Help me help my girlfriend! Im lost!!!

Mfitz116 · 02-25-2009, 12:03 PM

Hello everyone. This is new territory for me...but Im hoping I can get some help from all of you. My question is this.

My girlfriend is 21 y/o, 5'4", and ~170lbs. She is looking to lose about 25-30lbs by Mid May which gives her ~10-11 weeks. Its definately possible. She is doing weight watchers to keep her diet on track. She has been doing cardio only for about 3 months and in that time frame she has lost about 30lbs.

She wants to start doing weights. I know how to lift for males and gaining size, but for females to help lose fat and gain muscle I am not so sure about. She is looking to do something that is high intensity to keep her heart rate up. I had her doing basic compound moves, which I know help the most to keep heart rate up. But what would be a good routine/program for her? (i.e. rep scheme? Iso moves as opposed to compounds?) Please, any help that you all help is greatly appreciated.

pink378 · 02-25-2009, 12:15 PM

woman can train the same as men. have her use your routine, only with lighter weights.

the goal of weight training is not to keep your heart rate up (that is the job of the cardio machines). have her focus on lifting heavy weights with adequate rest inbetween sets, this will maximize her muscle gains and recomp her body.

Mfitz116 · 02-25-2009, 12:22 PM

So then a split like this would work well for her?

Legs
Back/abs
Chest/shoulders
Rest
Legs
Bis/tris
Rest

Then repeat?

pink378 · 02-25-2009, 12:26 PM

if she is a beginner with weights, might be better to have her start off with a full body routine to get her muscles used to the extra stimulus.

do 1-2 exercises per bodypart, starting with compound exercises first (bench, squat, rows, etc) then move into iso exercises to finish up.

after 1-2 months she can move into an upper/lower body split or have her follow your routine outlined above.

Mfitz116 · 02-25-2009, 12:31 PM

Ok, so a full body routine. Obviously she will be using lighter weights, but should I have her do higher reps (15-20) or lower reps (8-12)?

kimm4 · 02-25-2009, 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mfitz116

Ok, so a full body routine. Obviously she will be using lighter weights, but should I have her do higher reps (15-20) or lower reps (8-12)?

Have push the heavier weights 8-12 is good!

Mfitz116 · 02-25-2009, 12:38 PM

OK, so tonight we are going to lift. What do you think of this routine for her to start out with:

Lower body
Squats 3x8-12
Leg press 3X8-12
Leg curls 3x8-12

Upper Body
Bench press 3x8-12
Lat pull downs (she cant do more than 3 pulls ups yet) 3x8-12
Bent over rows 3x8-12
Seated machine dips 3x8-12

Like I said, this is for her to start out with, is there anything that should be changed or added IYO?

pink378 · 02-25-2009, 12:52 PM

looks good to start. maybe switch out some exercises every week or so and incorporate shoulder presses and calf raises. lunges would be good too.

Mfitz116 · 02-25-2009, 01:06 PM

Yeah, I was thinking of progressively adding more exercises in once she gets a good foundation. Do you think I should have her do lunges before I have her do the leg curls as they are an iso move? I was thinking of trying to keep it all compounds for about 2 weeks to get her used to the lifting and get her to keep good form.

pink378 · 02-25-2009, 01:39 PM

yes, do lunges first as they are a compound movement and will help build the stabilizing muscles. maybe if she is up to the leg curls she can do those afterwards, but I wouldn't worry too much about it.

pacificgrl · 02-25-2009, 04:16 PM

check out the body for life for women book. it's a great start for nutrition and training. it's very straightforward and brings great results.

http://www.bodyforlifeforwomen.com/u...rlifeforwomen/

Mfitz116 · 02-25-2009, 04:23 PM

I have that book at my work. Looks like ill spend some time tomorrow reading through it. It never would have crossed my mind to look at the body for life books. Thanks.

pacificgrl · 02-25-2009, 04:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mfitz116

I have that book at my work. Looks like ill spend some time tomorrow reading through it. It never would have crossed my mind to look at the body for life books. Thanks.

cool. i'm not sure how the versions vary but this one is the one that was suggested to me:
http://www.amazon.com/Body-Life-Ment...5605034&sr=8-1

(not the one i linked you to before which is geared to women it seems)

kimm4 · 02-25-2009, 06:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by klmklm

Losing weight is simple, Lots of water, Eat less, work out more. This is true as long as she doesn't have any disease.

If it were that simple, everyone would be doing it...

SENGARI · 02-26-2009, 03:31 AM

Exactly! Women and men can do the same workouts...but if she's a beginner...you'd best train her in proper form and technique and breathing before trying anything more complicated. Thereafter you can try supersets with light weight to keep her heart rate up and work the specific muscle groups that you wish to target that day. For example, for triceps: overhead tricep extensions into dips into glose grip bench press into close hand push ups on knees and start over from the beginning.....keep repeating the cycle for 2-3 minutes.....something to that extent anyway.
Or my personal cycle is using a bare olympic bar to do: one stiff-leg deadlift into one roman deadlift into one up right row, into one bent over row, into one clean into one military press into one front squat into one military press into one normal behind the neck squat....and repeat the wole cycle over and over until I start seing stars...it's great for keeping your heart rate up...and is a good whole body workout. ( i use it for warmups...but that's just me)
Also, if you're going to do formal reps and sets, remember that women need to lift for more reps typically than men to activate the muscle (men are 4-6 and women are typically arond 8-12).

mavrick77 · 02-26-2009, 06:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mfitz116

So then a split like this would work well for her?

Legs
Back/abs
Chest/shoulders
Rest
Legs
Bis/tris
Rest

Then repeat?

starting out, have her do a full body workout about 3x a week for the first month....

my fiancee is doing well with her contest prep routine as follows...

day1: chest,shoulders,tris
day2: back,bi's, abs
day3

ff
day4:legs,abs
day5:chest shoulders,tri's
day6

ff
day7:0ff
day8:back,bi's,abs
day9:legs
*its a 3 day split....with 2 days on, 1 day off, 2 days on, 2 days off.....

her cardio is 5x a week, 30min on the stepmill on her workout days....on her off days she does 50min.

SpittfireDA · 02-26-2009, 06:48 AM

I guess I'll be the only dissenter here, but when I first picked up a weight I started w/ a 4-day split and loved it and saw great results. I'm very glad I didn't start w/ a full-body routine ...

SpittfireDA · 02-26-2009, 06:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SENGARI

Exactly! Women and men can do the same workouts...but if she's a beginner...you'd best train her in proper form and technique and breathing before trying anything more complicated. Thereafter you can try supersets with light weight to keep her heart rate up and work the specific muscle groups that you wish to target that day. For example, for triceps: overhead tricep extensions into dips into glose grip bench press into close hand push ups on knees and start over from the beginning.....keep repeating the cycle for 2-3 minutes.....something to that extent anyway.
Or my personal cycle is using a bare olympic bar to do: one stiff-leg deadlift into one roman deadlift into one up right row, into one bent over row, into one clean into one military press into one front squat into one military press into one normal behind the neck squat....and repeat the wole cycle over and over until I start seing stars...it's great for keeping your heart rate up...and is a good whole body workout. ( i use it for warmups...but that's just me)
Also, if you're going to do formal reps and sets, remember that women need to lift for more reps typically than men to activate the muscle (men are 4-6 and women are typically arond 8-12).

I'd like to see some citation on that? That's one I've never heard.

mavrick77 · 02-26-2009, 06:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spittfireda

I'd like to see some citation on that? That's one I've never heard.

i agree i would like to see literature on that as well........ mens and womens muscle structure are almost identical, along with there muscle fiber makeup. the rep range only changes what muscle fibers are being recruited (red twitch/white twitch)...further along thoose lines....african americans tend to genetically have more whie twitch muscle fibers , caucasions tend to have more red twitch muscle fibers.

SENGARI · 02-26-2009, 09:47 PM

I read it on T-Nation a long time back....I cant find the exact article where I read it....but it's on there somewhere. In any event my word isnt gospel, it's just an opinion. I've tried one rep max's and I dont see much strength gains from it. Again, that's just my personal experience.