The best advice for women who train with weights
The best advice for women who train with weights
14 experts give their views
From T Nation | 09/27/16
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/the-best-advice-for-women-who-lift
Dr. Sarah Ellis Duvall - Physical Therapist
Understand the goal of each exercise you perform
Ask yourself "What am I exercising? Where should I feel this?". Training the right muscle groups will not only make you stronger faster, but will also help you prevent injury.
Let's say a woman wants to do more pull-ups to improve the strength of her back. When she does this exercise, she feels it in her arms and shoulders instead of feeling it in her back. She's using the wrong muscles, which means she won't achieve her goal with this exercise and risks injury.
In short, you should focus on where you should feel this exercise and make sure you feel it in the right places. If it's a back exercise, then you should make sure you feel it in your back. If it's squats, make sure you feel them in your gluteus (butt muscles) and not just in your quadriceps and hip flexors (front of your legs). If it's deadlifts, then make sure you feel this exercise in your hamstrings and gluteus (back of the legs) and not just your lower back. This is key to avoiding tightness and injury while achieving your goals of getting stronger.
Bret Contreras - Strength coach
Don't overdo it
In the 20 years I've been training women, the most common barrier I've noticed is the belief that more training is always better. However, there is an ideal point in terms of total training volume and volume of resistance training that optimizes results.
Training should not be used as a tool to compensate for poor nutritional strategies. Furthermore, trying to excel at strength training, yoga, Pilates, running, plyometric training and HIIT at the same time will turn you into a jack-of-all-trades who isn't really good at anything, which is why it's important to focus on a few things at once when training. Furthermore, additional volume in the gym is only beneficial to the extent that it still allows for adequate recovery between training sessions.
The majority of my clients perform around 50 work sets per week in the gym with little or no cardio and additional training. One week a month is reserved for a de-loading phase. This works because my clients strive for personal bests during the remaining three weeks and maximize workload and effort.
Many women over-train and overdo the volume to the point where it stops them from getting stronger and prevents them from making significant progress in their body development.
Kelli Keyes - Nutrition and strength coach
Training isn't about how much pain you can tolerate - it's about how hard you can train without pain
You've probably heard the saying "No pain, no gain." (No pain, no gains). But it should rather be "pain, less gain". In the world of strength training, the prevailing opinion is that it must hurt to train with heavy weights. I'm not talking about that killer muscle soreness we feel after a hard training session. I'm talking about the "I can't get up from the pain" pain.
If you're training with jokes or through pain, then it doesn't have to be that way and it shouldn't be that way. I know this from my own experience. A few years ago I made the mistake of training through lower back pain. I reached a point where I could no longer train my clients and literally couldn't get out of the car in the morning. Needless to say, I had to stop training for a long time.
For some stupid and unreasonable reason, I had gotten it into my head to just keep going despite the pain and I probably believed that the pain would magically just go away. Unfortunately, I was very wrong. Today I am much wiser and I have learned that training should not hurt in a bad way. And today I can actually move a lot more weight than I could back then.
If the focus of your workouts is to move pain free and feel good, you'll find that the strength will come naturally.
TC Luoma - T Nation Publisher
Train your abs like a woman, not a man
Now before all the women get up from their chairs, point their fingers at the monitor and condemn me for my alleged sexism, let me qualify this statement.
If you are a female powerlifter, then you should indeed train your abs like a man. If you are the kind of female athlete who uses weights to improve her performance in her sport, then you should train your abs like a man. Or if you're a woman who doesn't care about social conventions or attractiveness to men and just wants to get as strong and impressive as possible, then go ahead - build your abs and train them like a man.
Most women, however, want a waist that is as narrow as possible and will do whatever it takes to achieve that coveted 7 to 10 waist to hip ratio that is so highly prized in Western society. In their efforts, they are obsessed with toning their abs and waist. This becomes particularly problematic when they begin to spend a disproportionate amount of time training their midsection. They often perform hundreds or thousands of repetitions of crunches and side bends.
Furthermore, in order to reach their wasp waist goal faster, they begin to use more and more resistance, forgetting that the abs and other core muscles will grow in response to resistance and training volume just like any other muscle.
Many women, and many men too, are under the delusional assumption that extra reps or extra resistance will somehow slim their waistline and shrink the fat to reveal a great six-pack of toned and defined abs. Why these people think that the muscles of the midsection should behave differently than other skeletal muscles of the body is beyond me.
Many of these ultimately chunky-looking souls will also hang enormous weight on their sides in their misguided attempt to slim their midsection - as if they had to carry buckets of steel rivets to the 33rd floor of the skyscraper where their construction crew works - and perform side bends.
If you train your abs or other core muscles like a man with excessive volume or resistance, you will develop a waist like a man. It will get thicker in all dimensions. You may eventually develop a six-pack (underneath all the fat you haven't shed), but each of the rectus abdominus muscles will be the size of a beer can - which is certainly not what you want.
Remember your goals and train accordingly. You don't want to look like Frank "Cannonball" Richards, who can catch a cannonball with his muscular midsection. So train your abs like a woman. Minimal to moderate resistance. Repetitions in the 15 to 20 range, not the 500 to 1000 range, and train your core for 10 minutes instead of 60.
The rest of your body? That's the area you should train like a man.
Abby Keyes - Nutrition and weight training coach
Train to improve your body, not to look like someone else
Training with weights improves your body. It shapes, defines and reveals sexy curves. However, if you approach your workout with the wrong expectations, it can limit your progress. When you train with weights, you develop your muscles and change your body composition based on your genetic predispositions. Training with weights will not change the body type you were born with. You can only develop your body based on your genetics.
I've had this conversation with many clients. I am a slim built woman with narrow hips. I have hard-earned muscles, but looking like a female Hulk is not in my genes. A curvy woman once told me that she wanted to look like me. She had a figure like Jennifer Lopez, whereas I look more like a twelve-year-old boy. No matter how many squats I do, I can't achieve her curves and neither can she train her curves away.
You can't change your genetics, but you can improve what you were born with through continuous training with weights. Training with weights will generate a fit, strong, more resilient version of the body you were given. Combine this training with a diet rich in protein, fresh produce, healthy fats and quality starches to support your changing body and you've pretty much got everything you need to become a better version of yourself.
Bronwen Blunt - Powerlifter, Nutrition & Strength Coach
You should have a new goal every time you go to train - even if it's just a very small one.ven if it's a very small one
If you go to the gym every day and always do the same exercises with the same number of repetitions, the same number of sets and the same weights, then this is not really ideal. If you don't make any progress with your training, then you can't expect miracles to happen in terms of your body development. Even if this means increasing the weights by 1 to 2 pounds every week, it can make a big difference in the long run.
I like to plan 4 week training blocks (both during competition preparation and during the off season). By doing this, I always go to the gym with a plan and try to really challenge myself during each training session.
You should also pay attention to your menstrual cycle, as this can have a significant impact on your training. Listen to your body and pay attention to your diet. This is another reason why I plan four week training blocks. I tend to get very tired at this time and my joints also start to ache at this time, which is why I generally train with higher reps during 'that time of the month'. Using a sleep support supplement helps me to get extra sleep. This extra sleep will help you recover better so that you are better prepared mentally and physically for your training.
- Bronwen Blunt
Jade Teta - Integrative medicine practitioner, naturopath, coach
Know the key parameters
Assuming you're interested in changing your body, it's most important that you remember these four key parameters that characterize most effective workouts:
- Breathlessness
- Burning
- Heavy
- Heat
Most female athletes only use one type of workout. They might do only cardio training, only high repetition training, or only strength training and powerlifting training. However, the most effective way to change your body is to ensure that your weight training sessions include all four components mentioned above. To achieve this, you should train at a fast pace and only rest when necessary.
Most people think that rest and work are opposites, when in fact they are synergists. The more you rest, the harder you can work and the more you work, the more rest becomes essential. Rest equals quality work and quality work leads to a need for more rest.
The best way for women to get the most out of their training is to think "push yourself until you can't anymore, rest until you can." In other words, this means that you should push yourself until you can't do it anymore and rest only until you can do it again.
Women should use moderately heavy weights and not take defined breaks between exercises. They should only pause when necessary - during sets or between sets - after which the workout will resume where they left off before the break. This allows for the best breathlessness, burn, heavy training and heat effect.
A little-known hormonal difference between women and men is that men get a higher testosterone production, while women get a stronger growth hormone response. To benefit from this response, intensity is crucial for women. Breathlessness, muscle burning and tension in all muscles of the body intensifies the growth hormone response.
Human growth hormone is the ultimate multitasking hormone for women, helping them burn fat while building muscle. This will create a lean, athletic and feminine body. Here's an example:
Choose 4 full body exercises like:
- Squats
- Bench press
- Rowing bent over
- Push press (standing shoulder press with a slight swing from the legs)
Perform 12 repetitions of each exercise in the form of a cycle and only pause if necessary during a set or between two sets - push yourself until you can do no more, pause until you can continue.
Set the training time at 20 minutes and generate as much volume as your fitness level and physical abilities allow. Use moderately heavy weights for each exercise, which should be in the 15 to 20 RM range. This is the most effective training method for body modification.
Charles Staley - Strength coach
Use quantitative measures of progression in your training methods
In general, women are very good at making sure they feel the exercises they perform in the right places (and I wish my male clients were better at this), but they don't appreciate or completely ignore the value of numbers, which is crucial when you consider that progressive overload is the fundamental principle of training with weights.
In the short term, performing a training session after which you feel your muscles have been worked hard is a good strategy. But training (and the results you expect from it) is a process - there needs to be a measurable increase in demand from session to session.
No one gets stronger (or more muscular) just like that. This has to be proactively forced, which is especially true for women who don't have the same hormonal advantages as men. So if you've been doing 4 reps at 65 kilos for the last 8 workouts, make sure you use some combination of more weight, more reps and/or more sets during your next workout.
Paul Carter - Strength and bodybuilding coach
Stop obsessing about the scale
The scale is the driving force behind women choosing the wrong diets, the wrong training plans, doing too much cardio and basically doing the opposite of what is necessary to transform their body into the body they eventually want to achieve.
When I get feedback from my male clients, the first thing they talk about is how loose their pants are or that they can now see a bicep vein. With women, the first feedback I get is something like, "The weight hasn't changed. I feel discouraged." What they don't realize is that during this time their dress size has gone down two sizes.
Women who train with weights have to learn to understand all the different types of feedback that confirm a loss of fat or an increase in muscle, and the scale is a tool that can't tell them if they've gained or lost fat or muscle.
Since men are more visually wired than women, they usually don't care as much about the scale as long as they can look in the mirror and see changes. Many women turn a blind eye to body composition improvements because they are more interested in the arbitrary number on the scale.
You can use the scale, but also use a tape measure. Write down the clothing sizes. Get your body fat measured correctly. Use all of these things when monitoring your progress rather than putting all your eggs in one basket.
Michael Warren - weight training coach
Get your backside in shape and train your gluteus!
This tip will help women achieve two of their main goals. When women ask me for advice, they usually ask me these two questions:
- How do I make my butt look better?
- How can I move more weight?
The problem is that even though they know that squats and deadlifts are great glute exercises, they feel these exercises primarily in their thighs and hardly at all in their glutes. This is even more of a concern if a client already has muscular thighs that she considers too bulky.
In fact, scientific research has shown that when performing squats, quadriceps activation accounts for 70% of the exercise and gluteus activation only 20%. Rather than focusing on squats and deadlifts, a better solution to the problem is to incorporate an exercise such as hip thrusts (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8nFGuY77CE) into the workout, which activates the gluteus far more (about twice as much) than squats.
Many of my clients have set new personal bests in all their major exercises after incorporating hip thrusts with additional weight into their training program. They achieve more power at the end of the movement in deadlifts, develop better stability in bench presses and have more power at the weakest point of the movement in squats.
Thanks to Hip Thrusts, all my clients were able to move more weight in the three major basic exercises (squats, deadlifts and bench presses). Their maximum weight for one repetition, their maximum weight for three repetitions and their maximum weight for five repetitions increased. And it wasn't just the three big basic exercises. They got stronger with every exercise.
There are many more great isolation exercises for the gluteus such as single-leg hip thrusts, pull-throughs, single-leg back extensions and reverse hyper-extensions.
The gluteus is the most important muscle for general athleticism. It is responsible for hip extension, external rotation of the hip, hip abduction and tilting the pelvis backwards. A strong gluteus is necessary for sprinting, jumping, climbing, throwing, punching, twisting, squats, lunges, bending - basically any athletic movement.
Additionally, by incorporating gluteus dominant exercises, my clients have achieved visible changes in their backside - so noticeable that they have received compliments from friends and colleagues. I even get referrals based on this.
By doing exercises like Hip Thrusts, you will not only become stronger, but you will also develop a body that stands out!
Eric Bach - Strength coach
Push yourself to the limit.
Squats, deadlifts, rowing and presses are still the best exercises for building a lean and powerful body. But just doing these exercises is not enough - you need to push yourself to your limits, strive to build strength and overload your body.
Always remember that your body doesn't want to change. According to Davis' Law of Soft Tissue Adaptation, if you want to change soft tissue, you must push it beyond its current capacity. This means that increasing the weight of your exercises and increasing the volume of your training are essential if you want to change your body. At a fundamental level, nothing else matters in the gym.
Challenge your body beyond its capabilities or you won't grow and use one of the myriad training programs on this site to do so.
Too many exercisers fall in love with the hottest gadgets, the latest training methods or the hottest exercises. At the end of the day, however, it's more about controlling your training over time and improving yourself. Getting used to the uncomfortable is imperative for long-term progress.
Dani Shugart - T Nation Editor
Don't blindly follow every training program
Your body is your laboratory and no expert (no matter how experienced or well trained) can tell you exactly what is going on in your body. Trainers are not doctors.
This advice applies whether you are following an online program or a detailed program from a competition coach or even working with a specialized personal trainer.
If something doesn't feel right and you train at full intensity just to follow the instructions, then you risk injury. If you do this often enough, you can even end up with a chronically weakened immune system. And nothing will set you back more than training around injuries - especially if you are injured or sick for weeks in a row.
This can be a problem for exercisers who want to please others. These people wanted to make their coaches proud. They tend to worry about being perceived as lazy, so they try to push themselves harder, do more reps, move faster, achieve perfect technique and move heavier and heavier weights - even when they are completely exhausted and feel that something is not right. These people will still strive to be passionate and stoic when their body is falling apart.
If you recognize yourself in this, then you should learn to speak up. If you're working with a curmudgeon, realize that YOU are the boss. You know when you have given your all. You are doing this for your own personal satisfaction. You're not like an Olympian. And your job probably doesn't depend on it either. So take some pressure off your shoulders. Being fit and physically competent under a barbell shouldn't be draining. Training should make your life better, not worse.
If you pay someone to train you, then you can easily fire that person. And that trainer will respect you more if you tactfully remind them of this. Don't be his slave. Don't be his trophy. The coach works for YOU. So don't shy away from those difficult conversations and ask for what you need.
There are plenty of excellent coaches out there who will help you improvise in your workouts when necessary. They are the kind of trainers who trust you to give your full effort - no matter what training session you are doing.
If you're already an experienced exerciser, then you probably don't need a militaristic trainer cracking the whip. And no one really needs a condescending coach.
John Romano - competition coach, physical performance enhancement specialist
Don't train like a guy
This is the part where I feel the wrath of all feminists. What gives me the right to say how women should train? Do I also tell men how they should train? I do indeed, but for different reasons. When I think of how any of us train - men or women - I can't help but think of the image we project.
We train in gyms among the masses of more or less "normal" people who are in the gym for a number of different reasons, none of which have anything to do with the goals of a serious strength athlete. Their opinion still seems to count and that's why there are places like Planet Fitness where serious strength training is frowned upon and it's chic to eat pizza, candy and bagles in a "judgement free zone".
Guys are probably 92% of the reason that serious strength athletes have a bad reputation, but some women - not many, but enough - can reinforce that bad image by mimicking men's training habits too much - usually the bad training habits.
Who cares? Why would any woman just trying to do a 180 kilo squat care what other people think about her? In a perfect world, no one would give a damn. But we don't live in a perfect world. We bodybuilders live in a world where we are constantly misunderstood and maligned, where we are made fun of and where we are seen as freaks.
In the midst of all this, do we really need a 170 cm tall, 80 kilo woman who has squeezed herself into a 50 kilo woman's spandex bodysuit, who has "decorated" her body with all kinds of bandages and tapes and wears a thick weightlifting belt, which prevents her knees, elbows and hips from bending? her elbows and hips to less than one degree and her gait resembles John Wayne, whose skin is covered in talcum powder, sweat and acne, who grunts like a diesel locomotive, emits protein farts, who makes everyone else's eyes water and who turns her surroundings into a mess - just like a guy? What a spectacle - and so unnecessary.
When I think of a famous example of a woman training with weights who exemplifies the truest form of an awe-inspiringly strong woman - completely unlike a man - I immediately think of Dana Lynn Bailey. I remember seeing her compete at the Olympia and Arnold Classics before she became famous and made a name for herself. She moved insane weights - not just for her size and not just for a woman, but weights that many men couldn't handle. But she did it in a completely different way to a man. Dana trains like a woman - a really strong woman - and she became one of the most famous strength athletes as a result. I can't think of a better example for women who train with weights to emulate.
My advice for women who train with weights - and especially women who are just starting out in the sport - is to find a woman whose body, image and personality you admire and train like her. Don't train like a guy.
Christian Thibaudeau - weight training coach
Don't train like a female athlete in the fitness or figure class.
We tend to mimic those whose looks we want to achieve. Some women will see a competitive athlete from the figure or fitness class and assume that they know the secret to getting in shape.
In reality, most of these girls don't look the way they do because of the way they work out, but because their desire to look good is stronger than their need to enjoy life. They are good at following these diets that have more to do with starvation than nutrition and they often resort to chemicals (for fat loss or muscle growth) and jeopardize their long-term health.
I know many who do 90 to 120 minutes of cardio first thing in the morning in addition to 90 to 120 minutes of resistance training later in the day. And while I admire this dedication, very few women can really integrate this into their daily lives. I coach a lot of CrossFit competitors and enthusiasts, and the average CrossFit gal looks a lot leaner and in better shape than the average wannabe figure athlete.
Look at CrossFit gals and other female athletes like track and field athletes and you'll see women who are in better shape than wannabe figure athletes every day of the year - and that's without all those crazy dietary restrictions. In fact, these athletes are often in much better shape than real figure athletes when they're not preparing for a competition. And do you really only want to look good for three months of the year?
I'm not suggesting that all women should take up CrossFit. Yes, it's better than the average figure athlete's workout, but it comes with its own set of problems. Take my wife as an example. She loves CrossFit and since she started, she doesn't want to do any other workout. The problem, however, is that she hasn't been able to train for more than three weeks in a row for the last three years. Injuries keep forcing her to take time off, which isn't exactly good for consistent improvement.
The solution? Train for performance. Use a CrossFit-inspired approach. This could look like this:
- Perform high density workouts (short rest intervals like complexes or circuits).
- Concentrate mainly on the large multi-joint exercises: Squats, front squats, deadlifts, standing barbell shoulder press, push press, etc. Don't be afraid to keep increasing the weights as long as you maintain good form when performing the exercises.
- Learn Olympic weightlifting exercises.
- Work on being able to perform dips and pull-ups without assistance.
- Perform exercises like the farmer's walk, where you carry a weight for a certain distance.
- Train with a weight sled if you have the opportunity.
- Use full body workouts or a lower body/upper body split. Forget a split by muscle group.