Help me wife, please...

Hi Bree, I think you may the only female here

My wife (Michelle) is a little over weight and wants to loose some of it. Michelle plans to do cardio 5 times a week, and has bought a set of dumbells, (she wont use my equip as it is all outside, so may have spiders or something.)
Now Michelle wants to know what exercises she should be doing, bearing in mind she doesn't want visable muscles.

Should she be doing whole body 3 days a week? or a 3 day split? What do you and other females do?

I think she belive that if does the same as me she she'll bulk up like Hulks pics, I've tried to explain that she wont without lots of supps.

Thanks Mike.

you lucky bastard. If my girlfriend actually wanted to workout and keep fit that would be awsome. Desire to want to be in a better position is the hardest step in my opinion.

Mike, I think her mindset is wrong to begin with. All that cardio will turn her into a soft peach, no muscle tone (for lack of a better term) or definition. She should hit the weights hard if she thinks she's starting to get a little too muscular it's easy to back off. This would help her fat loss immensely and she'll look 100000000000000% better.

Hi Mike,

I think Michelle is taking the right steps to start her weight loss, keeping up with it is the hardest thing that I have found.
I do agree with Shrek however that she needs to do some weight training. It is virtually impossible for women to bulk up without the use of steroids as we don't have enough testosterone in our bodies to make that happen. The more muscle that Michelle has the more calories that she will also burn at rest hence muscle is essential in fat loss.
The other thing to remember is that too much cardio at one time will start to break down muscle. After 30mins of cardio you will start to break down muscle. I would recommend for Michelle to do some cardio every day and also weights every day just focusing on different muscle groups every day.
I also think Michelle should look into protein supplements. Is she planning to make any changes to her diet????

Matia

Michells plans to change her diet alot, by using Betty Baxter meal replacement shakes. And cutting right back on the junk and especialy the coke.

She would like some ideas on exercises to train different muscle groups. Basicly she wants a second opinion to what exercises i've said.

Cheers Mike.

Mike, your wife has to want to make a lifestyle change. I have worked in an all women's gym and know women with very similar mindsets. I got to the point where I just wrote off any woman that wasn't into weights.

I train hard with weights. Normally 2-3 sessions a week with compound exercises, heavy weights, mid range reps (ie I would dead lift 12 reps at 60kg, squat and lunge around 40-50kg at 12 reps) and also do plyometric exercises.

I mix up my cardio- slow burn combined and interval training. I'm fairly fit, so I can run and keep my heart rate low for slow burn, but at first it would mean a long walk for about an hour until interval training increased fitness levels. I also find it limits injury when you mix it up- have a pretty battered body and find it helps.

Tell her to go and look at all of the pudgy women that do heaps of spin classes. Sure, might have cardio fitness, but still have a spare tyre and chicken wings!

Chicken wings... ROFL.

hey my girlfriend wants to tone up.

She weighs 55kgs and is by no mean tubby. She is a little short and has lost 10 kgs in a year by eating well and doing cardio.

She is interested in getting tone.

Am i correct in thinking that working out each muscle group 3 times a week with light weights will deliver this? She does not want guns but rather firmness.

She is pretty hot in my book but yeah...she is dead keen for this.

Any help much appreciated.

Should we aiming for compund for her as well?

Yep, compound all the way. She will get tone pretty quickly that way as well.

If she prefers to train outdoors and is not ready to hit the weights room, get her doing push ups, various situps, tricep dips on bench, plyometric squats and lunges.

It's pretty tough for women to get significant muscle growth thanks to hormones. The one thing with oestrogen though is that it helps women recover quicker than men, so don't get disappointed if she is less sore the next day that you. Women can't help that they are tougher.

mike367 betty baxter is no way to loose weight, sure it works, for a short term fix, But essentially you are not learning how to eat properly, a lot of those weight loss shakes are full of salt and other crap. not good for you

The important thing in loosing weight is to embrace the lifestyle change, not look for a quick fix you can do every time you feel a tad tubby.. learn a little about nutrition and how the body works and gathers energy from food. Wht foods are good what are bad, and WHEN eating certain foods is best...

But also reinforce to her that doing weights will not make her look like Arnold...

The Baty Baxter thing didn't last long, She knows what she should be doing with diet and exercise. I think its a case of not wanting "it" badly enough, simply put, its just a bit too hard to make the change!!!