Take a glimpse at the cover of most magazines and you'll see several headlines promoting tips and tricks that will help you eat less and weigh less. "Lose up to 10 pounds in one week!" "Simple tips to eat fewer calories!" "Shrink your stomach with three easy exercises!" Eat less. Weigh less. Shrink. What is this obsession with encouraging women to be less? I don't know about you, …
Train to be awesome
These are the Bare Essentials, and They Produce Extraordinary Results
When trying to reach your fitness and body-transforming goals, what's the quickest way to fail? (I know that's a heck of a question, but bear with me because there's a good point). The answer: do too much all at once. Sadly, this is the approach most people take. Maybe you've experienced this yourself (I know I have) when you tried to do everything right. Because you were incredibly …
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You’re Not Your Diet. You’re Not Your Body Fat Percentage.
Do your health and fitness habits define you, or do they make your life better? There was a time I obsessed over what I would eat, and when. I'd literally revolve everything around my workout schedule. I'd turn down dinner invitations and other activities if they interfered with my trip to the gym or wouldn't easily fit whatever diet I was following at the time. Put bluntly: my diet and workout …
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Is Your Fitness Regimen Making You Awesome?
"Become the strongest, most awesome version of yourself." "Train to be awesome." "Live an awesome life." These are all phrases I say frequently, and it clearly demonstrates that I need to expand my vocabulary. But, nonetheless, today's post is all about discovering your level of awesomeness. So . . . Are you awesome? Let's see how you measure up. Which of these statements best describes …
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What It Means To Be a “Real” Woman
Any sentence that begins with "Real women ..." is usually full of crap. The world of health and fitness can be degrading and quite puzzling at times. We're bombarded with pictures of what health and fitness is "supposed to look like," depending on the particular resource, as if fitness is portrayed by a specific body shape, size, or appearance. If we don't fit that image we beat ourselves up …
Total Body Workouts You Can Perform with a Swing Set (or Suspension Trainer)
I love working out at the local playground and oftentimes when I travel, I'll choose a playground over a gym, as shown in this playground workout. Playground workouts are a great way to get outside, breathe some fresh air, get some sunshine, and change things up a bit from traditional strength training with free weights. If you're getting bored with your current workouts, then this may be just …
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The Unspoken Darkside to Training for Performance and Focusing on What Your Body Can Do
If you've read the articles on Lift Like a Girl for a while, you know I'm an advocate of training for performance. After all, it's one of the cornerstone principles of the Lift Like a Girl Manifesto. It's been my suggestion for years that women (and men) should focus solely on what their body can do and that the goal of any workout program should be to get stronger, and do just a little better …
5 Reasons Women Should Strength Train That are WAY Better than just Building a Great Looking Body
As a loyal Girl Lifter (or, if you prefer, Lift Like a Girl-er, but that sounds horrible) you’re no stranger to the incredible benefits of strength training. You know that consistent, progressive strength training is a fun and efficient way to build a great looking body. And we all want a body that we love and looks great in (and out of — wink wink) our clothes. But, and here’s the really …