While most people tend to focus on the right types of cardio to get their most successful workout on, it’s not the only way to tone, shape and define our bodies into what we want them to be.

Lifting weights can often get a bad rap; lots of women think that weight lifting is designated for those big, steroid looking macho men that hang around the gyms. But, little do some know, weight lifting is perfect for all shapes and sizes; it’s just a matter of finding what works for you.

According to the lovely safe-weight-lifting-for-women.com, weight lifting can help women:

• Have easier weight loss or weight maintenance

• A leaner, stronger body

• Improved appearance

• Better posture

• Lower blood pressure

• Increased resting metabolism rate

• Improved balance and coordination

• Stronger bones, and protection against osteoporosis

Bet you didn’t know that, eh?

What is the best way to incorporate weights into your workout to become a toned, but feminine buff chica?

If you don’t belong to a gym where you can use the free weights, go to a sports store and buy 5lb and/or 10lb hand weights. Then, grab a chick 8-minute Workout DVD, or go to an online workout website like FitSugar.com, where there are various videos demonstrating tutorials on how to workout. If you have a gym membership, talk to a trainer or try a weight lifting class, like Muscle Jam or Boot Camp.

Whatever you choose, make sure to incorporate weights into your weekly routine. Cardio is great, but it is by no means the only workout you need to get into tip top shape.

Working out at the gym:

Pros: It can be great motivation to see people you know, or strangers, pushing themselves to lengths that you want to push yourself too. Creating a sense of unity, a gym can group individuals together that have the same mentality: getting and staying healthy. You can even make gym dates with your friends or spouse as a way to bond, workout, and push each other. Additionally, there’s more of a variety at a gym; you can take classes or use machines that really work for you.

Cons: The competition can get to you. Some people go into gyms to flaunt their bodies, while sizing up the other men and women, making you, say a less healthy or thinner individual, feel inadequate. Some people view gyms like sororities; you have to look a certain way to fit in. Also, there can be lines for specific equipment, which can cause a time constraint. Depending on where you join, a gym can cost you an arm and a leg; the local gym by me is $100 bucks a month – yikes!!! Too rich for my blood.

Working out at home:

Pros: You can work out when you want, however you want, in your sweats or in your undies. Yes, buying equipment is expensive, but the lump sum you pay will add up to less than a annual gym membership. I splurged three years ago on a treadmill for the holidays, which ON SALE, cost me $500 bucks. However, three years down the road, it’s still alive and kickin,’ which is more than I can say for my uber expensive monthly gym membership.

Cons: It’s hard to motivate yourself. When you know the couch, a bag of potato chips, and the boob tube is on just a few feet away, you’re more likely to say ‘’ah, screw working out today,” than you are in the middle of a gym. You also can get bored of the same routine workout, which is more likely to happen when you’re at home with one or two machines, versus a whole slew of them at a gym.

Whether at home or at a gym, working out is an important asset to staying healthy. So, find the right location that works for you and get to it! If you’re used to working out at home, try a monthly membership at the gym and see how it makes you feel. You may love the classes offered (sometimes, a free personal trainer session is thrown in – who knows!) and wind up kicking your at-home workout habit. For you gym buffs, cut your membership short and invest in your favorite piece of equipment or some at home workout DVDs; the convenience of your at-home gym will create an ease from the crazy gym lifestyle.

What do you prefer?

Men here, as a collective. We thought we’d get together and write you guys some letters about a few things that we’ve been thinking about. Today’s letter is about us men being confused! Yes, smirk, and press your tongue against your canine (its hot).

We’re confused about what you lovely ladies are wearing in the gym. More specifically, why you’re looking so damn hot in up in that! To us, the gym is about a few things. It’s about working out, making loud grunting noises (FYI, makes you stronger), and sleeveless narcissism.

Or at least, that’s what we go there for. We aren’t specifically there to look at, or pick up, women. There’s an assumption that most of us aren’t going to look our best in there anyways, so we aren’t super concerned with finding ladies to woo. But hey, thats us, we’re dudes and we think a certain way. Beyond ‘the gym isn’t for dating’ we also have a few collective rules that we feel like you may or may not have given us.

1. Gawking is creepy
2. Sweaty dudes are creepy
3. Gawking, sweaty dudes are super-duper creepy.

So you could see our confusion when you ladies show up to do some leg lifts or swiss ball crunches in what basically adds up to a bikini with more support. We want to be clear, we like you in bikinis. Hell, we love you in those things. But when you wear those in the gym, and you’re being all active, you’re really creating a dangerous situation for us. Again, we’ve got focused, mostly one-track minds. Here’s a short list of things we cannot do at the same time.

1. Will ourselves to not get…turned on, which, by the way, is extremely visible in our red, elastic sweatpants.
2. Will ourselves to not look at you.
3. Lift heavy things, not to mention cardio. (Have you ever had an erection on an exer-bike? No? Ok, well, good because that’d be weird, but also, you’ve gotta know that makes it downright impossible to attack those hills)

Mixing any of these things together is a recipe for disaster. All types of opportunity for something to get pulled or pinched or clipped.

We feel like maybe you want us to look? We aren’t sure, and even saying that made us wince, because we’ve gotten dirty looks from you on the train one too many times to assume that. We don’t want you to wear a rain-slicker or something (makes ruffling noise when doing lunges), but we just want you to know that we’re impressed that you’re down there working out. That’s sexy!

Workout clothing that accentuates your body, makes your boobs look huge, exposes your mid-drift – or booty shorts that let us see that you are in fact not wearing underwear – are great. Really great. But, honestly, we’d much rather just work out and meet you later for a drink than try to run game while clearly using incorrect form to do a squat or embarrassingly dropping the 25lb dumbbells while a single emotionless tear runs down our cheek.

“But guys, I like to look cute! I want to look hot!” Yep, we know. We know this, and we ALSO want you to look hot. But you’ve got to understand, there’s being cute (which is fine for the gym), and then there’s dangerously hot. Here’s a diagram.

Signed,

Most Dudes (not including douchebags; we have no idea where those guys are but you can bet they are wearing a hilarious belt buckle).

While biking up an extraordinarily large and difficult hill in Spin class this morning (made even more difficult by the night of binge drinking that preceded it), I was startled out of my zone by a rather raucous shout of, “COME ON, BABY!” I wasn’t sure who was screaming, or who baby was, but I didn’t care; I lost my groove. I started feeling the pain in my legs, the burning in my quads, and my whole ride was off. But I kept going. And so did she.

“WOO”“LET’S DO THIS!”“PEDAL. DO IT DO IT DO IT.” It was quite clear that this loud and rather burly woman was screaming at herself – pushing herself – but, why? Was there something wrong with internal dialogue?? With all the adrenaline pumping through my body, I wanted to pull a Christopher Carter and knock that bitch off her bike.

The thing is, there are rules, damn it. Sure, they may not be written down in some giant book of Health Club Etiquette, but they are there and everyone should follow them. The New York Times recently asked people at gyms around NYC about their thoughts on the topic. Many of the responses mimic my own. And I am going to list them here. Not because I want to bitch (even though it is something I really am very good at), but because I know how much these things piss me off and I want to protect you, the CollegeCandy reader, from getting into a Cardio Throw Down.

1. Loud Noises: Working out is a personal quest to enhance one’s health and body. No one else in the surrounding area really needs to hear how hard you are working, man. Do not grunt, do not talk to yourself and, for the love of God, do not sing aloud to the Rocky Theme blasting from your iPod.
2. Saving Machines: So, you want to get on the last available elliptical… after you flirt with the cute trainer and do a lap around the gym in your hot new Lululemons. Why not just toss a towel on there and hold it for later? It is not like anyone else is coming to the gym to work out on that machine; they will just wait for you to finish your business.
3. Cell Phones: Not only is chatting on the phone proof that you aren’t working hard enough, but I do not need to know how big of a bitch your friend is because she made out with that guy that you liked 3 years ago.
4. The Wipe Down: I find nothing more vomit-inducing than watching someone run 7 miles on the treadmill, get totally drippy-sweaty and simply walk away from the machine without cleaning it. Gag.
5. Spot Savers: I get it. You, like me, prefer to workout in the back corner of Boot Camp in hopes that the instructor won’t see you taking cigarette breaks when things get rough. And maybe that has been your spot for the past 6 months, but I am there now, so stop giving me the mean looks and find another spot.

Stay in line as you hit the gym to get ready for the beach, ladies; you never know when someone is gonna snap and send you flying off your treadmill.

Photo courtesy of Broadmoor.com