Women Should Train Differently Then Men

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  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    ninerbuff wrote: »
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    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 :)
    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 :)

    I workout a lot and I feel tht this is a good concept because women are not men. There body structure is totally different from men. Genetically they are different. Women should focus on the lower half more because that is where most of the weight is. And they won't be built like a tank. For most morons who said that. Also I believe that people should work out any way they want. If people don't like what someone else says just don't comment. All you trolls out there who would bring another person down just for asking a question should really think why they are doing that. Most of you people probably don't even workout, you just do cardio all day thinking that that is the key. But like arnold said" don't listen to the naysayers". Danielle you got my vote. Keep up the good work and don't let any of these *kitten* tell you otherwise.

    so you are saying a training program that is 3:1 legs over upper body is superior????????

    so when someone has arms like a twig and a rear like Ice T's girlfriend Coco or whatever her name is, you think that is a good look?

    No, but I'm saying when you wanna train te way you want that it is ok. You can't nicely put comments on here without being an *kitten*.

    I am not the one swearing, you are...

    so you agree that it is an inferior training program, but its OK for woman, because they are woman???

    I think the point is we're genetically inferior.
    I believe you mean "physically" inferior. There are lots and lots of females out there who have better genetics than some males.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    9285851.png

    Dude, that is 100% not at all what I meant and given the current company you are in, you should be 100% horrified you said that.
    I apologize if you were being sarcastic.


    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    9285851.png

    You should apologize for being condescending and disrespectful to every woman in this thread who in no way physically inferior to a man. Men and women are different in where there they tend to hold the majority of their strength. A mod asserting that men are physically superior in a thread like this so over the line inappropriate it should seriously make you consider if attaching your bonafides to everything you post is wise.

    Because if I saw this as your client and knew you felt that men were physically superior to women, I would not way want to train with you. You would do exactly what thread of this titles says -- women train differently then men because gender, not goals. Which is craptastic.

    There are several women in this thread who are your physical equal. If not physically superior. Period.


    Also, yes, the initial post was sarcasm.
    I don't think you understand my response.

    Your response was "I think your point was that we're genetically inferior."

    My response was to correct the word "genetically" for "physically" because it's the wrong terminology for the actual statement.

    When speaking of genetics, you're speaking of inherent traits amongst ancestors. I said physical because you were obviously referring to the gender differences.

    My correction was to make the SENTENCE terminologically correct, NOT to say that males are superior over females. Hope that clears that up.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    9285851.png



    It really doesn't. I knew the point you were making. You, however, are missing what I was talking about in the first place.

    My point is that you're defining physical inferiority in an extremely narrow way - which is to say, you seem to say that men are physically superior because they have the greater potential for strength. But there are many things a woman can do, physically, that a man can't.

    I understand what you were *trying* to say. But since you found it appropriate to correct sarcasm (who seriously says women are genetically inferior), I afforded you no benefits of the doubt. Because, quite frankly, narrowly defining superiority/inferiority is how history got to a place where it considered women to be genetic defect of men.


    Are we not in a thread about a strength training program? Of course his comments related to physical superiority related to strength. You and a couple of others are the ones discussing other methods of physical prowess, not ninerbuff.
  • devil_in_a_blue_dress
    devil_in_a_blue_dress Posts: 5,214 Member
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    jemhh wrote: »
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    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 :)
    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 :)

    I workout a lot and I feel tht this is a good concept because women are not men. There body structure is totally different from men. Genetically they are different. Women should focus on the lower half more because that is where most of the weight is. And they won't be built like a tank. For most morons who said that. Also I believe that people should work out any way they want. If people don't like what someone else says just don't comment. All you trolls out there who would bring another person down just for asking a question should really think why they are doing that. Most of you people probably don't even workout, you just do cardio all day thinking that that is the key. But like arnold said" don't listen to the naysayers". Danielle you got my vote. Keep up the good work and don't let any of these *kitten* tell you otherwise.

    so you are saying a training program that is 3:1 legs over upper body is superior????????

    so when someone has arms like a twig and a rear like Ice T's girlfriend Coco or whatever her name is, you think that is a good look?

    No, but I'm saying when you wanna train te way you want that it is ok. You can't nicely put comments on here without being an *kitten*.

    I am not the one swearing, you are...

    so you agree that it is an inferior training program, but its OK for woman, because they are woman???

    I think the point is we're genetically inferior.
    I believe you mean "physically" inferior. There are lots and lots of females out there who have better genetics than some males.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    9285851.png

    Dude, that is 100% not at all what I meant and given the current company you are in, you should be 100% horrified you said that.
    I apologize if you were being sarcastic.


    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    9285851.png

    You should apologize for being condescending and disrespectful to every woman in this thread who in no way physically inferior to a man. Men and women are different in where there they tend to hold the majority of their strength. A mod asserting that men are physically superior in a thread like this so over the line inappropriate it should seriously make you consider if attaching your bonafides to everything you post is wise.

    Because if I saw this as your client and knew you felt that men were physically superior to women, I would not way want to train with you. You would do exactly what thread of this titles says -- women train differently then men because gender, not goals. Which is craptastic.

    There are several women in this thread who are your physical equal. If not physically superior. Period.


    Also, yes, the initial post was sarcasm.
    I don't think you understand my response.

    Your response was "I think your point was that we're genetically inferior."

    My response was to correct the word "genetically" for "physically" because it's the wrong terminology for the actual statement.

    When speaking of genetics, you're speaking of inherent traits amongst ancestors. I said physical because you were obviously referring to the gender differences.

    My correction was to make the SENTENCE terminologically correct, NOT to say that males are superior over females. Hope that clears that up.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    9285851.png



    It really doesn't. I knew the point you were making. You, however, are missing what I was talking about in the first place.

    My point is that you're defining physical inferiority in an extremely narrow way - which is to say, you seem to say that men are physically superior because they have the greater potential for strength. But there are many things a woman can do, physically, that a man can't.

    I understand what you were *trying* to say. But since you found it appropriate to correct sarcasm (who seriously says women are genetically inferior), I afforded you no benefits of the doubt. Because, quite frankly, narrowly defining superiority/inferiority is how history got to a place where it considered women to be genetic defect of men.


    Are we not in a thread about a strength training program? Of course his comments related to physical superiority related to strength. You and a couple of others are the ones discussing other methods of physical prowess, not ninerbuff.

    I am sorry, I have no idea what your point is.

    Are we in a thread about strength training? Has the OP ever said she actually wants to GET STRONG? Or just lose fat? Maybe she did at some point and I missed it.

    His comments corrected very obvious sarcasm. In the process, he made a poorly worded statement, that unfortunately related to the very issue my sarcasm was about.

    Niner is a moderator. He can delete unrelated comments or lock this thread entirely if he sees fit. But because he is a moderator, the standard he's held to should be a bit different.
  • LiftAllThePizzas
    LiftAllThePizzas Posts: 17,857 Member
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    tomatoey wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    tomatoey wrote: »
    jemhh wrote: »
    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.
    Wait, are you saying that when it comes to recovery, men are inferior to women?!?!?!

    is that ironic punctuation or what, i can't tell

    i think jemhh is referring to bret contreras' observations after having trained tons of women for years and years (as well as probably reading done while doing his doctorate). i have no idea though, this is an appeal to authority.

    personally, my (female) recovery is terrible.

    Yea, because no one has ever miss spoke in their entire life...

    It must be nice to live in perfectville...

    i don't actually know what he was trying to say with "?!?!?!?"
    I was pretending to be offended. Because I'm silly. It wasn't obvious that I was being ridiculous?
  • 47Jacqueline
    47Jacqueline Posts: 6,993 Member
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    That's ridiculous. The difference between women and men is that women are inately stronger in their lower bodies.
  • LiftAllThePizzas
    LiftAllThePizzas Posts: 17,857 Member
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    But seriously, if we work this out logically:

    Logically factual statements.
    Some A are stronger than some B.
    Some B are stronger than some A.
    Some A are stronger than some A.
    Some B are stronger than some B.

    Using words like all or majority are assumptive as there's no concrete way to verify. To use them as assertions of fact is illogical. Unless my logic has gaps. I'm open to a logical refutation.
    How many individual (non-team) sports involve women competing against men?

    In how many sports are the womens' records better than the mens' records?

    Obviously some women are stronger than some men. But the strongest men are stronger than the strongest women, and the average man is stronger than the average woman. So in that context "men are stronger than women" is a valid statement, in the same way as "men are taller than women."

    I'm not sure why anyone would think this is justification to think that men and women should be treated differently.

    I don't know why some people need to inject value judgments into any observation of differences between any two people or groups of people.

    Obviously there are differences between the two but to make a blanket statement like "men are [whatever] than women" and vice versa is to open the discussion up to blanket interpretations, so the offense of some is valid because there aren't always specifics that make meaning clear.

    The thing is, if the same assertions were made based on race or culture, using the same criteria you mentioned, it would likely blow up into a much bigger deal. Would their offense be so quickly or easily cast aside? Some people feel as strongly about issues of gender and sex.

    Either way, we're using some pretty broad words here. Valid, logical, and factual aren't necessarily the same. The discussion can rabbit trail all day long.

    Maybe every observation of difference doesn't deserve a value judgment, but this is mfp, so it will likely get one anyway.

    eta: And to be fair, inferior and superior are value judgments... Unintended though they may be.
    Maybe every observation of difference doesn't deserve a value judgment, but this is humanity, so it will likely get one anyway.

    1- FTFY.

    B- This is why we can't have nice things.

    (4- I admit the hypocrisy of the above being value judgments. Just in case Jof comes along.)
  • tomatoey
    tomatoey Posts: 5,446 Member
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    tomatoey wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    tomatoey wrote: »
    jemhh wrote: »
    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.
    Wait, are you saying that when it comes to recovery, men are inferior to women?!?!?!

    is that ironic punctuation or what, i can't tell

    i think jemhh is referring to bret contreras' observations after having trained tons of women for years and years (as well as probably reading done while doing his doctorate). i have no idea though, this is an appeal to authority.

    personally, my (female) recovery is terrible.

    Yea, because no one has ever miss spoke in their entire life...

    It must be nice to live in perfectville...

    i don't actually know what he was trying to say with "?!?!?!?"
    I was pretending to be offended. Because I'm silly. It wasn't obvious that I was being ridiculous?

    ok, yeah, that was my initial thought. but WHO KNOWS on mfp
  • hypatiaswan
    hypatiaswan Posts: 9 Member
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    Read above posts. My initial post wasn't to demean females. It was to substitute the word "genetically" with "physically" so the SENTENCE was correct. And I even gave an example of it after correcting the incorrectly worded statement.

    Relax.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    9285851.png

    Hahaha! That'll teach you to correct someone's vocab!

  • hypatiaswan
    hypatiaswan Posts: 9 Member
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    well ok but there are real sex (not gender) differences, which is why forensic anthropologists can work out which bags of bones were or weren't dudes. in living women one issue re thighs is we have more alpha 2 receptors there, which makes that fat hard to get rid of. (that's why i like the idea of firming up the muscles under that fat)

    (also lol at my example, which is the best i can come up with right now - sorry. super tired today!)

    Well ok but Instead of throwing gender into it you could simply say, "if you tend to store fat around your thighs..." There is no need to gender-fy the recommendation. I'm a woman. Never had trouble with butt or thighs. And I'm sure there are men who want to work on butt and thighs. Most people have an idea where they store their fat. There is no need for the over generalization.

    Also, some women, myself included, have been working hard to undo fitness myths surrounding how women should work out "differently" than men. The fact is that both genders could benefit from whole body, multi-joint, complex functional training with Individual programming to address personal needs. I would never recommend something to any of my clients because the are of a certain gender. the idea that women do one set of lifts and men do another is, as a generalization, just not useful and could potentially get someone's back up- like it did mine.
  • hypatiaswan
    hypatiaswan Posts: 9 Member
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    Everyone stores fat by consuming more than they burn.....unless you know someone that stores fat in a deficit ...???

    Are you being purposely obtuse or did you really not understand that I was talking about where different bodies store fat?. It's a fact that people store fat differently - as in different places on their bodies, different distributions etc. Pretty basic.
  • LiftAllThePizzas
    LiftAllThePizzas Posts: 17,857 Member
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    tomatoey wrote: »
    tomatoey wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    tomatoey wrote: »
    jemhh wrote: »
    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.
    Wait, are you saying that when it comes to recovery, men are inferior to women?!?!?!

    is that ironic punctuation or what, i can't tell

    i think jemhh is referring to bret contreras' observations after having trained tons of women for years and years (as well as probably reading done while doing his doctorate). i have no idea though, this is an appeal to authority.

    personally, my (female) recovery is terrible.

    Yea, because no one has ever miss spoke in their entire life...

    It must be nice to live in perfectville...

    i don't actually know what he was trying to say with "?!?!?!?"
    I was pretending to be offended. Because I'm silly. It wasn't obvious that I was being ridiculous?

    ok, yeah, that was my initial thought. but WHO KNOWS on mfp
    Yeah sorry I should have kept Poe's Law in mind. :D
  • LiftAllThePizzas
    LiftAllThePizzas Posts: 17,857 Member
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    Read above posts. My initial post wasn't to demean females. It was to substitute the word "genetically" with "physically" so the SENTENCE was correct. And I even gave an example of it after correcting the incorrectly worded statement.

    Relax.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    9285851.png

    Hahaha! That'll teach you to correct someone's vocab!

    Skitt's Law: the likelihood of an error in a post correcting another user is directly proportional to the embarrassment it will cause the poster.
  • tomatoey
    tomatoey Posts: 5,446 Member
    Options
    well ok but there are real sex (not gender) differences, which is why forensic anthropologists can work out which bags of bones were or weren't dudes. in living women one issue re thighs is we have more alpha 2 receptors there, which makes that fat hard to get rid of. (that's why i like the idea of firming up the muscles under that fat)

    (also lol at my example, which is the best i can come up with right now - sorry. super tired today!)

    Well ok but Instead of throwing gender into it you could simply say, "if you tend to store fat around your thighs..." There is no need to gender-fy the recommendation. I'm a woman. Never had trouble with butt or thighs. And I'm sure there are men who want to work on butt and thighs. Most people have an idea where they store their fat. There is no need for the over generalization.

    Also, some women, myself included, have been working hard to undo fitness myths surrounding how women should work out "differently" than men. The fact is that both genders could benefit from whole body, multi-joint, complex functional training with Individual programming to address personal needs. I would never recommend something to any of my clients because the are of a certain gender. the idea that women do one set of lifts and men do another is, as a generalization, just not useful and could potentially get someone's back up- like it did mine.

    well ok, first let me say again, women should train the way they want to and i 100% agree would benefit from a balanced training program. as i have said here repeatedly.

    i think it's a disservice though to pretend women have the same physiology. *your* thighs don't keep fat there, ok, but really a LOT of women's do, for physiological reasons. and although they may train the same - but again, they may not wish to train the same, they may wish to work towards a more conventional look and really it's their business if they do - it makes a difference in terms of the calories they're going to be wanting to consume to obtain goal x (whether it's muscle growth or fat loss). i think it's kind of silly to pretend that's not the case.
  • tomatoey
    tomatoey Posts: 5,446 Member
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    tomatoey wrote: »
    tomatoey wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    tomatoey wrote: »
    jemhh wrote: »
    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.
    Wait, are you saying that when it comes to recovery, men are inferior to women?!?!?!

    is that ironic punctuation or what, i can't tell

    i think jemhh is referring to bret contreras' observations after having trained tons of women for years and years (as well as probably reading done while doing his doctorate). i have no idea though, this is an appeal to authority.

    personally, my (female) recovery is terrible.

    Yea, because no one has ever miss spoke in their entire life...

    It must be nice to live in perfectville...

    i don't actually know what he was trying to say with "?!?!?!?"
    I was pretending to be offended. Because I'm silly. It wasn't obvious that I was being ridiculous?

    ok, yeah, that was my initial thought. but WHO KNOWS on mfp
    Yeah sorry I should have kept Poe's Law in mind. :D

    s'arright :)
  • determined_14
    determined_14 Posts: 258 Member
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    Poor niner seems to be having a hard time making this clear to all the wounded female feelings out there: He did not THINK, SAY, or ever intend to IMPLY that women are inferior to men, physically or otherwise. He only thought that the other person used the word "genetically" wrong, and tried to clarify, as in, "hey, I think you meant to say this." Not, "you meant to state this fact, which I agree with," or "You think this but the truth is this." It's like if someone typed, "The earth is bigger then the sun," and someone else said, "You mean the earth is bigger THAN the sun." That second person is not affirming the actual statement, only correcting a word-error!
    (Though I'm sure after this, he'll double-check what he types lest it be misconstrued as such.)
  • Lofteren
    Lofteren Posts: 960 Member
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    jemhh wrote: »
    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.
    Wait, are you saying that when it comes to recovery, men are inferior to women?!?!?!

    That is kind of true, actually, but it is also kind of not true. Men possess higher levels of testosterone and hgh which increase satellite cell formation and protein synthesis but women have less muscle tissue to repair. Usually this winds up in the woman's favor in terms of recovery time except for in the case of really small men with very little muscle tissue.
  • LiftAllThePizzas
    LiftAllThePizzas Posts: 17,857 Member
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    Poor niner seems to be having a hard time making this clear to all the wounded female feelings out there: He did not THINK, SAY, or ever intend to IMPLY that women are inferior to men, physically or otherwise. He only thought that the other person used the word "genetically" wrong, and tried to clarify, as in, "hey, I think you meant to say this." Not, "you meant to state this fact, which I agree with," or "You think this but the truth is this." It's like if someone typed, "The earth is bigger then the sun," and someone else said, "You mean the earth is bigger THAN the sun." That second person is not affirming the actual statement, only correcting a word-error!
    (Though I'm sure after this, he'll double-check what he types lest it be misconstrued as such.)

    But isn't correcting peoples' English against the CG(All Hail™)?
  • tomatoey
    tomatoey Posts: 5,446 Member
    edited April 2015
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    women athletes are also more prone to ACL tears during ovulation because (some think) of relaxin.
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12860548

    and some have had a look at their menstrual cycles and decided to optimize their workouts around them.

    there are some creaturely things about us and it's got nothing to do with anything political
  • monamonababy
    monamonababy Posts: 4 Member
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    i'm not going to comment on the training program in terms of day by day breakdown...i think that stuff is highly personal, so whatever fits your life and works for your needs is for you. i did want to comment on the benefits of strength training for women, though.

    some years ago i ruptured my Achilles (probably due to excessive running and bad genes) which led me to search for a professional trainer who would work with me while i was on crutches recovering from surgery. I was terrified that my limited ability to do cardio would cause me to slam on the 40lbs i had worked so hard to lose (by running). Long story short, I started lifting with a seasoned trainer who himself used to compete as a natural bodybuilder...so he was knowledgeable, and very focused on form and proper technique. i would train and lift with him 3x a week and then do my own thing (cardio) on other days...let me tell you i never looked or felt so amazing in my whole life... the fat MELTED off areas i had never been able to bust my entire life...seriously sculpted arms, abs, and the booty! it was truly amazing. though i was not at my lowest weight, i was definitely at my tiniest size of all time, and in my late 30s (big accomplishment for an old lady). i've been a major yo-yo all my life, but when i'm good, i can be disciplined for years, going to the gym everyday, working really hard, always pushing, and despite that, i was never able to achieve the results i achieved by lifting properly with my trainer...and to be honest, we didn't even work that hard...i mean, he kept me honest with my technique, and didn't let me rest for 45mins straight, but that's nothing compared to the two hours+ i used to spend in the gym without him...with only mild results.

    so, YES, ladies, STRENGTH TRAIN, whatever way you can, bc it FREAKING WORKS! the op is right, you will never get big in the way most ladies fear...it simply isn't possible without extreme and deliberate measures. weights make for all the right curves, definitely bust the dreaded lower body issues, and i think are especially beneficial for women as we get older.