Girlfriend & weights routine

colman1212

Hey Guys,

My girlfriend decided that she wanted to do a weights routine in the gym, I'm doing starting strength at the moment. I'm aware of and agree with the statement that girls should be doing the same exercises etc as guys when it comes to weights.

We started with squats and it just didn't work really, shes done lots of running but doesnt seem to have the flexibility to do a proper squat at all.
A personal trainer in the gym was watching and told her that for the moment she should just focus on doing calf work, ab work and hamstring work.

Anyway my questions are:
If someone doesn't seem to have the flexibillity to do a full squat, how do you improve it. Do you literally just keep getting them to practice squats or do you get them to do other exercises?

I was thinking of something like this to just get her started. Simple push pull routine. Does this sound ok to get things started??

Lunges 3 x 10
Assisted chin ups: 3 x 10

DB bench press 3 x 10
Seated Row 3 x 10

Assisted dips 3 x 10
Leg Curl 3 x 10

Some calf raises, ab work, foam rolling.

King of Kings

get her to practice doing body weight squats to get an idea of the motion required

colman1212

King of Kings wrote: »

get her to practice doing body weight squats to get an idea of the motion required

Yeah shes been practising BW squats the last couple of sessions but she doesn't seem to have the flexibillity to get anywhere near parrallel with the floor.

ApeXaviour

colman1212 wrote: »

A personal trainer in the gym was watching and told her that for the moment she should just focus on doing calf work, ab work and hamstring work.

...

colman1212 wrote: »

If someone doesn't seem to have the flexibillity to do a full squat, how do you improve it. Do you literally just keep getting them to practice squats or do you get them to do other exercises?

A squat is in and of itself a stretch and will improve flexibility. If she can't do the movement it's even more of a reason for her to keep at it and definitely not avoid it. She'll get great reward from the flexibility gained alone.

Air squats, or just with the bar to start with, gradually going lower. Here's Mark Sisson's take on squat progression.

colman1212 wrote: »

I was thinking of something like this to just get her started. Simple push pull routine. Does this sound ok to get things started??

Light deadlifts (focusing on good form) wouldn't go amiss, and the only exercise I can think of that assists squat.

ooglybuns

You could get her to place a small plate under each heel (a 5kg plate works well). You should find this improves her range of motion on a squat and will allow her to train the exercise. Obviously while continuing to work on hamstring flexability (and body weight squats as suggested). The final aim should be squats on a flat floor of course.

MysticalSoul

In yoga, we sometimes do partner assisted squats, where you both hold onto each other , facing each other, gripping each others arms, and do squats simultaneously - it really does help, and you can actually go further with partner assisted work, than you can do alone.