Women strength training... for real

stroutman81

another great thread I must have missed earlier!

Thanks

stroutman81

I want to do strength training but my trainer is insisting that I do lighter weights and lots of reps, I like the gym as it is small and quiet so I can get on and do my own thing at my own pace. Any recommendations on where I can go to get a training programme to follow and adapt for my needs would be helpful. I love the fact that I am already stronger but have been following the same programme now for 8 weeks and upping my weights and dropping the reps myself but not really feeling the burn now.

Couple of things...

1. What are your current stats? If you'd prefer to email them to me, that's fine. But maybe true strength training isn't ideal for your goals.

2. Speaking of which, what is your primary goal?

3. There are plenty of websites that offer free, general programming ideas. Even in my blog here on MFP I have written out some strength training programs. Or you can pay a trainer that does online consulting for more individualized programming. You can check out my website for an idea of pricing and packages.

4. Feeling the burn shouldn't necessarily be the goal of a program.

foster59803

Thanks for the info can't wait to read all of this! BUMP!!!!

Jesung

Damn I was feeling relieved to see that I squat more than they do but then one gal smashed my deadlift PR :sad:

DizzieLittleLifter

One of my fav. things to do is youtube videos of tiny women kicking *kitten* in the gym.

CandeesLand

bump

reactor25

If a certain threshold of tension isn't reached, no adaptations as far as strength/hypertrophy are going to take place. Sure, you can get a training effect. You might build muscular endurance. You might build cardiorespiratory fitness. But here's my real point...

Not everyone needs to pick up a heavy barbell to realize this tension overload. For beginners, simple calisthenics can provide enough of an overload to drive improvement. Hell, in the research, taking sedentary folks and starting them on a walking regiment was enough to add muscle to their legs. Their bodyweight was enough.

Exactly! Thus the 5x5 format. If you can complete more than 7 reps on your first set, you're not loading yourself enough, and you need to upgrade your exercise. I'll post my routine below (stolen shamelessly from Cheesedog at bodyweightculture.com lol)

And since it seems like this thread will grow in popularity... I want to share another thread that revolves around the same topic. In it, I talk in detail about selecting the right load for you and I think I even write a sample body weight routine you can do from home.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/276660-i-do-dvds-so-i-don-t-need-to-strength-train

Awesome post =D!

Another Bodyweight Culture article, this one courtesy Cheesedog at:

http://www.bodyweightculture.com/forum/showthread.php?11058-Bodyweight-Strength-Training

Bodyweight Strength Training

People are always asking about strength training using only bodyweight. This is nothing new or revolutionary. I am borrowing HEAVILY from Rippatoe, Bill Starr, and lots of other great authors and trainers. This is your basic 5 x 5 template. (To clarify, 5x5 is 5 reps x 5 sets. The idea is to work at a difficulty level where you could only do maybe 7-8 reps on the first set, and are struggling to finish 5 reps on the last set). You would do strength training 3 times a week, say Monday-Wednesday-Friday with the weekends off. These are done "lazy circuits" style, with about 1 minute rest between each set.

Workout A
1A. Knee dominant - 5 x 5
1B. Horizontal push - 5 x 5
1C. Horizontal pull - 5 x 5
2A. Ab - flexion - 3 x 5
2B. Ab - static 3 x 30 seconds

Workout B
1A. Knee dominant - 5 x 5
1B. Vertical push - 5 x 5
1C. Hip dominant - 5 x 5
1D. Vertical pull - 5 x 5
2A. Ab - rotation - 3 x 5
2B. Grip and neck training - 3 x varies

Exercise Progressions - with regular weight training you can just add weight to the bar. With bodyweight progression is mostly about changing your leverage. These are just a few examples, I'm sure we could come up with dozens more if needed. You can always add resistance in the form of a weighted vest or backpack or resistance bands.

1. Knee Dominant -- squats, lunges, step-ups, bulgarian split squats, unilateral bent leg deadlift, partial one leg squat, one leg squat, box or stair pistols, full pistols.
2. Horizontal Push -- pushups, decline pushups, resistance pushups, side to side pushups, stair one arm pushups, negative one arm pushups, full one arm pushups.
3. Horizontal Pull -- body row, resistance body row, negative one hand row, incline one hand row, full one hand row.
4. Ab - flexion -- crunches, situps, resistance or incline situps, reverse situp, resistance or incline reverse situps, hanging knee or leg raise, hanging pikes, rollout from knees, rollout from feet, dragon flag. Also included are oblique moves like side lying crunches with or without resistance and side lying two leg raise.
5. Abs- static -- 4 point prone bridge, 3 point prone bridge, 2 point prone bridge, 4 point supine bridge, 3 point supine bridge.
6. Vertical Push -- pike pushup, hindu pushup, divebomber pushup, decline pike pushup, decline hindu pushup, decline divebomber pushup, one arm pike pushup, negative handstand pushup, handstand pushup with head touching floor, full handstand pushup.
7. Hip Dominant -- supine hip extension, good morning, one leg stiff leg deadlift, split one leg good morning, one leg supine hip extension, hyperextension, one leg hyperextension, natural glute-ham raise.
8. Vertical Pull -- jumping or assisted pullups, pullups, resistance pullups, side to side pullups, negative one hand pullups, one hand pullups. All these can refer to chinups or neutral grip pullups as well.
9. Ab - rotation -- twist crunches or situps, resistance or incline twist crunches or situps, russian twists, lying windshield wipers, standing rope rotations, hanging windshield wipers.
10. Grip and Neck Training -- for grip you can use handgrippers, deadhangs from a pullup bar (especially a fatbar or gripping a towel). For neck nothing beats wrestlers bridges. If you are involved in a striking martial art or sport, finger and fist pushups are very important also.

None of these lists have to end here. If you get strong enough you can always add resistance to your full range of motion one limb exercise. Or if you can do more than 5 one hand pushups do decline one hand pushups, or start working on one hand hindu and then eventually one hand dive bombers, and so on.

The nice thing about this routine is it scales dramatically depending on your fitness level. If you can't do even ONE regular pull up, you can scale it down and do assisted pull ups (legs on a chair), or ballistic pullups (where you jump to provide the initial momentum). It's actually easier to do properly when you're very unfit...because once you're healthy and strong...you're going to be searching for challenging enough exercises to only allow you 5 reps max by the finish of the 5 sets.

Is there a video demonstrating these positions? I would love to try it but I've never heard of some of these moves and I do best by watching an example.

snookumss

I was wondering about the astronomical lifts they are doing... those squats aren't scary at all! Those are about my current raw squat, the deadlift of 330 I am not far off! Women see these numbers and freak, when they aren't that big anyway! Just go for them, learn to train right and anybody could reach those!

snookumss

stroutman81, this is an awesome thread! I got through as many pages as I could, and hit upon the post one page ago with the young lady who is at a low weight and bf% and looking to go lower and struggling with the cardio vs. strength conundrum--my situation is similar, but different in that I'm not overweight but I AM overfat.

I'm 5'2" and last May I was 130 lbs and lost 10 of it in 4 months of 'experimenting with x program until something worked', but with no real change in physique since I didn't have any weights (though I was religiously doing the same bodyweight exercises regardless). Gained some of it back over the holidays, (but I got about 50 lbs worth of adjustable weights for christmas) and am now getting back into it.--My weight 'goal' is 110 lbs as a really vague benchmark (mostly because even at my peak fitness I've never been 110 lbs, but I had significantly more muscle then), but would rather see my measurements go down by about 2 inches all around.

The conflicting info that I get is that since I'm a 'healthy' weight, I should focus more on strength training...however since I have 'high' fat, I should burn it off with cardio. Assuming my bodyfat % is between 25% and 28% (after staring at many, many images online) am I still wasting my time with running? Since I'm a small person to begin with, I'm torn between maintaining a calorie 'deficit' with the right macronutrients (currently doing 40/40/20 c/p/f on 1300 calories) to fuel my body through low-intensity cardio training, or risk slowing down my progress on the fat front because I need to eat closer to maintenance in the form of protein in order to gain some muscle. When your BMR is 1,200 calories, there isn't a whole lot of wiggle room!

I would really appreciate your thoughts on the matter, and thanks in advance! Anyone else who has been there, done that feel free to share!

I like how you understand the issues here! My calorie allowance is about 1650 and its tough getting enough protein in every day. Yesterday, I had two protein drinks, coffee and two slices of pizza (believe me the pizza isn't normal!)! That protein is getting tiring! I eat chicken, turkey, eggs, everything protein related all day. Every meal is protein focused. My weight loss is slow as well. I rarely see actual gains, I lost the first ten pounds in six weeks. The second ten have taken me 6 or so months to lose. I also don't do much "cardio" consistently. Its mostly weight lifting. The toss-up of getting more calories in protein for my muscles vs the restricted calories is frustrating. For now, I do my best at squeezing both together and my meals aren't the most exciting.

HeidiMightyRawr

I was wondering about the astronomical lifts they are doing... those squats aren't scary at all! Those are about my current raw squat, the deadlift of 330 I am not far off! Women see these numbers and freak, when they aren't that big anyway! Just go for them, learn to train right and anybody could reach those!

Love that attitude!!
All those lifts may be very heavy but they aren't unattainable - it just takes a lot of time and effort spent getting to that level

amaczu

Who says you need to burn the fat off with cardio? Fat loss is a function of being in a calorie deficit. A calorie deficit can come from decreased food intake, increased exercise, or a combination of the two. A deficit is a deficit is a deficit.

The same can't be said for muscle though. There's only one thing that's going to influence that and it's progressive resistance training.

In order to achieve leanness, we know we need to minimize fat mass and maximize muscle mass. From above, it should be obvious that progressive resistance training needs to be prioritized over cardio. At least in the context you find yourself in.

I don't know exactly what your weight is, but let's say it's 135. 1200 seems like a low BMR for someone weighing 135 lbs. How did you come up with that number? BMR is typically around 10 cals/lb assuming a normal functioning metabolism.

I'm 125lbs currently, at 5'2", and I got my BMR from the tool on this site, and subsequently looked up formulae on other sites, and the highest BMR I came up with was in the 1360 range. By your approximation it'd be 1250. My life is very sedentary outside of my daily workout--which usually involves either an hour of light jogging, a session of 30 Day Shred level 2, or a collection of one-legged squats and push-ups (until recently, they were all done with body weight)

If I'm to go with the weight training, is it still okay to be in a calorie deficit and strength train? I feel like I won't possibly be able to get enough protein to grow my muscles if they're primarily going towards the mission-critical functions. I'm aiming for 1200-1300 calories per day, no lower than 1200. I eat back about half of my exercise calories. The reason I've kept the cardio is that I plateaued for a month last fall until i bumped my calories up to 1300 and increased my cardio to 1 hour. At the time, I had no heavy weights so I wasn't losing inches without losing weight, so I was judging my progress just as much by the scale and thinking 'well I have fat to lose anyway.' I broke the plateau and lost another 5 lbs that way and got down to 120 (albeit a flabby 120, but I was smaller nonetheless around my thighs and butt) and then fell off the wagon diet-wise and stopped exercising over the holidays and gained 5lbs back.

So the long and short of it is--I wasn't losing weight without cardio, and I still have a pretty high body fat percentage (again, somewhere between 26% and 28%), which I assumed could still be sufficiently melted by cardio. I don't want to build up muscle under the fat and still be at a high body fat percentage. I'm eating as clean as I can, meal-wise and measure everything I put in my mouth, but I'm just not disciplined enough to deprive myself of a carb-based snack if it fits within my calories for the day.

Thanks a lot for reading my message, I just feel that since I can't afford a personal training, I'm potentially making this journey a lot longer and more complicated than I need to--especially considering my goals are minuscule compared to most folks who use this board.

I like how you understand the issues here! My calorie allowance is about 1650 and its tough getting enough protein in every day. Yesterday, I had two protein drinks, coffee and two slices of pizza (believe me the pizza isn't normal!)! That protein is getting tiring! I eat chicken, turkey, eggs, everything protein related all day. Every meal is protein focused. My weight loss is slow as well. I rarely see actual gains, I lost the first ten pounds in six weeks. The second ten have taken me 6 or so months to lose. I also don't do much "cardio" consistently. Its mostly weight lifting. The toss-up of getting more calories in protein for my muscles vs the restricted calories is frustrating. For now, I do my best at squeezing both together and my meals aren't the most

Thanks so much for the reply! I buy 3 trays of 18 eggs every time I go to the store and eat 5-6 whites and a yolk per day, my lunch almost always has garbanzo beans in it, and I eat one 3oz can of tuna every week...everything else is chicken, chicken, chicken! It took me 3 months to lose 10 lbs last year...one month was spent in a plateau and so I average around 5 lbs per month...I know it's supposed to be harder the lighter you get, but c'mon! I find it unbelievable that I wasn't 200lbs by the way I ate last winter (before I started to work out). I'm eating a tiny fraction of what I used to, eliminated alcohol completely--before that I was a complete lush that subsisted on daily bowls of pasta, chips and bags of candy--my diet has done a complete 180 and it's still just so very slow! There's no way my body can be telling me that a 31-inch waist is where it's meant to be...

On top of that I'm totally bummed that I went out and bought 40 lbs of weights and did my first night of deadlifts and squats, expecting to be deliciously sore the next day because I'd never done weighted squats/deadlifts and it had been a while since I'd done bodyweight exercises. Nothing, nada...no soreness! 30-day shred made me more sore a couple of days before! Off to buy more weight...

kabakken

Bump for later!

kimmerc1331

bump

so_long_blubber

bump

CharlieJuliette

Thanks for posting. Bump to read later. I am new to lifting but loving it so far!

stroutman81

I'm 125lbs currently, at 5'2", and I got my BMR from the tool on this site, and subsequently looked up formulae on other sites, and the highest BMR I came up with was in the 1360 range. By your approximation it'd be 1250.

Okay... so you're original estimation at BMR was pretty good actually.

My life is very sedentary outside of my daily workout--which usually involves either an hour of light jogging, a session of 30 Day Shred level 2, or a collection of one-legged squats and push-ups (until recently, they were all done with body weight)

Which is very typical. We're a society of desk jockeys for the most part. So the only activity most people get is their daily dose of exercise. Of course we have moving from sofa, to shower, to car, to desk, to car, to sofa, to bed as well. But you get what I'm saying.

So your maintenance is likely someplace between 13-15 calories per pound.

If I'm to go with the weight training, is it still okay to be in a calorie deficit and strength train?

You're missing an important point. Weight training isn't only okay while eating in a deficit, it's idea. Weight training is the primary tool in the toolbox to combat muscle loss while eating in a deficit. Remember, our bodies resist leanness. Evolutionarily speaking, it did us no good as a species to be lean. Now that society tells us lean is sexy, everyone's working with a set of biological imprints that will resist their every move. One way it resists this is by dumping more muscle the leaner we get.

So yeah, lift weights... assuming you're in this to look and feel good and not merely hit some silly number on the scale.

I feel like I won't possibly be able to get enough protein to grow my muscles if they're primarily going towards the mission-critical functions.

Calories come first and foremost. Without sufficient calories, there's not going to be muscle growth. Which comes full circle back to what I said above... lifting weights while dieting is all about muscle preservation.

I'm aiming for 1200-1300 calories per day, no lower than 1200. I eat back about half of my exercise calories. The reason I've kept the cardio is that I plateaued for a month last fall until i bumped my calories up to 1300 and increased my cardio to 1 hour. At the time, I had no heavy weights so I wasn't losing inches without losing weight, so I was judging my progress just as much by the scale and thinking 'well I have fat to lose anyway.' I broke the plateau and lost another 5 lbs that way and got down to 120 (albeit a flabby 120, but I was smaller nonetheless around my thighs and butt) and then fell off the wagon diet-wise and stopped exercising over the holidays and gained 5lbs back.

Smaller =/= Better

Don't get lured onto the horrible path where a better body is chased solely through weight reduction. That's a path that's laden with frustration... I promise.

So the long and short of it is--I wasn't losing weight without cardio, and I still have a pretty high body fat percentage (again, somewhere between 26% and 28%), which I assumed could still be sufficiently melted by cardio. I don't want to build up muscle under the fat and still be at a high body fat percentage. I'm eating as clean as I can, meal-wise and measure everything I put in my mouth, but I'm just not disciplined enough to deprive myself of a carb-based snack if it fits within my calories for the day.

Nor should you deprive yourself if you can fit it in.

How are you measuring body fat %?

Remember, body fat percentage can go down by losing fat and/or by gaining muscle.

pupcamper

bump

happynewyou

Hi, I have just joined and i have no idea how to input the correct exercise. It keeps coming up "no results found." Right now I am doing the 12 minute work out and walk away the pounds with leslie sansone. Please help if you can

stroutman81

Hi, I have just joined and i have no idea how to input the correct exercise. It keeps coming up "no results found." Right now I am doing the 12 minute work out and walk away the pounds with leslie sansone. Please help if you can

Sorry, I don't use this forum for logging things. But you probably need to ask this question in a different part of the community. This is simply a thread about women strength training.

mmhenry28

bump

sofaking6

I feel like..I can never take up 'real" strength training because I have a very messed up shoulder...multiple dislocations have worn down the socket and they haven't invented a replacement for it yet...what do the pro's here think?

ysamatar

bump! Thanks Steve!!

chrisdavey

I feel like..I can never take up 'real" strength training because I have a very messed up shoulder...multiple dislocations have worn down the socket and they haven't invented a replacement for it yet...what do the pro's here think?

I have a recovering shoulder injury (not from exercise, just an accident) so have weaker ligaments & some bursitis also. Doing physio to get full ROM back & then starting light as & doing stuff that doesn't aggravate it is the plan for me.

I would do the typical compound lifts starting very light, working on making sure form is correct. Pretty much the same for anyone new to lifting actually.

SithZombie

Hells to the yes! I'll get there eventually!

Spamee

Tag

Dayna154

bump

IssaquahMom

I LOVE lifting and how it makes me feel. Being physically strong is a very empowering feeling! Thanks for the post

sofaking6

I feel like..I can never take up 'real" strength training because I have a very messed up shoulder...multiple dislocations have worn down the socket and they haven't invented a replacement for it yet...what do the pro's here think?

I have a recovering shoulder injury (not from exercise, just an accident) so have weaker ligaments & some bursitis also. Doing physio to get full ROM back & then starting light as & doing stuff that doesn't aggravate it is the plan for me.

I would do the typical compound lifts starting very light, working on making sure form is correct. Pretty much the same for anyone new to lifting actually.

Thanks for replying! I will never have more than like 25% ROM unless they come up with a repair, but I should be able to carry a light bar.

stroutman81

I feel like..I can never take up 'real" strength training because I have a very messed up shoulder...multiple dislocations have worn down the socket and they haven't invented a replacement for it yet...what do the pro's here think?

I have a recovering shoulder injury (not from exercise, just an accident) so have weaker ligaments & some bursitis also. Doing physio to get full ROM back & then starting light as & doing stuff that doesn't aggravate it is the plan for me.

I would do the typical compound lifts starting very light, working on making sure form is correct. Pretty much the same for anyone new to lifting actually.

Thanks for replying! I will never have more than like 25% ROM unless they come up with a repair, but I should be able to carry a light bar.

I'd have you focusing on movements within your limited range of motion. You could still get super strong in squat and deadlift variations. Probably a lot of pulling stuff too. It's the pressing stuff that could pose challenges, but even there you could probably find workarounds. I'm not sure of your specifics, but things like floor presses and pin presses that limit the range of motion would be things I'd think about.

Oh, and obviously working on strengthening the muscles that are responsible for glenohumeral stability. I'm guessing you've had extensive damage to ligaments primarily.

DKBelle

yey Marianne Kane @ www.myomytv.com is my favorite ))
I used to workout with her through videos :P