My Girl Wants to Start Lifting

Bigger Stronger Leaner Christian Thibaudeau Coaching
1

Hi,

My girl wants to start lifting, but unfortunately she won’t be able to train 5-6 days a week as laid out in your Hard body training for women.

How would you advice to alter the program, or maybe use it as a template of sorts, to fit a 3-4 day a week training cycle?

Thanks in advance!

2

Dude, that is way too advanced for someone who has never lifted before. Simply get her good on the big basic lifts and try to make her love training. That’s the most important thing right now.

4 Likes
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Lucky guy!

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Just do 3 full body workouts. Superset if desired. Keep it simple. Start with 2 work sets each and workup to about 4.

  1. Squat
  2. Push
  3. Pull
  4. Hinge/single-leg
  5. Abs
  6. Extra (glutes, upper back, arms, etc.)
2 Likes
5

Exactly

6

2h

baumbodies:

Just do 3 full body workouts. Superset if desired. Keep it simple. Start with 2 work sets each and workup to about 4.

  1. Squat
  2. Push
  3. Pull
  4. Hinge/single-leg
  5. Abs
  6. Extra (glutes, upper back, arms, etc.)

Exactly

Thanks for your input, will do just that! Any advice on the rep range? 8-10?

7

At that point it’s all about developing good lifting technique. 8-10 reps is normally pretty good, especially for a woman. BUT if she loses focus after 6ish reps its fine at this point to go with lower reps (without going all out heavy) so that she will have the fewest “bad reps” possible.

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8

Thanks again for the advice! Quick update: First week is in the bag, and we decided to switch regular squats for goblet squats. The eccentric portion of a regular squat turns into a good morning, and some research I did indicated it might be due to insufficient strength in the quads. She can do Goblets with good form, so we’ll work up from there, meanwhile building some more quad strength with leg extensions.

The rest of the workout consists of a Lat Pulldown or a DB row, deadlift, shoulder press, some ab work and a sled push or farmers walk.

9

I’m no expert, and CT can obviously give better information, but quad strength is very rarely the issue with a squat turning into a good morning; usually, the issue lies in the inability of the posterior chain to produce equal force to the anterior. Partial action of the quads is to extend the knee, while partial action of the posterior chain (in this case, glutes and hams) is to extend the hips. Without the glutes and hams extending with equal force to the quads extending the knee, the hips rise faster - but don’t extend - and lead to you dropping forward.

Goblet squats are still a great initial squat for someone who has never lifted, but once she starts using a barbell, hip extension and strength will need to be remembered. A common cue is “chest up”.

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I like goblets a lot - specifically because of the chest up cue that @kdjohn referenced - you have no choice but to keep your chest up, as the weight is held in front of you. But he’s right - it’s not likely a quad weakness, it’s an all around weakness. Have her squat body weight with her toes a couple inches away from the wall and a bench behind her. No choice but to sit back when the alternative is mashing your face into a wall. One she can pause above the sit point she’ll do better with a barbell.

1 Like
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Dunno what your wife is into but I can’t recommend Bret Contreras “Strong Curves” program enough. After doing the 2 progression phases (2 * 12 week) she’ll be capable of tackling CTs hard body training program.