wisdom preached that weight training would “masculinize” the female physique, building a big, bulky body. Fortunately, advances in exercise science have debunked this myth and the majority of women now realize that weight training is the key to developing a shapely, feminine physique; you can’t tone up without it.
Building Your “House”
But it’s not enough to simply go to the gym and pump a little iron. To achieve your physique goals, you need a regimented body sculpting program. I like to use the analogy that you should approach body sculpting as if you were building a house. When a builder constructs a house, she first must lay down a foundation. The foundation is the basis upon which the house will rest, and without a solid foundation, the house will crumble. Next, the builder must erect a frame. The frame is built on the foundation and will support the floors and walls of the house. After putting up the frame, the builder can put in the walls of the house, and the structure will begin to look complete. Finally, the minute details of the house can be added, such as marble tiles and mirrored walls, which give a finished look to the edifice. Further improvements can now be made on an ongoing basis, at the discretion of the builder.
Now let’s apply the analogy to body sculpting. In the initial stages of training you first must develop a foundation of muscle. You need this foundation to have a base upon which to work. It also increases the solidity of your connective tissue and the strength of your joints, which is necessary in the performance of more intense routines. Next, you can begin the body sculpting procedure by refining the muscle you have amassed. Your body will now start to take form and your lines and curves will be accentuated with pleasing shape and symmetry. Lastly, you can fine tune your physique by concentrating on details such as enhancing the shape of your upper chest, or firming up your inner thighs. This is where body sculpting truly becomes an art!
The program that follows is based on my book, Sculpting Her Body Perfect (Human Kinetics). The book, which includes 82 exercises to burn fat, tone muscle and shape your physique, details a three-phased system of training: A body conditioning phase, a toning and shaping phase, and a targeted body sculpting phase. All routines are designed to be performed on three, non-consecutive days (i.e. Monday, Wednesday, Friday, etc). This allows at least 48 hours rest between workouts, ensuring adequate neuromuscular recuperation. Adhere to the program as outlined and in short order, you’ll be well on your way to sculpting your body perfect!
Body Conditioning Phase
The body conditioning phase is for those who are relatively new to training (less than six months experience). As a novice, your aim should be to lay a foundation of muscle on which to build. One of the biggest mistakes women make when they begin a fitness regimen is attempting to shape what they do not have. It’s all too common for a woman to gravitate to the inner and outer thigh machines to the exclusion of all other exercises. Because you cannot spot-reduce body fat, specialized exercises have limited value until you develop a base of muscle. To illustrate this point, let’s revisit the analogy of building a house. A builder cannot begin to construct walls or a roof before a foundation is in place. Similarly, you are the builder of your physique and must develop a foundation that will afford you the greatest potential for sculpting your body.
To build a foundation of muscle, this phase employs a total body approach to training. You will exercise each major muscle group every time you work out, providing broad-based coverage of your entire body. Total body training allows you to work each muscle frequently, thereby stimulating a maximal amount of muscle fibers in each training session. You will repeatedly force your entire body to adapt to the stresses of training, helping to improve overall development.
For each muscle group, you will use only one exercise per training session, performing three sets per exercise. Thus, each week you will work your entire body three times. Although training your muscles this frequently might seem overwhelming at first, the limited volume of the workload mitigates the risk of overtraining. By performing only one exercise per muscle group, you regulate the amount of stress applied to each muscle. This allows you to quickly recover from a workout and enables you to train each muscle on a regular basis.
You should perform all sets with a weight that’s somewhat challenging without completely taxing your resources. In other words, by your final repetition, the weight should begin to feel a little heavy without causing you to really struggle. As you gain strength, increase the amount of weight to maintain the prescribed training intensity. Remember, if the weight is too light to provide an adequate stimulus, you won’t derive proper results.
Compound movements such as squats, rows and presses should be utilized whenever possible. Because of their multi-joint nature, compound movements stimulate the greatest amount of muscle, as well as strengthening your connective tissue. This will help you achieve balanced development from the outset and negate the possibility of developing muscular deficiencies as you progress in your endeavors.
Toning and Shaping Phase
The toning and shaping phase of this system is your entrée into body sculpting. It’s intended for those who have already built a physical foundation and must now concentrate on erecting a frame. This entails bringing your body into aesthetic proportion, creating symmetry between muscle groups. Each muscle group should flow into the next, creating balanced lines that complement one another. You should begin to assess your body’s strengths and weaknesses, becoming in tune with its intricacies.
This phase incorporates several changes to further your results. For one, the total volume of exercises and sets you perform for each muscle group will increase. This allows you to work a muscle more intensively, improving your prospects for shape and tone. Accordingly, your muscles need a greater recovery period to recuperate from the effects of this added stress. Thus, you’ll split your workout into two parts: You’ll train half your body in one workout and the other half in the next workout. The net effect is that you’ll train each muscle group three times every two weeks (instead of three times a week, as in the body conditioning routine), giving your body twice as much recuperation as before.
You should now employ two exercises for each muscle group (as opposed to one in the body conditioning routine). This allows you to work your muscles from different angles and lines of pull in the same training session, augmenting your body sculpting potential. Strive to use one compound movement and one isolation movement for each muscle group whenever possible. (Of course, this is not feasible in the arms, calves or abdominals because they involve a single joint.) By combining exercises in this way, you’ll stimulate your muscles to their fullest extent.
You will again perform three sets for each exercise. Because you’re now using two exercises per muscle group, you’ll perform a total of six sets for each major muscle complex (in the body-conditioning routine you performed only three sets). Initially, this increase in training volume will be a shock to your system. You should expect to have reduced energy levels for several weeks until your body adapts to this extended workload. Within a short time, though, you’ll readily adjust to these demands, and your exercise tolerance will improve dramatically.
The routine includes a progression of intensity in which each successive set will require more effort. As in the body conditioning routine, your first set should be somewhat challenging. On the second set, you should increase intensity so that you’re struggling on the last few reps. Finally, on your third set, you should go all out: By your final repetition, you should approach momentary muscular failure and not be able to get even one more repetition. Each successive exercise should be performed in the same laddered fashion.
Targeted Body Sculpting Phase
The targeted body-sculpting phase is for advanced trainees. Before attempting this routine, you should possess a shapely, toned physique that needs only some fine tuning. This is where bodysculpting becomes both a science and an art. You can shape specific muscles in various ways to create balanced, aesthetic proportions. Consider yourself a sculptor and your body an unfinished statue in need of some finishing touches.
To help you sculpt your body perfect, the routine now will be split into three parts and you’ll perform more exercises and sets per muscle group. Because there will be a greater volume of training and an increased exercise intensity, your muscles will necessarily need more recuperation. Thus, you will train each muscle group only once per week (as volume and intensity increase, frequency must decrease).
There are numerous ways to split up your routine. For example, you can do a push/pull split in which you train back and biceps on day one, shoulders, chest and triceps on day two and legs on day three. Alternatively, you can opt for an agonist/antagonist split, training shoulders and arms on day one, chest and back on day two and legs on day three. While many other options exist, realize that there is no single “best” training split. Experiment with different combinations and see which one works best for you.
In this phase, you should use from two to four sets of two to four exercises for each major muscle group, applying as much variety to your routine as possible. What’s more, you should selectively combine the exercises to best sculpt your proportions. Several exercise variables will affect your body sculpting results, including the angle of pull in a movement, the amount of stretch applied to the target muscle, the positioning of your hands or feet, and the ability to isolate a specific muscle. All of these factors need to be considered when deciding which movements to include in a given session.
Also, although it’s normally better to train larger muscle complexes at the beginning of your workout, you should prioritize lagging muscles by training them first. In this way, you’ll have more energy to train those muscles, deriving better results from your efforts.
You should employ anywhere from six to 12 sets per muscle group, encompassing two to three sets per exercise. Because larger muscles have a greater capacity for work, they can endure more total sets than smaller muscle groups. Moreover, smaller muscles receive secondary stress in many exercises (the arms during most upper-body work and the hamstrings on various compound leg movements), further reducing the need for additional sets. Hence, total sets for the back and quadriceps should be at the upper end of the spectrum, while sets for the biceps and calves should be at the lower end.
After a sufficient warm-up, you should perform all sets at or near momentary muscular failure— the point at which you can’t physically complete another rep. Realize that in order to make consistent progress, your muscles must be stressed beyond their physical capacity. By nature, the human body strives to maintain a stable state— a phenomenon called homeostasis. If your training intensity doesn’t sufficiently tax your resources, there won’t be enough of a stimulus to force your body from its homeostatic state. Only by progressively overloading your muscles will they be compelled to produce an adaptive response and develop beyond their normal potential.
Sample Routine
The following is a sample targeted body sculpting routine that employs an agonist/antagonist training split. It is intended as a three-day-a-week program, with training performed on non-consecutive days. Remember, though, variety is the spice of exercise. Use this routine as a guide to the endless possibilities available, making sure to vary your exercises often.
DAY ONE (Shoulders, Triceps and Biceps)
|
Exercise |
Sets |
|
Military Press |
3 |
|
Dumbbell Lateral Raise |
2 |
|
Bent Cable Lateral Raise |
3 |
|
Seated Hammer Curl |
4 |
|
Concentration Curl |
3 |
|
Cable Rope Overhead Triceps Extension supersetted with Cable Rope Triceps Pressdown |
3 |
|
Dumbbell Triceps Kickback |
2 |
DAY TWO (Back, Chest, Abdominals)
|
Exercise |
Sets |
|
Front Lat Pulldowns |
4 |
|
One-Arm Seated Cable Row |
3 |
|
Dumbbell Pullover |
3 |
|
Incline Dumbbell Flye supersetted with Incline Dumbbell Press |
4 |
|
Cable Crossover |
2 |
|
Rope Crunch supersetted with Reverse Curl supersetted with Twisting Crunch |
3 |
DAY THREE (Quadriceps, Hamstrings, Calves)
|
Exercise |
Sets |
|
Squat supersetted with Leg Extension |
4 |
|
Machine Adduction |
3 |
|
Stiff Legged Deadlift |
4 |
|
Lying Leg Curl |
3 |
|
Standing Calf Raise |
3 |
|
Seated Calf Raise |
3 |
· Military Press: Begin by sitting at the edge of a flat bench. Grasp a barbell and bring it to the level of your upper chest with your palms facing away from your body. Slowly press the barbell directly upward and over your head, contracting your deltoids at the top of the move. Then, slowly return the bar along the same arc back to the start position.
Dumbbell Lateral Raise: Begin by grasping two dumbbells and allow them to hang by your hips. With a slight bend to your elbows, raise the dumbbells up and out to the sides until they reach shoulder level. At the top of the movement, the rear of the dumbbells should be slightly higher than the front. Slowly return the weights back to the start position.
Cable Bent Lateral Raise: Begin by grasping a loop handle attached to a low pulley apparatus with your right hand and bending forward at the waist. With a slight bend to your elbow, raise the handle underneath your left arm, across your body, and up and out to the sides until it’s parallel with the ground. Contract your delts at the top of the movement and then slowly return the handle back to the start position. After completing the desired number of reps, repeat the process on your left side.
· Seated Hammer Curl: Begin by sitting on a flat bench. Grasp a pair of dumbbells and allow them to hang at your sides with your palms facing each other. Press your elbows into your sides, keeping them stable throughout the move. Slowly curl the dumbbells up toward your shoulders and contract your biceps at the top of the move. Then, slowly reverse direction and return to the start position.
· Concentration Curls: Begin by sitting at the edge of a flat bench with your legs wide apart. Grasp a dumbbell in your right hand and brace your right triceps on the inside of your right knee. Straighten your arm so it hangs down near the floor. Slowly curl the weight along up and in along the line of your body, contracting your biceps at the top of the move. Then, slowly reverse direction and return to the start position. After completing the desired number of reps, repeat the process on your left.
· Cable Rope Overhead Triceps Extension: Begin by turning your body away from a high cable pulley apparatus. Bend your torso forward and grasp a straight rope attached to the pulley apparatus with your palms facing each other. Keeping your elbows at your ears, bend your elbows and allow your hands to hang down behind your head as far as comfortably possible. Slowly straighten your arms, keeping your elbow back throughout the move. Contract your triceps and then slowly lower the weight along the same path back to the start position.
· Rope Pressdowns: Begin by grasping a rope that’s attached to a high pulley apparatus with an overhand grip. Assume a shoulder-width stance with your knees slightly bent and your torso angled forward. Bend your arms so that your elbow forms a 90-degree angle. Keeping your elbows in at your sides, slowly straighten your arms. Contract your triceps and then reverse direction and return to the start position.
· Dumbbell Triceps Kickbacks: Begin by standing with your body bent forward so it is virtually parallel with the ground. Grasp a dumbbell with your right hand and press your right arm against your side with your elbows bent at 90-degree angles. With your palm facing your body, raise the weight by straightening your arm until it is parallel with the floor. Then, reverse direction and return the weight back to the start position. After finishing the desired number of repetitions, repeat the process on your left.
· Front Lat Pulldown: Begin by grasping a straight bar attached to a lat pulldown machine. With your hands shoulder-width apart and palms turned forward, secure your knees under the restraint pad and fully straighten your arms so you feel a complete stretch in your lats. Maintain a slight backward tilt and arch your lower back through the move. Slowly pull the bar to your upper chest, bringing your elbows back. Squeeze your shoulder blades together and then slowly reverse direction, returning to the start position.
· One-Arm Cable Seated Row: Begin by grasping a loop handle attached to a low pulley with your left hand. Place your feet against the footplate and, keeping a slight bend in your knees, sit down in front of the pulley. Fully straighten your arm so you feel a complete stretch in your left lat. Slowly pull the loop handle to your lower left side, keeping your elbow in and lower back slightly arched at all times. As you reach the finish position, contract your left lat and then reverse direction, slowly returning to the start position. Repeat with your right arm after finishing the desired reps on your left.
· Dumbbell Pullover: Begin by lying on a flat bench. Grasp a dumbbell with both hands and raise it directly over your face. Keeping your arms slightly bent, slowly lower the dumbbell behind your head as far as comfortably possible, feeling a complete stretch in your lats. Then, reverse direction, squeezing your lats as you return to the start position.
· Incline Dumbbell Flye: Begin by lying back on an incline bench set at approximately 30 to 40 degrees, planting your feet firmly on the floor. Grasp two dumbbells and bring them out to your sides, maintaining a slight bend to your elbows throughout the move. Your palms should be facing in and toward the ceiling, and your upper arms should be roughly parallel with the level of the bench. Slowly raise the weights upward in a circular motion, as if you were hugging a large tree. Gently touch the weights together at the top of the move and, after feeling a contraction in your chest muscles, slowly return the weights along the same path back to the start position.
· Incline Dumbbell Press: Begin by lying face up on an incline bench, planting your feet firmly on the floor. Grasp two dumbbells and, with your palms facing away from your body, bring them to shoulder level so they rest just above your armpits. Simultaneously press both dumbbells directly over your chest, moving them in toward each other on the ascent. At the finish of the movement, the sides of the dumbbells should gently touch together. Feel a contraction in your chest muscles and then slowly reverse direction, returning to the start position.
· Cable Crossovers: Begin by grasping the handles of an overhead pulley apparatus (cable crossover machine). Stand with your feet about shoulder- width apart and your torso bent slightly forward at the waist. Slowly pull both handles downward and across your body, creating a semicircular movement. Bring your hands together at the level of your hips and squeeze your chest muscles so you feel a contraction in the cleavage area. Then, slowly reverse direction, allowing your hands to return along the same path back to the start position.
· Rope Crunch: Begin by kneeling in front of a high pulley apparatus with your body facing the machine. Grasp a rope attached to the pulley and keep your elbows in toward your ears. Slowly curl your body downward, bringing your elbows to your knees. Contract your abs and then slowly uncurl your body, returning to the start position.
· Reverse Curl: Begin by lying back on a flat bench. Holding on to the sides of the bench, curl your knees into your stomach and raise your butt as high as possible while keeping your upper back pressed to the bench. Contract your abs and then reverse direction, returning to the start position.
· Twisting Crunch: Begin by lying face up on the floor with your calves resting on top of a flat bench. Your thighs should be perpendicular to the ground and your hands should be folded across your chest. Slowly raise your shoulders up and forward toward your chest, twisting your body to the right. Feel a contraction in your abdominal muscles and then slowly reverse direction, returning to the start position. After performing the desired number of repetitions, repeat the process, twisting your body to the left.
· Squat: Begin by resting a straight bar high on the back of your neck. Assume a shoulder-width stance, grasping the bar with both hands. Slowly lower your body until your thighs are parallel with the ground. Your lower back should be slightly arched and your heels should stay in contact with the floor at all times. When you reach a “seated” position, reverse direction by straightening your legs and return to the start position.
· Leg Extensions: Begin by sitting back in a leg extension machine. Bend your knees and place your instep underneath the roller pad located at the bottom of the machine. Grasp the machine’s handles for support. Slowly bring your feet upward until your legs are just short of parallel with the ground. Contract your quads and then reverse direction, returning back to the start position.
· Seated Machine Adduction: Begin by sitting in an adductor machine and, with your legs spread apart, place your inner thighs on the restraint pads. Slowly force your legs together, contracting your inner thighs as the pads touch one another. Then, reverse direction and return to the start position.
· Stiff-Legged Deadlift: Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Grasp two dumbbells and let them hang in front of your body. Keeping your knees straight, slowly bend forward at the waist and lower the dumbbells down until you feel an intense stretch in your hamstrings. Then, reverse direction, contracting your glutes as you rise upward to the start position.
· Lying Leg Curl: Begin by lying face-down on a lying leg curl machine, with your heels hooked underneath the roller pads. Keeping your thighs pressed to the machine’s surface, slowly curl your feet upward, stopping just short of touching your butt, or as far as comfortably possible. Contract your hamstrings and then reverse direction, returning back to the start position.
· Standing Calf Raise: Begin by placing your shoulders on the restraint pads of a standing calf machine. Place the balls of your feet on the footplate and drop your heels below your toes. Slowly rise as high as you can onto your toes until your calves are fully flexed. Contract your calves and then slowly reverse direction, returning to the start position.
· Seated Calf Raise: Begin by sitting in a seated calf machine and place the restraint pads tightly across your thighs. Place the balls of your feet on the footplate and drop your heels as far below your toes as possible. Slowly rise as high as you can onto your toes until your calves are fully flexed. Contract your calves and then slowly reverse direction, returning to the start position.