Okay, so you’ve met a girl who is no longer skeptical and is willing to train, but now you need to give her quality advice as she starts a new program. Teaching and coaching are dependent on taking complex concepts and whittle them down to easy-to-implement points of emphasis. I have a few topics that we’ll cover in following “70’s Big Women” posts on Monday. Today’s focuses on setting up the new trainee on a quality program.
I’m not so egotistical that people need to do my exact program, nor am I even going to require that all girls primarily strength train. My only requests are:
– squat twice a week
– bench and press once a week each
– do a horizontal and vertical pulling movement once a week each
– do RDL’s twice a week OR RDL and deadlift once a week each
– cardio (low or high intensity) should be kept to training days or Saturday
I’m not really concerned with deadlifts, especially in the first few months of training. The RDL is a movement that works similar musculature as the deadlift, yet is easier to do and will really help develop the hamstrings. I see so many people doing deadlifts incorrectly — male or female — that having a few months of the lumbar holding its position while the hamstrings do work is going to set them up for success if/when they do start deadlifting. Not to mention the hamstrings will develop a wonderful back side on a girl who hasn’t trained before.
I’m also not concerned with what type of squat she does. Let’s face it, not every girl who is training has access to even a decent coach. Then, the low bar back squat is pretty technical compared to the high bar, so this means there are fewer coaches available to teach this movement well. If she’s shoving her knees out and going down all the way, this is a victory. Making it an easier movement (so she isn’t frustrated) is even better. Besides, the RDL’s compliment high bar squats very well.
Erin Stern lifts weights to win the "World Beach Frolic Championship"
The inclusion of benching and pressing is obvious — they help develop strength in the upper body. However, extra care should be taken to not allow the new female trainee to internally rotate and flair the elbows. An “elbows to boobs” cue works very well in both of these cases as it will help keep the elbows in, which is an externally rotated position in the shoulder. See this video for a more detailed discussion.
The vertical pulling movement implies pull-ups, chin-ups, or some variation of them. Getting girls, especially taller ones, to do a pull-up can be quite a process. Most girls reflect that ‘greasing the groove’ over time is what helps them best. Chicks who are adamant about developing a pull-up can get a doorway pull-up bar and work on it over time by doing partial reps or negatives (controlling from top to bottom). They can aim for a small amount each day, and increase the reps per day each week. The horizontal rowing movement would imply barbell, dumbbell or machine rows. Most girls — especially those who haven’t trained before — will not have developed musculature in their upper back. This lack of strength and musculature can make it difficult to externally rotate and maintain positioning on the presses, keep the chest up on the squat or deadlift, and become a long-term muscle imbalance over time if not addressed. The sooner the upper back musculature gets developed, the less of a limiting factor it will be.
If the girl is intimidated by or too weak for barbells, she could use machines for the two presses and two rowing movements. However, squatting needs to be done with a bar — hopefully her ‘sponsor’ can articulate how her ass won’t be sweet if she is leg pressing. RDL’s can be done easily enough with the fixed barbells located in most globo gyms, but they can also be picked up from the hooks on the outside of a rack. After a month or so of machine work, our new trainee could transition into using barbells.
This kind of set up could have her training two or three times a week, but preferably three. It’s best to have complete rest days to allow the body to recover and adapt to this new stress.This concept is lost on a lot of new trainees (and folks who come from a conditioning-only background), but hopefully the sponsor can explain how the structures and hormones need this day to undergo cellular change and adaptation. If nobody knows what the hell that means (sponsor or trainee), it at least sounds good and is true. This means that non-strength work (like cardio or any derivative of endurance work) should occur on existing training days so that it doesn’t interfere with recovery.
Next Monday we’ll talk about “cardio” and how it applies to the new trainee. For more information on progressions, templates, and programming, be sure to check out FIT.
“widdling them down” -> I think you want “whittling them down”.
Anyway, I like this post. Good simple stuff.
Michael Jordan missed more than 9,000 shots in his career.
–Justin
Ive been helping a friend of mine learn how to lift and I have her doing most of what you said ie twice a week press/bench alternate with a pulling movement each time. However as soon as I tried to get her to do any type of squat she was totally against it and adamant that she couldnt do it with the bar and tried and failed miserably. She is very skinny too so I had her do the leg press and we are trying to add weight to that slowly. However I think its going to be tough to convince her to squat as shes very uncoordinated. I guess any advice would be appreciated.
If she was truly too weak to squat, you can’t do anything about that but use a lighter bar. You could have her do it without a bar pretty easily to show her that she’s fully capable of doing it. Then if she had a 15 bar on her back (essentially light as a feather), she can definitely do that. Some times mobility is an issue. In any case, leg pressing sets of 10 can help develop strength in order to start squatting. Have her do RDLs too — they will help her squat better when she does have the courage.
Tell her Erin Stern and Jamie Eason squat.
–Justin
globo gym trainer $.02. I find I have a lot of success progressing from bodyweight or goblet squats to front squats (either barbell or one of the straight curl bars) to back squat. I haven’t had anyone not get it when done that way. it gets them comfortable with the movement first.
my issue is getting them to relax enough to get past parallel though. (occasionally. far from always and just as often in men.)
oh, that progression takes place over a few weeks, not in one day. 3-5 sessions on goblet, 4-6 on front then try back. it helps (in my experience) to work them up to at least a 40-50lb goblet or front squat, that way they can’t protest that the barbell is too heavy…)
Good deal. With some girls confidence is a huge thing when they are just starting out. Being creative to transition this type of trainee into stuff will be necessary.
–Justin
thoughts on teaching the squat using box squats first?
touch and go box squats are great for easing into correct depth – use aerobic steps or plates as increments, start with a high box, lower it a bit when it gets easy. moving on to free squats is a bit of an adjustment afterwards, but in my experience the depth carries over.
I don’t like using an external object for teaching depth. This is where coaching occurs.
–Justin
I’m really excited to get my woman doing this. She’s the exact place you mentioned: she wants to get into barbell training but doesn’t want to do it until we have a private squat rack because the gym scene creeps here out too much. I guess it’s a legitimate concern–guys always seem to stare at hot chicks in the weight room like they’re a rare enganged species, or an ice cream sundae. I’ll hopefully refer back to this post in a year or so.
Occassionally you’ve dedicated parts of posts to calling out specific, egregious silly bullshit. Well if you’re interested, the woman to whom I’ve referred above is in good shape and does the Chalene Johnson “Turbo Fire” videos. And I’m continually amazed by some of the false things I hear Chalene say. The other day I heard Chalene say on a video that while the girls are doing little dumbell movements with the 3-pounders, they need to be careful to “not squeeze the neck. Squeezing the neck while holding the weights or doing any of these movements is going to make your neck grow big and gross like a man.” Incredible. FWIW my woman pledged to always squeeze her neck anyway. Amazingly she does not have an ox yoke from doing so.
Also, I had my first super strong female sighting in the gym on Saturday. As I approached the only available squat rack, a woman walked up at the same time. I sort of did the “late to class walk” to try to get there first act like I’d been there. Kind of a dick move but I was really short on time. She asked if I was going to do squats, and when I said I was she offered to rotate in with me. “Sure” I said, assuming I’d be unloading almost all the weight after every set. To my surprise this chick low bar squatted deep 135lbs 2×10 and then 185lbs for 3×10. Fucking diesel! I’m ashamed I ever doubted her. Only two or three were forced reps and I could tell she always makes a point to train hard. She was about 5’4″ and said she weighted 150. Said she’d just started squatting a year ago. What an inspiration.
“Late to class walk” was good.
–Justin
Or, the girls could just do the same thing as the guys do instead of, ya know, something “special.”
Okay? Not all female trainees come from a CrossFit background and have been doing squatting movements. Not to mention a girl who has never trained before isn’t typically stepping into a lifting gym to do it, and some of these readers will have to bargain with their friends or girlfriends in the beginning to get them to strength train. Just because you haven’t experienced this doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.
–Justin
Totally unrealted but look what I did! One of my benchmark goals for 2011 is complete:
http://youtu.be/AvPYdMY_if8
Easy double, dude. Nice job.
–Justin
Presumably this is a program for complete n00bs…any reason you Rx benching over push-ups? A lot of girls who are just starting out can’t even do like 5 good push-ups, I usually tell them to start with that…
You make a good point, yet some girls that can’t do a push-up are still capable of benching (although the weight is relatively lighter). Push-ups could and should be regularly used, but they have to be developed like the chin-ups with some girls.
–Justin
Just wanna say thanks for your emphasis on training women. Good stuff. I am the only woman at my gym who regularly uses the barbell for anything other than bench pressing, and I’d love to see that change.
I especially like the bits you include about modifying lifts if you don’t have a coach available. A big intimidation factor is knowing everyone will look at you when you grab a barbell and thinking (incorrectly for the most part) ‘these guys will know if I’m doing it wrong’.
A good point to make is that all the dickheads in most gyms don’t know what “right” or “wrong” is anyway. They may think they do, and may even approach the chick about it (which is the problem anyway), but they really don’t have a clue.
–Justin
re: wimminz and the bar being too heavy for squats:
My wife had this issue, whether it was a matter of not being strong enough or willpower, who knows. I had her start off with squats holding db’s. IMO, this is a good way to gain some strength as the CoG is relatively the same as a barbell squat, and the trainee seems to find it easier (read: not complain as much). My wife worked up to the 35’s or 40’s before she said her grip became a limiting factor. At this point we were able to transfer to the barbell, and over the next few weeks worked up to 95-105 x5 relatively easy.
I know Rip likes the leg press for trainees who lack sufficient strength to use the bar, however the db method may prove to be just as useful, if not better.
Just like the goblet squats, it’ll actually put them on their feet emulating the motion and accounting for balance, so I’d agree with you.
–Justin
@TBone,
not every lady has the same willpower (or w/e you want to call it) as you, not to mention they have probably been training inefficiently for a while due to any number of factors.
Easing into a barbell program as Justin outlined seems to prove easier than jumping into a full blown “man program”.
agree with the post above about having women do pushups as an alternative to BP. My GF just started lifting and enjoys it a lot. she alternates between press and pushups and its worked out nicely for her.
Justin, what are your thoughts on using the OHS? my GF didn’t like how her thighs seemed to get bigger with regular back squats, so just to keep her interested, we switched to OHS and she has taken well to them. in about 6 weeks of lifting, she’s 10 pounds lighter, stronger, and her clothes fit a lot better. we’ve done sprints only a handful of times, but the majority of her results came through lifting. awesome to see it get a lot of emphasis here.
Well, if you can’t convince her to keep regularly squatting (and you already added the RDLs, which would round out the thighs as opposed to making them anterior dominant like a lot of CF chicks), then having her do an alternate style of squatting is fine with me. The end result seems to be she is improving her physique and getting stronger, and that’s the goal anyway. You could always do two workouts a week, one being back squat, the other being an alternate squat (in this case OH squats). But yeah, staying interested or committed to a program is more important than the program itself, so you’re doing it right.
–Justin
Fuck all of you and your “full blown man programs.”
Seems to prove easier, huh?
Then prove it.
Not every guy training has access to a decent coach either. How is it different?
Because women are fucking self-conscious and over react about things, kinda like what is going on here.
–Justin
Also, there is no reason to sub pushups for bench press. If a woman doesn’t have full pushups, then increasing her bench press will help her pushups.
The barbell is infinitely scalable, people.
Or, you could just have men bench and women do pushups in your fucked up alternate universes.
You aren’t hysterical at all.
–Justin
uh…guys? in regards to pushups vs. bench:
please explain to me why, if a woman cannot push up her bodyweight (let’s say 130lbs), it would not benefit her to bench press 45lbs, or 30lbs, or however much she IS able to bench?
Finally (maybe), Rip uses the leg press for people who cannot squat their own bodyweight through the full ROM. If someone can’t squat their bodyweight through the full ROM, then they can’t use dumbbells to squat either. Two different situations.
But, on a related note I have one athlete who could not reach full depth on squats, even with an empty barbell. Once we got her inside the power rack with the safety bars and showed her how to safely dump the bar, she stopped freaking out and was able to get a full 6 inches lower in her squat.
Most women have been told all of their lives that they NEED a different workout program. They have special pink weights and everything. We all know how stupid that is, but think of when you start coaching a new lifter. You don’t jump in with 40 million corrections right at the beginning. Get their stance right, then fix their knees, then think about back angle, then maybe grip, whatever.
If you want to fundamentally change everything a lady thinks she knows about fitness, it may take a few steps to get there. Giving her a good basic program, and telling her it has been tweaked for women sounds like a good idea for a lot of women I know. YMMV, of course. That said, everyone likes a program suited to their so very unique and special and individual needs, regardless of gender or experience.
I started out by watching hours of instruction videos on stumptuous.com because I thought girls would look different or needed to squat differently. I’m smarter now, but I am so thankful for that “for women” resource.
Also, I don’t think there is a real need to get super freaked out when people have a different opinion. In general.
I am in the business of fundamentally changing the way EVERYONE who comes to my gym thinks about fitness. I don’t think it takes more steps for women than for men. I don’t separate my coaching skills into those I use for men versus those I use for women because everyone comes in with their own unique backgrounds.
I’m automatically a “for women” resource because I’m a woman. Beyond that, well, I’m not going to pretend to be something that I’m not, and the people who choose to train with me deal with that. I have women with considerable athletic backgrounds and those who never played a sport growing up. And, they all train together in the Awesome Land of Glitter, Happiness, and Heavy Weights. My way may not work for everyone, but NO way will work for everyone. And, I refuse to be the gym that tries to be everything for everyone.
I enjoy differing opinions, and I respond to them the way that I respond to them. Because that’s just me.
That’s funny, because I’m in the business of making people better, not fundamentally changing people’s minds.
–Justin
I agree with starting with barbell bench press if she can’t do pushups from the toes, or even if the pushups are there but difficult. Pressing out 45 lbs is easier than one pushup and the barbell is scalable in a way that pushups are not.
I like the idea of having all of these alternatives to doing the basics, but I strongly suggest they be used as such, in the event that you have seriously hit a wall in coaching the regular barbell lifts. Having these as alternatives is helpful to those of us who are boyfriend/girlfriend weekend coaches so thank you for the suggestions.
Great post.
To the question of “how are men (noobs) different from women?:
I seldom meet a guy who will admit he can’t squat the empty bar; Far from it, they often will use crappy form and 4” range to squat the absolute most they are able… where many women I deal with are VERY quick to claim they can’t squat the bar, as if their weakness is a virtue and will protect them from the need to get to it.
I’m not saying some of this stuff doesn’t happen, Justin. I’m just giving my point of view. I realize that dealing with a girlfriend or wife may be different.
But: Expectations.
It’s important to have them.
As soon as you have the preconceived notion that all women are a certain way (say, self-conscious), then that automatically colors how you deal with them.
And, I found lots of things about this post and the comments useful. But, obviously, it is important to have a bag of tricks as a coach (for example, the goblet squats or using a power rack) for everyone. I don’t like thinking of those as special things just for women. It irritates me, as you can tell.
I’m not assuming that all women are the same. The one thing that I do know about women is to not assume about them. However, I have talked with and trained lots of them who despite coming into a facility that is geared toward strength still have mis-perceived notions with training, but more importantly getting away from the stupid stuff that was pounded in their head over time. And when a lot of chicks comment on the site and say “one thing is that it’s intimidating because people are judging you” or “because most girls don’t know how to do things” or “it’s hard to have to induce a shift in paradigm”, it’s not that ridiculous to say, “Hey, if you or your friends have this situation, here are some work arounds.” The problem with your “irritation” is you think this only applies to girls. It doesn’t. A dude will be easier to convince to squat since he is going to want to look masculine, but if he wants to have bigger arms along with getting stronger, then why would I give a shit? I don’t blame him and would agree with him, so he’s gonna do curls in his linear progression. If some dude says, “I need to stay limber for my ballet class and when I go on dates with my boyfriend,” I don’t care. I’ll make sure he’s doing mobility to accomplish both of those tasks because it’s having them do something within the context of them wanting to do it, not just what I think they need to do. If someone says to a girl, “You will either be squatting and deadlifting or not training in this gym,” and that girl decides she doesn’t give a shit and doesn’t train, then that’s a failure.
Besides, all this stuff allows them to transition into regular strength training IRregardless if it’s a mental or physical transition.
–Justin
Training my sister in law we started just establishing the ROM, then tried a bar and she couldn’t do it. Was a combination of shoulder flexibility, balance, confidence, whatever… Went to goblet squats with dumbbells, and warming up with a stick on her back (to start getting comfortable in that position). When she worked up to 35lbs we started trying the bar. She’s now squatted 100×20, and 135×5.
As a coach you do what you need to do to get your trainees to do what they need to do.
Re: push-ups vs bench, if someone can’t do a push-up I usually tell them to do incline push-ups (decent use of the step-aerobic-type step), negative push-ups, and/or wall push-ups; alternate workouts with OH press.
DISCLAIMER: I don’t actually know what I’m talking about I just lift weights OK??? Girls just always ask me to train them, IDK I guess they figure that since I’m semi-ripped I know what I’m doing :\ Also maybe I’m just biased because I hate benching and I only do it cuz I compete in PL.
I worked my way up to pull-ups via inverted rows (on hips for the uber weak), rack chins, and negatives so that’s what I tell other ladies to do.
TBone, I assume you are the female lifter with the initials TC and who posts on other websites? If so, I’ve enjoyed reading about your transformation in the past year or so. but in reading your stuff, it seems like you also struggled in the beginning with being afraid of becoming “too bulky”, or too heavy, or whatever. you were courageous enough to say Fuck it, and get strong. Now you own a gym and train a lot of people and make their life better, and thats awesome.
But that’s also a key difference. You own a gym and people are coming TO you. and I assume whether due to marketing or word of mouth, when people walk into your gym, they know to expect something different, not the Planet Fitness sales pitch. for a lot of people on this site, just getting their girlfriends, mothers, sisters, or female friend to embrace basic barbell movements takes time and convincing. when my GF started lifting, if i stood in front of her and said “fuck this shit about guys and girls doing different routines. your linear progression and a gallon of milk a day starts NOW” she would have laughed and went back to zumba class. but after starting slow, and getting her used to the movements, and getting over the initial soreness, it’s worked out well, and she’s just about completely converted.
so yes, i think that since the majority of women have been bombarded by idiotic fitness advice for far too long, it takes time to break that down. guys naturally want to be bigger and stronger. girls have been taught to fear getting “bulky”.
and if you arent the TC im thinking of, then disregard everything above.
Beach Frolicking just became my new favorite sport.
@Erica – I also worked my way to full pushups with incline pushups (starting with the wall and then moving down to a bench, etc.). I didn’t find knee pushups particularly useful to getting a full pushup from my toes. I haven’t tried negative pushups with anyone before. Another idea to go in the bag of tricks, thanks for that.
I think negatives helped me with my pullups, although I used resistance bands and progressively worked down to smaller bands as well. Stroup and I just had an epic battle about pullup progressions the other day.
@achambone – Yes, you’ve probably read my posts on other websites. I didn’t struggle with being too bulky at first, though. I was overweight and out of shape from not exercising for four years after I had kids. I unintentionally got really skinny doing CrossFit, which was fine at the time because I enjoyed CrossFit for a while.
I agree with everything you’re saying about audience. Not everyone comes to my gym with the same goals, though. I just disagree that there needs to be a separate bag of tricks for women. That bag of tricks applies to everyone. Like Chris said “As a coach you do what you need to do to get your trainees to do what they need to do.” Coaches should have the same expectations for all of their clients.
When I first went back to the gym, I was at the YMCA. I flat out refused to work with any of their female trainers because every time I walked in the door of the Y, the female trainers were on the treadmills doing boohoo-my-life-sucks handholding with their overweight female clients. It made me want to throw up.
Also, I do have to say that not every guy wants to get bigger and stronger. If that were true, I wouldn’t read so many posts from guys who are 6’1 and 165 lbs and who don’t want to get “fat.”
This comment is completely irrelevant since the original point was that guys will be more willing to squat than chicks.
–Justin
“trainers were on the treadmills doing boohoo-my-life-sucks handholding with their overweight female clients.”
Even worse are the myriad trainers (at my gym, obviously) that talk more about themselves than the clients. Seriously, if you’re paying someone to teach to how to exercise properly, why would you not say “Um stfu plz, i dont care where u ate last nite” – it boggles the mind.
Hey Jaybles, you are fucking jacked as shit and are an inspiration, along with Justin (no homo).
The sheer volume of brain-washed propaganda from the patriarchal hegemony in this post and many of its comments are disgusting. The very idea that women – who are genetically NO DIFFERENT from men – require special “hand holding” programs is pathetic. Justin is clearly a child who has very limited experience with women who DON’T act like vapid sheep to the male agenda.
bsmith09 – in what way does a “man program” differ from how a woman should begin training? I, being a woman, never “eased into a man program.” My first day of training I squat 35lbs for three sets of five at 192lbs body weight. Thirty-eight years later I am now squatting 95lbs at 215lbs and I plan on hitting 100lbs for 3×5 in the next four months.
The idea that women should somehow train differently from men is outrageously misleading. Justin’s agenda with many of his posts seems not to be to benefit the actual training of women, but to have them focus on how much they can look like female CrossFitters on low-dose testosterone, who are the epitome of male fantasy cultured through societal and sexual pressure into reality.
Maybe the men in this thread should leave the training of women to those with vaginas. They seem to have a problem with letting their – UGH – penises do the thinking.
TBone,
Fair point about not every guy wanting to get bigger and stronger. I guess my point is that, on the whole, chances are a man will be more willing to embrace barbell training than a woman, at least initially. that obviously doesn’t mean they’re doing it correctly (my community center gym is home to many men who love their quarter squats) but that’s a whole different subject.
you certainly have more experience training people than I do, but it seems odd to me that you still won’t admit that having a different approach with a woman may be needed, at least initially, to get her to eventually fully embrace barbell training (especially if she’s someone whose fitness knowledge has been Shape or cosmo or whatever the hell else).
TBone is absolutely correct in that the male ego is much more sensitive to criticism regarding appearance than women. There are more threads on the SS boards about abs than I care to read, though I have posted at least 10k words in each thread. Note that there is no “wildgorillawoman” blog, where masses upon masses of men post half-naked pictures of themselves. It is because ALL men are insecure, baby-dicked virgins. Fuck men, especially the so-called “men” who subscribe to this blog.
I may have missed it, but am I the only that answered the title of today’s post with “put barbells in the kitchen?”
Jacob is yet another shining example of the societal pressures placed upon women WHICH STILL EXIST TO THIS FUCKING DAY despite how much Justin and his ilk will try to convince you otherwise – women just can’t escape the gender roles assigned to them from the fucking 1800s. Women still make 30% less than men on average. Comments such as Jacobs only exacerbate the matter and do nothing to foster progress. Thank you, Jacob, for fucking women over in yet another way.
And before I get flamed, I’ve coached several guys with success, so suck it. I still amuse myself.
Of note, I disagree with the importance of deads in a “chick program.” I actually introduce ladies to deads first now, well before squats; it’s easy to understand and teach, the logic of “picking up heavy things” is easy to discuss, and progress is quick and helps motivation. It also really helps noobs learn to translate the motion of a bar and body in unison.
IMO, most females could have the body image they want with a 2xBW DL and a couple-five BW chins. Enough pressing to keep balance, done.
Again, the inclusion of deadlifts is preferred, yet not always an option hence the inclusion in this post. The entire theme is taking baby steps, if needed, to make training a habit.
–Justin
Hey spar, are you upset?
are you, in fact, mad?
errrr, that’s supposed to say coached several “girls,” not “guys.” Guess I’m just a sexist prick. I’ll tell my girlfriend later when we discuss her next PL meet and I cook her dinner, which I do most nights.
wish I could edit my god damned posts, but:
“My first day of training I squat 35lbs for three sets of five at 192lbs body weight. Thirty-eight years later I am now squatting 95lbs at 215lbs and I plan on hitting 100lbs for 3×5 in the next four months.”
http://3mb.us/images/307_Police_I_got_trolled.jpg
I fail to see why MEN who have coached MEN are commenting in a thread about coaching WOMEN.
Once again, another reference to gender roles which you only reinforce when you make such an extravagant display of how “unusual” or “refreshing” it is when YOU, the MALE, take on the FEMININE gender IDENTITY.
*Grabs Popcorn*
*Gets “F5” pushing finger ready*
OK, fine, I got trolled.
“The very idea that women – who are genetically NO DIFFERENT from men” made me lol. Is this bitch serious? Nope.
Why don’t you cite your sources, you fucking drone, instead of using gendered insults and ad hominems to prove a point?
spar,
so, correct me if im wrong, but this is a write up where the author is trying to convince women that squatting, pressing and pulling are very beneficial for them. maybe you disagree with the program, how he combines the lifts on each training day, whatever. but why are you so pissed off at the nothing that since women have been given such BAD fitness advice forever, then they may need to be de-brainwashed in order to fully embrace a lifting program? and if a guy who has some basic knowledge on barbell training wants a woman he cares about to get into this type of training, then we ought to find ways to overcome all the shitty advice that women hear/read/see everyday?
my girlfriend is very open minded, and jumped right into lifting. but every one of her friends, literally every single one, has said they wouldn’t want to because they will ‘bulk up’, or that they were meant to be runners, or whatever.
im not claiming to understand the female psyche, or anything close to an expert, but it seems pretty obvious. the majority of women i know do not have the experience of you or TBone. they need encouragement and convincing. true, some guys may as well, but men havn’t been subjected to the type of garbage that women have when it comes to this topic.