Girlfriend New to Lifting

Bigger Stronger Leaner Beginners
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So I’m trying to get my girlfriend into lifting a bit and I know that women often have different requirements than men especially in rep schemes and how they put on muscle. I was wondering if anyone knows of a decent program that I could use to get her introduced to lifting…

I was thinking possibly a total body workout or possibly a upper/lower split? But as I said above, I’m not certain of rep schemes for women (for strength/fat loss not size) or movements they should concentrate on. I appreciate the help. Thanks.

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My girlfriend has always been into lifting, but in the past year ive had her doing Total Body stuff and she loves it…she recently took Seven for about 2 months and her body really got “harder” on it…but as for workouts,i think Total Body routines are the way to go for your girlfriend…i use splits, but she uses total body as i said…as for reps, they can be low and heavy, girls dont get bulky or put on muscle like guys do even when lifting heavy…my girlfreind was doing sets of 2-3 real heavy deadlifts and squats while on the 7 and she lost weight…it took me about 10 articles from MWA and lots of convinving to prove to her that lifting heavy wont get her bulky, but when she finally realized it, she thanked me haha…PM me if u want a workout routine that ive given my gf…good luck!

IronWarrior

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Check out ‘New Rules of Lifting for Women’ - asides being a great book itself, it essentially says for women ‘lift like a man, look like a goddess’.

trainersjournal.com
the fitness lifestyle

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Thanks - are there any exercises that you guys know of that should be a staple in womens routines as opposed to mens?

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There really shouldnt be anything different but the weight, however…Ive tried for 3 years to get my wife to lift weights. The most she’ll do is resistance band training and chinups. It works for her. Women are weird, they’ll stand there and use a 75lb resistance band but not pick up a dumbbell. Maybe its just my wife…

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Actually, there is very little difference in resistance training between men & women.

Great source of information on women & lifting :
www.stumptuous.com/cms/index.php

Also, try http://www.musclewithattitude.com/

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[quote]Petrichor wrote:
Actually, there is very little difference in resistance training between men & women.

Great source of information on women & lifting :
www.stumptuous.com/cms/index.php

Also, try http://www.musclewithattitude.com/

[/quote]

The hardest part for women I think is the stigma of “Im a lady weightlifter”. Unfortunetly alot of them catch a lot of hell. Which just sucks.

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http://www.musclewithattitude.com/article/features/alligator_stew_for_a_female_lifters_soul

great article, my girlfriend loved the article…it talks about how women should lift heavy and hard!! it sucks, cuz people say women shouldnt lift weights and all that bullshit, but honestly, its the best thing for a women to do! it will help burn fat, tighten/harden their bodies, and in the end they will be very pleased they began to lift…

as for exercises to do…anything/everything a guy would do! squats…deads…bench…shoulder press…curls…lunges…everything is good! just get in the gym and do it!

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Squats.

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Women should lift the same as men. The ONLY way they will look like men is by taking Testosterone thats the only way it happens. They will keep their boobs also as long as they don’t go into very low body fat like 5% or something which is unlikely unless she wants to be figure competitor. So just have her do the same stuff as you, you can motivate her that way also and just be better training experience for her.

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[quote]Dickie_B wrote:
There really shouldnt be anything different but the weight, however…Ive tried for 3 years to get my wife to lift weights. The most she’ll do is resistance band training and chinups. It works for her. Women are weird, they’ll stand there and use a 75lb resistance band but not pick up a dumbbell. Maybe its just my wife…[/quote]

You cant sway women with the power of logic. As impossible as it sounds, its true (well for the most part anyways hehe)

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[quote]IronWarrior34 wrote:
http://www.musclewithattitude.com/article/features/alligator_stew_for_a_female_lifters_soul

great article, my girlfriend loved the article…it talks about how women should lift heavy and hard!! it sucks, cuz people say women shouldnt lift weights and all that bullshit, but honestly, its the best thing for a women to do! it will help burn fat, tighten/harden their bodies, and in the end they will be very pleased they began to lift…

as for exercises to do…anything/everything a guy would do! squats…deads…bench…shoulder press…curls…lunges…everything is good! just get in the gym and do it! [/quote]

You forgot to mention tricep kickbacks, the open and close giner exercise, and bicep curls with those pink fluffy bells, ya know like all the hardcore women lifters use ^^

I KiD

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[quote]kbessette wrote:
Check out ‘New Rules of Lifting for Women’ - asides being a great book itself, it essentially says for women ‘lift like a man, look like a goddess’.
[/quote]

I got this book for my wife, and it really changed her opinion about lifting and nutrition. She’s still in the midst of reading it, but it has really opened up her eyes to all the stuff I’ve been trying to tell her. I highly recommend it.

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Third or Fourth, New Rules of Lifting for Women

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my girlfriend is a former cardio bunny, I just got her into lifting about 2 months back, and her body is the best it’s ever been, and she barely does any cardio now. She lifts just like a man and it works. She’s pretty damn cute, she sits on my bed with my Human Kinetics “Strength Training Anatomy” book and puts together her workout, lots of squats, deads, presses, etc.

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Yea my girlfriend typically just runs a lot - and she’s skinny, but not lean (I of course never said that) I had her read the alligator stew article from MWA and that’s going a long ways to changing her mind on lifting and getting her more gung-ho for me to finish her program (I have until Thursday because she lives about 50 miles away and I need to show her how to complete many of the exercises) Thanks for all the help guys.

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I hope showing her those exercises wont be only thing you’re doing. Geez, 50 miles…

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[quote]BigKDawg wrote:
Dickie_B wrote:
There really shouldnt be anything different but the weight, however…Ive tried for 3 years to get my wife to lift weights. The most she’ll do is resistance band training and chinups. It works for her. Women are weird, they’ll stand there and use a 75lb resistance band but not pick up a dumbbell. Maybe its just my wife…

You cant sway women with the power of logic. As impossible as it sounds, its true (well for the most part anyways hehe)
[/quote]

That’s why I love NROL4W - I say something and it’s completely ignored. A book says the same exact thing, and it’s gospel. Even though I could probably produce a decent female fitness model, the fact that I am not one myself totally invalidates my methods to them.

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[quote]HoratioSandoval wrote:
BigKDawg wrote:
Dickie_B wrote:

You cant sway women with the power of logic. As impossible as it sounds, its true (well for the most part anyways hehe)

That’s why I love NROL4W - I say something and it’s completely ignored. A book says the same exact thing, and it’s gospel. Even though I could probably produce a decent female fitness model, the fact that I am not one myself totally invalidates my methods to them.[/quote]

Hahaha… It’s funny you say that, because my wife did the same thing. It was basically in one ear, out the other when I was talking about nutrition and fitness… I got her the book, and everything I had said to her previously was now validated. Frustrating, maybe a little; but it is satisfying to know that she’s learning, too!

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Re: New Rules of Lifting For Women

[quote]darwin420 wrote:
Hahaha… It’s funny you say that, because my wife did the same thing. It was basically in one ear, out the other when I was talking about nutrition and fitness… I got her the book, and everything I had said to her previously was now validated. Frustrating, maybe a little; but it is satisfying to know that she’s learning, too![/quote]

I’ve lurked here a while but this made me actually register, because I had the exact same experience with my wife.

I got her to start coming to the gym with me at the beginning of the year but all she wanted to do was jog. I got her to come into the weight room with me here and there, but could not for the life of me get her to do any squats or deadlifts or anything because “It’ll affect my jogging!”

At the end of February I bought her NROL4W, and made her read it. All of a sudden, when it’s in a book which is citing scientific studies, she’s willing to give it a shot. (You can talk about the studies all you want btw… they only count when she sees them referenced in print).

It took a little bit, but my wife is now a self-sufficient weightlifting enthusiast. Things got testy for the first few weeks while I helped her achieve correct deadlift form, or yelled at her to squat deeper, or watched her stomp out of the weight room in frustration… but now she rocks. We still go to the gym together, but we split up the moment we enter the door. Maybe we’ll grab each other for a spot here or there, but otherwise she is rocking it on her own.

She’s dropped some BF, loves the way she looks (so do I), and gets excited about increasing weight. She’s eating way healthier too. There’s no way I could have helped her to this point without getting her the book.

As far as differences between men and women go, the biggest ones that NROL4W calls out and incorporates are that women have better potential for lower versus upper body gains as compared to men, and women recover faster. So, for example, her current routine has her doing something that hits her quads every single workout.

That’s a good segue to my last point: While you or I might feel comfortable switching up and modifying our routine ourselves here and there, my wife (and other women too, I suspect) is best served by having a workout laid out for her down to every last detail. NROL4W does that for her. It tells her exactly what to do, how, and when. I think the book’s got like a year’s worth of workouts in it. Sure, one-size-fits-all programming isn’t the greatest, but it’s what it takes to get her to actually do it.