Muscle Fitness Muscle & Fitness UK - April 2018 | Page 87

BY STEPHEN BOX & LAURA BAKER, TEAM BOX ONLINE COMP PREP COACHES
COUPLES WHO TRAIN,
REMAIN!
Of course, there are the obvious
differences in the area of the physique
we tend to focus on. Ladies tend to
focus their attention on building bigger
glutes and shapely legs, whereas guys
tend to concentrate on building a
bigger chest and arms. But, does that
mean we need a completely different
training split, with completely different
set and rep ranges?
Whichever body part we’re looking
at, note the goal here is the same -
to build. Yet we often see men and
women approach training in very
different ways.
When it comes to the way our
muscles work, men and women are
both exactly the same. Muscles will
get bigger and stronger from applying
more mechanical tension or load, over
time. Which means ladies, that
bodyweight HIIT workouts might not
be the best way to grow your glutes,
and guys, training with your ego and
going too heavy on those lifts could
mean you’re losing tension. Whether
you’re male or female, to see a muscle
grow, it needs to be kept under
constant tension throughout a lift,
with a reasonable amount of load.
In terms of your training programme,
of course, it makes sense to pay more
attention to the body parts you want
to develop but that doesn’t mean
ladies need a specific glute day each
week, and guys you don’t need a whole
session dedicated to chest either.
We’ve put together an example
5 day a week training split for both
men and women so you can see the
days where you could get a session
in together (Friday and Saturday).
On these days you could train
together. Start with 1-2 chest exercises
before moving on to shoulders, back
and arms (guys you’ll still be getting
plenty of chest volume as most of the
chest work for the guys would have
been done on the ‘push’ session).
On the lower body session, you can
include a glute-focused exercise such
as the hip thrust (ladies you might
need to show your guy how these
are done), as they will certainly
benefit a guys training regime. Follow
this up with some heavy squats (ladies
take advantage of having a good spot),
then move onto hamstrings for the
bulk of the session.
W
HEN IT COMES TO
training, there are
more similarities
between men and
women than you’d think.
Guys and girls often have different training
programmes but is it really necessary to head
off into different areas, or could you actually
benefit from doing the same workout?
APRIL 2018 / MUSCLE & FITNESS
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