Attention Women of MAP:

[Wolverine47]

My girlfriend has recently showed an interest in weight training to improve her shape. Seeing as how I have never been a girl that wants to "tone up" I have no idea what advice to give her. She is about 5 foot 3 110 lbs, and 18 years old. Can anyone give advice for a good routine and nutrition plan for her? She already does cardio 3 times a week, and has access to dumbbells and a standard bench. She wants to basically tone up and lose a little fat and get stronger without getting bulky. Thanks for any help you can offer. :confused:

[Blake_AE]

I'm not a woman so skip this if you wish.

You'll probably get a lecture on "toning" and its a fair reaction I think as the whole concept of "toning" as the fitness industry sells it, is crap.

Toning is a combination of building muscle, and losing fat. You hear a lot about "long lean muscle" as if there were methods of exercise to develop fat, blocky muscle. It's bunk.

Your girlfriend will only build big bulky muscles if she trains for years, specifically for hypertrophy, eats a LOT to support the growth, and if she is really lucky (if that was her goal.) Trust me, if building big bulky muscles was easy, there would be a lot more big freaky people out there. With good training and normal healthy eating, your girlfriend will simply increase her strength, drop some fat, and get more defined muscles. Toned, in other words.

I suggest she use a combination of higher rep and lighter weight work (12-15 reps) to work her muscular endurance, as well as low rep, heavier weight work (2-4 reps) to build maximum strength. The heavy work will not come into the program until she has gone through a month or two of general conditioning (10x3 works well) to allow her body to learn the motor patterns for most of the lifts, and to adapt to the specific strains of lifting.

No, this isn't a program, just some basic info. Likewise, this info applies to men and women. There really shouldn't be much variation in how a man or woman trains for the same goal. At least not at a beginner level.

[Gary]

Train like a strength athlete and eat wisely. Women just don't have the hormone levels to get really huge like guys, who don't find it that easy either. Drop the whole concept of toning, as far as body composition is concerned she only needs to worry about losing fat and keeping/gaining muscle. If she's eating a healthy diet (plenty of lean protein, lots of green veg, good fats and a few complex carbs first thing in the morning or pre/post exercise) which isn't an excessive amount of calories she wont grow big.

I like Blake _AE's suggestion of an introductory period, it's important to focus on getting a good form and being comfortable with the movements before attempting heavier lifts. Personally I'd keep the reps between 3 and 5 per set since once she's used to it since she's already doing cardio 3 times a week and should aim to be progresively increasing the weight she uses. Stick to compound movements and bear in mind that she can't spot reduce, so if she wants a slim waistline stay away from abdomen work like crunches. If she can, it would be good if she can do her existing cardio routine after weight training, that way she won't be exhausted for strength training but she will be tired for cardio.

If she's not comfortable with dropping the idea of 'toning' either call the strength training toning work, or ask her what toning is if it's not muscle gain/fat loss :D

[blessed_samurai]

You could always have her post here. Have her visit http://www.musclewithattitude.com/

[Frodocious]

She should train the same way men do. As others have said, it is incredibly difficult for women to bulk up due to a lack of testosterone.

Get her to check out http://www.stumptuous.com/cms/index.php for some excellent advice.

I would recommend getting her to set goals. Wanting to 'tone up' and 'lose some weight' are not really goals.

Get her to cut down on processed food, chocolate etc and aim for healthier options such as veggies and complex carbs, cut out fizzy drinks and replace them with water, green tea and fruit juice.

What cardio does she do at the moment? If it is long, slow treadmill type stuff try getting her to change to higher intensity intervals. Recent research has shown that these are much better for burning fat than long slow cardio, due to the increase in metabolism they produce.

When you say she has access to dumbbells, do you mean girly pink plastic ones or proper heavy, adjustable dumbbells? If she has decent ones get her to squat, deadlift, overhead press and row with them.

Looking at her weight and height, I would say that she doesn't need to lose any weight and if she starts lifting she may actually put weight on. This shouldn't worry her because muscle weighs more than fat, so if she starts to build muscle and 'tone up' her weight may increase a bit.