Heads up, it’s the same as men and this whole process of releasing a training guide, then releasing the same guide but tweaked slightly while adding ‘for women’ on the end of the title is just a way to double profits. Don’t fall for it! While we are on the topic however there is plenty of good stuff to cover with regards to the way women generally train and how that can be optimized.
The first thing to look at is what differences actually exist between males and females that would affect training and there are actually a couple. The main two are; lower testosterone levels found in women and narrower shoulders/wider hips when compared to males. From a training perspective however, this essentially means nothing. Lower testosterone levels result in slower muscular growth and can indirectly effect body fat percentage levels. Higher levels of oestrogen and lower levels of testosterone compared to male counterparts mean that a healthy body fat percentage for women is higher than it would be for men.
Does that affect what you do in the gym? No. It just means that for muscular growth it’s even harder to achieve. To a lot of women who fear becoming ‘bulky’, that’s great news. To those that are wanting to build serious mass, you’re unlikely to make huge progress without the aid of some sort of performance enhancing drugs. For the majority of females (being very generalised with my comments) that I work with, they want to avoid gaining too much muscle mass and that’s why they are tempted by light weights high reps. I’ve moaned about this plenty enough already. So actually, lower testosterone levels would be a blessing in disguise for those that don’t want to gain too much mass.
Just to douse some flames before they get sent my way, no you do not have naturally high levels of testosterone because every time you’ve lifted weights you’ve built muscle and legs etc have gotten really big in a short space of time. What’s happened here is you have continued to eat surplus calories and have gained water, fat and a small amount of muscle. Weight training is most effective at low body fat percentages, but a calorie surplus will always lead to weight and size gain regardless of testosterone levels.
On to point 2. You have wider hips and narrower shoulders than males. Now this isn’t me trying to be offensive, but women are designed to give birth and therefor their hips are wider spaced than males hips are. Yes a 6’4″ male probably has wider hips that a 5’2″ female but in relative terms, the females will be wider. This has a big impact on how well weight is dispersed when lifting. Men tend to have strong upper bodies and love training chest. Females tend to have a stronger lower body and enjoy squats and deadlifts. Why? Well it’s simply because we can progress quickly in these exercises. Everybody loves to work on and improve their strengths. No one likes to work weaknesses and I don’t blame them, it’s hard work.
Do you need to change your training to take account for these anthropomorphic differences? No, you spanner. You’re just naturally better or naturally struggle at different things. I see so many suggestions from ‘trainers’ (yes, I am suggesting they shouldn’t be called trainers) saying that females should train they’re lower body more often than men and I see multiple reasons justifying this approach. These include but are not limited to; a desirable physique for a female doesn’t include a muscular upper body, lifting more and working harder means you can burn more calories, training strengths keeps a client coming into the gym and makes sessions enjoyable. All three reasons are a load of crap.
A desirable female physique doesn’t include a muscular upper body! What do they think is going to happen? You spend years doing crab walks, squats, glute bridges and deadlifts in an attempt to grow your booty and you get some response, but if you bench press twice a week you’re going to look like the incredible hulk. it’s infuriating and ridiculous. The reality that the method to get that ‘Instagram’ physique is really simple. Firstly, learn to do make up, pose, use filters, dress well and use lighting effectively. But for a genuine physique the game starts with your body fat percentage. Drop it to about 20%. Learn to move correctly, hip hinge and SQUAT FULL DEPTH without counterbalancing by leaning really far forward. Build your strength using compound exercises and full body workout routines. Maintain/tweak desired body fat percentage and gradually increase weights lifted. That’s it.
I did lie however because I would recommend that men drop to 15% prior to trying to build muscular physique. That is the only difference though. Those men will struggle to progress their squats and women will struggle to progress their bench press. just because you struggle doesn’t mean you shouldn’t work at it however. the general rule of thumb is if you had a male and a female, same age, height and weight, at their full potential a female would be able to lift 50% of the weight the male can when it comes to exercises based around the shoulder joints. With regards to legs, the female would be able to lift roughly 75% of the weight the male counterpart can. The training however is the same. You won’t get huge and if you do then diet! You will struggle to progress with what you lift but who doesn’t.
A little lesson in life from someone who is openly bad at it. Try not to base your self-worth on what you see of others on social media. This goes for men and women. There are so many ‘models’ out there that have had work done by needles or surgeons. You are not those people. You are grafting and working towards building your own healthy body and physique. Compare yourself to the performances and measurements you had last week or last month. You do you.
This won’t make you happy because at the end of the day we all want to achieve a perfect physique which is an illusion we’ve created in our minds. But at least you can approach your training and progression realistically and know that although you may not be as perfect as whoever, you’re healthy and look good.
Stay healthy!