07.06.05
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Q: Hi Joe, I
stumbled across your site today and read the article
on female strength training. Nice articles by the
way.
I am a female Olympic weightlifter
and have been competing/training for 16yrs. Your female
strength training article is short and to the point.
One difference I've noticed between
training males and females (this is just anecdotal
evidence) is that women seem to be able to handle
more volume and require less recovery time between
training sessions than males. I was wondering if you've
noticed this difference and what you think the reason
is behind it?
Veronica
A: Veronica, Yes, I’ve
definitely noticed this difference. I feel that, generally
speaking, women can handle a greater volume, as well
as recover quicker than males, because of their muscle
fiber make-up.
In general, females don’t possess
as many of the Type IIB, higher threshold motor units,
compared to their male counter-parts. The Type IIB
fibers are mainly responsible for strength & explosive
power. They contract fast & powerfully, but they
take longer to recover between sets, as well as workouts.
This is one of the reasons that females gravitate
towards more endurance-based activities and don’t
require as much rest between weightlifting sets, and
weightlifting workouts, for that matter. Females possess
more of the endurance-based fibers than men do. This
is also why most women can complete many more reps
with a higher percentage of their 1RM on most strength
exercises, compared to men.
Hopefully this clears things up a bit.
Joe D.
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Q: Joe, I have 2 questions about
your Skinny Bastard program.
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If someone wanted to perform an overhead press
(military, push press, etc.), would it be okay
to do that on the max effort day?
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If someone wanted to do an Olympic lift or one
of the variations (power clean, power snatch),
where would you place it in the workout template?
Thanks,
Ryan
A: Ryan, If you really
feel that you need to perform an overhead press, you
can do it on your max-effort upper body day. Simply
choose an overhead pressing exercise and make it your
max-effort exercise. This would replace the bench
press or chin-up variations I recommend in my articles.
I would stick with 3-5 rep maxes on all overhead lifts.
The rest of the workout can remain the same.
As far as Olympic lifts are concerned,
you have 2 choices. Your first choice would be to
perform an Olympic lift as your max-effort lower body
exercise and just do lower body once a week. Your
second option is to perform 2 lower body strength
days. On max-effort day, use the exact format that
I describe in my articles. Then, perform a dynamic
lower body day 3-4 days after your max-effort lower
body day. For your dynamic day, perform 6-10 sets
of 2-3 reps of an Olympic lift variation and then
do some accessory work and abs. Keep the total volume
low on this day.
Hope this helps.
Joe D.
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