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Thread: Women doing SS

  1. #31
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    • starting strength seminar april 2024
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    I work out a CF gym (Crossfit Regina) in Canada and the women at the gym here have done SS and basically do a lot of heavy lifting. We really don't follow the standard CF protocol at all.

    My wife currently is squatting 205 for 5's and deadlifts 235's for 5's. Heck, we have one chick that has a 310 back squat single and one with nearly a 200lb bench press. The women put out as much effort as the guys and probably a bit more to be honest.

    I'm currently doing the SS program at the gym and doing absolutely no CF wods as the owners believe strength is #1. It's a bit humbling as my wife has a vastly superior strength/weight ratio as she's only 130lbs.

  2. #32
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    ladies, do you all use a women's 15 kg bar or a men's 20 kg?
    caseyd123, usually when people say "15kg bar" they mean a 25mm weightlifting bar, so I'll answer you that way. The 15kg weightlifting bar is for weightlifting-- snatch, clean, jerk and front squats (if you want to duplicate the feel of the front squat after a clean is racked deep and assuming you've protected the bar from the rack, otherwise, use a normal diameter bar). It does not have a place with other lifts-- it's not good for the bar, it's not necessary, it's not good for the other lifts (a thin bar is shitty on the back or in the hands). And besides, you don't get a pencil-thin bar at the powerlifting meet.

    If a light bar is needed, get a light bar to use for the early stages of building strength. If a small diameter is needed -- eg little baby kids -- then get a light bar with a small diameter and NOT a 15kg weightlifting bar. You'll be wasting valuable money else. And you'll look silly.

    s.

  3. #33
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    Jan 2009
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    Changed mind. Sorry :-)
    Last edited by GVA-66; 05-20-2010 at 05:22 PM.

  4. #34
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    Quote Originally Posted by stef View Post
    caseyd123, usually when people say "15kg bar" they mean a 25mm weightlifting bar, so I'll answer you that way. The 15kg weightlifting bar is for weightlifting-- snatch, clean, jerk and front squats (if you want to duplicate the feel of the front squat after a clean is racked deep and assuming you've protected the bar from the rack, otherwise, use a normal diameter bar). It does not have a place with other lifts-- it's not good for the bar, it's not necessary, it's not good for the other lifts (a thin bar is shitty on the back or in the hands). And besides, you don't get a pencil-thin bar at the powerlifting meet.

    If a light bar is needed, get a light bar to use for the early stages of building strength. If a small diameter is needed -- eg little baby kids -- then get a light bar with a small diameter and NOT a 15kg weightlifting bar. You'll be wasting valuable money else. And you'll look silly.

    s.
    Thanks stef! I want to build a home gym and my sister doesn't know it yet but I'm going to get her lifting too

    I was just taking an inventory and came across the idea 'oh shit do I need a 25 mm to teach my sis SS?'

    Thanks for the reply!

  5. #35
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    Dec 2009
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    My wife has been working out with me for several months now. Her history the last few years was lots of spinning, some treadmill running, and some "body sculpting" and equivalent pink dumbell workouts.

    She is very slender, 5'5" about 100#.

    She is up to over bodyweight for 5 sets of 5 on deadlift and squat, 50# for OHP and 67# for bench. She did 3 sets of 6 dips last week. She has not gained much weight, but is obviously getting much stronger. She is moving up 2.5#/week on DL and squat, 1#/week in OHP, and 1# at a time (not getting it every week) on bench. Microloading is very valuable for someone as small as her.

    I try to encourage her to eat more. She is still doing cardio twice a week, which I am trying to discourage.... but I will probably lose that battle.

    She gets lots of compliments on her form in the gym, and she's starting to get some on her strength. It's fun to be able to do our workouts together.
    Last edited by grubinski; 05-26-2010 at 10:38 AM.

  6. #36
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    Apr 2010
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    My wife got interested in lifting weights thanks to an article about strength training raising your metabolism, so I taught her the basics (squat, deadlift, etc).

    She hated it. She kept complaining that the bar was too hard and thought I was being callous when I told her she would get used to it. She also got upset that I had her increase the weights on her 2nd workout and she pretty much quit.

    I begged her to try it for a couple more weeks and she eventually agreed. After the two weeks were up, she quit and hasn't touched a barbell since. And just when she was getting in the groove of it too.

  7. #37
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    My GF is the same. She hates it. She thinks that me saying "push your knees out more", "feet closer", "elbows up" is the same as me saying "you are doing it wrong, you're worthless, you suck at this". I really do go about it in the most friendly way possible.

    She does seem to enjoy deadlifting, though, and has increased to 2reps at bodyweight just by screwing around (no programming). But she can't seem to listen to me long enough to learn to squat and refuses to watch the Rip DVD when I assure her I'm not an expert. She also listens to a muscless girl at work who confidently tells her to keep her back upright and NEVER go to parallel. This girl is an "expert" because she lost 100lbs, but is now completely scrawny and weak.

    Also, she thinks programming is not a good idea until she's already good at doing everything... she thinks that doing whatever she is willing in a given day (be it nothing much or totally destroying herself beyond reason on cardio equip and machines) is the way to go.

    Ladies, if you were previously afraid or unconvinced about the weights, what turned things around for you?

  8. #38
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    Apr 2010
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    Quote Originally Posted by MazdaMatt
    She thinks that me saying "push your knees out more", "feet closer", "elbows up" is the same as me saying "you are doing it wrong, you're worthless, you suck at this". I really do go about it in the most friendly way possible.
    Deja vu ...

  9. #39
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    You guys are running into obstacles that are not related to gender issues IMO.

    Issue 1: Training a significant other has many many pitfalls. I'll just leave it at that, I've experienced a number of them on both ends, if you want details of how it can go wrong just ask.

    Issue 2: Most people go to the gym because they feel they must exercise for whatever reason. They go because they don't like how they look. They go to exercise. This is not conducive to any good experience.

    Folks who are, or who have been into training and want something from it will do it and love it. Anyone who ever did anything physically challenging for a significant period of time, even if they left it when they "grew up," falls into this category. But you have to want something from it, not just want the doing of it to take away a negative.

    Those who do it because they "should" or they want it to take away something (their negative body image) will do it because they have to, and hate it. Now I'm sure that there are people out there who have never done anything physically challenging and try barbell training and fall in love with it. But I don't know anyone like that.

  10. #40
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    starting strength coach development program
    Not to discredit what you're saying, Gwynn, but I think you fall way outside the demographic that we're trying to discuss (unless I'm confused and you're not the woman trained in multiple marshal arts). 99.9% of people are in the gym because they want to improve their physical a)image and b) ability. Most women fit into 'a'.

    I was scrawny and weak. I hated it. I took up the barbell and only once the effects showed did I like it.

    I am certain that my GF will like barbell training more than running on a bloody treadmill. I have seen how she enjoys deadlifting because she was naturally good at the form.

    However, the gender-specific bombardment of bad information leads her away from it. If this were not the case, this thread would not exist.

    So a question for those of you who are not athletes for life, what got you out of the "low fat" isle and off the tread mill and into getting strong? Or at least giving it a try?

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