I hope this isn’t an eye-rolling post for you dedicated females out there.
My wife basically wants to get back into shape. Her goals run the full gamut, like most people… she wants to lose body fat, gain strength, muscle tone, and flexibility. Frankly, she’s out of shape… most of it is certainly her fault and some of the blame is because she was sidelined for months with a gastro-intestinal issue.
My background is that I’m experienced in strength and conditioning for myself. I played college football and have continued to stay strong and fit. I’m a long time reader on this site, but don’t get involved on the message boards too often. My knowledge with female strength and conditioning is limited to what I know about training myself. I assume the same basic principles apply to women as men, though I’m not certain because of genetic differences. It’s really the minutia I’m concerned with.
For example, she is unable to squat a regular olympic bar without pain below her patella. She even has discomfort with weightless squats. She has been able to work her quads with leg extensions, with minimal discomfort. Not surprisingly, she has a very tight quad, especially in her lateralis muscle. I’m not sure if her squat form is off. Also, she has poor flexibility and that could be part of it. I understand she can not have the same stance as I do… but I don’t even know the proper stance for her.I could go on with other minutia. I also suspect she needs to work on glute and hamstring activation.
So getting to the point, could anyone please recommend how I should go about getting her knee back into shape? Also, can anyone steer me towards a good female workout program? She is able to reliably work out 3-4 times each week for 1 hour sessions. She isn’t a dainty gal who’s coming in with a concern of “getting too big”… if you know the type of gal I’m talking about. Basically, I’m saying she’s willing to put in hard hours lifting weights to meet her goals.
And to give an idea of equipment possibilities… we are unable to attend a gym, but we have a pretty thorough workout room in our basement consisting of a squat rack, with adjustable bench. An olympic bar with weight up to 545 lbs. Basically any dumbbell size from 5 lbs to 95 lbs. and a corner gym type machine with pulleys, pec deck, leg press, leg extensions, you get the idea. We also have a treadmill and elliptical.
Thanks in advance for any help or guidance!
