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Thread: Questions regarding programming for women (by someone trying to gain coaching experie

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2015
    Location
    China, Xi'an
    Posts
    121

    Default Questions regarding programming for women (by someone trying to gain coaching experie

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    Hello,

    I have a few questions. I'm training 2 women using SS to get some experience. They're probably 158-164cm and about 60kg. Both probably have slightly higher body fat than the average women. We're about to finish the 7th week of training. Their eating is probably not on point; both of them are definitely low on protein (100g or less a day) and perhaps even on calories. Woman A is doing really well in general, woman B is starting to slow down quite a bit and isn't as far along.

    First, what is the typical progression of jumps in weight that women use? And what's the usual range where women start to stall and need a change in programming? This is what I've done so far.
    DL/Squats: 2.5kg -> 1kg
    BP/P/PC: 1kg -> 0.5kg

    Starting lifts/current lifts
    A: S 35/60; DL 42/64 ; BP 25/36; P 20/25.5 ; PC 21/31
    B: S 35/54; DL 42/55 ; BP 25/33.82; P 20/25 ; PC 21/28

    Lifter A is starting to slow down with the squat, press, and BP. Bp and press are quickly becoming very hard. She failed the press once because she laughed, BP is becoming a little grindy, and the squat will probably start to be a grinder in the next week.
    Lifter B is getting ready to stall her Squats, and has had some issues with her DL and BP already. Her press is getting hard as well.
    Both of them have trouble controlling the bar in the PC and have bruised chests. I'm pretty sure they understand that they need to meet the bar, need to not bounce the bar off their thighs, and need to raise their elbows faster. However, they don't seem to be able to do it, even when using a light warmup weight. It seems a little too technical for them; they think too much and then everything slows down.

    So does it look like I have been programming the weights correctly? Or can I be more aggressive next time? They are definitely slowing down; B has had a failed set on her BP/DL and will probably fail on her Squats in the next week at this pace.

    Regarding all the lifts, do coaches typically let their clients fail a set or two before resetting/changing programming? Or, would it make more sense to reset before they actually fail... when you notice the last rep of each set becoming a grinder? I know the book and the old wiki (if that's even around) mentioned failing 2-3x in a row before resetting, but I figured that applies more to people learning all of this on their own (and are bound to have major form/recovery issues like I did).

    Do you typically switch from 3x5 to 5x3 for the S before or after adding a light day in?
    When they've failed their DL 2-3 times, and I need to reset, should I continue with 1x5 until they slow down and transition into 2x3, or should I immediately use 2x3 when they progress back to their failed work set?

    Next, would .25kg jumps on the Bench/Press be too small? How about the PC? 5x3 for these eventually as well?

    Are resistant bands better than the assisted chinup machine for getting their first chinup? Right now I have them using the lat pulldown and controlled negatives. The gym has a chinup machine which we could use, but if it's better to use bands then I'll pick some up. However, the article Niki wrote didn't mention the chinup machine, and I think I've seen people here say it doesn't help.

    The last thing is that these women are interested in shedding some body fat. Would HIIT once a week (prowler or stationary bike) be appropriate somewhere toward the end of Adv N. LP? Or should I wait until they finish ANLP and begin intermediate training?


    Thanks for any insight!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Posts
    390

    Default

    Hi, I see you're in China as well, good to hear more people getting into training down in Xian.

    You've got to get it into their heads they have to up their protein intake for recovery, it's not going to make them fat 150grams plus per day would be ideal.

    Start micro loading the bench and press 0.25kgs is fine as long as the other weights are reasonably accurate so variances in the plates doesn't negate the increases.

    Make sure they're taking at least three to five minutes rest between work sets.

    Flip the reps over to sets of triples.

    Also ok to start alternating light and heavy days with the squats.

    I would do my best to not have them miss reps until they're deeper into the program.

    Stop with the cleans and replace with chins. Try using negatives to get them to their first full dead hang chin-up rep if they can't yet do one after the first single rep it's not hard to get more. Don't use the chin-up assistance machine people never get off them.

    Don't bother with HIIT or other cardio stuff until they've done as much as they can with the LP, it competes with recovery too much at this stage and plus losing weight is primarily done via dialing in their diet which at the moment already sounds a bit low of calories for recovery.

    Good luck and enjoy the process.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2015
    Location
    China, Xi'an
    Posts
    121

    Wink

    Thanks, and yeah I've been in China for a while. I'm not actually Chinese though, which makes this interesting... cause my Chinese isn't great. Though I think I've been doing well enough with my coaching cues.

    I've already bought some 1/4lb plates that I'll craft into 125g plates with a little tape and see how that goes. They should be arriving today. I understand the plate problem, but there's not much I can do about that....

    So with the squat/dl, does 1kg seem a little low for a women doing the program? Kg/lb progression is hard to wrap my head around. With pounds, you do 10, 5, or 2.5 jumps. With kilos I've done 5, 2.5, an 1kg jumps. 1kg jumps are a little under 2.5 lbs and 2.5kg jumps are a little over 5lbs. Though with my new plates, I was thinking of trying 1.25kg jumps.

    I ask at the start of every new week if they've been eating enough protein and if their maintaining their weight. Unfortunately, they're not actually "clients". I'm basically their training buddy. I'm also trying to get them to buy some damn shoes, haha. I have a feeling you're in China as well. Do you know of any good brands for women and where to get them?

    Their PCs have actually improved quite a bit over the last two sessions, and they weren't bruised (or not very bruised). It's mainly them not opening their hands quick enough. Plus some extra rack position work in the power rack.

    I've been doing negatives+lat pulldown machine (chin grip) for the last two weeks. I have some bands on the way as well for band assisted chins.

    So may I ask, just for my understanding, why not reset them and progress with 3x5 until their next slow down and then make one change rather than two (either light day or triples)? Wouldn't it make more sense to change the programming as little as necessary? Or even, do either 5x3 or add a light day in, rather than do both.

    And I guess I don't know what to do with pulling. I know SS has back extensions as part of the rotation, but for some reason I'm under the impression that they're not really advocated here. Plus, unless I'm not interpreting one of Mark's articles correctly, he seems to feel women need a little more deadlifting volume and recover from it better than men. So at the moment, some weeks they're deadlifting twice a week, and I'm not sure if it will become an issue. For me, I didn't need to reduce DL frequency until I started TM, and I used the power snatch as my "light" day pull.

    The process is fun. Especially now that some of the guys are a little embarrassed that "a girl" is squatting more than them, heh.
    Last edited by Crimmy; 04-23-2017 at 09:21 PM.

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