To get stronger ladies, you gotta lift real weight

This subject has been covered to death. For a refresher, see here, here, here, here, or here. Suffice it to say that we believe that the best use of a woman’s time in the gym is to lift heavy weights and train with high intensity. Unfortunately, a lot of ladies still think that hitting the treadmill, followed by some tricep kickbacks is the ideal workout. No amount of reasoning seems enough to convince them that those “long, lean, toned” muscles they are looking for are made by lifting weights, not running like a hamster. So, we thought we would take a different approach in this post, by appealing to their sense of self-esteem. Which brings us to Jack.

Jack is three-and-half years old and weighs about thirty five pounds. His mom trains with us, and she brought him to the gym yesterday. Since she had to concentrate on her training, we put him in daycare. FiveX3 style:

Jack hit a set of five push presses, with three-pound dumbbells, followed by (bumper) plate carries for distance, and finished with reverse sled drags. He was ready for more, but we had to stop so he wouldn’t miss his snack time. Now, when you see a three-year-old “training” like this, does it seem reasonable that a full-grown woman would lift the same blue neoprene-coated dumbbells as him? We don’t think so, but you see this at gyms everywhere. Ladies lifting baby weights and logging entirely too many hours on cardio machines. The result, unfortunately, is not those “long, lean, toned” muscles, but rather more of the same. Since that method does not work, try something different. Ditch the treadmill, lift heavy things, and train with intensity. If Jack can do it, you can too.

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