question for the ladies about training my wife

[ct67_72]

First a little background. My wife likes to run, whe has asthma but does a great job running. she also enjoys tim ein the gym, and is looking for what most women are, well and men I guess. She wants towork her core and just have some basic definition and be in shape.
My lifting expertice is in powerlifting. She refuses to squat or deadlift.
She is in the gym during the week herself, and I train her on saturdays. We are just getting back in and I want to have a set routine. She hates down time there and wants to be moving, she gets mad when I think about what to do next.
So here is what we do for the most part

warmup for bench.
10lb dumbells 1 set of 8
15 lbs 1x8
bar 3 sets of 8. this is pretty much her max right now, to get an idea of strength.
then we will do
seated shoulder press
seated cable rows
cable pressdowns
rolling tricep extensions
dips on a bench
seated supinated curls
Right now all done 3x8. Im starting to have her work her last set to failure.

then we go into the ab room
I have her take a yoga ball thing and put it inbetween her back and the wall and do squats. Now Im having her hold a medicine ball over her ehad while she does them.
then situps on the ball, holding planks, then back to the ball where i toss a medicine ball, she extends all the way back behind her head and throws it back, we do these center and off to both sided for 5 at a time. These are all super setted.

we kind of do a full body thing trying to target the muscles she wants to hit most. I know its not ideal, but she will only do these excercises with me there.
Does this sound ok? ANY suggestions would be appreciated. Like I said, not my kind of lifting, and Im not really sure what to do.
Thanks.

 

[ct67_72]

Oh and shes 26, 5'11" and about 145 right now.

 

[sassy69]

Why does she refuse to squat or deadlift? Let me tell you about the best full body / core / functionally correct exercises. Its great she's doing the wall squats. You might look at more crossfit-type stuff instead of a lot of isolation work to keep it interesting.

I guess if you're starting w/ her, then just run this for a while & see where it goes. I would be sure to not overtrain doing the same thing like every day. I would also vary it after say 6 weeks to avoid becoming comfortable w/ just those exercises. I also feel like saying you need more lower back / core / legs in there. The only "leg" thing you're doing is the wall squats and the only 'back thing' is cable rows it looks like. Of all the stuff to spend time on, I'd probably focus more on the full-body things and leg things than too much on arm stuff. Altho I know women like to do the arm stuff.

Then in 6 weeks see if she's getting bored or change it up. I'm finding Charles Poliquin's German Body Comp program to be a nice variation - its essentially giant sets, but this might be a little closer to what you do in terms of lifting - classic lifts, but in a giant-sets format, so its not weight focused and still gets things going in terms of metabolism.

 

[ct67_72]

She won't do it because she says she has bad balance and coordination.she can't figure out how to squat without holding on to something. A little ridiculous but I'm not gonna push it now.
I've been. Working on a routine. So basically what I said, but I'm going to add stationary lunges. We do some pull downs but we are kind of going slow because her arms are so long its kind of awkward.
Oh and I want to add incline pushups. I think that will help too.
I try not to do too many isolated movements but shes a tough one, and just won't do some stuff.

 

[Gissurjon]

She won't do it because she says she has bad balance and coordination.she can't figure out how to squat without holding on to something. A little ridiculous but I'm not gonna push it now.
I've been. Working on a routine. So basically what I said, but I'm going to add stationary lunges. We do some pull downs but we are kind of going slow because her arms are so long its kind of awkward.
Oh and I want to add incline pushups. I think that will help too.
I try not to do too many isolated movements but shes a tough one, and just won't do some stuff.

lol tell me about it, my wife is 6'2 140lbs. The inspector gadget song comes on every time she reaches for the ketchup

 

[ct67_72]

Haha nice, someone that feels my pain!

 

[Gissurjon]

on a serious note though, my wife will never be able to do regular squats. like I said she's 6'2 and ALL legs but instead she does lumber jack squats, step ups, lunges and leg press with no problems.

her program right now consists of the following exercises

Lumb. jack squats
step ups
lunges
hip thrusts
leg curl
bench press
incline bench press
assisted pull ups
seated row
dips

She always goes heavy and stays in the 6-10 rep range and has put on 8 pounds in the last 6 weeks with her bf% staying the same.

 

[Gissurjon]

She won't do it because she says she has bad balance and coordination.she can't figure out how to squat without holding on to something. A little ridiculous but I'm not gonna push it now.
I've been. Working on a routine. So basically what I said, but I'm going to add stationary lunges. We do some pull downs but we are kind of going slow because her arms are so long its kind of awkward.
Oh and I want to add incline pushups. I think that will help too.
I try not to do too many isolated movements but shes a tough one, and just won't do some stuff.

my wife was stubborn as hell but i managed to convince her to give me 4 weeks of complete faith and if she wanted to stop she could. Now I can't keep her from the heavier weights and she even has a little devious chuckle every time she passes those "body sculpt" classes they have at the gym.

 

[ct67_72]

Nice. I totally forgot about step ups too, I'm gonna add that. I have to look up the lumber jack squats.

 

[ct67_72]

I just youtubed them. That looks like a great alternative. I'm gonna try to her her on board with those.
Also, I do keep her heavy, in the 8 rep range and she likes it. She fatigues easily, so it works out well there too.
Thanks for your input, that definitely helps.

 

[ecot3c inside]

i thought this was a thread on secretly trailing your wife when she leaves the house... you got me all excited.

 

[Haitiansensation]

i thought this was a thread on secretly trailing your wife when she leaves the house... you got me all excited.

^^^ this

 

[ct67_72]

Lol auto correct. Didn't even realize that.

 

[ct67_72]

Maybe that's why I haven't had many replies

 

[sassy69]

Well, started by fixing the typo in the title

Its good she likes heavy weights. If you (she) continues past the 4 weeks, I would suggest doing a ligher / deload phase where you switch to higher reps for a while (10-15). For weights - other options are sissy squats, front squats on a smith machine, box squats, also box squats holding plates, for higher reps. Also reverse lunges w/ a squat bar, side to side lunges w/ a bar. If you really want to start hitting core, overhead squats - even w/ a PVC pipe instead of weights.

 

[ct67_72]

Well, started by fixing the typo in the title

Its good she likes heavy weights. If you (she) continues past the 4 weeks, I would suggest doing a ligher / deload phase where you switch to higher reps for a while (10-15). For weights - other options are sissy squats, front squats on a smith machine, box squats, also box squats holding plates, for higher reps. Also reverse lunges w/ a squat bar, side to side lunges w/ a bar. If you really want to start hitting core, overhead squats - even w/ a PVC pipe instead of weights.

Thanks! I'm working into incorporating a medicine ball in the wall squats she does. Holding it overhead.
I like the idea on a deload, I will definitely do that in a couple weeks.
Thanks to everyone again on the tips,I will be adjusting training accordingly, and keep it coming.
FYI I'm training for my next meet also, planning to hit a 550 bench.