When women start in a gym “generally” you start doing the exercises that you think will benefit you the most, in many cases in a random way and almost always on instinct. But usually, these exercises are selected incorrectly.
How Should A Woman Really Train in The Gym? Are There Differences Between the Training of Women and Men?
If a woman wants changes for the better in her physique, she must work on strength and hypertrophy, without being afraid of the consequences since most girls think that by working hard one day they will become like the typical bodybuilder on duty. But don’t believe this; since these bodybuilders (some, not all) use chemical aids.
Girls must put the fear of using heavy weights behind them. They should use head weights along with aerobic exercise, step classes, yoga, Pilates… to get a body 10.
How Should A Woman’s Weight Training Be?
Men, unlike women, want to look wide, with a large chest, a v- shaped back, huge arms, proportionate legs … but a woman has to have other priorities. These should focus on having good shoulders, calves, glutes, legs and defined arms.
Men should use isolation exercise alone to add more volume to training or as an accessory to compound exercises, but women need more isolation work, especially for the upper body; since these have smaller muscles.
Women should give more priority to the lower body (train it in a proportionate way at least 4 times a week), in the upper part they should give more weight to the shoulders leaving the chest in the background. These will need to isolate the shoulder fairly regularly for development.
Men can build strong abs with the use of the squat and deadlift. Women can too, but they need to isolate the area more. They can add to the end of the upper body training a session of abdominals, which must be worked with great intensity (giant series)
The glutes will be worked automatically if you work 4 times a week leg. But it is a good idea to add some specific work to this muscle group. (hip thrust, strides back…)
How to Schedule A Training?
Women can drive more frequently and recover better than men, so they can exercise their lower body almost every day. Of course, always taking into account the volume and intensity so as not to fall into overtraining.
Different goals will determine different routines, of course. But for women who just want to look good and stay healthy they should train like this:
Routine for 3 days:
- DAY 1: Heavy and Variable Squat + Push Exercise / -s + Pull Exercise / -s + Aerobic Work
- DAY 2: Light Squat or Light Deadlift (vary each week) + Push Exercise / -s + Pull Exercise / -s + Aerobic Work
- DAY 3: Heavy and Variable Deadlifts + Push Exercise / -s + Pull Exercise / -s + Aerobic Work
Routine for 5 days:
- DAY 1: Heavy Squat + Femoral + Glutes + Aerobic Work
- DAY 2: Quadriceps + Pull exercise / -s + Push exercise / -s + Abs
- DAY 3: Deadlift + Quadriceps + Calves + Aerobic Work
- DAY 4: Femoral + Glutes + Pull exercise / -s + Push exercise / -s + Abs
- DAY 5: Sprints + Strongwoman (Rope, drag sled, flip tire)
Since the leg is touched every day, special care must be taken with the intensity and volume of training. Although it is true that women respond well to training with a high volume and high intensity, care must be taken in this matter.
Exercises to Select
Quadriceps: Squat and Variables, Press (for Quadriceps), Quad Extension, Lunges, Ballast Jump, Jump Squat, Box Jump, and Sissy Squats.
Femoral: Femoral curl, stiff leg deadlift, Romanian deadlift and press (for femoral)
Glutes: Bridge, climbing, jumping jacks, mountain climbers, heel lift, high knees, hip thrust.
Upper body: Push press, barbell row, incline row, pulls (variables), French press, dumbbell curls (variations), pull over, lateral raises, chest openings, pull-ups, face pulls, power clean.
Abs: Dragon flag, plank + side plank, bicycle style abs, leg raises, torso track, Swiss ball crunches.
Concluding… How the Girls Have to Train?
- Men in general (if you’re looking to build strength) don’t need to do a lot of isolation work to get a great physique. Women need more insulation work, especially on the upper body.
- Women should not give special importance to the chest (a large and developed pectoral is not aesthetic in a girl). They should give more importance to the arms, shoulders and back.
- For squats, girls respond best to a combination of high volume and high intensity since they don’t suffer as much as men with recovery issues.
- Women can and should train more frequently at high intensity without having to worry excessively about their CNS as they recover better from intense training.
