Helping My Girlfriend Get Ripped

Bigger Stronger Leaner Powerful Women
1

Hello, ladies of T-Nation…

6 weeks ago my girlfriend asked me to help her get back in shape. I’ve been doing my best, but as I have never trained a chick before I figure advice could be required.

She’s 21 years old, 5 foot 4 inches, naturally athletic build, probably carrying 20lbs of unwanted fat (by her logic - more like 15lbs max by mine). She used to play soccer at a high level and swim competitively, but has been inactive the last 3 years.

Before she met me, she’d decided she wanted “tits and ass” and intentionally overate to achieve this haha… unfortunately she ended up realising you can’t JUST gain fat in fun places, and now hates the way she looks.

Her eating was decent overall but let down by regular fatty chinese takeaway dishes and regular snacking. Her exercise level was zero aside from walking to and from her job as a receptionist.

Her goals are:

-lose weight. She used to be a US size 4; is currently a 6-8. Her old weight of 120lbs (a year and a half ago) had increased to 141lbs, though she has now lost 5lbs in 6 weeks of training with me.

-specifically make her legs smaller. She hasn’t got fat legs (indeed she isn’t fat at all, just out of shape by her previous standards) but they are naturally quite muscular and “solid” I guess because of her build. I realise spot reduction is a myth, and this may be a stupid question, but have any of you had success with “leaning” out your legs??

-retain her ass, but more muscular than fat.

-be looking fantastic by the time our summer arrives (4 months away).

I’ve got her on the following diet:

Skip breakfast. Her choice not mine, though I am ok with fasting periods.

1000
1 x pear/apple/nectarine
1 x protein shake in skim milk

1200
1 cup brown rice
200g chicken or tuna
1 cup veges

1400
1 x banana

2000
200g grilled beef or chicken
2 cups veges

and she has a Powerade, and around 3 coffees per day (no sugar, skim milk) along with occasional extra veges such as a salad or a carrot or whatever. Plus multivitamins and fish oil and such.

This equates to approximately 1400 calories (@ C-55/P-40/F-5), which is her BMR at her current weight. As a guy who strength trains, eating near BMR sounds insane to me, but she’s trying to get to her old weight at 20lbs lighter, and her BMR at the weight would be around 1300 calories. So I figure/hope it’s safe?

Training:

Monday
Parallel Box Squat
Military Press (max effort)
Deadlift (max effort)
Chin up
Side bend

Wednesday
Parallel Box Squat (max effort)
Good Morning
Lunge
Push up
Leg raise

Friday
Parallel Box Squat
Bench Press (max effort)
Barbell row
Chin Up
Medicine ball crunch

Her numbers are around:

Squat: 176lb
Deadlift: 165lb
Bench: 90lb
Military Press: 65lb

She’s doing box squats as she was having trouble pushing through her heels with regular squats, due to excessive high heel wear.

I’m running her on a weekly undulating scheme for reps and intensity; 5x5, 4x10, 6x3.

This week, she has started Muay Thai classes for around 1.5 hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Previously she was doing 30 minute interval cardio sessions on these days but I thought the combination would be too much. She does want to do more cardio even with the Muay Thai though.

To sum up, she is EXTREMELY dedicated, has been keeping precise food logs, has never missed a training session in the 6 weeks since she started, and will take whatever advice I give her.

The problem is I have no experience training a girl, haven’t a clue whether females respond the same way to powerlifting style training, and generally haven’t a clue apart from what has worked for me.

Also, I don’t want to kill her through lack of nutrition or over training!! And I haven’t a clue how to make legs leaner or butts bigger!

Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated :slight_smile:
Jay

2

Pardon my Y chromosome in this matter but you probably shouldn’t skip breakfast, unless you’re doing early AM cardio while fasting.

3

[quote]lbraga wrote:
Pardon my Y chromosome in this matter but you probably shouldn’t skip breakfast, unless you’re doing early AM cardio while fasting. [/quote]
Y chromosomes are more than welcome!

She has in fact been doing early a.m (0630) interval cardio up until this week, when she started the muay thai training.

There are lots of different opinions regarding meal timing of course. Personally I like breakfast…

4

Well I’m a female and I can certainly tell you what’s working great for me: HEAVY deep squats and high-fat/low-carb eating. Based on the info you provided, I would say that your gf’s macros are really not ideal, 55% carbs is way too high. To lose fat, you need to eat fat, lots of it. Heavy cream (organic if possible), organic butter, and coconut oil are all excellent sources of fat. Fruit should be kept to an absolute minimum.

Next, based on your estimation that she squats 176lbs but deadlifts 165lbs, I’d say there’s no way that what she’s doing is a legit squat. If she wants to get lean strong legs and a great ass, she needs to squat HEAVY and DEEP (aka below parallel NOT box squats). It will take a lot of getting used to if she has never squatted deep before but the payoff will be worth it. If she has ankle mobility issues she can put small plates under her heels to help. Also, her “cardio” should always involve weights…stuff like kettlebell swings, thruster tabatas, or even tire flips are great.

5

[quote]razzberry09 wrote:
Well I’m a female and I can certainly tell you what’s working great for me: HEAVY deep squats and high-fat/low-carb eating. Based on the info you provided, I would say that your gf’s macros are really not ideal, 55% carbs is way too high. To lose fat, you need to eat fat, lots of it. Heavy cream (organic if possible), organic butter, and coconut oil are all excellent sources of fat. Fruit should be kept to an absolute minimum.

Next, based on your estimation that she squats 176lbs but deadlifts 165lbs, I’d say there’s no way that what she’s doing is a legit squat. If she wants to get lean strong legs and a great ass, she needs to squat HEAVY and DEEP (aka below parallel NOT box squats). It will take a lot of getting used to if she has never squatted deep before but the payoff will be worth it. If she has ankle mobility issues she can put small plates under her heels to help. Also, her “cardio” should always involve weights…stuff like kettlebell swings, thruster tabatas, or even tire flips are great. [/quote]

What macros would you suggest for fat loss?

It’s very low in starchy carbs (45g carbs in the rice) and mostly fruit and vege-derived carbs (130g). Point taken though =)!!
I’ll reduce fruit to 1 serving per day and I will choose some dietary fats to add; perhaps almonds.

EDIT: I can easily adjust it to a 40/40/20 split by removing a fruit & vegetable serving and adding in 20 raw almonds and 2 tsp of coconut oil. This also keeps total calories the same as before.

She’s only been training the lifts for 6 weeks and is naturally strong in the legs, that’s why she can parallel box squat 176lbs (quite easily) while only deadlifting 165lbs.

I mainly got her into the box squats because of the ankle mobility issue - to try and teach her to push through her heels and not let the knees cave - I am sure you can see my thought process here. But your suggestion of plates under the heels is great. My squatting box is adjustable so I will start reducing it from parallel, then remove it entirely when she can reach full depth.

Cardio has been a mix of stationary bike intervals, and circuits of medicine ball thrusters supersetted with bag work. Kettlebell swings are a great suggestion.

What have your results been, out of curiosity?

Thanks for your input!

6

Hi panzerfost,

To lose weight, I’ve found that macros around F60/P30/C10 was good. I’d try to get carbs in right around workouts, just before or after (this is completely preference, I like mine before). Mostly the leanness comes from dietary changes but she will attain more muscle from lifting weights which will allow her to eat a little more while maintaining.

She’s got some really decent lifting numbers for just starting so you are headed in the right direction. I really like the intervals and super-setting for a beginner. I love tabata stuff and it’s certainly effective and time efficient but I’m not certain if I had just began six weeks ago if that I would be able to handle that. Kettlebell swings, with or without tabata will build an excellent backside and I liked my carryover to squats.

Oh, if your gf wants smaller legs, I’ve found that rather than heavy squats, I like lunges and and split squats and stability ball hamstring curls, rdl’s, sldl’s. I wouldn’t nix squats but for accessory stuff, I like those movements. Depends on what she likes doing though.

7

hey! carb cycling worked pretty well for me… lost 20pds in 3 months. for a workout that leaned out my legs a TON… i did barre method … sounds silly but it actually is a pretty kick ass all around body workout.

8

Hi panzerfaust,

Rachel Cosgrove, who used to write for the T-Nation sister site, wrote this article about leaning out legs:

http://members.rachelcosgrove.com/public/150.cfm

For me personally, my legs leaned out by doing 5 sets of 10 reps on squats, lunges, leg press, cable pull-throughs, etc. I would also superset those exercises. For example: Squat then Pull-throughs; Leg press then lunges, etc. I also did pylometric circuits (I hate them!) afterwards or on days off so I would do a circuit of jump squats, frog jumps, kettlebell swings, single leg hip thrusts, jump lunges, etc. Whatever I could think of to do for about 5 rounds.

For diet, I just ate a lot of protein, moderate carbs (lots of veggies, oats, berries, sweet potatoes), and the rest in fats.

9

[quote]Jackie_Jacked wrote:
Hi panzerfost,

To lose weight, I’ve found that macros around F60/P30/C10 was good. I’d try to get carbs in right around workouts, just before or after (this is completely preference, I like mine before). Mostly the leanness comes from dietary changes but she will attain more muscle from lifting weights which will allow her to eat a little more while maintaining.

She’s got some really decent lifting numbers for just starting so you are headed in the right direction. I really like the intervals and super-setting for a beginner. I love tabata stuff and it’s certainly effective and time efficient but I’m not certain if I had just began six weeks ago if that I would be able to handle that. Kettlebell swings, with or without tabata will build an excellent backside and I liked my carryover to squats.

Oh, if your gf wants smaller legs, I’ve found that rather than heavy squats, I like lunges and and split squats and stability ball hamstring curls, rdl’s, sldl’s. I wouldn’t nix squats but for accessory stuff, I like those movements. Depends on what she likes doing though.
[/quote]
Yeah I was pretty impressed by what she can lift. Though getting her upper body lifts to progress is really testing my skills haha. I am trying not to focus too much on strength increases of course, as fat loss is her primary goal.

I actually just ordered an 8kg kettlebell to get her started with the swings =). It’ll add some variety other than just bag punching and medicine ball thrusters. I like the “flat back” form the swings tend to encourage also.

10

[quote]orangstar wrote:
hey! carb cycling worked pretty well for me… lost 20pds in 3 months. for a workout that leaned out my legs a TON… i did barre method … sounds silly but it actually is a pretty kick ass all around body workout.[/quote]
That’s a great weight loss, can I ask what your before and after numbers were? That’s pretty much exactly the amount she is aiming for.

Barre method is some kind of intense yoga type thing yeah??

I’m hoping the kick boxing will speed up her results, being high intensity and full body movement without the strain of weights and the annoyance of me lurking around!
I’ve just started looking at the carb cycling for a possible option if my current “calorie restriction” doesn’t work well. I’ve never tried cycling myself either, so it looks pretty interesting.

11

[quote]Whysper wrote:
Hi panzerfaust,

Rachel Cosgrove, who used to write for the T-Nation sister site, wrote this article about leaning out legs:

http://members.rachelcosgrove.com/public/150.cfm

For me personally, my legs leaned out by doing 5 sets of 10 reps on squats, lunges, leg press, cable pull-throughs, etc. I would also superset those exercises. For example: Squat then Pull-throughs; Leg press then lunges, etc. I also did pylometric circuits (I hate them!) afterwards or on days off so I would do a circuit of jump squats, frog jumps, kettlebell swings, single leg hip thrusts, jump lunges, etc. Whatever I could think of to do for about 5 rounds.

For diet, I just ate a lot of protein, moderate carbs (lots of veggies, oats, berries, sweet potatoes), and the rest in fats.[/quote]
Awesome thanks a lot for the link!! :slight_smile:
It’s amusing there is a workout specifically designed for that. Mind you I guess it’s no different to a guy wanting to “get an enormous yoke” or such ha.

12

Actually a quick question regarding carb cycling:

When working out the grams of carbs for a given day, whether it be low or high carb - do you consider vegetable and fruit carbs, or only carbs from rice, grains, potatos, oats etc??

13

How are those Monday and Friday Squats periodised? Also, if she wants smaller thighs and a bigger ass, have you considered going Westside style wide on at least some of those squats?
Also, have you considered alternating the ME’s on the MP and Bench?
It’s a non-issue if she recovers, but maybe an alternating speed day might help her with her pressing (know it did for me, but I’m male, so I add that caveat)

14

[quote]panzerfaust wrote:

[quote]orangstar wrote:
hey! carb cycling worked pretty well for me… lost 20pds in 3 months. for a workout that leaned out my legs a TON… i did barre method … sounds silly but it actually is a pretty kick ass all around body workout.[/quote]
That’s a great weight loss, can I ask what your before and after numbers were? That’s pretty much exactly the amount she is aiming for.

Barre method is some kind of intense yoga type thing yeah??

I’m hoping the kick boxing will speed up her results, being high intensity and full body movement without the strain of weights and the annoyance of me lurking around!
I’ve just started looking at the carb cycling for a possible option if my current “calorie restriction” doesn’t work well. I’ve never tried cycling myself either, so it looks pretty interesting.[/quote]

yea it is like pillates and ballet work… its amazing! I’m 6’0 and started at 194 (YIKES) and now at 172

15

[quote]panzerfaust wrote:
Actually a quick question regarding carb cycling:

When working out the grams of carbs for a given day, whether it be low or high carb - do you consider vegetable and fruit carbs, or only carbs from rice, grains, potatos, oats etc??[/quote]

example of a low day
30g protein 20 g carbs (1/3 cups oats or 3 rice cakes)
meal 2 : same
meal 3: 30g protein 2 cups veggies 7g fat (14 almonds)
meal 4 same
meal 5L 30 g protein 7grams fat (healthy fats. usually 14 almonds again or 1tbs p.butter)

16

no fruit and no dairy. :slight_smile:

17

[quote]Legalsteel wrote:
How are those Monday and Friday Squats periodised? Also, if she wants smaller thighs and a bigger ass, have you considered going Westside style wide on at least some of those squats?
Also, have you considered alternating the ME’s on the MP and Bench?
It’s a non-issue if she recovers, but maybe an alternating speed day might help her with her pressing (know it did for me, but I’m male, so I add that caveat)[/quote]

I’ll be honest - I’ve just been varying the sets and reps, while adding weight where it seems like it’s possible within the rep ranges, giving her time to fully learn the movements before using a “proper” periodisation system. Soon, I’ll most likely apply the 5/3/1 system since that is what I use myself.

As per an above poster’s advice, I have dropped the box squats entirely and she is now deep squatting - a fair bit lighter but still not bad! She said she prefers the free squat so that’s cool.

By “Westside style” do you mean wide stance squats? Or are you talking about the actual training system?

Speed assistance for upper body lifts is not actually a bad idea. I assume the same basic principles apply… she’s a girl not an alien - something I should try and remember!

18

[quote]orangstar wrote:

[quote]panzerfaust wrote:
Actually a quick question regarding carb cycling:

When working out the grams of carbs for a given day, whether it be low or high carb - do you consider vegetable and fruit carbs, or only carbs from rice, grains, potatos, oats etc??[/quote]

example of a low day
30g protein 20 g carbs (1/3 cups oats or 3 rice cakes)
meal 2 : same
meal 3: 30g protein 2 cups veggies 7g fat (14 almonds)
meal 4 same
meal 5L 30 g protein 7grams fat (healthy fats. usually 14 almonds again or 1tbs p.butter)[/quote]

Thanks - so I did a quick calculation of your “low” day using a spreadsheet I made, based on the T-Nation basic carb cycling article, and it looks like you calculate looking at actual “carb sources” such as your rice cakes, rather than also counting carbs from vegetables and nuts etc. That’s what I had assumed - nice and simple!
Cheers =)

19

^ I did mean wide stance squatting. Also, I guess for now anything other than varied rep schemes would be over-thinking it. Keep your aces in the hole for now, so to speak.

20

I second the no fruit and the no dairy. You can get all of the nutrients from fruits through extra veggies, and veggies can be VERY satiating in copious amounts (while low calorie!)

Whether she eats beef or chicken has a huge impact (beef has lots of fat calories). As she progresses, may start mixing in seafood (shrimp, fish, etc) as the fat content is close to zero and can shave off additional calories without putting in thought or effort.

Nix the skim milk in the coffee (if she’s willing to go to such lengths, this shouldn’t be a problem; can add in stevia or similar zero calorie sweetener) and make sure the powerade and ALL drinks are 0 calories (drinking calories is a WASTE on a diet → maybe substitute the protein shake for more MEAT; there is no need for protein every couple of hours as it takes about 24 hours to be processed and amino acids will continue to be used throughout that time).

While fasted muay thai classes would be stupid, on days she is not doing anything, fasting is great! Check out leangains or an alternative if you’re interested, as muscle retention greatly increases through IFing compared to simple calorie restriction. Same with adding in ephedrine+ caffeine dosed at 20mg/200mg 3x daily.

Sprint intervals are also a great way to accelerate fat loss (or get it going + burn some extra calories) or get it back on track.

Also, squatting 3x a week (heavy, volume, speed) would always be good for ass/legs.

GOOD LUCK! :slight_smile: