Workout for My Wife

Bigger Stronger Leaner
1

My wife is finally starting to warm up to strength training again and I was hoping to help her some more. I started her out very modestly about 3 years ago when we first got married with starting strength, which I was doing, but it was too boring for her. She loved cardio and sweating and I had her focus on form mostly in the beginning and started her out light. I can see why she didn’t like it too much. That and the fact that a husband/boyfriend can rarely be a wife/girlfriend’s trainer. I was just asking for problems at that time.

She’s from a cardio background. Cross country, Marathons, dance teams. Pretty small frame. 5’4" 120lb. Probably around 25% bf. She got to a decent level in the 6 months that she did it with me. She was squatting 115 for reps before she stopped and convinced me to let her join Equinox which was the building across from her work building. Her lower body has always been stronger then her upper body. Im happy that we got that time to work on her form because she gets compliments on her form from her class trainers.

She loves the classes there but is starting to realize that they aren’t getting her the body that she wants but it is getting her the cardio that she loves. She want to stay at 120-125ish but lower her bf% to around 15-18%. Which would allow her more calories throughout the day and so that she wont look too skinny. So I thought id try to find something that she could add to her week that could help out but really don’t know where to start other than the fact that she would like it to be 2 days per week so that she can still do a couple of classes that she doesn’t want to stop. I don’t know if all of this work will be counter productive or not.

Monday - Thread & Shred. Running treadmill class with varies speeds and inclines
Tues - Open
Wed - Yoga
Thurs - Shockwave. Cross Training w/ Row machines, kettle bells, Body bars, etc. A lot of endurance strength.
Fri - Open
Sat - Open
Sun - Off

Any place to start off would be great, 1 or 2 day. Or even flat out saying that it might be too much and that she needs to focus on 1 or the other. Let me know what you guys think.

2

Check this out:

Also, my girl recently took an interest in lifting again. I had her on SS a little over a year ago, which she liked, but I think she had some form issues (different gyms). Now, I have her doing colluci’s teaching a kid to lift prep routine, subbing the squats and lunges with glute bridges and extensions because she’s dealing w/ runner’s knee probs.

3

[quote]ShammiHundal wrote:
… it was too boring for her.[/quote]
Quick tip: Supersets can be great at helping with this.

This is a huge factor that a lot of guys underestimate. You can do the best you can, and you can only do so much before “helping and encouraging” gets interpreted as “harassing and annoying.” Certainly not saying it happens everytime with everyone, but it’s happens enough.

Twice a week lifting can definitely be productive if it’s planned out properly. Wendler has a few versions of 5/3/1 designed for twice a week. Even something kinda-sorta like that could work.

For what it’s worth, I recently sent my sister the following program to “get back into shape and tone up a little” (her words). She has an on-again/off-again training history and a sporadic schedule. A few years ago, after her first baby, she did do the bodyweight plan that 1Man mentioned.

Workout 1
A1) Deadlift 4x6-8
A2) LYTP 4x10
B1) Reverse-grip pulldown 4x10-12 (underhand grip, palms facing you)
B2) Push-up 4x4-6 (on toes, not knees. Hands on a bench/step to make easier if needed)
C1) Reverse lunge 3x8-10
C2) 2-dumbbell row 3x8-10
C3) Alternating dumbbell curl 3x10-12
D) Free time 10 minutes

Cardio 15-20 minutes

Workout 2
A1) Goblet squat 4x8-10
A2) Plank 4x10-15 count (on elbows/toes. Move arms/feet closer to increase difficulty)
B1) Neutral-grip flat dumbbell press 4x8-10 (palms facing each other, elbows stay pointed towards feet)
B2) 1-leg dumbbell deadlift 4x6-8
C1) Face pull 3x10-12 (hold each peak contraction for a 3-count)
C2) Pallof press-hold 3x10-12 count
C3) Triceps pressdown 3x10-12
D) Free time 10 minutes

Cardio 15-20 minutes

Workout 3
A1) 1-arm standing cable press 3x6-8
A2) Lunge stretch 3x5-10 count (no weights, step into a deep lunge, stretch hips)
B1) 1-arm standing cable row 3x8-10
B2) Squat stretch 3x5-10 count (no weights, drop into the bottom of a squat, stretch thighs/hips/hamstrings)
C1) Back extension hold 4x15-20 count (hold the top position/straight body, similar to plank)
C2) Lateral raise 4x10-12
D) Free time 10 minutes

Cardio 15-20 minutes

Even if you don’t follow it to the letter, note some general points. 1: Full body sessions, ideal when workouts per week are few and far between.

2: Supersets, like I mentioned, so there’s minimal “rest” time. You can either use “fillers” (mobility work like in Workout 3) or unrelated exercises (like the other days) to minimize overall fatigue.

3: “Free time” is a chance to do the exercises she feels she “needs” to do or simply wants to do, just keep it capped at whatever she can fit into 10 minutes.

  1. Basic, relatively-brief, cardio at the end of each session. An easy way to kick up the calories burned without interfering in recovery. This can obviously be omitted if your Mrs. has the other cardio days.

There have also been a few pretty recent threads here looking for significant other-training info. Lastly, that article from 1Man is an awesome start.

4

[quote]1 Man Island wrote:
Now, I have her doing colluci’s teaching a kid to lift prep routine, subbing the squats and lunges with glute bridges and extensions because she’s dealing w/ runner’s knee probs.[/quote]
Very cool, man. Glad to hear it.

If you need another alternative and have access to a Swiss ball, I really like SHELCs for a bodyweight posterior chain exercise.

They can be tricky because of the stabilization required, but they’re killer on the glutes, hams, and even a little calf work. You can also eventually progress to single-leg, which is more advanced and calls for even more stability.

5

Yeah… I thought about those. I had to do them for PT when I was taking care of my knee, and trainers there seemed amazed that I could do them (NOT bragging), as in most folks that went there couldn’t do full ROM. Given that, I figured she wouldn’t have the strength for them… though, she struggles with unweighted SLDLs, so you’re right: I def. need to work in some more posterior work… and girls… love… balls.

We’re finishing up the bw stuff this week… ending with 4 x 25 thrusts. After that, I was planning on switching to 3 x 8 thrusts and alternating quad (extensions) and ham work (still working on this… suggestions appreciated), and maybe some back extensions, since that seems a weak point. Other than that… basic 3 x 5 OHP and bench… maybe maxing out on the last set ala Greyskull. She used to take a lot of pride in her bw+ squat, so luckily convincing her to focus on strength isn’t and issue.

It’s interesting as time has progressed how I’ve gone from “follow the program as is… do not deviate” to “just get in the gym and do the main lifts in the general prescription.”

Cheers

6

FWIW, here’s what I threw together for my girl. Her goals are to lose fat and gain strength, which I think she can accomplish at this point in her training.

I mashed a lot of stuff together, because we’re working around a knee injury, but the basic layout is a GSLP upper push, a major lower body push/pull, knee rehab, 1 or 2 upper pulls, and abs… with at least 1 superset/day. She did the first workout today in about 45 min, which is faster than I expected.

A
Face Pulls 3 x 20
Inc BB 2 x 5, 1 x 5+
Hip Thrust 3 x 8
Leg Ext 3 x 12, superset with
DB Rows 3 x 10
Plank 3 x 1 min

B
Push-up 4 x 5, 1 x 5+ (eventually bench, but this is less intimidating)
Rack Pull 4 x 8 (tbd if the knee can handle it), superset with
LYT 4 x 10
Inverted Rows 5 x 5 (hopefully working up to bentover)
Leg Curl 3 x 12
Side Plank 2 x 1 min ea side

C
OHP 2 x 5, 1 x 5+
Hip Thrust 3 x 8, superset with
V-grip Pulldown 2 x 8
leg ext 3 x 12
KB Swing x 50, timed… eventually working up to 150
whatever she wants (prolly abs)

I’m thinking about working in a 4th routine on a 3 day split, but probably not. I’m not married to this, so any suggestions are fine. Unfortunately, injuries prevent just hopping on a standard program.

7

You might consider the 10K kettle bell swing challenge. My wife was already into learning to lift with me and was making good progress. But for a change up she agreed to the challenge and has loved it. She is on day 19 of the 20 days.

The things that might appeal to your wife:

  • Provides conditioning that she seems to crave.
  • Gives her time on the major lifts (you can program bench, dead, SLDL, squat, press, barbell row or many others as the strength move) without overloading her on the lifting.
  • Only one lift per day - so she does not get overloaded trying to learn too many moves per day.
  • Is only 20 training days. So after the program she can ‘graduate’ to something else and feel a sense of accomplishment.
  • You can do it with her (as I did with my wife) and ‘suffer’ along side her. Might make her more accepting of future direction if you go through this ‘pain’ in solidarity now.

Anyway, food for thought. Great to hear of another wife becoming accepting of strength training.

Cheers,
Needa

8

[quote]1 Man Island wrote:
I had to do them for PT when I was taking care of my knee, and trainers there seemed amazed that I could do them (NOT bragging), as in most folks that went there couldn’t do full ROM. Given that, I figured she wouldn’t have the strength for them…[/quote]
Could be that the PTs are used to injured people being unable to do them. If anything, the biggest hurdle most people have with SHELCs is the core stability. They tend to wobble and swerve around as soon as they bridge up, before even starting the curl.

I also like to use reverse hypers on the Swiss ball. Put the ball on a bench, lay stomach-down on the ball, and then, with a slow tempo (to minimize momentum):

I prefer to hold to top contraction for a full one or two-count, and don’t literally hyperextend like she is in the vid (coming up way high). You can eventually work up to holding a dumbbell between the feet, which also reinforces the cue to slow down the movement.

Not sure if it’ll fly if she does have trouble with unweighted SLDLs, but single-leg RDLs force a slower tempo (mostly due to balance) and can be used in a lower rep range to work everything from the ankle up to the glutes one leg at a time.

Ben Bruno has a ton of stuff regarding training with/after knee issues. Some might seem a little more advanced, but the principles should be adaptable.

That’s very cool to hear. It’s great that she’s self-motivated, and not just going through the motions of it all.

This kinda ties into my superset suggestion earlier. Most gals do seem to instinctively want to jump right into the next set instead of sitting around for a full minute or more. Fillers (simple mobility work done between sets) are one way of “tricking” them into spending more time between sets.

9

[quote]Chris Colucci wrote:
Most gals do seem to instinctively want to jump right into the next set instead of sitting around for a full minute or more.[/quote]

When/why is this a bad thing?

I’m in the process of transitioning from “rest for the shortest period of time necessary to make the next set” to “rest for 3-5 minutes, no shorter, no longer”. At this point I’m not really sure what to think about either.

I get a bit restless after about 90 seconds of waiting though (the main reason I personally never liked my few weeks doing StrongLifts).

Hopefully not too much of a threadjack.

10

[quote]LoRez wrote:

[quote]Chris Colucci wrote:
Most gals do seem to instinctively want to jump right into the next set instead of sitting around for a full minute or more.[/quote]
When/why is this a bad thing?[/quote]
Ha, on re-reading this, I hope I’m not coming off as sexist or whatever. “Oh, you know those little ladies, always trying to rush through things instead of doing a good job. We best trick 'em because it’s what’s right.” #DonDraperPersonalTrainer

It’s largely about learning the difference between being mentally ready for the next set and physically ready for the next set. If I do a heavy-ish set of 5, I might catch my breath and be mentally ready to go in 40 seconds, but my performance will absolutely be improved if I wait a full 2 minutes before going again.

It’s also a nice little way to simply stay moving almost non-stop the whole time you’re in the gym which, over time, can add up to some increased conditioning/calories burned. I think Thib has talked about this. To oversimplify: Consider one workout where you spend 43 out of 60 minutes actually “lifting” vs another workout with fillers where you spend 57 out of 60 minutes “lifting”. Over the course of a week or a month, it should add up.

It takes some time to learn how you react to those varying rest times, learning how much intensity is appropriate for a filler, and also to appreciate the difference proper resting can make, so things like fillers or supersets with non-competing bodyparts are a good way to soak up time and be productive.

It does obviously depend a bit on your goals, since volume/reps per set, weight used, and actual rest time will all influence your progress. But more often than not, there’s something you can do that’s more useful than just sitting on a bench waiting to grab the bar again.

Maybe play around with some of those fillers in the articles above. Or, depending on what your week looks like, you could consider some non-competing bodypart supersets. Right now, for example, in between military pressing, I do some Pallof press holds. I alternate dips with calf raises, chin-ups with standing leg curls, and flat bench with hip flexor stretching or a t-spine mobility drill.

Because I’m currently doing a lot of work in the 2-4 or 4-6 range, most of those secondary movements are done for moderate reps, so I often end up getting a solid 2+ minutes between heavy sets, which I’m fine with. As with anything in training, what you’re doing does need to be suited to your “big picture” goals.

11

[quote]Chris Colucci wrote:
Ha, on re-reading this, I hope I’m not coming off as sexist or whatever. “Oh, you know those little ladies, always trying to rush through things instead of doing a good job. We best trick 'em because it’s what’s right.” #DonDraperPersonalTrainer[/quote]

That’s funny. But no, I hadn’t thought of it that way.

Maybe play around with some of those fillers in the articles above. Or, depending on what your week looks like, you could consider some non-competing bodypart supersets. Right now, for example, in between military pressing, I do some Pallof press holds. I alternate dips with calf raises, chin-ups with standing leg curls, and flat bench with hip flexor stretching or a t-spine mobility drill.

Because I’m currently doing a lot of work in the 2-4 or 4-6 range, most of those secondary movements are done for moderate reps, so I often end up getting a solid 2+ minutes between heavy sets, which I’m fine with. As with anything in training, what you’re doing does need to be suited to your “big picture” goals.[/quote]

Thanks for the ideas.

Up until recently, I was doing autoregulating work ramping up in triples, so I had a pretty good feel from set to set how much rest I needed. But now I’m giving Greyskull LP a go, so while I now have a decent feel for how long I need to rest for a set of 5, I’m forcing myself to take a minimum of 3 minutes rest before the last AMRAP set.

12

I figured I should throw this out there for anyone else in the same situation (or in case anyone notices any egregious errors). The knee issue comes and goes with the rack pulls and kb swings, so it may need adjustment yet… but it may just be form related as well.

The 3x/week has proven too much… not so much the actual workouts, but the gym involves a bus transfer, so it’s 30-40 min each way. That being said, I’m cutting it it back to 2x/week with a bw session in the middle.

A
SHELC 4 x 8 (adding 2 reps a week until doubled), superset with
Face Pulls 3 x 20
Hip Thrust 3 x 8
Leg Ext 4 x 10
Incline BB 2 x 5, 1 x 5+
Rack Pull 4 x 8
DB Rows 3 x 10

B
Push-up 4 x 5, 1 x AMRAP
Bench Dips 3 x 3
Single leg ext Hip Thrust 4 x 12
SL Good Morning 4 x 12
YTW 4 x 3ea
Side Planks 2 x 1 min ea
Crunches

C
OHP 2 x 5, 1 x 5+
Leg Curl 3 x 12
Hip Thrust 3 x 8
leg ext 3 x 12
V Pulldown 3 x 8
Inverted Rows 5 x 5
KB Swing x 50, timed… eventually working up to 150
Farmer’s Walk 1 x 20 steps each

I’m thinking grip may be an issue w/ workout C, so I may sub kb swings w/ reverse hypers; I also may be going too heavy w/ the pulldowns and inv. rows. Also, no pulling in B, but that is the limitation, I guess.

13

[quote]1 Man Island wrote:
B
Push-up 4 x 5, 1 x AMRAP
Bench Dips 3 x 3
Single leg ext Hip Thrust 4 x 12
SL Good Morning 4 x 12
YTW 4 x 3ea
Side Planks 2 x 1 min ea
Crunches

C
OHP 2 x 5, 1 x 5+
Leg Curl 3 x 12
Hip Thrust 3 x 8
leg ext 3 x 12
V Pulldown 3 x 8
Inverted Rows 5 x 5
KB Swing x 50, timed… eventually working up to 150
Farmer’s Walk 1 x 20 steps each[/quote]
On the B workout, I’d consider switching the hip thrusts and dips, so the tris get a little rest right after the push-ups. Might also throw the YTWs to the beginning, to warm up the whole shoulder/upper back area and because the shoulders are worked (statically) a fair bit during side planks.

In the C session, if grip is an issue, you could always throw the farmer’s to the front of the session, almost like a higher intensity warm-up. And/or put the pulldowns or rows right after the OHP, so you don’t have all the grip-intensive backwork together. Just a few ideas.

14

Hey guys,

Just to give an update… my girl is in her 2nd week of “stabilization.” She lost about 15 lbs, slowly. It was a high carb/low fat diet, so water weight was minimal.

I did have to adjust the workout some. The gym days were taking too long, so I dropped some of the work: face-pulls and 1 of the leg machines. She was also still having knee issues, so we had to drop the rack pulls and eventually the farmer’s walks (2 lifts I didn’t think were particularly knee intensive), and adjust the volume on the other lifts appropriately.

I also added in some wall slides to help her knee. We had some problems you would expect with 2 different gyms (form, splitting a set up into 2 smaller sets, etc), but it wasn’t anything we couldn’t work through.

She got significantly stronger on all lifts, though the diet is starting to catch up with her, as she is missing a rep here and there. She now hates KB swings because they’re monotonous and boring, but farmer’s walks gave her a lot of confidence handling heavier weights.

Nutrition-wise, her macros are currently (p/c/f):
NWO WO
35, 20
15 , 25
16 ,10

40 , 35
35, 40
14 , 8

-, 35
-, 60
-, 6

40, 25
15, 20
11, 9

4 meals/day was too much on the off-days because she always felt like she was eating.
I gave her a 1.5 cheats/week: 1) A meal where she could have what she wanted as long as she got her protein 2) Half to a bottle of wine. The food cheats varied quite a bit because of social occasions, but didn’t seem to hurt anything too much. The big benefit is it taught her not to feel guilty for cheating and throw everything out the window… that there is a time and a place to let loose and that’s ok.

So she’s down and what we’re doing is still working, but she’s worried about being underweight because of some of the “healthy bodyweight” recommendations out there (she’s nowhere near underweight… maybe a slight shadow of abs). So, she wants to maintain or even gain a couple pounds, but luckily muscle.

For the reverse diet (coming up in a day or two), I’ll do a 15 percent bump in carbs/fat. I’ll transition her protein down to .8g/lb, replacing it with carbs. I’m not too sure what macros to aim for. Spidey suggested just having her get her protein and .4g/lb for fat, and letting her figure out the carbs… I certainly don’t mind an easier calculation, since I’m the meal planner.

As for the routine, I may reduce volume (drop an upper puling movement or something) and let her focus on strength a bit more, while still focusing on her runner’s knee rehab (which I’m not too qualified for, nor can she afford a professional). So, I don’t plan on changing things up too much; I would like to reintroduce the rack pulls at least.

15

Sounds like things are pretty much on track on all fronts. Great to hear that it’s working out. (No pun intended).

Any chance she’s been doing more desk work or staying seated more than usual during the day? When my gal sits at work more than usual (like form being busy and not getting as many chances to walk around during the day), it aggravates her hamstring/behind-the-knee area.

When it flares up, we increase basic mobility work before lifting and before bed on non-training days, and it usually gets back in line and under control fairly quickly.

16

She’s actually been sitting less than usual, and is usually pretty good about 10-15 min of mobility (yoga) stuff post-workout.

So, I suspect some of it may be form related and some of it is striking the right balance of stressing the knee and allowing it to recover. The little I know about runner’s knee is that you’re supposed to put it through as much work as possible without causing any pain.

thanks for the input

17

Hi guys,

So, my girl is currently doing the following routine:

M
Wall Slides
Face Pulls 3 x 20
SHELCS 4 x 14
Lunging DL 3 x 10
BB Incline 2 x 5, 1 x AMRAP
V-grip pulldown 3 x 12

W (at home)
YTW 5 x 5
Wall slides
Push ups 2 x 10, 1 x AMRAP
Single leg hip thrust 4 x 10
bench dips 3 x 11, 1 x AMRAP
SL Good Mornings 4 x 17
side plank

F
wall slide
OHP 2 x 5, 1 x AMRAP
V-grip pull down 3 x 9
leg ext 3 x 12
glute bridges 4 x 13
BB Rows 4 x 10

However, she wants to spread W’s workout over a couple days. My first thoughts are:

M
Wall Slides
Face Pulls 3 x 20
SHELCS 4 x 14
Lunging DL 3 x 10
BB Incline 2 x 5, 1 x AMRAP
V-grip pulldown 3 x 12

T (at home)
YTW 2 x 5
Single leg hip thrusts 4 x 10
front plank

W (at home)
Wall slides
YTW 2 x 5
Push ups 2 x 10, 1 x AMRAP
side plank

R (at home)
YTW 2 x 5
SL Good Mornings 4 x 17
Bench dips 3 x 11, 1 x AMRAP

F
wall slide
OHP 2 x 5, 1 x AMRAP
V-grip pull down 3 x 9
leg ext 3 x 12
glute bridges 4 x 13
BB Rows 4 x 10

Although, I’m not sure if it would be better to do something like:
M - as is
T - lower (at home)
R - the current F
F upper (at home)

I really don’t know how to handle this.