Why Women Should Train More Like Men

Amidst the many memories of my childhood I seem to have tactfully forgotten, there are a few that stand out vividly. Of all things, I remember grade-school gym class.

My gym teacher took us through a co-ed workout, to which I showed nothing other than disinterest. He guided us through walking lunges, wall sits, and eventually brought us down to the floor to do pushups. The boys were taught the real way, while we were taught the “girl version”. Much to my own surprise, I suddenly cared. Not because I wanted to do pushups, but because I didn’t want to be told that the only way I could do pushups was if they were modified for a fragile, dainty girl.

Side-Note: that gym teacher did the right thing. He set us up for success by picking a regression we’d be more likely to complete. Not a criticism of him - rather, he inspired me.

It was my first encounter with feeling completely inferior to the strength or structure of a man, and I detested it. I objected to the low ceiling I was given as a woman. I wanted to be treated like a man, whose ceiling was capped by the expectation of greatness. 

As you navigate through the muddy waters of social or news media, the ceiling becomes more and more apparent. Through marketing terms like “tone” or “sculpt”, women are quickly sold on workouts specific to a women’s physique or goals.
Never to be too strong.
Never to be too bulky.
Never to be too much.
Moderate to light intensity workouts, pink coloured 2.5lb to 5lb dumbbells, tons of cardio, and restrictive low calorie diets. While men are taught to carve their chiseled bodies into Greek sculptures, women are sold a plan to guarantee that we’ll never accomplish very much. 

I wanted to be strong. Not like a man - but a woman like me. Strong for my body and for my size. I love feeling both confident and independent, as if I could take on the world. Those 2.5lb dumbbells I was taught to use guaranteed that when men saw me on the gym floor, I’d be met with questions along the lines of “hey, do you need help with that?” And that was all the motivation I needed. 

When you start doing a little bit of research, the women-focused marketing becomes abundantly clear. The conclusion is undeniably apparent - that if a woman wanted to look more like a man, she’d have to be using performance enhancing drugs to do so. Our hormone profiles are quite different, and women’s hormones simply don’t support the same sculptural physique that men work so hard for. As a woman, when you train “like a man”, you do not then become one. You become a strong woman. 

So how should you train as a woman? What exercises should you avoid? What movement patterns need to be modified? What weights can you use? Forget the arbitrary ceiling that the media will push on you, and you’ll be met with a limitless ceiling. You can do all the same movements. You can pick up the weights that actually give you a challenge in a rep range of less than 25. You can forego the booty bands. You can build your strength and conversely, build a body you’re proud to call home. 

It’s not going to make you bulky. It’s not going to make you resemble a man. It’s not going to do anything other than challenge the longstanding diatribe of patriarchal inception. However, it might give you confidence. It might even make you laugh at those moments where a man will ask if you need help with a menial task, under the guise of your weakness. 

I urge you to challenge the fallacy. To achieve what most women consider as “bulky” often takes drug induced hormonal intervention and many years of diligent effort. For the rest of us - who just want to see all the amazing things their bodies are capable of - the end result merely resembles the individuals own capacity to challenge themselves. The tone, sculpt, and definition all come from the muscle mass you need to work to build. If you’re not testing your strength, or find yourself stuck with those same pink dumbbells, the likelihood of you seeing any of the aforementioned exponentially decreases.  

I’ve been lifting for close to 6 years. I can assure you, I’ve not once woken up in the morning and thought to myself “today’s the day - I finally got too bulky.” However, I have gotten to see just how strong and capable I am. I have gotten to experience the capacity of my perseverance and devotion. Better yet, I was able to show that little girl in gym class, my former self, exactly what she was capable of, too. 

Additional Resource:

Podcast: Why Women Should Train More Like Men

If you enjoyed this article, make sure to give this episode of our podcast a listen as we both take a deeper dive into this topic.

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