Girlfriend Program

[cmrocks]

Hey,

I was hoping to get some help here. My girlfriend wants to start coming to the gym with me. She's in decent shape, hikes a lot and does yoga several times per week but she wants to lose about 10 pounds and become stronger for her job. She's a geologist so her job requires frequent lifting of rock samples that weigh anywhere from 40 - 80 lbs.

I've been doing starting strength off and on as my rotational schedule allows. I'm also a geologist that works four weeks out of town with no access to a gym then 2 weeks off. Considering my schedule, I've had decent success with the program. I have to reset a bit each time I hit the gym but my overall lifts have progressed and I've become stronger. This fall, I'm going back to working normal hours and I'll be able to commit three solid months to doing starting strength properly.

Sorry, got off topic there. Anyways, my girlfriend wants to start coming to the gym with me. I know that she won't want to lift everyday because she likes running and doing cardio but she has expressed interest in lifting.

I was wondering what sort of program I should get her on? I was thinking of getting her on the starting strength program with power cleans substituted for something a bit less intense and less complicated. I think the simple, compound lifts would do wonders for her at her job when it comes to overall strength. Are there any other lifts or considerations that should be made because she is a female?

I was also thinking of recommending an ACBC - workout A, Cardio workout, workout B, Cardio workout - instead of ABAB like I do. I only say this because I know that she won't want to solely lift 3 days a week.

Any thoughts and advice would be great.

[Dave 321]

Get her doing Starting Strength for while with deadlifts in place of power cleans at first... Power cleans can wait till she can do the strength lifts properly at least.

Her cardio work would probably be best done right after her barbell training so that she has a full day to recover properly - uninterrupted.

[Les Hahn]

Would she mind doing cardio/lifting on the same day?

You could check out the basic split routine from PPST2. If you did the 3x5 method using the split, that would give you a lot of extra time to do cardio afterwards. If you lift 4x per week, that would only have her increasing weight twice, which might be easier too. You could also do the split 3x per week, so you would only be increasing weight 3x every two weeks.

For someone that is new to lifting and not sure about wanting to do it seriously, the split might make it more enjoyable and easier to progress doing cadio and other activities.

[Gunnhild Bruno]

I was wondering what sort of program I should get her on? I was thinking of getting her on the starting strength program with power cleans substituted for something a bit less intense and less complicated. I think the simple, compound lifts would do wonders for her at her job when it comes to overall strength. Are there any other lifts or considerations that should be made because she is a female?

I was also thinking of recommending an ACBC - workout A, Cardio workout, workout B, Cardio workout - instead of ABAB like I do. I only say this because I know that she won't want to solely lift 3 days a week.

Any thoughts and advice would be great.

Note that women are not listed as a special population: they are half of the population. Anyone who claims that women are sufficiently different in terms of physiologic response to exercise that the principles of basic barbell training do not apply to them is thinking either irrationally or commercially. In fact, the adaptation to weight training is precisely the adaptation that these special populations need, and unless they are also cardiac patients aerobic-type long slow distance exercise is only a tiny bit more useful than playing chess.

There is no reason why your girlfriend cannot power clean unless she’s too weak to clean the empty bar. In my experience, women learn the power clean much more easily than men, so there’s no reason why it’s too complicated for her because she’s female. If she is uniquely uncoordinated or something as an individual, that is another matter, but it can usually still be worked through.

Other than that, use the same common sense you’d use for a man in her situation. If she refuses to give up the intense cardio sessions, then she has to adjust for the additional demands on recovery, either through more food, more rest, or both. If the cardio is not that intense, and her schedule allows her the time, then there’s no reason why she can’t lift 3x a week.

Just make sure she understands that she will need to eat more, and more of what she eats will have to be protein. Diet is usually the hardest part of strength training for everyone, women included.

[Gunnhild Bruno]

Also, she should understand that SS:BBT’s novice progression can easily help her get rid of 10 pounds of fat, provided her diet is in order. But the scale may not show 10 pounds of weight loss, and it probably won’t.

[disconnect]

Have her take pictures and body measurements weekly. Too easy for women to freak out because their muscle shape changes and suddenly OH FUCK I'M BULKING UP. Pictures and measurements give her some objective evidence that she's not turning into a man, and hopefully when she develops some strength she'll care a little less about actual body weight.

[Gunnhild Bruno]

Have her take pictures and body measurements weekly. Too easy for women to freak out because their muscle shape changes and suddenly OH FUCK I'M BULKING UP. Pictures and measurements give her some objective evidence that she's not turning into a man, and hopefully when she develops some strength she'll care a little less about actual body weight.

Or maybe the woman in question is sensible and we shouldn’t assume she is a terrible stereotype. I mean, she DOES want to get stronger, which puts her ahead of most men in terms of training goals. And she IS a geologist, which may indicate some tendency to buck trends and some ability to think logically.

Taking photos can be a good idea not because your girlfriend is necessarily likely to spiral into girly hysteria, but because tracking progress is satisfying.

Just persuade her to read the book and come on here for advice if she needs it.

[Les Hahn]

Or maybe the woman in question is sensible and we shouldn’t assume she is a terrible stereotype. I mean, she DOES want to get stronger, which puts her ahead of most men in terms of training goals. And she IS a geologist, which may indicate some tendency to buck trends and some ability to think logically.

Taking photos can be a good idea not because your girlfriend is necessarily likely to spiral into girly hysteria, but because tracking progress is satisfying.

Just persuade her to read the book and come on here for advice if she needs it.

Still it might be a good idea to start slowly. If you throw too much at someone new (guy or girl) it can be too much. Even people here "get off the wagon" when the going gets tough, and they have read the book and are committed to strength training. If someone just says they want to start going to the gym, but haven't really thought about it, a couple hard sessions could be the end of it.

Since she has some cardio goals, I would mix that into the strength training. She might have to go on a split or a routine where you advance a little slower, but I would rather have someone do weekly progression from the start and stick with it, instead of daily progression and then quit soon after.

I agree she should read the book and come to this website. That might get her more motivated to do heavy strength training.

Off topic: Spar, what are your lifts at (big 4)? How long have you been lifting? I see you post here a lot, but you don't have a log and really don't mention anything about your training.

[JStrong]

If you actually want it to work, and to stay together, I'd advise paying a trainer to teach her SS or a variant.

No good can come of coaching your own girlfriend.

I don't expect you to follow my advice ( I wouldn't have the first time through this myself) but training your significant other is tricky.

[Gunnhild Bruno]

Spar, what are your lifts at (big 4)? How long have you been lifting? I see you post here a lot, but you don't have a log and really don't mention anything about your training.

http://startingstrength.com/resource...153#post289153