GF ready to workout i need some help?

[Gearhead77]

My curretn girlfriend has decided that she wants to get back into the gym after being out for about 3 1/2 years. She wants to lose about 15-20lbs. over the next 6 months (10 year reunion in June) and i'm not 100% sure of how to help her do so. I have extensive workout knowledge and so does she i just want to learn more so i can help her. I'm not sure of a schedule for lifting weights for women and how much she should start off with doing. This is what i have figured please tell me what you think or post some examples of what you do. By the way she is a very athletic girl and at one time even tried out for the ATL Falcons cheerleaders so she is capable of doing alot of exercise.
For the first 2-3 weeks workout 4 times per week with this routine:
Monday/Thursday

Lat cable pulldowns
HS upper-back row
preacher curls
HS vertical bench
cable flys
Cardio

Wendesday/Saturday

military presses
Tricep pulldowns
Tricep kickbacks
leg extensions
lunges
Cardio

For the Cardio i will start her off first on some basic ellipical machines for about 20 min. then work her way up.

ANY help with this would be great and after this week i'll start looking into her diet more and ask for some advise there as well.

Thanks alot

Gearhead77

 

[Daisy_Girl]

She can do the same workout program/split you do. Generally, women don't need a different training program than men. But she needs to "play around" and find what works best for her. FOr me, I found that I HATE doing traditional splits - Mondays is always XYZ, Wednesday ABC, etc. I weight train 3x a week, hitting each body part once (*maybe* twice, but not normally). Some weeks I train Chest and Shoulders together, other weeks it is Chest and Back, and so on. Legs are always done alone, although sometimes this is where I put an additiona workout for a lagging body part.

These are the exercises I found I enjoy and work well for me:

Chest
Pushups (either regular or feet elevated)
HS Incline Press
DB Chest Press (flat)
Chest Flyes (either cable or machine)

Back
Standing Lat Pulldown (just introduced to this, love it!)
HS Low Row (or Cable Low Row)
Pullups (wide grip, assisted)

Shoulders
DB Overhead Press
DB Lateral Raise
BB Upright Row

Biceps
BB Curl
DB Concentration Curl

Triceps
Cable Pushdown
DIPS!!!
BB French Press

Legs
Lunges and more lunges - walking, smith machine, back foot elevated, front foot elevated - however! They are the best.
High Box Step-Ups (or jumps)
Stiff Legged Deadlift (SLDL)
*I don't do squats, I have found that I can maintain and build my legs the way I want without them. Genetically, my legs maintain muscle mass very easily, I don't have to do a lot.

Only thing I would add would be deadlifts - IF I knew how to do the properly. Deadlifts will help build/shape her whole body.

Cardio sounds good - doing it 3-4x a week. Since she is previously active, she should get some endurance back in a few weeks. After 3-4 weeks, I would keep the cardio at 4x a week but add duration/intensity or change the mode. Also, make one of the days HIIT (high intensity interval training). For HIIT, have the workout be 30 min - 5 warm up, 5 cool down, 20 min of intervals (1 min hard, 1 min easy).

Diet should be worked on now - with all the excersie in the world she won't get the results she wants without a smart diet plan.

Keep us posted! Or have HER post here!

 

[Gearhead77]

Thanks alot for the info. I will try to have her sign on here when she gets a damn computer. I have already tried to help her on the whole diet thing and she is doing better. For breakfast today she had some fruit and a protein shake and lunch was a salad with grilled chicken. Much better than no breakfast and Wendy's for lunch. I will print out this reply and give to her so she can take a look at it. Again i really appreciate all the info.

 

[JoBu]

I was just about to post the same question. My girl just finished school and now has time to get back to the gym. She doesn't want to be body-builder muscular...more along the lines of fitness model. She's got a great body with tons of curves...just needs to tone some places, cut down body fat, and build some arms I've been working with her the past couple workouts but I'm a little concerned that the workouts I do aren't right for her goals...I focus on things like squats, deads, flat bench...mass builders. I've got her doing 12 rep sets instead of 8 like me. I'd like to give her some girl-specific moves that will add strenght and tone more then bulk. Sorry...not trying to jack your thread.

JoBu

 

[Daisy_Girl]

Those exercises won't build bulk - a bulking diet will build bulk. If she is weight training, eating clean, and doing cardio, she will be on the way to getting the body she wants. There is no reason the average female can't do mass building compound exercises.

Keep her diet clean, lots of lean proteins, moderate carbs (things like veggies, potatoes, oatmeal, minimal fruit), and moderate healthy fats (almonds, flax or olive oil, natty PB). Limit processed foods. Eat small meals often throughout the day. Drink lots of water. Yadda, yadda, yadda....

 

[Gearhead77]

I've got to give you guys an update after seeing my GF working out for the past 2 days. First off i had her lightly ( 2 sets of 20) do legs, shoulders, and chest on Monday and she was a bit sore come the next morning, but yesterday (against my advise) see went and did a body works aerobics class. This is the one that has some light weight training while doing aerobics. Well she was one of 3 people that showed up for the class and she was right in front of the instructor so she felt like she couldn't slack off and did the class full steam. Well this morning she was hating life. I was laughing my ass off about the whole time too because i told her to take it easy. I think she will get a bit better throughout the day, but she is still wanting to go back and do bis, tris, and back today after we get off work. Needless to say i'm VERY proud of her and pumped that she is getting this excited about working out. I just tought ya'll might get a kick out of all that. Thanks again for all the advise and information.

 

[Daisy_Girl]

Fantastic that she is going full force! Glad she is excited about it.

Only one thing, watch out for the working out everyday - results come when resting, not in the gym. So if she works the muscles everyday, they won't get a chance to grow. This will seriously inhibit her gains. It's hard to take days off, especially when you are so gung ho, but try to convince her to lift every other day and do cardio on the off days. One day of complete rest is recommended too.

Get her to post here too!

 

[LaDyBuG]

i agree daisy...i weight train 4 days a week, do yoga once a week, and try to get in at least 3-4 cardio sessions a week...taking one day of complete rest (sunday)....guys, like the girls said before...don't worry about the bulking...trust me, i've been trying to gain muscle for 2 1/2 years...i've been lifting really heavy with low reps and everything...and i am by no means bulky...no where near it...for most girls, i don't think it would even be possible with out AAS...the same exercises that get you guys big don't do the same for us...we don't have near enough testosterone to gain muscle like ya'll do...we probably gain about 1/10 of the muscle you do with the same workout...no worries