Good routine for a woman?

[supertech69]

Can some of you fine ladies recommend a workout routine for my girlfriend. She is & has been on one for 10 years. I developed her last one that she's been on for the past 6 months. She's got plenty of muscle now & would like to burn off the remainder of the fat & continue to tone. Basicaly she's trying to cut. She'll be taking 2mg Zambons ED. Her diet is on track for the most part, she's getting ready to cut a few more calories within the next couple weeks. How much cardio do you recommend & how often also, what weight training routine/rotation. I am naturally low in BF & am a hard gainer so I don't do any cardio & wont untill it's time to get ready for a contest. Besides, I can help most men & can get my body to do pretty much whatever I want but, a womans body, well that's a different story. She's gaining more muscle than she'd like on the one I have her on. Her stats are close to this but, I can't remember exactly I don't ask about them, she just tells me from time to time. 5'7" 135-140 I don't know her bf% but, it's not high. If it were BF% of a guy I'd guess around 12% I think hers may be 15% but, I'm not sure. She thanks you in advance for the advice.

 

[Sassy69]

BEEEFCAAAAAKE!

 

[supertech69]

ummm, I'm guessin that must be high & I'm not even close & that she'd probably smack me if she knew I guessed her at that huh? I told you I don't know for sure. She's definately not thick, just has a little bit of flab, that she can see more so than I. Her abs aren't ripped but, you can see the outline of them. Her ass is not jiggly & she has very little movement in the back of her thighs. I'm no good on guessing BF% she has a very wide back & a large rib cage. Arms are more muscular than the average woman. She's got a pretty tight body but, not as tight as she'd like I suppose. She's hot enough to get hit on by every fuck head in the gym on a daily basis. But, she goes home w/me every night & that's what matters!

 

[JLo]

She's 5'7'' 235 with a bf of 15% ?!?

LMAO!! I gotta see her! Maybe he meant 135.......

 

[supertech69]

Oh shit, now I know why you are all laughin! I meant 135. I passed it & the comments up several times. LOL C'mon you know what I mean. Any help please. I'm used to typing my stats. I'm going ot go fix that now.

 

[Gladiola]

She's hot enough to get hit on by every fuck head in the gym on a daily basis. But, she goes home w/me every night & that's what matters!

Awww
OK - so she doesn't want to gain strength or LBM, but maintain that & lose fat?

I recommend circuit training. Working one muscle group & supersetting with the opposing muscle group without rest. Benefits:
1. Saves time in the gym (hence more time for cardio AND a life)
2. Gets the HR up & burning more cals in a quicker time
2. A. That also means it's a nice endorphin/adrenaline rush
3. When working one muscle group - the opposing muscle group undergoes a passive stretch & then working the opposing muscle group helps disperse the lactic acid.

She can do circuit training 3X per week (each body part 1X), try cardio 3X per week for at least 60 min solid at a moderate intensity - maybe some HIIT cardio 1X per week.

Circuits:
Legs
chest/back
Arms (shoulder-bi-tri). ->Muscle & Fitness Hers magazine had some great samples.

I'm a fan of being conservative - don't cut cals too low (not worth risking losing LBM + trying to stick to a diet that's torture & not having energy), & start with 3-4 cardio w/o per week. Increase the cardio and/or decrease the cals once you it a plateau.

 

[supertech69]

Yeah, she get's real mean if her calories get too low anyways. She wasn't fun to be around when I first cut the majority of her carbs out. But, she was a major carb junkie, she's used to that now, just took a while. If you get time would you mind emailing me one of your workouts, i.e. - reps / exercises. I try but, it's hard for me since I'm all about bulking. I rep her out more than going heavy but, there are probably exercise that she wont want to do to avoid bulding in areas that are less desired by women.

 

[Gladiola]

Oh I know ALL about being mean when cals are too low! Do NOT make me wait to have my dinner!

Here's my split:
Mon: Legs
Tue: Back & rear delt
Wed: Totally off
Thur: chest & shoulders
Fri: bis & tris
->those are all 5:30 PM training sessions.
Also Tue: 6AM yoga & pilates mix class (I teach it).
Weekends: totally vary, teach some muscular endurance classes sometimes, random types of cardio - teach a step class sometimes, rollerblading, etc. Abs are left up to the yoga (intense stuff!) & when I do them when teaching or taking a class.

When I first started lifting years ago I learned from my sister (who happens to be VooDoo Lady on here! ) & she learned from her husband, who's been bodybuilding for years. I was taught to do 5 sets per exercise in the 8-10 rep range.

Then I got into fitness & teaching aerobics & learned that the American College of Sports Medicine (the "Grandaddy" of sports science) recommends *3* sets. I went down to 3, then after several months increased to 4. I usually stick with 4, sometimes only 3 if I've done some other exercises already. I aim for 8-12, even lower when I'm going heavy.

I'm a total free weight junkie - find them more fun, plus we all know they're better than equipment. I also like mixing things up - different planes of motion, etc. I do keep some consistency tho. I alternate heavy & moderate weeks & on that Friday workout I start with whichever muscle is heavy.

 

[Gladiola]

Exercises:

I don't know how much help I'll be - cuz I'm all about bulking too! But here it is:

I always do 5 min warm up of light intensity on some cardio equip, one very light warm-up set (50%-75% of what I'll use for set 1), then stretch, then go. I always stretch b/t sets too.

Legs:
usually start with squats - but after 3 months decided to change - now lunges are 1st (step, lunge, return).
I usually do 4 exercises total mixing up:
SLDL
Hack squat
curl
extension
-> I would do press but I just don't like the machine at the gym where I'm usually training. Going to learn cleans tomorrow Might try Romanian DL, but I've always just found those awkward in the past.
-> I don't do calves cuz they're HUGE already from aerobics & just genetics.

Back:
Start with lat pull down or pull ups
Seated row on the cable or machine
one arm row/ lawnmower pull
dead row with barbell
stiff arm pull down on cable machine
shrugs (sometimes superset these with rows to save time)
seated bent over rear delt flies
-> usually 4 of those exercises altogether, sometimes 5.

Chest:
Usually lead with bench -flat
DB press - flat, incline or decline
occasionally incline BB press
flies - flat, or slight incline
decline push up - with bench or stability ball & plate on my back
cable crossover
-> pick 3
Shoulders:
military press with BB or DB
lateral raise
upright row
front raise
Arnold press
-> pick 3 usually

Arms:
Bi curls - supinating, incline, easy bar, rope on the cable machine (also supinating), hammer curls sometimes, supine laying on a bench w/ the cable machine, concentration curls
-> pick 3
Tris
diamond pushups
bar dips (I could do more than 10 bench dips with a 45# plate in my lap, so I moved to bar dips)
pull down & pronate with rope
pull down with bar
skull crushers
french presses
-> pick 3
---> will super set bis & tris every now & again too to save time.

I incorporate drop sets or negatives as the last set for a body part when it's the week to work that body part heavy.

As far as what she should not do heavy - that is definitely up to her body type & how she looks now. For example, I have thick legs & a sizable booty - so IF I didn't want mass (but I do!), I'd totally cut out SLDL & go lighter weight higher reps on the squats. But I'd still go heavy on tris - since it's a small muscle anyway & the size looks nice. I also like chest definition so I'd keep that heavy. I would eliminate shrugs if I wanted to be less "BRAWNY" (as a fellow aerobics instructor told me I was lookin' a few weeks ago), since my traps have some size to them. But that's all unique to my physique.

She should really be careful though not to purposefully create a muscular imbalance -> i.e. training chest & not back can lead to rounded shoulders, bad posture - pain, etc. So keep the balance.

Feel free to PM me any more Q's or just post back.

 

[supertech69]

Thank you Gladiola.

Any other suggestions/opinions?