Reply With QuoteHi,
sounds about right to me. Just be ready to reduce the weight jumps once progress becomes difficult, especially on the pressing movements.
A set of fractional plates might be a good investment, unless your gym has one.
IPB
Member
Programming for 15 year old girl
I've been doing SS now for 6 months with my 17 year old son, and we've had good results. I'm transitioning to Texas Method while we are still nursing a bit out of LP for my son.
My 15 year old daughter to my great pleasure has asked to join us. She's done 2 sessions so far, and I've got her on strict SS and she has faith in the program and understands the principles and has seen the progress and is motivated.
The only "problem" is deciding how much weight to add. I don't have any reference for girls, and I don't want to push too much on her and ruin the progress, but I also don't want to be too conservative and underestimate her either.
She's tall 5'10" and slim 140 lbs. Sort of a high-jumper build.
We started on 66 lbs squat, 33 bench and press (just the 15 kg bar), and 88 lbs deadlift. No PC yet.
My question is what sort of jumps have people who have trained similar athletes used for the various lifts? I'm thinking 2.5 kg (5.5 lbs) per session on squat and dead, 2.2 lbs (1 kg) on bench and press. Does that sound reasonable or too conservative? I'm pretty strong and we have similar build (apart from me being a 46 year old man and she a 15 year old girl!) so I have no reason not to to think she has potential to be strong too.
Member
Hi,
sounds about right to me. Just be ready to reduce the weight jumps once progress becomes difficult, especially on the pressing movements.
A set of fractional plates might be a good investment, unless your gym has one.
IPB
Member
She'll be going for 0.5kg on those presses soon enough, so be prepared with those microplates.Originally Posted by Joseph Santaniello
✓ Member
The vast majority of the people I train are dancers in this age range. If they're making progress and eating well, I actually will load the females at the same rate as the males (10 lbs on squats and deads, 5 lbs on the presses). The 10 lb jumps on the squats and deads (especially deads) tends to last quite awhile, the upper body stuff ends up having to drop quicker to 5lbs and then to 2.5 lbs. If she can do pull ups/chins, you'll see the presses progress longer at bigger jumps. To some degree, lat pull-downs on a cable machine will give some of the same results. There's nothing wrong with what you have planned, though. I just like to get as much and as far out of the begging L.P. as possible. You have to watch for stalls and form issues much more closely with the bigger jumps, though. Regardless of what you do, I think you'll get better results switching to sets of three on the presses when she honestly starts to stall than trying anything more complicated. Going with sets of 5s to start and then dropping to sets of 3 (for 5 sets) usually runs a long time with women.
Member
I think 2.2 pounds is far too big a jump from one press/bench session to the next for someone starting LP at 33#.. That's assuming a ~7% increase in strength between sessions.
I use generally choose jumps in load that assume "1.5% - 2%" increase in strength. Though, you can be a bit more aggressive in the first ~2 weeks of LP.
Member
Thanks everyone! This is all good info to help me evaluate underway.
Starting Strength Coach
I train girls the same way I train the boys.
I've got plenty of 2.5lb plates for smaller jumps but I also keep some cheap bats weights in my office (rubber doughnut looking things) that weigh 1lb each and slide right on the bar. If I have a girl who's stalling and can't make that 5lb jump (2.5 each side) we got up by 2lb then. Works pretty good. Keep an eye on her form and don't let her go up just because she finishes a set (typical of alot of HS strength programs).
You've got her started off on the right foot, good luck!
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