Women Should Train Differently Then Men

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Danielle721007
Danielle721007 Posts: 41 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hello All, so I am a huge YouTube junkie and I just watched a video from Sixpackshortcuts and Andrea Albright (both who are awesome!) which talked about how women should specifically strength train the lower half of their body ... glutes, hamstrings, quads and calves more so than upper body. The concept is building these muscles will eliminate fat from all over the body. Which I LOVE to lift weights and I am going to give this a try ... I just wanted to see what everyone thought about this ?

Their suggestion for a workout plan was like this:

Day 1 - Glutes
Day 2 - Hamstrings / Core
Day 3 - Upper Body (all muscles)
Day 4 - Quads / Core
Day 5 - Glutes

Now, they structured this to give women a fit toned sleek look with curves... so what do you all think ?

Reminder: Women, you won't get bulky lifting weights unless you take steroids and that's your goal. We simply don't create enough Testosterone to enhance our muscles the size of men's unless you take some type of muscle enhancer ...

Just though I'd clear that up :)
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Replies

  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
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    So the video people don't think that men wish to eliminate fat from all over their bodies? Or do they suggest that fat elimination functions differently from women to men?

    Why do they believe women want to be weak in their upper bodies?
  • SonyaCele
    SonyaCele Posts: 2,841 Member
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    hmm. i think women should train any way they want, for whatever their goal is. I train exactly the same as the men on my powerlifting team, except less weight. If fat loss is your goal, that happens in the kitchen not in the gym. Thats just my two cents.
  • SonyaCele
    SonyaCele Posts: 2,841 Member
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    and props to the girls who squat. you gotta love a video that promotes two days of glutes.
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
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    Honestly, I'm not seeing the logic on how that could be better than say a 4 day full body plan.
  • juliewatkin
    juliewatkin Posts: 764 Member
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    Maybe they are suggesting in a round about way that some men need to squat more :)
  • Iron_Feline
    Iron_Feline Posts: 10,750 Member
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    Seems unbalanced to me esp if you are just starting out.

    I'd just do a solid 3 days a week full body workout myself.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    Well, I wouldn't want to only do upper body once a week but if that floats your boat, by all means go ahead.

    From a few things I've read, women are able to recover more quickly and can train more frequently than men. Also, lower body can respond better to more frequent training and higher reps (can't remember off the top of my head if that is women-specific or not but I *think* I got that from Strong Curves.) Bret Contreras suggests doing his full body programs 3x/week and then doing another day of lower body once a week. He also provides a lower body only program for women who don't want to train upper body at all. Apparently the last option is somewhat popular. It's kind of a foreign concept to me because I've always found the upper body stuff easier so I tend to like it more, though lower body is becoming more enjoyable now that I've been working harder on it this year.
  • AliceDark
    AliceDark Posts: 3,886 Member
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    Just one upper body day? No, thank you. My OHP is weak enough as-is; it would never get any better if I tried to cram all my upper body lifts into one day.
  • keithcw_the_first
    keithcw_the_first Posts: 382 Member
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    Yeah I think split routines are generally discouraged for beginning trainees. Something like what you outlined above would add muscle to very specific areas but I think you'd be better off starting out with a solid base of strength first before worrying about devoting two entire days a week to glutes.
  • Danielle721007
    Danielle721007 Posts: 41 Member
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    DavPul wrote: »
    So the video people don't think that men wish to eliminate fat from all over their bodies? Or do they suggest that fat elimination functions differently from women to men?

    Why do they believe women want to be weak in their upper bodies?

    From what I understood is that many women are afraid to lift weights because of the old "I'll get bulky" thought which we know isn't true ... so their point of focus is that women turn to Cardio more so over weights which lead to them to have loser skin than those who weight train. So I believe their point isn't to suggest that the fat elimination functions are differently for men, however, most men not all like to have a more Built upper body and of course some men like thicker muscular legs as well. While some women prefer to be slender up top and curvy towards the bottom. Note: All bodies are like engines and the more you build your bigger muscles the more fat you torch in general so men can apply this rule as well. It was just targeted more towards "why" women should build muscle in the lower half ... sorry to ramble on or if I repeated myself in any way ;)
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    Danielle721007 wrote: »
    The concept is building these muscles will eliminate fat from all over the body.

    I missed this the first time I read it.

    Any exercise you do is going to burn calories. If you burn more than you ingest, you'll lose weight, a (hopefully majority) portion of which will be fat. So, yeah, doing lower body weight training will lend a hand toward losing fat from all over but so will upper body training, yoga, walking, dancing, etc.

  • Danielle721007
    Danielle721007 Posts: 41 Member
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    SonyaCele wrote: »
    hmm. i think women should train any way they want, for whatever their goal is. I train exactly the same as the men on my powerlifting team, except less weight. If fat loss is your goal, that happens in the kitchen not in the gym. Thats just my two cents.

    I agree with the Kitchen aspect for sure, thanks for your feedback ! :)
  • CrabNebula
    CrabNebula Posts: 1,119 Member
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    My upper body is junk compared to lower, which is pretty gtg from squats, rowing, and incline treadmill. I mean, this was pointed out again yesterday at Home Depot when I could lift a 60lb bag of sand with my legs, but could not hold it more than five seconds with my arms.
  • Danielle721007
    Danielle721007 Posts: 41 Member
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    juliewatkin wrote: »
    Maybe they are suggesting in a round about way that some men need to squat more :)

    LOL :)
  • chivalryder
    chivalryder Posts: 4,391 Member
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    You saw it on a YouTube channel...


    Well, Frak, it must be true!
  • Serah87
    Serah87 Posts: 5,481 Member
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    Nope, I'm doing fine my way. ;)
  • Emilia777
    Emilia777 Posts: 978 Member
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    Iron_Feline wrote: »
    Seems unbalanced to me esp if you are just starting out.

    I'd just do a solid 3 days a week full body workout myself.

    Same here. I think it’s nonsense to eliminate strength training for half your body. Some of these “youtube gurus” drive me crazy sometimes. I find this especially amusing as my crappy upper-body strength is really frustrating. I deadlift more than my bodyweight but barely bench press half. *grumbles*

    Anyway, I’m glad you discovered strength training, and I’d recommend you check out a balanced program like Starting Strength or Stronglifts instead.
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
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    Looking at it logically if you take a 5 day plan...

    Here is the plan you outlined.
    Day 1 - Glutes
    Day 2 - Hamstrings / Core
    Day 3 - Upper Body (all muscles)
    Day 4 - Quads / Core
    Day 5 - Glutes

    Now if you take a structured plan like this one for example.
    http://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/power-muscle-burn-5-day-powerbuilding-split.html

    Day 1 - Chest and Triceps
    So you will get some core work on the bench press as well as chest and triceps.

    Day 2 - Back and Traps
    You will get some core work with the exercises as well as your back and traps.

    Day 3 - Quads and Calves
    Core work as well as quad/calves/glute work

    Day 4 - Shoulders and Biceps

    Day 5 - Deadlift and Hamstrings
    Core work with the deadlifts as well as quad/calves/back/glute work.

    So 2 days of glute work like your plan, 2 days of some quad work, 1 day of hamstring work, 3-4 days of core work and a great upper body plan to boot.




  • adolfopakhok
    adolfopakhok Posts: 2 Member
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    than*

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