ShapeFit.com

[hestiah]

Hello, I'm glad to have that section for my interrogations.

I'm 48 and weight 125 pounds I'm 5'5" tall. My abs do not look like I expected after 4 years of working out. Is it because of my age? I work out 3 or 4 times a week. Do I need to loose some weight to see those muscles.

I would also like to know what are the best exercices to lenghten my legs
muscles and avoid large quatriceps.

A woman who wants to stay in shape despite her age

[Boss Man]

Firstly, congratulations on keeping the lifestyle strong at 48. You should be proud of yourself.

Avoidance of large muscles comes down to things like Protein intake. If you keep a fairly moderate Protein intake, and don't go crazy on your weights, then your growth potential won't be significant to yield largish gains.

You could do some strength gaining work, to help with fat loss, but when you hit a plateau, don't increase the workload, keep doing the same number of reps, even if they end up feeling light, because without that increased workload / challenge, muscle growth would be harder.

The main things would be to get the diet solid, and do Cardiovascular exercise as well.

If you get your diet right, you can get rid of fat, allowing your Abs to show through better.

Also, Metabolic function starts to decrease after 35, so that could have some impact on your Abs, being hard to notice.

That's what I think, and I'm sure others will have things to add, or politely disagree with .

Good luck.

[SarahPT]

Hi there,
welcome to the forum! You are not going to get overly big quadiceps. You are a woman and don't have the testosterone for it. Growing big muscle requires a high overall calorie intake (not a high protein intake). And it also takes years of training in a specific way to build muscles. It's very hard for women to get big at all.

Strength training and cardiovascular exercise are both very important. What are you doing now for exercise? Nutrition is vital as well. In reality there are probably just a few changes you need to make to see visible results. Please let me know if I can help more.

Sarah

[hestiah]

Thank you both for the reply.

I do my training at home based on programs I got from former trainers at the gym and from the Shape website . I bought the guide "Do it Right" too. I went to a gym the first 2 years and then I bought dumbbells, a bench, rubber bands, a swissball and an elliptical for cardio. I work out 3 or 4 times a week. I exercise with dumbbells and do cruches and cardio every time. I try to eat well most of the time but I treat myself with an apero or glass of wine from time to time and a square of chocolate for dessert.

I'm thinking of buying a Latino exercise dvd. Is that kind of exercise as good as training?

[Boss Man]

It depends. Unless you can actually see snippets of clips off one first, you just don't know. And a few stills don't mean anything.

Plus there's a risk doing such workouts, may eventually cause your body to get partially used to them, reducing the effectiveness.

It also depends on the credibility of the person in it, so I'd do some internet checks on the person in the Video, to ascertain what their reputation is. You might find out about the qualifications, and maybe where they studied, or worked / work.

Also if it's one of those with a celebrity of sorts, that says it's their workout video, but is seen copying some buff guy. They probably are not worth the money as much, as those where you see 10, 20 members of the public, being tutored on a video, by someone who used to be on Gladiators or used to run 100m say, as those kind of ones look more credible than a celebrity, looking like they know a lot about stuff when they don't.

[hestiah]

Ok and tks again for the advise. What about exercisers like "Total Gym" and "Bowflex"? Do they worth the investment? Or should I keep going with my dumbbells and rubber bands?

[Boss Man]

Most home gyms are crummy. If you accidentally lose or damage a part, they become half useless. The weight levels are fixed / inflexible, and on some exercises the range of motion is not 100% correct.

So I'd stick to your free weights and bands.

[SarahPT]

Gym systems such as bowflex are not a good idea. Not only are the very expensive and difficult to put together, but they do not give you the best workout. Free weights are much better because you incorporate all of your stabilizer muscles, which can prevent you from developing something called a pattern overload.

A strength training routine use barbells, dumbbells and body weight exercises, along with some cardiovascular exercise is all you need. No need for any videos or fancy equipment.

Sarah

[hestiah]

Thank you very much.......I really appreciate your advice. I'll save money and now, I'm sure to do the right thing.

[Boss Man]

I'm glad to hear that. let us know how you get on, or if there is anything else we can help you with.

Take care and good luck .