The best way to keep fit for women

There is no uniform "best fitness template" that is suitable for all women. A method that adapts to your physiological state, matches your core needs, and can be sustained for a long time without pain is the best fitness plan for you. To put it bluntly, it's the same as finding a partner. No matter how hyped others are, if you don't feel comfortable using it yourself and can't persist, it's all in vain.

Don’t be fooled by the notes on Xiaohongshu about “Build a peach butt in three months” and “Reducing your body fat rate to 18% is called self-discipline”. Not long ago, I met a friend who works in 996 and follows the schedule of fitness bloggers. Let’s go. I squeezed in an hour after get off work every day to go to the gym to lift irons, plus 40 minutes of aerobic exercise. I didn’t go home until 10pm for dinner. After two months, my aunt ran away. I lost 1% of my body fat but my face was sallow. I couldn’t even climb the third floor without gasping for breath. Later, she scrapped all her plans and instead practiced kettlebell sliding plate at the company for 20 minutes every day at noon, rode a shared bicycle for 20 minutes home from get off work, and invited friends to go hiking in a country park when she had free time on weekends. In three months, she lost 2% of her body fat, her aunt returned to normal, and her overall condition was much better than when she went to the gym before.

At this point, someone will definitely ask, who is listening to the hotly debated question on the Internet: "Should women do heavy weight training?" In fact, there is nothing wrong with what both sides say. They belong to different groups of people. The power camp says to practice more heavy compound movements to increase muscle mass and improve basal metabolism. It is aimed at people who want to prepare for competitions, pursue obvious muscle lines, or need to break through the plateau of fat loss. There is a bodybuilding girl next to me who does heavy weights 4 times a week. She is in great condition and has no problem at all. But the other group says that women should give priority to practicing functional skills, pelvic floor muscles, and core stability, and not blindly rush heavy weights. They are aimed at ordinary women who just want to strengthen their bodies, improve their back pain after sitting for a long time, or have problems with urinary leakage or rectus abdominis separation. After all, most people do not work out to compete on stage, and they cannot injure their waists or knees just to push the weights, which is not worth the gain.

Oh, yes, there is also the much-talked-about issue of exercise during menstrual periods. There really is no need to deal with it in one size fits all. Some girls around me are so painful during their menstrual period that they can't even straighten their backs and can't even drink hot water to relieve it. Then just lie down at home. Don't listen to bloggers who say "moving during your menstrual period will make you fall off the scale faster." If you have such pain and have to practice hard, you are just looking for trouble for yourself. ； But there are also girls who don’t react during menstruation. It’s perfectly fine to do some low-intensity yin yoga, take a walk, or even do a few sets of light-weight upper body training, as long as you don’t do any exercises that put a lot of pressure on your abdomen and don’t let yourself catch a cold. The WHO has long given clear exercise recommendations: For adults, a total of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise per week, plus two muscle endurance training sessions, is enough to maintain a healthy state. There is really no need to force yourself to go to the gym every day to make up for the training time.

I have been through a lot of pitfalls before. I followed the trend and practiced heavy deadlifts for half a year, and injured my waist for two months. Later, I reduced the training weight to 15kg, and added two yoga classes a week. After practicing for almost a year, my core strength has not lost much, and my waist has never hurt again. In the past, in order to make up for the so-called "training capacity", I had to go to the gym after get off work every day. After half a month, I was annoyed when I saw the gym door. Now I just go to exercise when I have time. When I don't have time, I go to play badminton and Frisbee with my friends. Even walking for three hours on weekends is considered exercise. Instead, I have persisted for two years and my body fat has been stable at around 22%. There is no problem.

If you really don’t know what is suitable for you, you can try more and more: If you like quiet, try home strength and yoga; if you like socializing, sign up for dance classes, rock climbing classes, and Frisbee games. Mothers with children can practice home core for 20 minutes while their children are sleeping, and walking two extra steps when taking their children to the park will also count. For office workers, stretching on the shoulders and standing for two minutes is better than sitting all day. There is really no need to worry about "standard movements" and "standard duration". Fitness is never a chore that requires gritting one's teeth. If you can stick to it happily, you will feel comfortable all over after practicing, and you can slowly reach the state you want. Even if you just dance square dance every day, it is also the best fitness method for you.