Women are capable of performing any fitness routine a man can do. That’s obvious. But, sometimes personal trainers and fitness media outlets like to frame females as if they are incapable of doing, or should not be doing, the same types of exercises a man should. Now, I understand that women and men, on the whole, tend to have different goals, but I don’t think it’s really necessary to completely overhaul the tenants of what effective training is to achieve these goals.
Any trainer who follows the universal concepts of progressive overload and tailors their program to meet the goals of the client using evidence based methodology will most definitely see positive outcomes for both men and women, no major alterations needed based on gender. There is no need to avoid like the plague perfectly good exercises, cues or any programming concepts purely based on somebody’s gender.
It’s almost disrespectful the way some magazines, late night infomercials and celebrity trainers (the list goes on) think they can get away with when marketing towards females. Look at this ACTUAL photo from a piece written by Charlize Theron’s personal trainer in SHAPE magazine:
Stupidity...
I think that this made it through the editor’s desk at SHAPE, an outlet that believes that women should “live in the fit mindset…” and “get stronger, healthier and more confident” shows what is acceptable in today’s fitness marketing towards women. Not only is the information itself completely asinine, but her reasoning is inferring that muscles can grow “wide” and thus “more masculine” begs the reader to ignore the rules of anatomy and physiology in favor of their much more pragmatic (sarcasm) and logical (sarcasm again) “don’t look like a man” fear tactics. "...oh yea, and remember ladies, lift anything heavier than your purse and you’ll end up looking like Terminator (sarcasm one more time and not actually from SHAPE either)."
What some in the fitness industry have done is ride the narrative that if women dare lift “like a man” they will become manly/gross/awful/disgusting. This is simply untrue. Women can and should lift heavy weights, without fear of looking like a man. Muscle size in women and men is dependent on factors like body type, training history, caloric intake (calories in vs calories out), training programming (are you performing at an intensity, frequency and volume meant to prioritize muscle growth?) and most importantly physiology (women produce far less free testosterone than men, an ENORMOUS contributor to muscle growth). These all contribute to how much muscle hypertrophy (or size) they can expect with a given training routine.
Believe it or not, it is not easy to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger. I’m not sure where some people get this from (maybe SHAPE), but it takes an incredibly large diet and perfect genetic makeup for someone to look like the freak they think they will become with regular exercise. I have known men that have eaten half a cow a day, an entire chicken coup, and all of the eggs produced by the chickens within that coup in a week and still feel small. This is a problem in its own right (see body dysmorphic disorder and it's subtype: muscle dysmorphia)(Phillips, 2009).
Usually female clients love the way they look following a few weeks of hard exercise, even though they would have sworn to me that they only wanted to tone up and keep muscle building to a minimum prior to beginning the program. Many times you will see a female gain weight and look visibly smaller. Muscle is denser and more compact. So ten pounds of fat is much fluffier than 10 pounds of muscle. With this being said, I think when women realize that they look strong and fit, they tend to put the “muscles are for boys” and "I don't want to be big" mentality to the wayside.
With all of these factors contributing to one’s response to starting a workout routine, how do you know if you should start exercising? That was a trick question… you always should! What I think Charlize’s trainer, amongst many others, is doing is creating a stigma about the powerful female being something that should be avoided or worked around.
A woman, or anyone else for that matter, should not be afraid to enter into any physical venture (whether it be training to be able to play with your kids, complete a Tough Mudder or finally feel comfortable in the “boy’s section” of the gym) with nothing holding you back. There will always be that invisible standard that we all can’t reach but that is fine, because your goals are exactly that… YOUR goals. Achieve them and ignore the fear mongering tactics of those trying to mislead you into thinking that you will become something you hate if you work out. Look for support through friends, family, trainers and communities that can provide you with the guidance and support you deserve in the process!