In female training, it is often thought that using free weights or equipment increases their mass too much and contributes to losing their femininity.
But this is not the case at all.
It is crucial to work on both weight loss to ensure proper nutrition and muscular development to improve body proportions.
Therefore, following a series of exercises that promote increased muscle strength and toning is necessary.

What does toning mean?

Many people think that toning means losing weight and reducing the size of their ‘problem areas’ such as thighs, buttocks, hips, and belly. However, toning has nothing to do with lowering body fat but rather with increasing muscle mass.
Therefore, to tone up, people need to do specific exercises to build muscle in these areas rather than just focusing on weight loss.

Hypertrophy, i.e., muscle growth, is regulated by testosterone, a steroid hormone found more in men than women. In addition, on average, women have a higher percentage of body fat than men, which could be due to evolutionary selection favouring the ability to reproduce.
However, muscle strength, in relation to size, does not differ between the two sexes.
The different percentage of mass between men and women, which generates significant variations in contractile capacity, makes women sometimes less strong than men.
Furthermore, women, compared to men, have:
-smaller stature, muscle, and bone mass
-more pronounced lumbar curve and wider pelvis
-more joint mobility
-lower haemoglobin levels
-fewer mitochondria in the muscle myofibrils.

In addition to these structural differences, there are differences in lifestyles, weight and height, physical abilities, and type of diet.
It is impossible to speak of female training being the same as male training because their intensity and the areas of the body they want to develop are different.
It also depends greatly on the objectives men and women set for themselves: definition, increasing mass, developing strength, etc.
When starting a fitness programme, men and women must be clear about which areas they intend to work on.

Training can be organised differently, with annual periods divided into macro, meso, and micro cycles or mixed protocols that include high and low intensity. A popular interval training technique is circuit training.
As far as aerobic activity is concerned, it is advisable to perform it in a lipolytic band.
At the same time, for toning exercises, multi-joint exercises are preferred.
Women more inclined to put on muscle mass quickly can try their hand at pure strength protocols combined with aerobic or strength resistance training.
The number of times to carry out this type of training is very subjective: it can range from 2 to 5 times a week, depending on needs, time, and fatigue levels.
For best results in muscle development, it is essential to vary the exercises, overload, volume, and intensity. For example, you can start the week with a workout with higher loads and fewer repetitions and then devote yourself to single-articular exercises with more sets, repetitions, and shorter recoveries towards the end of the week.
It is important to gradually increase the load over the weeks to maximise muscle growth, following the principle of progressive overload.