It always baffles me
why some (read most) people believe that men and women should train differently. “Guys should train 6-8 reps and mostly with weights, hitting bench and squats, while girls should stick to higher reps and exercises like cable cross-overs and lunges.” I say, that’s complete B.S.
Anatomically speaking men and women are very similar. We have bones, skeletal muscle and many of the same organs. Our bodies process food in the same manner and our skin reacts the same way to the sun. When it comes to bodybuilding (which covers all manners of physique transformation involving weight training), the biggest difference between men and women is testosterone. Testosterone is the anabolic hormone that allows men to build superior muscle mass to that of our sisters.
The belief that training like a man will make a woman look like a man does not hold water. Without testosterone a woman simply can’t build a body like a man, no matter how she trains. So, the question doesn’t become what is the best way for a man to train versus a woman… the question is how to best train for a human being. And the best way to train is determined by your goal, NOT your sex.
I have the best training partner in the
world… one that forces me off the couch when I don’t feel like training, one that pushes me every time we walk into the gym, and one that has accomplished a few formidable tasks, including a Provincial title. And get this… my training partner is a girl. In fact, she’s also my wife.
The last thing I would want is to marry a woman who looks like a dude (if that’s your thing, that’s totally cool, but it’s not for me). Sonja is far from dude-like. She is a Figure competitor (now switching to Bikini) and I am an IFBB Men’s Physique Pro (and former national Bodybuilding champion) yet we both train the exact same way, albeit with different weights (except for calves, Sonja is a total freak when it comes to that body part and schools me regularly). I will get into how we train in future articles, but suffice to say we’re both looking for balanced, muscular development and that comes with smart training and proper nutrition and supplementation.
When training for a balanced physique, one of the things that you need to pay attention to is symmetry. We all have body parts that seem to respond better than others so we need to take that into consideration when forming our routine. The reason I bring it up is because some girls say that they build a certain body part quickly and are frightened they will look like a man. Oftentimes, women will say their thighs build quickly.
The thighs are the place where, tra
ditionally, most women hold the highest amount of body fat. Coincidence? I think a lot of women mistaken thick thighs with muscle mass, but for those few who actually do find they build muscle quickly, this would be one instance where scaling back leg training would be applicable. But this does not mean men and women should train differently, as this same strategy applies to men as well. If triceps are a guy’s strong part, to the point of being out of proportion, then he would do well to scale back his triceps training.
If you’re training for a sport, you should make adjustments to your training to suit your goal. Once again, it doesn’t matter if you’re John or Jane; you need to train to suit your objective. Whether you’re training to be a competitive weightlifter or an MMA fighter or hockey player, the training you undergo will not (should not) change because of your sex.
Stay tuned for a future article that will discuss my newest theories on weight training for optimal muscle mass, which will also fly in the face of the status quo. A good read for guys… and girls.
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