Cues that first-timer is slowing down

[OITW]

Rip, not having had the benefit of the seminar, I will soon be in the position of trying to coach a female friend through the basic lifts (not the PC). She bought your book, I've told her to study it, but we'll see. At any rate, I suspect she's pretty strong to begin with, and knowing what you've written about women being able to go for a long time at just below their max, I don't want to overwork her into crippling soreness. Is there a good cue to look for in beginning female trainees that says it's time to stop, even when slowing down might not be apparent? Bonus question: I can't remember where the old forum was, but I want to find a post I made on it. Link, anyone? Thank you.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Time to stop what?

[fructa]

At last, a coach sensitive to women's problems. The correct time to stop training your probably "pretty strong" female trainee is when she chips a nail. I've had male coaches push me *all the way* to soreness! Haha, it's like they've never met a lady before! Embarrassing for us both. It's so refreshing to see someone willing to stop their trainee before she shows signs of fatigue or difficulty with the lifts. What a good way of preventing the dreading bulk-up! Thanks for doing us all a favor, OITW.

[ColoWayno]

Me thinks he meant when to stop linear progression and move to something else.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Methinks he knows when to do that -- same time everybody else does: when she misses her work sets. He MUST mean something else.

(Note the use of "methinks" as one word.)

[Róbert Kovács]

Methinks he means when to "stop" incrementing the weight in the first workout, when they are choosing the work sets. For example when they go up in 20-10 pound jumps in the squat and are looking for a weight where the bar speed slows down. Probably he wants to avoid jumping up to a weight that would be too hard for his female friend.

[Shion]

I think he's referring to women's ability to perform higher reps at a higher % of their 1RM than men can. I.e. getting 6 or 7 reps out of their 85% when men can normally get a max of 5, etc.

[Rob Waskis]

I'm thinking he's talking about selecting starting weights. Perhaps he is confusing the speed of an individual rep with the speed of the entire set.

Perhaps he will explain for himself.

[MarkFera]

I interpreted that he's referring to the part of one of Mark's books where Mark surmises that women can work longer and harder at a weight that is closer to their max then men can. And, he wonders if there is any other tell tale sign that she may be becoming over trained during a session.

And, to the woman who interpreted his comment to be sexist, my experience is that women, in general, do initially approach weight training differently than men mostly due to our social consciousness of what it means to be a man and what it means to be a woman. And, when your goal is to keep a woman training with weights, and not just try weight training, in my opinion it makes sense to be aware of that consciousness and include some initial sensitivity to it. Until they have had a chance to experience what it feels like to be stronger.

[Ikcelaks]

I'm almost certain that the OP is asking about special considerations for setting the weight for the initial working-sets of someone just beginning the program.

It seems like the general advice to start light and make big jumps for the first couple weeks would apply to either gender.