Excerpt from WOW Chapter 1
Women-Only Workouts

The result of women training just like men? Need more reasons to seek out a women’s only exercise program?

Why? First, women are not the same as men. For starters, man historically was the “hunter/warrior,” which required different physical skills than those of woman, the “gatherer/nurturer.” In case you haven’t noticed, women are built significantly differently from men and in general have noticeably different goals when it comes to sculpting their “perfect” body.

For instance, men are built narrow in the hips, while women are built wider in the hips, which changes stress points in performing lifts such as squats. Men have a few hormones that women also have, but women have a dozen or so additional hormones to work into any equation.

Men don’t have periods. Men don’t have ovaries and uteruses. Men don’t have breasts. Men don’t give birth to children.

In general, men like to have a stocky, strong body, while women like to be lean and lithe. Men like biceps, while women want the backs of their arms to stay firm. Most women age 50 and older suffer from some sort of foot pain or debility. Men start and finish life with more lean muscle mass than women. Most men don’t get lower-body fat.

So who in the heck says that women and men can exercise with the same workout program and be happy with the process and end results? Bodybuilders did, and they still do! I witnessed my share of them in the 1980s sharing their steroids and training routines with the girls until the women became practically indistinguishable from the men.

Back to Basics

A well-trained back on a woman is attractive, prevents the appearance of “back boobs” later in life, and helps a woman live a long and pain free life.

It is my theory that women notoriously under-exercise their backs, having no need to climb into trees for survival, and further stress the upper spine with a forward head posture resulting from years of being “front” fixated. By that I mean an abundance of looking into mirrors, leaning over counters and keyboards, having the extra weight of breasts and babies in the front of our bodies, and a forward posture from wearing high heels.

My programs put an emphasis on the back. If I had my way, I would put every woman who came into a gym in a baseball cap with two rearview mirrors. For two weeks she would have to look at her back, watch her back working, and learn to love her back. My programs might produce some muscle growth in the upper back, not a bad thing since a little width in the back creates the illusion of a smaller waistline.

My programs also work the ankle and calf. My mom used to have trouble climbing into my tall SUV. After a boost from behind she’d always giggle at her plight and say, “I just don’t have any muscles in my legs anymore.”
My Mom was German, and she had plenty of muscle in her legs.

When I began working with women age 40-plus, I began to notice that many of them could not go up on their toes. I never encountered this in men. That this is a woman-specific concern was confirmed when my brother Mike began training some ladies at a retirement home.

“They’re so cute doing laps in their walkers,” he told me. “But when I asked them to go up on their toes for a calf raise, no one moved. Not an inch!”

I don’t pretend to know the cause, but I’d place money on the fact that it is connected to those high heels that most of us wear for most of our lives. I do know that a significant percentage of women over the age of 40 have lost the ability to stand on their toes. If you look at the anatomy of a high step-up, it isn’t the thigh muscle doing the initial work; it’s the launch of the lowered foot—by going up on the toes—that puts us in a position to activate the quads.

(L-R) World Record Champion  powerlifter Sherry Abblett poses with WOW models Desiree DeSenna and Julie Magner. Sherry, 56, is living proof that exercise is indeed the Fountain of Youth.

It’s good that you tried this, because I use Step-Ups performed in this fashion in many of my routines.

Most weight training routines are designed to build muscle, the goal of most men. My programs are designed to maximize production of human growth hormone (HGH), the “Fountain of Youth” hormone. HGH is responsible for building lean muscle, which in turn raises your body’s metabolism to combat your naturally decreasing metabolism after age 30. HGH production also improves the skin’s elasticity, helping to naturally fight off wrinkles and sagging skin.

The most controversial aspect of my programs amongst fellow strength coaches is that while I work the chest and back with heavy weights to encourage HGH production, I work the lower body against traditional weight training rules. I will work the lower body with low resistance, lots of reps, and on consecutive days. Each day will hit the lower body from different angles with different exercises. Tell this to most men and they’ll say, “You can’t do that; you’ll atrophy the muscle.”

Yes. That is exactly the point. Women have less than half the upper-body strength of men. Yet from the waist down, the musculature is far more competitive. Men still benefit from higher levels of testosterone, but their basic anatomy is quite similar. The lower body constitutes the body’s strongest muscle group. Many women suffer from a tendency to store fat in the lower body, a condition that is worsened by muscular size.

We are a sedentary society, but we are also an overweight society. Therefore, our lower-body muscles must work harder when we walk, climb stairs, get into a car, sit down and stand up. That has contributed to some muscular size that is making slimming the lower body a near impossibility for some women. For many women a reduction of muscle size in the lower extremities is essential to slim the thighs. My programs take that important point into consideration, and if a bit of lower body muscle atrophy occurs, all the better!

Aerobic Activity
Woman is the Energizer Bunny. She is designed to go, and go, and go. Aerobic exercise is a woman’s forte. After all, men were meant to go out on the hunt and take down big animals to feed the family through long and hard winters. Women never got a break.

Aerobic exercise is going to elicit fat reduction fast, while weight training provides the lifelong aspect of increased muscle mass to keep the weight off. Aerobic exercise comes in many forms. Walking, in fast-spurt intervals, is one of the best.

As we live longer lives, our joints and backs pay the price. That’s when recumbent bikes, rowers and circuit training come into play. These forms of aerobic exercise are easy on the joints.

In most circumstances, aerobic classes are the perfect fit for women. You combine music with motion, you’re in a group setting and you burn calories to the max. Spin classes are also great, but I don’t recommend them for women who store their fat mostly in the lower body.

In an ideal world, I’d love to see women getting their aerobic activity by bicycling, playing tennis, skiing and other sports. Since we don’t have an ideal world, the health club is your best choice. Circuits are great, but keep them mixed up. Pulse the last 15 seconds of each station. Do it in reverse. Add jumping jacks, crunches or lunges. Just keep it moving; consider adding some of the Circuit Boosters outlined in chapter 6!

Movement is the key. Chapter 3 gives you lots of alternative ways to exercise that don’t require a class or health club. You’ll also learn the secret of following a WOW lifestyle . . . it’s a simple act of earning a “W” every day, and the back of this book provides the calendars to keep track!

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