In the purest sense, if the starting point and the end goal (fat loss, strength gains, muscle building, better endurance, etc.) of a man and woman are the same then for the most part men and women’s training should be similar…

Yes women should be weight training and, if their particular phase of training requires it, then they should also be lifting heavy; in fact once body composition goals have been achieved then a greater focus on strength work is a brilliant way to set new goals and stay motivated.

From an aesthetic point of view however, women should train a little differently to men. Not in terms of the training methods but more in terms of the training split. This is down to the difference in the aesthetic shape that women and men are looking to achieve.

When designing a weights program for a female client I would focus on a more lower body dominant split. For example: I would be unlikely to have a female client do a full chest and biceps session like I may do for a male client. Instead, a female 3-day weights split may well look like this:

Day 1 – Legs and pull
Day 2 – Posterior chain and press
Day 3 – Legs, arms and abs

An additional difference between men and women is that women recover faster. This means that rest periods can be slightly shorter.

Lastly, whilst high intensity interval training is great for both sexes, women should train with longer working intervals than men. This is down to women’s ability to burn more fat (but less glycogen) than men. Whilst this leads to the faster recovery rates it does unfortunately mean less fat is burnt after training, so burn it during the session ladies.

For any women interested in our online training, we have a choice of programs for: fat loss, advanced body composition, lean muscle or strength. You can find out more here: Online Training Programs