Lunges/squats with weights = bad for females?

EllaC

I remember hearing an interview with Pat Henry who said that doing lunges or squats with weights was not good for females because the weights would add bulk to hips. Thinking logically about this it seems to make sense. What do others think?

Pugsley

I'd call the guy a tool tbh, squats work the quads so may lead to a bit of bulking to the upper legs, but they give a great arse!

g'em

EllaC wrote: »

I remember hearing an interview with Pat Henry who said that doing lunges or squats with weights was not good for females because the weights would add bulk to hips. Thinking logically about this it seems to make sense. What do others think?

No, getting fat will add bulk to hips.

Squats and lunges firm the thighs, lift your ass, give you killer calves and give you infinitely more 'tone' than a lifetime of abductor and adductor machines ever could.

Try telling Jamie Eason she should stop lunging lest her ass gets too big...

BossArky

Great choice there, G'em.

Dragan

I've lost count of the number of times i have had my breakfast with Pat Henry sitting across the resturaunt from me.

Next time i see him i might just ask him about that one.

rubadub

That is sort of like saying men shouldnt bench since it will add bulk to their chest, inferring they will look like man boobs, like inferring the women will look fat, while they will just look good.

r3nu4l

While I have you all here, someone once told my wife that women should not do full press-ups, can anyone tell me if this is true and if so why so and what equivalent exercise should they do instead?

Thanks in advance.

Oh and g'em, thanks for that picture, very...informative

Vegeta

BossArky wrote: »

Great choice there, G'em.

I second this

but yeah squatting plus women = two thumbs up

brianthebard

r3nu4l wrote: »

While I have you all here, someone once told my wife that women should not do full press-ups, can anyone tell me if this is true and if so why so and what equivalent exercise should they do instead?

Thanks in advance.

Oh and g'em, thanks for that picture, very...informative

afaik it has something to do with the possiblity of a womans womb seperating from the rest of her or something equally daft...I know a girl in the rdf who was told something like that and thats why she does her press ups on her knees.

the drifter

thats the biggest load of.....ive ever heard....

g'em

brianthebard wrote: »

afaik it has something to do with the possiblity of a womans womb seperating from the rest of her or something equally daft...

That's one of the rumours I heard too. r3nu4l there's absolutely no reason (injuries aside) why a woman shouldn't do push-ups. It strengthens shoulders and chest, which translates into perkier, more uplifted boobs. Win-win all round.

rubadub

Pink dumbbells tone, black ones make you too big. FACT!

r3nu4l

g'em wrote: »

That's one of the rumours I heard too. r3nu4l there's absolutely no reason (injuries aside) why a woman shouldn't do push-ups. It strengthens shoulders and chest, which translates into perkier, more uplifted boobs. Win-win all round.

Cheers g'em, now I need to find a reference to show my wife that this is the case. As scientists, we're always looking for credible citations, what a drag

EDIT: @ rubadub, LOL

g'em

r3nu4l wrote: »

Cheers g'em, now I need to find a reference to show my wife that this is the case. As scientists, we're always looking for credible citations, what a drag

I'm a white-coated one too, I'll see can I find any 'evidence' for you. If it's a help, tell your wife I do full-push ups with 10-15kg extra on my back, and I (and my bf) can testify to increasing shape retention irrespective of weight loss.

dudara

brianthebard wrote: »

afaik it has something to do with the possiblity of a womans womb seperating from the rest of her or something equally daft...I know a girl in the rdf who was told something like that and thats why she does her press ups on her knees.

That's what we've always been told as well. I think that when you're starting out, do them on your knees, but when you're stronger, it's safe (and better) to switch to the normal press-up position.

As for the OP - squats are phenomenal for shaping thighs and buttocks. What you heard there was complete toss. In fact, I suffered a serious knee injury about 3 years ago, and once the knee was better, I used squatting (up to about 60 kg) to build up my quad muscles and take the strain off my knee.

r3nu4l

g'em wrote: »

I'm a white-coated one too, I'll see can I find any 'evidence' for you. If it's a help, tell your wife I do full-push ups with 10-15kg extra on my back, and I (and my bf) can testify to increasing shape retention irrespective of weight loss.

Excellent stuff, to Pubmed we go as for the 10-15kg extra...now I feel ashamed of my punyness...but it's early days yet. Thanks.

Roper

Every time I start to train a girl, I get the "won't my womb drop out if I do a push up?" line. Frankly, if I ever find out who started that ridiculous myth I'm going to brain them. I was teaching a class full of 15 year olds a few weeks back and every single girl thought that was the case.

xebec

OK, this is still OT but seeing as everyone else is...

Just from my experience with boxing, we do short fast sets of exercises mixing them up without any breaks and as part of this we do a large number of push-ups. As a rule, the girls (who make up about 60% of people there) are told to do their push-ups on their knees. As with everyone else I'm sceptical of the reason for this being to do with womb separation, but I've heard that too. My point of view however is that it is far less risky for women to do them on their knees compared to the extra gain they would get from doing them on their toes, so I'm all for it until I see some medical evidence that proves otherwise.

This is much more of an observation than anything else, I too am based around science and in particular statistics and as such would be interested in seeing any evidence that proves otherwise. But I find it unlikely that any study could disprove that there are negative effects for women doing push-ups on their toes.

Roper

xebec wrote: »

OK, this is still OT but seeing as everyone else is...

Just from my experience with boxing, we do short fast sets of exercises mixing them up without any breaks and as part of this we do a large number of push-ups. As a rule, the girls (who make up about 60% of people there) are told to do their push-ups on their knees. As with everyone else I'm sceptical of the reason for this being to do with womb separation, but I've heard that too. My point of view however is that it is far less risky for women to do them on their knees compared to the extra gain they would get from doing them on their toes, so I'm all for it until I see some medical evidence that proves otherwise.

This is much more of an observation than anything else, I too am based around science and in particular statistics and as such would be interested in seeing any evidence that proves otherwise. But I find it unlikely that any study could disprove that there are negative effects for women doing push-ups on their toes.

Um... listen I'm fairly sure I'm not stupid... actually no I'm not 100% sure but why don't I understand this post? I find it unlikely that disproving the provable will lead to negative positives.

Can you go again please? A bit clearer cos I'm not sure whether you're pro or against push ups for women.

HammerHeadGym

r3nu4l wrote: »

...thanks for that picture, very ...informative...

Yep, Informative I thought.


Into a sock!!

rubadub

xebec wrote: »

As a rule, the girls (who make up about 60% of people there) are told to do their push-ups on their knees.

I presume that is so they can do similar numbers. i.e. in a mixed class if the instructor says do 20 pushups, you cannot expect the same level of strength, so ones on the knees are easier.

I was teaching a class full of 15 year olds a few weeks back and every single girl thought that was the case.

Really? do you ever ask where they heard it. Never heard of this myth before, are girls really going around saying "You know that teacher Miss Ryan, well do you know why she really has no kids?....she did a pushup once"

on a par with worms in slimfast
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055233265

xebec

Roper wrote: »

Um... listen I'm fairly sure I'm not stupid... actually no I'm not 100% sure but why don't I understand this post? I find it unlikely that disproving the provable will lead to negative positives.

Can you go again please? A bit clearer cos I'm not sure whether you're pro or against push ups for women.

OK, I completely lost the run of myself with that post, sorry

In short, I'm pro women doing push-ups, but sticking to doing them on their knees. While I'm not sure I believe all the stuff about womb separation, imo the added benefit of doing them on your toes is not worth the risk.

g'em

xebec wrote: »

In short, I'm pro women doing push-ups, but sticking to doing them on their knees. While I'm not sure I believe all the stuff about womb separation, imo the added benefit of doing them on your toes is not worth the risk.

Womb separation? From push-ups? Would this be the same womb that carries a baby for nine months multiple times during a woman's life? The same womb that stretches, sloughs, spasms and endures a crap load of abuse once a month, every month for 30-odd years of a woman's life?

But yet push-ups risk damaging it?

Ah lads

The only benefit of push-ups from the knees are simply if a woman hasn't the upper body strength to support herself, it's nothing to do with their reproductive system.

hardtrainer

I'm equally dumbfounded at this idea that a push up can somehow damage the uterus. Women are usually instructed to do pushups with their knees on the ground for the reasons G'em and everyone else has pointed out here, general lack of upper body strength (in unconditioned females). Of course, many unconditioned men must also start off doing push ups this way.

For the OP, I cannot think of a single exercise that is beneficial for men and not for women. I know there is this myth perpetuated by other women, that wieghtlifting is for men only and that any resistance training at all will lead to massive bulging muscles. Sadly (for many guys) this isn't the case. Getting massive bulging muscles takes a lot of time and dedication and many many factors (testosterone being one of them).