How much should workout programs for men and women differ?
I haven’t been in a gym for a while now since I’m mostly focused on my tango progress and I have enough equipment at home to do a solid strength and endurance workout three times per week. However, I still think a lot about various forms of gym workouts and get a lot of questions from my friends.
One of the most common myths that I like to bust and that has annoyed me whenever I would spot it in a gym is: girls should do specific workouts with featherlike weights and extremely high number of repetitions in order to become nicely shaped without getting too bulky. Gosh, I’m annoyed again.
You cannot change your shape without increasing/decreasing the size of muscles in your body and/or increasing/decreasing the amount of fat in your body. Period. There is no such thing as “lifting” your butt or "tightening" your stomach without increasing the size of your gluteus or abdominal muscles and/or decreasing the amount of your fat.
If you are afraid that by using “heavy” weights you will quickly become bulky – no, you won’t. It takes many years of regular training to become bulky, otherwise, the gyms would be empty and Schwarzeneggers would be all around us. In addition, if you are a female, you have a significantly lower starting muscle strength. Thus, you can go to a gym for months and even a couple years and it will only improve your looks, there is no way that you can become overly muscled in a short time.
OK, since I have released my frustration a bit, let me present you with some scientific facts and realistic ways in which female workout programs should differ from male ones.
Women naturally have a lower percentage of muscle mass and a higher percentage of fat than men. Thus, it is normal for women to start working out with proportionally lower weights. Lower weights mean just that - lower weights, not completely different types of exercises.
Furthermore, the muscle mass is distributed a bit differently – while women have about 40-60% weaker upper bodies, their lower body muscle mass is only 25-30% smaller. When you couple this with the fact that the lower body is usually regarded as more important for the looks of ladies, while the upper body is more important for the attractiveness of guys, it is easy to conclude that one of the most important gender-based differences in workouts should be somewhat higher focus on the upper or lower body.
The next important difference is the predominant type of muscle fibers. There are two muscle fibers in our bodies. Type I muscle fibers are referred to as "slow-twitch", while type II are called "fast-twitch" fibers. Studies have found that women have a higher percentage of slow-twitch muscle fibers than man, making them more resistant to fatigue but less powerful/explosive in short bursts of intensive effort. This is further boosted by certain hormonal and fat-usage-related differences, which also make girls capable of training for longer and recovering more quickly.
Considering the muscle fiber differences, girls could benefit from training their type I fibers a bit more, which can be done by performing a couple more repetitions per set. However, many reliable sources (including sport and medicine universities and organizations) claim that, for the same goals, men and women should aim for the same number of repetitions per set.
To conclude, if a lady wants to improve the shape of her body, I believe that she should not follow a drastically different workout routine than men. She should just start with proportionally lower weights, include a bit more exercises for her lower body, and increase the number or repetitions from 8-12 recommended for men to about 13-17. Please note that, as there is no general scientific consensus on the difference in the number of repetitions, this is just my recommendation, based on a moderate/intermediate approach.
Please let me know:
- What do you think about the gender-based differences in workout programs?
- Do you have any important scientific facts or studies that I’ve missed to include?
If you liked this post, feel free to also check out my recent article: Is our life our life?
Have a wonderful day, week, and life!
Disclaimer: I don't own any rights to the images used in this article. I just found them online and wanted to share them with you.
Ultimately a workout should be built around the GOALS of the person, not the gender. What type of strength do they want to build? Stamina? Power? Or are they simply looking to lose weight or tone muscles to achieve a desired figure?
Yes, I was referring to those who are looking to improve their figure. As pointed out in the article, gender differences do exist, but are often exaggerated.
This is very well explained, and very useful. :)
Me personally - I prefer going to organized activities for girls, such as yoga, aerobics or pilates, so I don't need to bother much about planning etc. I think every girl whose job is not related to beauty industry and who is not fat should do any type of physical activity to stay in shape, and to accept and get best of her unique shape, instead of trying to look like a model. :) (I know this is not maximum related to what you've written, but it should be relevant in general haha :D)
I believe that everyone (girl or boy, model or not) should spend at least some time performing anaerobic training too (whether it's weightlifting, doing body-weight exercises at home or in a park, or something else). For an average person, it doesn't have to be something serious, but a couple of months once every couple of years is something that I consider a minimum.
Unfortunately, the benefits of anaerobic training are commonly underestimated and people tend to believe that the same can be achieved by aerobic training, just in more time. This is not true. Water polo players have not built their muscles by swimming - they are regularly going to gyms to build their strength. Female fitness instructors who lead aerobics sessions and look great have not shaped their bodies at aerobics - they went to gyms too. Swimming, aerobic, and similar activities are very healthy, great for quick weight loss and stamina, but not enough to create a nice body shape (unless you naturally have a great body shape, of course). Cheers! : )
Are you sure about the minimum? I would say three times a week consistently for 30 min to feel your body moving and all your muscles engaging. :)
About your second passage - well, few evenings ago I went to a yoga class (after doing yoga with youtube at home for several years), and heard why after so many years I had pain in my knees when performing triangle pose - because of weak quadriceps. There was a girl who never done yoga before, but went to the gym for years, and triangle pose was very easy for her. So I agree with you that a good strength is really basics.
And again about me - as I am not any professional, and as I get stressed by maybe-not-perfect decisions easily, I believe that for us usual people is probably best to combine different recreative activities. So, some woman working full time could go to yoga for a few months, then aerobic for a few months, then pilates, then maybe gym, then yoga again, then dance, etc. and that is how all those components (aerobic, anaerbic, stamina, flexibility, etc) are developed, as well as all the muscle groups. :)
Well, there is no strict minimum, but with regards to strength training, I believe that the minimum for noticeable results is 2-3 times per week, at least 2-3 months in a streak. Anything below that is rather inefficient because you need some consistency in order to get in a good strength training form and effectively reap the benefits.
Thank you for sharing the example about the benefits of gym training for yoga. Yes, I agree that for ordinary people it is the best to engage in different types of workouts and change them every couple of months or years. Cross-training is often practiced even by professional athletes. : )
I am trying to reduce weight. It is the toughest task in life. It is so easy to gain. I am able to control from Monday to Friday but gain back in weekend. Need to stop going to parties!
Losing weight is never easy. I believe that the key is to reduce greasy food, sweets, and juices, as well as to train at least 3 times per week. Of course, alcohol doesn't help neither. : )
wash your teeth before going to party, so its less probably to eat there :D!!!
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The goal is to know your strength and endurance level.
Nice piece. Thanks for the insight.
Thank you for reading! : )
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They often are. Well written and researched piece. I love getting biofeedback at the end of the day to better suit every human's goal and ability. :)
Thank you! : )