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WOMEN’S FITNESS
Get in Sporting
Shape!
Women tend to hit the gym or do an exercise
class in order to sculpt their body and/or get fit,
whereas men often do sport instead. Taking up a
sport increases motivation, can fire up a new
passion and is a great way to make new friends,
but perhaps more importantly will create a new
fitter, more shapely, leaner and better defined
body in the process.
So how will your
chosen sport define you?
Check out any athlete in the news, and see
how their body has adapted to their sport -
think marathon runner Paula Radcliffe with
her lean body and boyish hips, or tennis
player Venus Williams with her powerful
thighs and defined arms. Obviously your
genetics and your current shape will play a
role in how you shape up, but the activity
you chose will be the main determinant.
Tennis
There are so many inspiring tennis players
bodies to choose from – ranging from the
stunning Anna Kournikova at the peak of
her tennis career, to the powerful Williams
sisters or teenager, Laura Robson. All of
these women have feminine, athletic, lean
yet well defined bodies that are hugely
desirable.
The all-round fitness required for tennis
will shape a great body.
Turn to Fit4Tennis to find out in detail
how to train (and look like) like a pro – p44
22 ultra-FIT
Hockey
By Caroline Sandry
Hockey might not have high profile
players, but it’s a game that demands
speed, agility and power. Qualities that will
produce, strong, toned legs and hard as
rock abs!
I spoke to England players Becky
Duggan and Chloe Rogers about their
training regime. They explained that they
do a lot of weight training, involving
squats, sumo squats power cleans, hang
cleans, dead-lifts and chins ups. They also
do a lot of plyometric (jumping) training,
such as, hopping and box jumps. They also
do power combination training to make
them more dynamic – these workouts
combine squats with weights and box
jumps, so they’re obviously very athletic
and they look it.
The Tennis player’s body In terms of schedules, every morning
■ Strong from 8 until 9 the players do circuits,
■ Defined
■ Muscular shoulders and arms
■ Flat abs
■ Developed thighs
■ Rounded bottom
■ Low to medium body fat levels
(16-24%)
The Tennis player’s fitness
■ Good anaerobic
(stop/start capacity)
■ Good speed
■ Great agility
■ Powerful legs and arms
(note need to work on non-hitting
side as well)
■ Reasonable level of
aerobic fitness
To get involved go to:
www.wintennis.com or search for a
local club at the Lawn Tennis Association
website: www.lta.org.uk
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Hockey might not have high profile players,
but it’s a game that demands speed, agility
and power. Qualities that will produce,
strong, toned legs and hard as rock abs!
which consist of core work, flexibility,
hurdle drills, medicine ball, and thoracic
(upper back) mobility. CV work normally
involves running and sprint sessions, as
well as some swimming and cycling. The
players only get one rest day a week and
even then that’s an ‘active rest’ day and
involves an activity such as a swim.
The Hockey player’s body
■ Lean
■ Powerful shapely thighs and
calf muscles
■ Reasonable upper body
development
■ Flat abs
■ Athletic
■ Low to medium body fat
levels (12-18%)
The Hockey player’s fitness
■ Very high anaerobic (stop/start
capacity)
■ Good aerobic base
■ Good speed
■ Good agility
■ Good strength
Sample training
programme for hockey
■ Shuttle runs – mark out a 5m star
shape with cones and sprint between
them, running forwards, sideways and
backwards, always returning to the
centre. This drill develops the frequent,
rapid changes of direction that hockey
demands. Do: 3 x 30 sec. with 30 sec.
recovery.
■ Jump from side to side over a
broom handle (or a low plastic
hurdle), primarily using your ankles
and calf muscles for power. Do: 3 x
10 with a 30 sec. recovery between
each set.
■ Jump up and over a low hurdle,
land, turn and jump back and repeat.
Do: 3 x 10 with a 30 sec. recovery
between each set.
■ Dynamic circuits. Add star jumps or
jumping lunges (jump immediately
from right leg lunge to left leg lunge,
whilst in the air and jump
continuously) into your routine, as well
as press-ups and sit-ups and so on.
Note: this type of training is not
WOMEN’S FITNESS
suitable for novice exercisers or the
out-of-shape as it places high
demands upon the body, particularly
on the back and knees.
■ To strengthen the back, which is
often bent forward in hockey, do
Swiss Ball curls, back extensions and
reverse flyes.
■ Do at least one steady state-aerobic
training day per week, such as a 60
minute run or cycle at around 70% of
maximum heart rate.
To get involved go to:
www.englandhockey.co.uk
Plyometric exercises
Plyometric exercises involve two rapid-fire
muscular contractions, a lengthening one
(the eccentric contraction) and a
shortening one (the concentric
contraction). Think of the recoil of a
spring, once it is stretched and released –
immense amounts of energy are released
- a very similar process occurs in your
muscles when doing plyometrics. They
are a great way to increase speed, power
and strength – see page 88 for more info.
Running
Think of runners and Paula Radcliffe or Liz
Yelling (Lucozade Sport Running
Ambassador’) immediately springs to
mind. Paula and Liz like all top distance
runners have super lean bodies and very
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WOMEN’S FITNESS
Paula Radcliffe
and Liz Yelling
like all top
distance runners
have super lean
bodies and very
low body fat
low body fat. Distance running, training for
a marathon or half marathon, or any
running (or other CV activity) which is long
in duration and at a steady pace (done at
around 70% of maximum heart rate) will
eat up calories. However, this can also eat
into muscle as well, which means that you
may become less curvy - so I recommend
eating a healthy diet with 60% of daily
calories from carbs, 15% from protein and
25% from (healthy) fat. You should also
include some regular weight training in
your weekly workouts to plump up your
muscles and keep your ‘frame’ strong.
If you are looking to get involved in
running, then join a running club and/or
target a race, such as the Race for Life series.
For more on marathon training see Peak
Fitness - p64.
The Runner’s body
■ Thin
■ Defined legs
■ Slim hips
■ Firm bottom
■ Slim upper body and arms
■ Very low body fast (10-18%)
The Runner’s fitness
■ Superb aerobic endurance
■ Low strength
■ Low speed
■ Low agility
To get involved go to:
www.runnersweb.co.uk or
www.uka.org.uk
To find out about races go to:
www.raceforlife.org or
www.humanrace.co.uk
Rugby
Women’s rugby is growing rapidly in
popularity, and after training with the
Welsh men’s rugby team earlier this year I
can verify that training for the game takes
24 ultra-FIT
a huge amount out of the body, aerobically,
anaerobically and strength wise. It’s
certainly a great way to burn huge
amounts of calories. While rugby may not
be a game for ‘skinnies’, anybody looking
to develop some strength and muscle, as
well as gaining a super strong core should
check out rugby.
When I trained wit the Welsh squad, I
expected it to be hard, but I didn’t expect
that even my forearms would ache
afterwards (and we didn’t touch a weight!)
Sample Training
programme for rugby
■ 3 x 7 minute anaerobic drills
■ First 7 minutes: sprints from prone
position to a marker 10m away;
backwards and sideways running. 30
sec. rest between drills
■ Second 7 minutes: I had to try and
push Wales most capped player -
Martin Williams out of a large circle
with my shoulder. He held a tackle
pad, which I had to push against and it
felt rather like trying to move a brick
wall! I was allowed 3 x 30 sec. rest
periods in the 7 minutes.
■ Third 7 minutes: this was tough but
fun. I wore a harness and tried to sprint,
while a player held me back before
releasing me to sprint to a cone, fling
myself down on the floor, get up and
run back, before starting all over again.
I obliterated 298 calories in just half
an hour. Thanks to Powerade
The Rugby player’s body
■ Strong
■ Muscular
■ Developed legs and bottom and
upper body
■ Strong flat abs
■ Medium body fat levels (12-20%)
The Rugby player’s fitness
■ High anaerobic fitness
■ Good speed
■ Good agility
■ Very powerful
■ Reasonable to good aerobic
fitness
To get involved: go to www.rfuw.com
Sport is a great way to get fit and
shape up. So, instead of looking at
the bodies of female celebs, who
often lack real shape and usable
fitness, take a look at sportswomen,
they train hard and have fun, whilst
developing a great fit, functional
and fantastic body. UF