Gym workout... for a girl?

nero120

nero120

nero120

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I trying to find a decent gym routine for my girlfriend. She recently joined a local gym and got the whole induction treatment complete with awful-and-pointless routine recommended by the half asleep trainer there. It was some combination of bicep curls, ab work and lateral raises, no decent core exercises so I told her I'd come up with a better routine for her.

I've looked around on a few forums and it is actually pretty difficult to find a routine suitable for female gym beginners, so I'm looking for some recommendations here. She's looking to reduce her body fat levels from about 30% to 20 and is going to classes 3 times plus 2 gym workouts a week. I'd expect a decent workout for her to be made up of good compound exercises using free weights (squats, deadlifts, chest press, military press, etc), but could anyone recommend a routine for here as I am much less experienced than many on here?
 
If her main goal is to drop weight I would concentrate mostly on cardio and dieting. While lifting weights is good for building strength, she will also put on muscle which at this point isn't worth the effort.
 
msm722 said:
If her main goal is to drop weight I would concentrate mostly on cardio and dieting. While lifting weights is good for building strength, she will also put on muscle which at this point isn't worth the effort.
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Completely agree with this. While light bicep curls and the odd chest press will do her muscle some good, she will wanting to be concentrating on cardio. Have a look at Xtrainer and treadmill routines. She'll love the Xtrainer as it works the arse quite a bit as well, all girls want a nice arse right? :p
 
Women will not become hulks doing big core compound exercises, not compared to men, they don't have enough test in their blood for a start. A good weights routine with some cardio is perfect for women. I can't recommend doing a proper weights room split enough.

I know a girl who know is practically at hair ripping outstage because she cannot grow muscle despite DL 100kg. So fluffy pink 5lb DB are not gonna get her big I can assure you. Women do not put on mass as easily or as readily as men. If she wants a decent physique cardio alone will do sod all.
 
Freefaller said:
Women will not become hulks doing big core compound exercises, not compared to men, they don't have enough test in their blood for a start. A good weights routine with some cardio is perfect for women. I can't recommend doing a proper weights room split enough.
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This is exactly what my initial thought was, I'm glad we are on the same wavelength! :)
 
The time spent lifting weights would be better spent doing cardio. I'm not sure what you're hoping to achieve by lifting weights. Plenty of time to do that once she has shed the extra weight.
 
It changes the whole body composition i.e. less wobbly bits, boost her metabolism, it will increase her test levels (but not to men's standards) which in turn will boost her libido i.e. her sex drive, what more could you want. She'll lose fat a lot faster too.

Cardio has it's place, and along side a good routine it will help her develop a much better body.
 
a well rounded routine would be cardio and weights (higher reps and shorter rest periods) imo :]
 
msm722 said:
The time spent lifting weights would be better spent doing cardio. I'm not sure what you're hoping to achieve by lifting weights. Plenty of time to do that once she has shed the extra weight.
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Well I would assume that doing a good compound routine would burn just as many calories whilst also promoting a higher metabolism and increasing core strength (not necessarily muscle mass). I would have thought that in doing these workouts more muscle tissue would be broken down that needs to be remade, which would have a calorific benefit also?

In any case, it would also make her weekly routine less boring.
 
I'd say that would be true for men, but generally women don't lift as hardcore as men. I agree it won't be as exciting doing cardio all the time, but she will reach her goal quicker, at which point you can switch to cardio and weights.
 
msm722 said:
I'd say that would be true for men, but generally women don't lift as hardcore as men. I agree it won't be as exciting doing cardio all the time, but she will reach her goal quicker, at which point you can switch to cardio and weights.
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It's nothing about lifting hardcore - it's about lifting weights. She will not reach her goal quicker doing cardio alone.
 
msm722 said:
I can't see how weight lifting can help her shed bodyfat moreso than cardio?
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:/

the more muscle mass you have, the more calories you burn naturally.
doing weights will boost the metabolism more than cardio, so burn more calories over the recovery period than cardio.
 
I'm aware of that, but as freefaller said "Women will not become hulks doing big core compound exercises, not compared to men"
 
^^ spot on Morba

Besides there's a girl I know (eh Morba ) who can probably lift more weights than most men on here anyway

Yes and? It's true, women can lift big and heavy, but the effort required to become big and bulky is unfortunately for them a lot more involved than us.
 
msm722 said:
I'm aware of that, but as freefaller said "Women will not become hulks doing big core compound exercises, not compared to men"
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Precisely, they won't. but adding a few lb's of lean mass will make almost all women look a bit better. adding some natural curves is a good thing.
 
I agree, but with 30% BF shedding weight would be my number one goal. Once the weight is gone, then add one some nice mass for the lovely curves.
 
msm722 said:
I agree, but with 30% BF shedding weight would be my number one goal. Once the weight is gone, then add one some nice mass for the lovely curves.
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but it can be done at the same time. adding a few lb's of mass automatically lowers the bf% :]
 
I've always understood that putting on mass and losing weight are hard to achieve at the same time. Diets need to be tailored to either one to get the best results. I suppose this is why body builders do a bulking phase then a cutting phase rather than trying to bulk and cut at the same time.
 
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