My girlfriend has never done gym before. I’d like to get her started, just with a pair of adjustable dumbells at home initially. I’ve searched the t-mag website, but most of the articles seem to be geared towards guys. Can anyone help me design a good program that, coupled with a good diet, would help her lose 10-15 lbs of fat, and help her to firm up. It can’t be time-consuming or employ too many difficult exercises. Thanks a lot for the help.
Search for the “Beginner’s Blast Off Program”. It’s in one of those Dawg School columns. Then have her read the “Diet Manifesto” article and maybe the “Missing Ingredient” article.
Workout wise, men and women can do all of the same things. Women generally start with lower weights, that’s all. Any beginner program will work. Women have MUCH lower metabolisms than men do, so she needs to eat 5 or 6 small, quality meals a day. ‘Firming up’ just means getting rid of the padding, so get moving on the cardio! Since Memorial Day - when I decided to quite screwing around and WORK - I have lost about 12 pounds. I will give you my specific sups and routine if you want it. I spend no more than 1.5 hours in the gym, including cardio. My new program - just started this week - is REALLY fast (about 40 minutes), but quite intense, so may not be what you are looking for.
just get her some power blocks or adjustable db’s, show her one or two exercises per body part and have her do 1-3 sets 2-3x’s per week. you said you want to ease her in and if she never trained before she will loose 10-15lbs of fat in 2-3 months but she might gain 4 or 5 lbs of muscle so tell her not to go all crazy about the scale. once she gets results and gets into it you can get her a membership at a gym but if you think the gym might scare her a little now just stick to basics at home, as I said if she never trained before she’ll get pretty good results from basics at home. as far as diet just tell her to do simple things like diet instead of regular soda or no desert or no butter. again if she is new make it easy to follow and she may catch the “bug”. peace
So, what did you decide to do?