Plus 3 Things Men Need to Learn From Women
Doubtable practices
Occasionally, common mistakes are made in the gym by both men and women with more current trends in female body training specifically raising questions. To begin with, one must be amazed by the faithful promoter of the laughable things women do in the name of workout, for example, those that are mainly consisting of jumping and pseudo-plyometric drills.
There are so many them (laughable workouts); others see women perform triceps kickbacks, dumbbell presses that are done while standing on a BOSU balance trainer (this is type of a drill that relies on balance), and movements that involve numerous tasks such as light dumbbell lunges and then pressing overhead after each lunge.
Workouts that are time-wasting
Men tend to stress on exercises and workouts that have been successfully used by physique athletes for years, with the likes of pull-ups, rows, squats, dips, various types of presses, deadlifts, and direct workout for abs, calves, and arms.
Women, on the contrary, mainly focus on high skill and/or balance movements. The requirement of these movements is so technical that they cannot be sufficiently loaded to have a positive impact on hypertrophy or strength to any important extent. A good example is when women non-sequentially lunge and overhead press, while using light dumbbells that don’t have the capability to create enough challenge during the lunging part of the workout.
Another example is the BOSU presses. Standing on unstable surface denies an individual the ability to use heavy weights that have the capability to challenge the target muscle.
When the objective of the workout is to get leaner, stronger, or more muscular, then one must engage in an exercise that allows them to perform a noticeable amount of work.
If an exercise to some extent restricts or eliminates the amount of work performed, then it’s a below par and useless form of exercise in the case of strength and muscular development.
Working exercises and Non-working exercises
Weight training exercises and workouts characterized by moving a significantly large load over a noticeably great distance with much safety, work best for both male and female lifters.
The barbell squat and the deadlift have been recommended by different strength athletes and coaches for years as they have the characteristic of weight training mentioned above. The dips and pull-ups are referred to as the upper-body squat.
These four exercises, allow for the safe movement of large load over a large distance. Also, the movement as a result of these exercises simultaneously challenge a large number of muscles.
Compare these exercises to what we have seen some women perform, in person and on social media:
- Bulgarian split squat that is done with the rear foot in the stirrup of a suspension trainer during the same time simultaneously pressing two light dumbbells after completing each repetition.
- A squat/twisting lunge combo that is also done with light weights for very high repetitions.
- A Burpee/pull-up combo that is done by a woman showing a lot of effort but is not strong enough to perform a single proper pull-up or push-up.
- Performing squats with the knees and feet together. This poses great danger due to its instability nature.
What makes many women train like this anyway?
The question is, why do women ignore the fact that to make progress, one has to move a significantly big load over a large distance?
There is a likelihood that women learn these techniques from renown fitness coaches or some physique competitors. Which brings us to the question, where did these fitness coaches or some physique competitors come up with such shady ideas?
Let us talk about it:
- Thought of appearing like males
There is a thought and underlying belief that most commonly practiced resistance training techniques – those that actually work – will end up masculinizing females. This is if its particularly done by lifting heavy weights.
An assumption is made that if an individual does what other people do then they will get the same results other people got. This is a poor assumption as people possess different genetics while other people might be taking different drugs as well.
When females see the physique of heavy weight lifters and strength athletes it prevents them from lifting weights just like those women. This is a mistake of correlation for causation.
2. Not listening to good trainers
This is a case of battle of wills. Many clients have their own perspectives on how and what they think they should engage in. Fitness trainers have their own thoughts as well. Funny enough, most trainers end up resting to their client’s unwise wishes without opposition instead of taking a professional stand and sticking to good and wise decision making.
3. Overestimation of the energy spent on exercise done
This is a mistake made by both males and females. An assumption is made that very strenuous exercises such as jumping drills burn a lot of calories. Per unit time, these drills do burn more calories than other drills, but here is the problem with this notion:
- These drills are short lived and, therefore, cannot rack up much of calorie burn
- Most of these drills, particularly jumping, are risky. We seek to acquire a low risk but high benefit drill. These drills are of low benefit and high risk making them dangerous and counterproductive.
- These exercise have negligent effect in building muscle and strength, therefore, they are good for nothing.
4. Running away from monotony
Very effective training is monotonous. Most commercial exercise programs are based on high extent of variety such as the P90X. If comparisons are made, most successful weightlifting programs tend to be boring and monotonous.
5. Sticking to what seems easy
Women’s training shows a tendency of conducting what they are good at. This is in the form of endurance, complexity, and mobility workouts. They tend to stick to this.
6. Uninterested trainers
It has been observed that male trainers tend to give male clients legitimate and effective exercise right from chins, barbell squats, military presses, RDL’s, and so forth.
When it comes to female clients, all they get is soft, light and ineffective exercises. This is the form of few minutes on the bike, foam rolling, sumo squats with a light kettlebell, walks with an elastic band around the knees, a few sets of light glute bridges and a few lateral raises.
These female exercises are also characteristic of inadequate load and too much time spent on low-payoff preparatory activities.
These trainers give out genuine enthusiasm when training male clients and less interest in female training. They simply don’t value most of their female clients.
Three things to learn from women’s training
Men mainly focus on bar weight giving less attention on the quality of movement, range of motion, and the link between mind and muscle. Men always place priority on quantity over quality which often harm them, women do not.
Men have ego in the gym. They want to push through pain in most unwanted and stupid ways which is often risky and dangerous. Women never push through pain.
Men tend to think that they know how to lift even when they know nothing. Women on the other hand, portray themselves as amateurs and novices even when they are relatively knowledgeable. This makes women more open to learning which is a good thing that men should take into consideration.