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Gender-Smart Training
If you think both sexes should train the same, think again
by Charles Poliquin
One of the most common questions asked in the field of strength training is "Should women train differently from men? Before giving you the simple answer, I have to say I am astounded that many personal trainers and strength coaches believe there are no differences.
As a result of this belief, these coaches and trainers use the same exercises and workout protocols for female and male athletes alike and offer them the same dietary advice. These coaches are, at best, simply ignorant; but at worst they are just too lazy to keep up with current research and find ways to apply it to their athletes. Regardless of the reason, the result is the same: It's the female athletes who suffer.
One excuse strength coaches use for using unisex workout programs is that they are often overwhelmed with training too many athletes. It's a case of "follow the money." These coaches will concentrate their research, interest and attention on the male athletes because they generally bring the most notoriety to their program. In college, for example, you'll often find that the head strength coaches will focus on the football team - because, let's face it, football generates the majority of income for many sport programs - and will let their graduate assistants handle the gymnasts and volleyball players.
When women are treated as second-class citizens, the result is a lack of enthusiasm and commitment to the program. And it's the coaches' loss, because what many strength coaches miss out on is that training women can be especially rewarding.
I've found that female clients are often far easier to coach than male clients, perhaps because women generally don't let their egos spoil the methodology and they follow instructions far better than men tend to do. In 1994 I coached seven women who became world champions in their respective sports. And the trait they all had in common was a commitment to communicate with me on a regular basis, enabling me to finely tune their training loads for maximum results.
Of course, no discussion of women's training would be adequate without addressing the question of "bulking up," as the myth persists that within a few weeks of training, women will start to look like the governor of California in his hey days. The fact is it is much harder for women to hypertrophy than men. This is not only because of women's lower androgen levels but also because women have only about 60 percent of the number of muscle-fiber nuclei compared to men. You might say that there is simply less raw material to work with.
There is no argument that weight training builds muscle in women, and it is also true that some exceptional female athletes will develop high levels of hypertrophy. Generally speaking, however, female trainees tend to develop most of their hypertrophy during the first year of training. Then it plateaus dramatically, so that strength gains come mainly through neural adaptations.
How strong can a woman become? Pound for pound (and taking into consideration their naturally higher bodyfat levels), women who are properly trained can have stronger legs than men. And contrary to popular belief, women can develop significant levels of strength in the upper body.
The upper-body lift that women can use to most closely approximate the results achieved by men is the chin-up (palms facing away from the body) and its variation the pull-up (palms facing the body). Again, that assumes that the women have been trained by competent trainers. Actually, this is one way I evaluate the quality of knowledge of a personal trainer or strength coach. A competent trainer or coach should be able to enable a female trainee (assuming that the client is not clinically obese) to perform 12 chin-ups in three months.
The most difficult lift for women to do well, compared to men, is overhead presses. On the basis of muscle pound for muscle pound, women achieve about 58 to 66 percent of the strength performances in this lift compared to their male counterparts. Thus, a male trainee who can overhead press 200 pounds would find that his female equivalent (in terms of training experience) might be able to lift, at best, 130 pounds.
Beyond Anatomy
Besides the anatomical differences between the sexes, there may be less-obvious cultural differences to consider. For example, female athletes from North America are often weaker in relative terms in the vastus medialis muscles, hamstrings, erector spinae, and scapulae retractors compared to female athletes from other parts of the world. Trainers of women who hope to compete at the highest levels in athletics must address these relative weaknesses.
Regarding training frequency, in the early stages of training most women need to train each muscle group three days a week for optimal gains. The Chinese have been very successful at training weightlifters, both men and women, at the international level. Upon analyzing their training system, what stood out to me is that they used a much higher training frequency with the women than the men. Women should, in effect, train heavy and train hard; but, most importantly, they should train fast.
Although the training frequency should be greater for women compared to men, the training volume per training unit should be smaller due to lower androgen levels. This means that women should perform fewer sets and fewer exercises than men. Generally, I've found that the training volume per training unit should be 20 to 30 percent lower.
As a female athlete gets stronger, I've found that her training protocols should more closely resemble those of her male counterparts. Unfortunately, it can take a considerable amount of time for women to reach this level because often women have had the disadvantage of being trained in inferior weight training programs for so long.
These inferior training programs are unacceptable; trainers and coaches of women must not ignore the relevant differences between the sexes. Competent and gender-specific training is what is needed for girls and women to achieve superior performance. So, getting back to our original question, "Should women train differently than men?" the simple answer is an unequivocal "Yes!"
If you think both sexes should train the same, think again
by Charles Poliquin
One of the most common questions asked in the field of strength training is "Should women train differently from men? Before giving you the simple answer, I have to say I am astounded that many personal trainers and strength coaches believe there are no differences.
As a result of this belief, these coaches and trainers use the same exercises and workout protocols for female and male athletes alike and offer them the same dietary advice. These coaches are, at best, simply ignorant; but at worst they are just too lazy to keep up with current research and find ways to apply it to their athletes. Regardless of the reason, the result is the same: It's the female athletes who suffer.
One excuse strength coaches use for using unisex workout programs is that they are often overwhelmed with training too many athletes. It's a case of "follow the money." These coaches will concentrate their research, interest and attention on the male athletes because they generally bring the most notoriety to their program. In college, for example, you'll often find that the head strength coaches will focus on the football team - because, let's face it, football generates the majority of income for many sport programs - and will let their graduate assistants handle the gymnasts and volleyball players.
When women are treated as second-class citizens, the result is a lack of enthusiasm and commitment to the program. And it's the coaches' loss, because what many strength coaches miss out on is that training women can be especially rewarding.
I've found that female clients are often far easier to coach than male clients, perhaps because women generally don't let their egos spoil the methodology and they follow instructions far better than men tend to do. In 1994 I coached seven women who became world champions in their respective sports. And the trait they all had in common was a commitment to communicate with me on a regular basis, enabling me to finely tune their training loads for maximum results.
Of course, no discussion of women's training would be adequate without addressing the question of "bulking up," as the myth persists that within a few weeks of training, women will start to look like the governor of California in his hey days. The fact is it is much harder for women to hypertrophy than men. This is not only because of women's lower androgen levels but also because women have only about 60 percent of the number of muscle-fiber nuclei compared to men. You might say that there is simply less raw material to work with.
There is no argument that weight training builds muscle in women, and it is also true that some exceptional female athletes will develop high levels of hypertrophy. Generally speaking, however, female trainees tend to develop most of their hypertrophy during the first year of training. Then it plateaus dramatically, so that strength gains come mainly through neural adaptations.
How strong can a woman become? Pound for pound (and taking into consideration their naturally higher bodyfat levels), women who are properly trained can have stronger legs than men. And contrary to popular belief, women can develop significant levels of strength in the upper body.
The upper-body lift that women can use to most closely approximate the results achieved by men is the chin-up (palms facing away from the body) and its variation the pull-up (palms facing the body). Again, that assumes that the women have been trained by competent trainers. Actually, this is one way I evaluate the quality of knowledge of a personal trainer or strength coach. A competent trainer or coach should be able to enable a female trainee (assuming that the client is not clinically obese) to perform 12 chin-ups in three months.
The most difficult lift for women to do well, compared to men, is overhead presses. On the basis of muscle pound for muscle pound, women achieve about 58 to 66 percent of the strength performances in this lift compared to their male counterparts. Thus, a male trainee who can overhead press 200 pounds would find that his female equivalent (in terms of training experience) might be able to lift, at best, 130 pounds.
Beyond Anatomy
Besides the anatomical differences between the sexes, there may be less-obvious cultural differences to consider. For example, female athletes from North America are often weaker in relative terms in the vastus medialis muscles, hamstrings, erector spinae, and scapulae retractors compared to female athletes from other parts of the world. Trainers of women who hope to compete at the highest levels in athletics must address these relative weaknesses.
Regarding training frequency, in the early stages of training most women need to train each muscle group three days a week for optimal gains. The Chinese have been very successful at training weightlifters, both men and women, at the international level. Upon analyzing their training system, what stood out to me is that they used a much higher training frequency with the women than the men. Women should, in effect, train heavy and train hard; but, most importantly, they should train fast.
Although the training frequency should be greater for women compared to men, the training volume per training unit should be smaller due to lower androgen levels. This means that women should perform fewer sets and fewer exercises than men. Generally, I've found that the training volume per training unit should be 20 to 30 percent lower.
As a female athlete gets stronger, I've found that her training protocols should more closely resemble those of her male counterparts. Unfortunately, it can take a considerable amount of time for women to reach this level because often women have had the disadvantage of being trained in inferior weight training programs for so long.
These inferior training programs are unacceptable; trainers and coaches of women must not ignore the relevant differences between the sexes. Competent and gender-specific training is what is needed for girls and women to achieve superior performance. So, getting back to our original question, "Should women train differently than men?" the simple answer is an unequivocal "Yes!"
