what do you women do for weight training routines?

[someoneunlikeyo]

do you use the wwb routines? or is there something better you think?

can you please give an example of one you think would be good for a female begginner. Also a routine that isnt focused on muscle building but rather toning, therefore fat burning and trimming.

The female is also is fairly good shape... well looks good anyway. its not that she needs to lose 50 lbs or anything, if you know what i mean.

thank you so much in advance

[nhlfan]

wow, a quadruple post.

wbb is a good routine for pretty much any beginner who doesnt have a disability or injury imo.

a routine itself shouldnt be the focus of fat burning. a cutting routine should focus on taxing the muscles enough to encourage the body to keep them while shedding fat because of a calorie deficit

[Built]

Oh dear God toning ... <fumes>

There's no such thing. If she's fat, she'll have to diet and lift heavy to cut, just like everybody else.

[bloodninja]

You have angered Built with your toning comments, there is no help for you now.

[toki]

I would say lessen the amount of upper body that you would generally see on a program for a male and keep the lower body work the same.

but obviously diet is really the keystone to any body change.

[LouPac]

The females lift the little pink dumbbells and do lots of tricep kickbacks.

[ShockBoxer]

Most of the ones I see do, anyways. Except for one woman whose back puts mine to shame who I see curling 30lb dbs for minutes straight at a time.

My girlfriend does front squats with her dumbells (nice adjustible dbs that I envy). Her sense of balance destroys mine.

[jkirkpatrick]

My GF does everything I do, including barbell rows, barbell squats, deadlifts, SLDL, bench, military. You name it, she does it. Muscle is muscle.

[Skinny Fat]

My girlfriend's routine:

Back squat
Deadlift
DB Bench
DB OH Press
Pull-ups
Row

[intargc]

Oh dear God toning ... <fumes>

There's no such thing. If she's fat, she'll have to diet and lift heavy to cut, just like everybody else.

Why do people on this site get so upset when someone uses this word? It's kind of elitist if you ask me... Not everyone understands bodybuilding or training verbage and use words such as the above to explain what they're trying to do.

I mean, I'm a Software Engineer... I don't get all upset when someone says they "Programmed their computer" when all they really did was install Microsoft Windows and tweak a few settings. It's just a way of saying something. Or better yet, people who say they "Programmed their VCR". The person who bought the VCR didn't program it. They simply set it up to work correctly... But, when somebody says this to me, I know exactly what they meant. I don't get fussy with them for their lack of techical lingo.

I think what you have mentioned is what people are saying, Built. They want to lose some fat and have a little more muscle show through. To not be as flabby/jiggly. At least, when I ask someone to elaborate on what they mean by "toned", that's the definition I get from them...

Normal every day people don't want ripped bodies. They want to "tone" up. Toning up to normal everyday people just simply means to get a toned look such as not having saggy skin, jiggly arms, etc... This simply means reducing their fat and adding some muscle to firm or "tone" the body up.

Now, their insight on how to achieve this goal may be back-asswards, but who cares how they declare what they want to achieve, as long as their definition is correct?

[RedSpikeyThing]

I would say lessen the amount of upper body that you would generally see on a program for a male and keep the lower body work the same.

Why is that? Most men should be training about 50/50 upper/lower anyways.

[jkirkpatrick]

Why do people on this site get so upset when someone uses this word? ... what they want to achieve, as long as their definition is correct?

You are right to an extent. I think the collective groan is because the original poster has over 302 posts and with 302 posts, there is a certain understanding that is assumed (i.e. "toned" versus tonus, etc).

If the OP had only 5 posts, or something along those lines, then there would be a different response.

[Vapour Trails]

My GF uses a fullbody workout that I came up with.

ATF Squats 3 sets
Bench 3 sets
Rows or chins 3 sets
OH press 3 sets
Bis/tris (one set each)
Misc. ab work.

I tell her occasionally to replace squats with DLs, chins with rows etc.

[MixmasterNash]

Because the concept of toning is intrinsically related to dumb weightlifting concepts (high rep ab work to lose your gut in 10 days!), and as such, is actually detrimental to healthy improvement.

[Built]

I would say lessen the amount of upper body that you would generally see on a program for a male and keep the lower body work the same.

How odd.

toki, what's your reasoning for this?

[malkore]

My GF does everything I do, including barbell rows, barbell squats, deadlifts, SLDL, bench, military. You name it, she does it. Muscle is muscle.

ditto, except its my wife. in 2 months she's dropped 26 lbs, 7-8% bodyfat, and gained a couple pounds of lean muscle, by lifting exactly like I do, but with weight suitable to her level.

[intargc]

Because the concept of toning is intrinsically related to dumb weightlifting concepts (high rep ab work to lose your gut in 10 days!), and as such, is actually detrimental to healthy improvement.

Ok, that makes sense...

I just generally always ask because, you're right... people do relate the two. Or, some people think that you can simply "tone up" magically without losing fat or gaining muscle... But, the idea is to provide them with the correct idea for their definition of toning... Again, if their definition is right, why should it matter how they declare it?

For instance, my sister asked me about a routine once and I said "What are you goals?" and she said "I just want to tone up and be healthy!" and I said "What is your definition of toning up?" and she simply said "Lose some of this jiggle in my arms and butt!" Which, makes sense to me. If it doesn't wiggle/jiggle anymore and it's tighter and muscular, it's definitely "toned".

I just think overall that people say "toned" because they don't want to look "big" or "ripped". They just want to look in-shape.

[Built]

People need to learn how to ask for what they want.

If they ask for something that doesn't exist, they'll get advice that won't work.

[intargc]

People need to learn how to ask for what they want.

If they ask for something that doesn't exist, they'll get advice that won't work.

I'm willing to bet a lot of money that you don't know how to ask for some things that you want, MariAnne. You may be less informed in some areas than you are in others.

But, honestly... How does "toning" not exist? You're saying you can't tone up your body? To tone is to strengthen and tighten. If you lose fat, gain muscle and thefore, let's say, your arms are tighter/stronger than before, are you not more tone?

[Built]

You are quite correct.

I am patently incapable of asking for the haircut I want. I now simply go to a hairdresser and pray.

There is a rumour mill out there that makes a LOT of money off women's collective ignorance of how recomposition works.

It plays off our collective fear of looking like the jacked BB we see in muscle mags.

Toning to the lay person implies a firmer look with no concurrant increase in strength or size. Considering most fashion models are considered "toned", and usually run roughly 30% bodyfat, toned really means "firm skin on a skinny fat body"

Neat trick.

[Focused70]

*leans back and watches Built work people over*

[jkirkpatrick]

<lights a match>

[toki]

How odd.

toki, what's your reasoning for this?

I probably should have been a little more clear, but I meant total volume of upper body lessened, total volume of lower body kept the same. Because of the naturally lower ability to produce test/synthesize muscle I would think dropping volume off the upper body where, in my opinion, girls should be worrying less would reduce the risk of burning herself out or over training.

Most girls just trying to "look nice" I don't think need really great gains in their upper body to look how they want, however the legs are another thing. It just seems like the rate of progression for lower body vs upper body for what most girls think looks good is not 50/50, and training should follow suit.

reading over the original post again though, I realize the girl is trying to lose fat. In that case, I would say equal training is fine as long it's all heavy for the sake of maintaining muscle.

But, I'm also not a girl or anywhere near an expert on the subject. I won't be offended if you set me straight

[someoneunlikeyo]

I apologize for using the word toned, it is something women use to describe the body they want. the girls now know the difference and know they have to lift hard.

thanks for all the advice everyone

ATF Squats 3 sets
Bench 3 sets
Rows or chins 3 sets
OH press 3 sets
Bis/tris (one set each)
Misc. ab work.

occasionally replace squats with DLs, chins with rows etc.

this little routine seems like a good start off point to get the feel for everything. should they split this wrokout into twice a week? or do this all on one day on sunday? maybe i shold give them something alittle harder then this?

[intargc]

You are quite correct.

I am patently incapable of asking for the haircut I want. I now simply go to a hairdresser and pray.

There is a rumour mill out there that makes a LOT of money off women's collective ignorance of how recomposition works.

It plays off our collective fear of looking like the jacked BB we see in muscle mags.

Toning to the lay person implies a firmer look with no concurrant increase in strength or size. Considering most fashion models are considered "toned", and usually run roughly 30% bodyfat, toned really means "firm skin on a skinny fat body"

Neat trick.

I will completely agree with you there.

However, to say that "toned" doesn't exist is just simply not true. I've read many times on this forum that "there is no such thing" and yet there is. It's just a way to describe what most people want with their bodies. They don't want "ripped", "huge", "bulky" bodies... They just want to drop some bodyfat and have some muscle definition. At least, that's what the majority of the people I have talked to consider it to be and what I have always defined it as.

However, again, I agree with you, MariAnne. I have asked some people to define what they considered "tone" to be and they would point out either someone that was completely anorexic or a supermodel that is just skinnyfat. In those cases I just look at them and say "That's easy. Starve yourself. For added effect, run at least 1 hour a day."