THE BIGGEST MISTAKE WOMEN ARE MAKING IN THE GYM

There was a time when I would hear women say, “I am intimidated by the weights”. While I am sure there is still a percentage of women who feel this way, a lot more women are using weight training to achieve the fitness and bodies they want.

However, I have been noticing something that is slowing these women down. In a lot of cases even taking them far away from their goals.

This has to be the biggest mistake women are making in the gym – They are TRAINING LIKE MEN!!

And no, I am not being sexist here. A lot of women are training with their male partners, using the same program as them. Why is this the biggest mistake women are making in the gym? Let me explain.

There are some basics about weight training that apply to women as well as men. But there are also some significant differences.

1) Women respond differently than men to fat loss training programs

Men lose more weight and fat than women do using cardiovascular/aerobic training alone. So women who rely mainly on the treadmill to lose fat are hurting their progress. I have personally seen this with women clients who in the past did a lot of cardio to lose weight. They get to a plateau very soon and after a point start to gain the weight back!

Women get better results using a balance of progressive weight training along with interval training for fat loss.

2) Women use more fat during weight training than men

Women’s metabolisms are different than men. While men use more carbs during weight training, women use fat as fuel. So while men can drink carbohydrates during training (depending on their insulin-sensitivity, type of training, type of carbs, etc.), women would only hurt their fat loss using such drinks.

Also, women deplete less carbs during their weight training. This means they don’t need as many carbs post-workout compared to men.

3) Women recover faster than men  

Women with  experience in weight training recover faster than men during a workout. Depending on other training variables like number of sets, reps and goal of the program, women are able to rest less than men between sets with minimal loss in strength.

So while men may need to rest 1 – 1.5 minutes between sets, women can get better results using 30 – 60 seconds.

So there you have it. The biggest mistake women are making in the gym is training like men!!