Please help my wife.

[ASTINWES]

My wife has started to go to the gym with me, she enjoys it, and its something we can do together. Well, she mainly does cardio (about 45min.) and some light free weights. A trainer at the gym told her she was wasting her time doing cardio, that she wouldn't loose fat that way. Well anyways, she got a little discouraged and asked me to show her what to do. I don't know a lot about female workout routines for loosing fat and firming up.

Can anyone tell me what a good beginners workout would be, with some cardio. Like how many sets and what type workouts.

She is about 5' 6", 135lbs. Any help would be appreciated.

[mooshue]

Just about every "Gym Employed Trainer" is a fuckin joke. Dont take to much of what they say to heart.

Too much cardio can be counter productive, i doubt she is doing too much.

Just look through the members workout routine section, or look for any post by itallian angel, she will set you straight.

[wildstang]

the trainer at the gym as mooshue put it....aint worth a crap. period! cardio and diet are the 2 main keys to losing fat.
let me re-edit this b4 i start a flame war here about gym trainers. this one in particular isnt worth a crap but you will find some good ones in gyms 2 also. ive never ever considered myself a trainer but i have trained a few people in my 20 plus years in the gym. just depends on time 4 me and the desire of the trainee.

[ASTINWES]

the trainer was really pushing their program and trying to get her to buy their services.

[mooshue]

Originally Posted by ASTINWES

the trainer was really pushing their program and trying to get her to buy their services.

yea, thats what their main job is, to reel in the people who will buy the services, use the newbie trainer who isnt paying attention to you for a few weeks, then bail and continue paying the services without using them. They are like car salesmen who got a certificate that allows them to show you how to use machines in their gym.

Dont get me wrong, there are great trainers out there, that is just the typical trainer and especially the trainer who is employed at the gym from what i see on a daily basis.

[tooncesthecat]

Have her browse here at EF, esp Italianangel's threads. Also check this link for women at bodybuilding.com

Bodybuilding.com - 2008 Women's Super Feature.

[Belsicilia]

Hey just thought I would add my 2 cents. I've been training quite awhile now, and as a woman i can relate to your wife's situation, and I can surely attest to the benefits of intense weight training. If your wife really gets into it, she can really see major changes to her physique. However baby steps first.

So when I started I did 3 full body workkouts a week, and a 4th day in the gym was cardio only. Now I do a 5 day split,

I would suggest 2 sets for each exercise, and 1-2 excercises per body part. Also doing circuits is great because you incorporate some cardio because your moving from one exercise to another with little to no rest. That really helped me burn the fat. BUT remember DIET and nutrition is A HUGE part of the fat loss equation. So she MUST, MUST eat clean, several times per day and get the right nutrient ratios. Otherwise all those hours of hard work in the gym won't get noticed. Hope this helps. If she has further questions, she can message me , I'd love to help

Oh ya, I used to be one of those gym trainers. Some of us did know a thing or two, and got people results

[torofuerte]

ASTINWES,

My g/f had the same predicament at the beginning - she did lots and lots of cardio despite the fact of her being just 100lbs at 5'2". She just didn't know what to do.

The fact is that weight training is no different for men and women. The is no such thing as toning or losing fat or firming up that is inherently different from men and women.

The first thing is education: I strongly recommend that she gets into reading Oxygen magazine. It's going to take something for her to digest the information and develop the confidence to know what to do on her own (this is the same for all men and women when they start up.) Oxygen is a really valuable source of weight training information for women.

I also suggest she gets

Monica Brant's Secrets to Staying Fit and Loving...
Monica Brant's Secrets to Staying Fit and Loving...

as well as

The New Rules of Lifting for Women: Lift Like a...
The New Rules of Lifting for Women: Lift Like a...

(my g/f and I own both books, I highly recommend them.)

These two books explain the principles of lifting, how many reps, what exercises, what to eat, etc. I also recommend that she takes the time to not only read those books (she must), but also to go through this website (specific for women and lifting):

Women's Weight Training

As she digest the information, she needs to get familiar with dumbbells and small barbells (the 20-30lbs variety). Lunges, barbell rows, standing military presses (even if only with 2lbs pink dumbbells) and push ups should be the order of the day.

I skip mention of squats and bench press because these are technical lifts and she needs to feel confident about doing these exercises by herself (my g/f still does not like to deadlift, squat or bench press without me being present to coach her... working with weights alone is a big barrier for women when they start - this is also covered in the second book I mentioned.) I am not saying that she will never do them, but simply to concentrate on the other lifts while she gains confidence in doing them by herself.

The next barrier that she needs to break is to abandon the "I cannot do it" mentality with some exercises. Push ups for instance. Women abandon the idea because they can't do many reps and usually have to do them on their knees. It doesn't matter. What matters is the effort. If she cannot do more than 2 reps per set, that's fine. Take 15 seconds break and try again, and again and again. Which leads to the following:

Many men and women do not push themselves hard enough. The key for changing one's physique is in breaking barriers (safely of course.) It takes hard effort, and time, which leads to the next point.

Time. It takes time for results to occur. There is no way around it. So as your wife begins to learn about weight training, she needs to keep it in her mind that changes occur in 6-month, 1 year, 18 months and 2-year periods. That's the reality, for men and women. She needs to look at this as a long-term project. Which leads me to the next:

She is 5'6", 135lbs. According to this chart by the Clarck State Community College, she's within proper weight range if she is small framed (and slightly underweight if she is medium or large frame):

Clark State - Weight Charts

So, it is hard to know or say over the internet precisely what she needs to do. I'd go out of a limb however and suggest that she concentrates on weight training as if she wants to develop muscle and tweak the workout and diet as she goes along with her training. Moreover, I would strongly suggest to concentrate on the lower body. Lower body is what drives weight loss, muscle mass, strenght, etc on the entire body. In other words, lunges, lunges and more lunges.

I don't know if all wrote makes any sense, but I hope it can be of any help.

This is what my g/f does when she doesn't get a chance to work much. It is a template that basically can be expanded into more complex routines as well as serving as a starting point (and as mentioned, as a quick routine when life is hectic):

1. push ups (4 sets to failure with little breaks in between - doesn't matter she can only do 1 rep in the last set, what matters is the effort.) 4 of such sets make up one set.

2. dumbbell swings (just as kettlebell swings), 20 reps as fast as possible (with two 10lbs baby blue dumbbells:P)

3. barbell rows (two 10lbs plates on a 10lbs ez-bar == 30lbs) reps to failure.


The three exercises above are done in a circuit, one after the other with 2-minute breaks in between, 3 to 4 of those circuits. Completion time: about 10 to 15 minutes.

When we have more time to workout out, we use that workout as a warm up (toned down a bit and cut the time in half) followed by deadlifts (heavy, sometimes going to all the way up to 2RM or 1RM, never more than 6 reps per set), lunges (15-20 reps per set), assisted pull ups, more push ups (sometimes using a ball under her, akin to board presses), very little isolation work on biceps or triceps, and some plyometrics.

She's now at 105-108lbs (very little change in weight), but she has had to change her wardrobe twice as she has gained size and definition, specially on her legs and hips (which is what she wanted).

My two cents.

[orientalkid]

If she is really hitting the weights (which i strongly encourage her to do so), it is extremely important that she use a weight that can allow her to do no more 15 reps for any bodypart and the reps must be challanging towards the last few reps, otherwise she would really be "wasting her time"

[Italianangel]

And if all else above mentioned fails, send her my way!
Linda

[FitnessStrengthTraining]

Cardio does help to lose weight with a good diet. Weights are the other part of the equation too. - tell her to not give up on her cardio!