Muscle Fitness Muscle & Fitness UK - April 2018 | Page 88

HERS COUPLES WHO TRAIN REMAIN

Female 5 day a week programme

Male 5 day a week programme

PHOTO CREDIT: ALEX WHIGHTMAN

There are however some key differences between the sexes and the main one is hip anatomy. With any exercise, you should have the machine or equipment set up so that it’ s suitable for you. You want to keep the muscle under tension throughout the lift, which means your range of motion might be slightly different. Full range of motion shouldn’ t just be“ you have to squat ass to grass”, or“ the bar has to touch your chest”. Everyone has slight differences in muscle structure, flexibility and limb length. This means some people can perform a lift with a greater range than others while that muscle is still doing the work. If you are just focusing on moving a weight from A to B then other muscles will start to do the work as your body just wants to find the easiest way of doing something.

Also, generally speaking ladies have a higher threshold for work and volume in a session- they are able to repeat an exercise with the same load with a shorter rest period than a guy, along with being able to train a muscle group more frequently. As guys typically lift with greater loads( relative to body weight), there is a higher amount of stress placed on the central nervous system which means they may need longer rest periods.

What the guys can learn from the girls:

Based on our experience with clients, we’ ve noticed the ladies tend to focus a lot more on muscle activation. They are keen to learn about how the muscle works and they regularly ask for an activation warm-up routine( we’ ve never really had a request from a male client to“ get those glutes firing”). Of course this shouldn’ t be done at the sacrifice of some heavy lifting, but taking an interest in using the muscle you want to work, making sure it is activated at the beginning of the movement, and maintaining tension, will certainly help bring up those weaker areas.

Females also tend to be more concerned about their flexibility and keeping their body in good working order. Ladies tend to spend that little bit longer foam rolling, stretching and performing a warm-up. Again, this is another great lesson guys can benefit from … because if your mobility starts to suffer then you not only run the risk of injury, but also of decreasing your range of motion when you are training.

What the girls can learn from the guys:

Lifting heavy would most likely be the biggest thing ladies can learn, not fearing to push out of that comfort zone by putting those weights up. Not worrying about if you fail and recognising that a little bit of aggression isn’ t a bad thing in the gym.

Also, a lot of guys love to flex in the mirror. Whether they like to admit it publicly or not, all guys will flex their biceps and bounce their pecs when no one’ s looking. Learning how to flex each of your muscles will help you build a stronger mind-muscle connection, and will certainly help when it comes to activating them and keeping tension on during training.

So, should you train together? We’ ll often hit the gym together! Training with your partner can be a fun activity and can really help to take you out of your usual comfort zone. That being said, we fully appreciate that sometimes the gym can be your little bit of space, or a chance to get away from each other! But on those days you do fancy doing something together, you don’ t need to ditch your plan. There are plenty to exercises that would work great for both of you and will help you both reach your goals. Instagram: @ stephenbox Instagram: @ girlgainzblog

86 MUSCLE & FITNESS / APRIL 2018