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I got this in an email and figured I'd share with everyone here. Thought it might be a great read and/or subject to discuss. "This email has nothing to do with Fiona and Shrek really (except that I think I sorta resemble Shrek and he is always on my mind ;-( ), But it does cover in-depth why women and men often fail in their workouts. Its because they are doing the same workouts and they really should train very differently. I even give you a starting workout program to follow. So, read on: You ever wonder why the weight loss industry rarely talks about the differences between men and women? Pretty much every book, program, workout, you name it, does nothing to address the differences between men and women. That is a huge mistake and it makes a difference in your ability to get results from diet and exercise. There are two things you must have to lose weight. Lower calories and hormonal balance. That last part about hormones is why understanding male a female metabolism is so critical. So I thought I would take some time in this email to help you understand some of the differences. Without this becoming a biochemistry lesson let me just say this. There are certain hormones in your body that make it more or less likely you will lose fat when calories are low and more or less likely you will gain fat when calories are high. The major hormone responsible for this is insulin. Estrogen, progesterone and testosterone all impact insulin. They also have an impact on other metabolic hormones like cortisol, adrenaline and thyroid hormone. The other thing about estrogen, progesterone and testosterone is that they interact with places all over the body including in your brain and fat cells. In other words, they indirectly impact body composition, mood, motivation, sleep etc. So here is a brief primer on these hormones for women: Estrogen makes the female body less likely to store fat and more likely to build muscle. But, at the same time it does make certain areas of the body more likely to hold on to fat. Namely the breasts, hips, butt and thighs. So the thing to know if you are a women is that when estrogen is around, you are more likely to stay lean, tight and be shaped like the female hourglass (or have a difficult time losing lower body fat) Progesterone opposes the impact of estrogen in many ways. It makes women more likely to store fat and more likely to lose muscle. But, like estrogen has a role to play in helping women keep the beautiful female shape. Progesterone blocks the action of cortisol (as does estrogen) and therefore it helps keep the female waist slim and trim. By the way, many men and women find this fact curious: progesterone levels in women are about the same as they are in men until after a woman ovulates. That is the time of the month when there is a major difference in progesterone levels between men and women. Kind of cool right? So as a woman, you can use this knowledge to your advantage. The week of menses and the week after menses is a time where estrogen dominates over progesterone. The 2 weeks before menses is when progesterone dominates. During menses is really a time when both hormones are low, even though estrogen is more dominant, and the female metabolism is a lot more like a man’s By the same token pregnancy is a time of high estrogen and progesterone. Perimenopause is a time of higher estrogen and lower progesterone (for most women) and menopause is a time of low estrogen and progesterone. When the female metabolism is confronted with loses in estrogen and progesterone the hourglass shape starts to give way to the apple shape. In other words, women start having a body shape more like a man. This same shift can happen with women when they are under extreme stress. Progesterone falls first and then estrogen next. This happens while stress hormones rise and testosterone is higher from a relative perspective. All this leads to female belly fat. L And here is a bit of the story for men. For men, it is really all about testosterone. Testosterone makes men more likely to burn fat and more likely to build muscle. It is, however, also one of the reasons men have thicker waists than women and store more fat there too. In healthy levels though, it also aids a man achieving a six-pack and avoiding man boobs. (see how hormones can have dual effects depending on the circumstance?) As men age, stress too much or gain fat their estrogen levels rise and their testosterone levels fall. This is why you can see men who not only have big bellies, but larger breasts as well. For men the trick is keeping testosterone levels healthy and that means doing things that release testosterone naturally, decrease stress and reduce estrogen exposure. Since fat tissue is a major source of estrogen in men, not gaining fat in the first place is critical. Why men and women should train differently. Now that we got that out of the way, lets talk about how men and women might want to train differently. When you exercise there are four things you want to try to achieve. We call them the Bs and Hs (breathless, burning, heavy and heat). Both men and women want to try to achieve all of these in their workouts, but some of these are more important for men versus women and vice versa. Men want to especially focus on the heavy effect first. This will assure adequate release of testosterone. But they also want enough HGH so they don’t just get strong and big, but also stay lean and fit. That means they will need the burn effect on occasion as well. So first the heavy, then the burn. The breathless and hot will come automatically if they stay true to these principles. The type of exercise that does this the best? Heavy weight training using compound exercises like squats, deadlifts, bench press and shoulder press and then adding one “burn-out” set at the end of each exercise. Here is an example workout for you guys: Squats using a 10RM (a weight you can do 10 times but not 11). 4 sets followed by 1 set of half the weight to failure (this set is done immediately after the 4th set of squats without taking a rest. This is known as a superset). Now repeat that same thing for bench, shoulder press, and deadlifts. This does not mean men can’t run or do cardiovascular based stuff, it just means they might not want to make that all they do or the dominant thing they do. Other things that assure men are getting adequate testosterone and HGH? Sleep, eating enough protein, adequate vitamin D levels, adequate zinc levels, adequate magnesium levels and keeping stress low. Now for the women For women. You don’t have the benefit of the testosterone kick, but you may be surprised to know you release a higher proportion of HGH relative to men in response to exercise. You also burn a higher percent of calories from fat during the workout compared to men (they get a better after-burn though). Which technique can help you take advantage of your HGH response? The burn. The other component that can help you amplify your fat burn is breathless. This means go for a little bit more burn and breathless in your workouts compared to men. The burn is tricky though. To get it just right you don’t want the weight too heavy or too light, but rather just right (remember Goldilocks?). If the weight is correct you should be feeling an intense burn in your muscles right around the 12th to 15th rep and should be unable to tolerate more than 20 reps (most women avoid this completely missing out on this effect). There is a special type of workout that is especially beneficial for women. We call it the 10-20-30 workout. It is 10 minutes of high intensity breathless type exercise. That is followed by 20 minutes of some serious burning activity. And finally a nice slow walk to lower cortisol and burn up all that fat you just released. Here is an example workout for you girls: 10 minutes of a callisthenic superset. Try 20 mountain climbers followed by 20 squat jumps. Try to get as many rounds or reps as possible in 10 minutes. Rest whenever you need to and then start again in the workout wherever you left off as soon as you are able. In other words, do it rest-based style (push until you can’t, rest until you can). Then do 20 minutes of the following. 12 squats, 12 push-ups, 12 shoulder press, 12 deadlift. Use a weight that is a 20-rep max for each exercise. Get as many rounds and reps as possible in 20 minutes pushing until you can’t, resting until you can. Then walk for 30 minutes. Done! See the difference? One more hint for women. If you really want to ramp up your fat loss results, tighten up on your diet and exercise approach during the times estrogen is at its lowest. That is the week before and during menses. You may find by doing things this way you amplify your results and can even targets your stubborn fat in the lower body. For the menopausal woman? Make a switch to a lower carb rather than a lower calorie diet and lift weights and do relaxing activities (like yoga, tai chi, walking and sex 😉 over lots of running. In other words, CHILL. This one shift may finally help you get results. I hope that was helpful? Let me know what you think."
Interesting. Very insightful and beneficial for all. I wonder how I can better use this along side the maximal strength work on the ARX's. From this article, I would assume using the ARX's more in circuit fashion with other higher rep exercises would be better than max effort work along with accessory work in terms of fat loss. I am curious if any ladies on the forum already train in a similar fashion, (Metabolic warm up, higher rep work, finishing in a similar fashion) and how they feel about the progress of their training.
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