Essay On Female Bodybuilding

Women’s bodybuilding can be both confusing and intimidating to outsiders or those just joining the sport. However, it is one of the fastest growing sports, as an increasing number of women are competing every year. The sport has been around for a long time but females began competing professionally in the late 1970s. Female bodybuilding began as a development of the nineteenth century strongwoman acts in the circus, the rise in male bodybuilding gave the female side of the competition a huge push. Female form competitions have been around for much longer in the form of beauty pageants however, these decreased in popularity during the feminist movement of the late 1970s.

Most of us new to the world of bodybuilding will find the weights section

The aim is to increase muscle mass through the addition of large amounts of calories from carbohydrates and proteins and high levels of training using heavy weights.

The second stage involves vastly reducing the body fat whilst aiming to maintain the muscle built up in the first stage. A dietician will devise a plan to cut calorie intake whilst keeping protein levels high. The training will continue with both strength and cardiovascular training to increase the number of calories burnt. This will result in a leaner physique with more definition. This is an especially important time to ensure you use a dietician, your calorie intake needs to be low enough to lose fat but high enough to allow high levels of training and minimal muscle loss.

The final stage comes just before a competition, known more commonly as ‘peak week’. During this stage, the competitor will aim to increase the fullness of muscles to achieve the best possible physique ready for the stage. Dangerously dehydrating in the last 48 hours is often used to give an extra boost to physical definition. A dietician will engage in a number of methods to improve performance such as, nutrition, bowel health and posing