Woman lifter of over 20 years here. With the bone density issues women have as they age, all women should be lifting heavy weights. It always makes me laugh (cry) to hear a woman say she can't lift heavy, then she goes and throws a 40lb toddler onto her hip and carries them around the shops for the next 20 minutes 🤔
0.8 female of the 1.5 females in the audience tuning in! Getting any sort of research backed sports science or nutrition information FOR women (as a lay person) is like pulling teeth. Videos like these are highly appreciated. Makes me feel like less of a freak when high volume workouts feel wayyyy better
As the other .8 female, I agree. I did the full body workout he posted a couple weeks ago, and I kept having to pause it so I could do more reps, and when it was over I wasn't as tired as the guy in the video at all.
As other female I do like this video since I want to aim more to "male typical phisique" than typical female bodybuilder. Idk more strong women like But I'm noob so it can change and I don't know really what I'm doing yet 😂
In short "women are not small men" Dr Stacy Sims. Excellent summary and explanation of the key physiological differences between male vs female training adaptations. More videos like these Dr Mike please :)
Another vote for Stacy Sims here. 💪😃. I appreciate Dr. Mike for trying, but think he missed the mark here. I think he's not quite got the message that Women are NOT small men. 28mins, and not a single mention of how female hormones, menstruation or menopause effect womens performance and ability to train.
I mean everything hes saying can be equated to the hormone difference. We recover better due to estrogen. Its also a hard subject to talk about for men because the momment they start talking about how periods and hormones affect women they get shit on and are told they are being sexist. @lmack6596
One of the reasons I don't "max out" is safety. If I have a strong workout partner I trust I am MUCH more likely to test my limits. I think this also plays into why women are generally more trainable and tend to pay closer attention when it comes to form: We have a higher sense of self-preservation.
Yeah we have a thing with ignoring our bodies lol also, I found the a lot of guys that do genuinely train to failure. They’re doing it as a replacement for self harm or violence, so they don’t give a shit about there physical well being 😅😂
2:35, you have no idea how bad I needed to hear this, i’ve actually felt INSECURE because of how quickly I recovered compared to the (primarily male) bodybuilders I watched. It made me feel like no matter how had I was training, how close to or past failure I went, how in pain I was by the end of a set, it simply was no enough because after a small rest i’m completely fine again
@@shreyap3705 THISS, i’ll be struggling to hit my last rep w the muscle being in unbearable pain, and then a less than a minute later i’m back at it able to hit the same amount of reps if not almost as much
Yup! I've always felt like/been told "if you don't NEED 3-5mins rest, you're just not working hard enough," and it's been such a buzzkill hanging over my head. It's made many workouts feel less engaging/time-efficient due to sitting and waiting, and compromised safety/recovery/morale due to chasing some magic number that'll adequately fuck me up but stop shy of killing me. It's been such a relief to put that thought behind me and just hop back in for another set whenever it feels right.
Question, and i'm just curious as a man. Could this factor be the same reason why women still want more sex after orgasming intensely, whereas a man after an orgasm is basically comatose.
@@eug4684 anything longer than a minute is cardio. And the stimulus to fatigue ratio of women is too low. Paying for dates, fights, ruining your macros with weekly brunches and wine nights... not a sufficiently anabolic environment in which to place yourself for optimal results.
THANK YOU!!! My husband and I stop working out together because I think he takes TOO long rest periods and he thinks I rush the workout. Can't wait to show him thw video! Thanks for the info, saved my marriage 😂
Men and women absolutely need to train differently. More specifically, in different rooms. Because I've never seen a woman (other than my mom, I love her) and the thought of talking to one terrifies me.
Why are some terrified/scared/nervous (call it what you want) to make conversation? I know you’re joking around but I think there’s some merit to this feeling among some men. Just curious.
@@amperage8032because women can be rude and probably assume every guy is hitting on them when they are not. I know women on both sides of the spectrum.
as a woman who uses both reddit and watches this channel i can confirm i do not exist. but if i did i’d say thank you for this absolute goldmine of a video for myself and my training.
I watch Zack Telander and he always starts off with “Lady and Gentlemen” since he has low female viewership and Im always like “yes, its me, Im the singular lady”
I was putting off watching a video made by a man about women's fitness - I prefer watching women's channels for that as a woman... but honestly this felt like a half an hour of a dude complimenting me and it not being creepy. Even the use of the word "female" was to be inclusive rather than incelish.
I think a big difference is Dr Mike says “males and females”, not “men and females”. It makes it clear he’s using these terms to be precise about the topic, not to dehumanize anyone.
As a woman, the biggest problem I have in the gym and in bring discipline with fitness is something people on the internet RARELY talk about. And thats the fact that every month, for a week, I bleed and feel like a sloth, with aaaall the hormone imbalance during the rest of the month, that this fact brings. But every fitness influencer out there, seems to have no idea that this is a big thing for women who train, and that we need to work AROUND that with our training, to jot be discouraged and leave the gym and never go back after the first time we had to workout while being 1 week before our period starts
Are you speaking of female influencers? Because males tend to focus on male training, so they aren't going to be too likely to include perior workarounds.
I jumped around in the vid( am a guy). Not sure he mentioned it. But. " deload" aka Training lighter or even taking a week off( turns out I generally don't pay enough attention) is seen as beneficial every....5-8 weeks? So. Taking a week off every month doesn't seem like a hindrance necessarily. Not perfect but most aren't. At least after a week with no training you know what your true fully recovered strength is. I feel it's just about the max before you feel a bit weaker first session. If I take 2 weeks off I gotta start light. Or do one light session in that week. That's it. If you know what's happening when it seems like the ideal moment to throw in one really ultrahard session a month, too. As you know you can chill after that. Helps cause you then need the recovery and just psychologically. I bet plenty motivated people are still gonna be that bit tougher if they know this is the one and only set before the gym closes or because they watched too much mentzer content or whatever.
Same here, I plan my workouts with periods in mind. Although since I switched to a plant based, whole food diet, my periods are very light and short and I am able to push harder even during the down week.
I definitely agree and I appreciate it when the online fitness folks address it, I follow several that do and talk about the slump so to say. There are definitely resources if you Google search it but don’t believe the potions, lotions, fix-it-all solutions because the truth is if you are having a seriously strong cramps day nothing going to help you “push” through. For myself I always keep my planned time I had for the gym so it stays a habit but I may opt for a sauna, message, zone 2 cardio, light lifting type of vibe. If I feel truly awful I just go take a hot shower and remind myself it will all be over until 28 days from now 😂😂😂😂 and come back the next training day feeling better. 😊
As a female lifter of 4 years, I agree we can handle a lot of volume. 4 months ago I finally started programming my "mesocycles" to better fit with my menstual cycle, and it has changed the game for me. I have never had gains like this, both hypertrophy and strength. I'm hoping this continues! I'm currently in the middle of my highest volume week, and it is an insane amount!!! I push through and just look forward to my deload week and know I come back even stronger! After years of what felt like spinning my wheels I am so freaking excited.
Oh wow yes. I’m interested in that. I have noticed changes, as obviously during my cycle it seems like everything I do just sucks… but I’m curious about loading etc.
Ooo, please share what you're doing! I've sort of just learnt not to get too disappointed and not to beat myself up if I fail a lift during or just before shark week. But would love to hear how you've adjusted your program.
Female gym newbie here! Just hit my 13 weeks of nonstop training so you can say I am a baby in this gymworld. Thank you so much for your information and knowledge, I hope I can push myself further every week 😊❤
Sounds great 👍🏻 But please consider the possibility of requiring a deload (videos on that available here on RP) some time, it will allow you to progress.
Honestly I appreciate how respectful he was. I'm a girl who's only 15 but I really enjoy working out, especially weight lifting. I only got disciplined fairly recently, (we love our highschool heartbreaks) and I found I didn't know enough about how to workout to maximize gains, and was constantly comparing myself to my male cousins who work out. Just wanted to say thanks for making the video-definitely helped a good amount.
Good for you getting started now! Lifting is one of the few known ways to help with bone density, as is impact, which reaches its peak around 20. Also, it’s way easier as you get older (44 here) to rebuild muscle after injury or time away because of life than it is to build it the first time. Biggest thing is to not fall into the trap of comparing yourself, even to yourself, to others too much. Even from one guy to the next, genetics can play a big role and not every tip works for every person. Figure out what type of plan works for you and your goals and I think you’ll find great gains. My only other tip is to use multiple measures of success to get an overall picture. Measurements are great but also, sensation. Did you get a good pump? Does your clothing feel more snug in that one area you’ve been targeting? Can you lift something more easily? Do you feel stronger?
As a married man I've always loved training with my wife. She's always had insane leg stamina and can handle a ton of volume. I can't. But over the years she's definitely pushed me to go harder on leg days. Same goes for her with me, I push her harder on her back and chest workouts as she had to work super hard to develop her upper body strength.
Another female from the audience here. Great insights from this one, will definitely try and push myself harder next time. Would also love more info for female training in the future Dr Mike. I’ve been incorporating someof the training tips from your videos and they are great 💪🏻
@@RenaissancePeriodization Please would you check out Stacy Sims? You have a massive audience, and it would be amazing if you could spread the word that women are NOT small men, and how taking account of hormone fluctuations when planning training can have profound effects on female performance. We all need to get more comfortable talking about the menstrual cycle and menopause. You have a great platform to do this. 💪
@@RenaissancePeriodization It would be super nice that in future videos about training you would include some paragraph about if this thing is applied to women and how:)
As a relatively new female lifter, this video is super informative and empowering. I always appreciate when science based creators discuss female biology and fitness.
Would be fun to hear about the ways menstrual cycle affects training for women and how to train around the cycle next!!! (Was actually rly expecting to hear about it in this video but maybe next one..?)
It’s a cycle… From the 1-2 days after d start of my cycle to a few days after ovulation I can lift d heaviest. The week before my period is a struggle… so I just deload and increase reps that week. Most women that track their periods can notice the trend and not get discouraged when strength and motivation are fluctuating.
It was interesting how he mentioned women don’t need reloads because honestly I feel my cycle creates a deload no matter what so a real deload I feel like why am I even going to the gym because it’s nothing 😂
Natasha Oceane did a video about it (she is an exercise scientist) but the results are probably not what you’re expecting…..not a lot of evidence to suggest there is any difference over the cycle or a need to train differently.
I do like to train according to where on my cycle I am, for examoke I know a week before my period I am at my weakest, so I don't look for any PR, and I actually deload, then comes my period and I actually don't even have a lot of energy and even less strenght, but I still do what I can, as soon as my period is over, I feel energized again, and it is the time to increase the load back to normal and ten days after my period is over I am at my peak, and is on those days where I look for PR's, so you have to try what works for you and your cycle, xxx
I’m a woman, and I’ve always found this to be true! This video was pretty validating. I’ve never needed a ton of rest between sets. 45-60 seconds and I’m good to go. And I have to hit failure over and over and over to really feel a burn the next day. I also am typically ready to hit the muscle group again after two days.
I've been trying to help a friend of mine with her training, and each time we train together to the point where I can't walk anymore, she's just like "that's it?" It all makes sense now. Hope professional trainers see this, I feel bad for not knowing already.
18:16 bang on. I took my gf at the time rock climbing. She'd never done it before. Within an hour she was better than me cos she listened to me telling her how you should do it. Which wasn't how I was doing it.
12:01 i think also some women dont push as hard is because we get periods as well. when im on my period and im mentally and physically tired and sore mostly in my hips and lower back. everything just feels very heavy than it usually does, even when i havent done much on that day, and just unable to push myself.
females also have hormonal cycles that change our sensation of physical strength and our perception of it as well- and those hormonal changes are happening around the clock whereas males cycles are 24 hours
Post menopausal woman here, been training all my life. Suddenly post menopause I’m having tendon issues 🤷♀️ science on women please, it’s ridiculous that we have to figure this out alone
I would say, unfortunately, except for recently, there haven’t been enough women training in later years to create studies according to guidelines. The stigmas around strength and muscle are slowly going away but I think it’ll be awhile. I would say, from a scientific perspective, post menopause, also as we age, you are dealing with increasing inflammatory response, as well as tissue flexibility (although tendons are not stretchy, it would stand to reason that some lactic acid build up would occur at the point of connection). Also, as we age, joint wear itself can cause tendons to track improperly. Finally, I know the reduction in estrogen can cause issues with collagen, and similar tissue in the skin, as well as fat deposits. It would make sense that this would also impact joints.
Dr. Gabriel Lyons says it's crucial for muscle mass for all older people. Calcium. Do warmups with the lowest weight and perfect form before you do heavier sets for each exercise. Thats the best way to stretch instead of actual stretching which doesn't prepare you for the actual exercise and causes too much strain. according to Dr. Mike...
Sorry you’re having tendon issues, I’m perimenopausal and have started facing it too. Turns out Tendon issues in peri and post menopause are because of declining estrogen levels. There are enough data to suggest bioidentical MHT is helpful in relieving symptoms. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4241423/
I haven't hit menopause but I went through a bout of over-exercising and my period stopped for a few months. It aged me drastically--my skin aged 10 years over the course of a couple months and has never recovered. I've also started getting tendon injuries. I thought it was just b/c I started a desk job but now you have me wondering 🤔
One of the 1.5 females here! I found this video very interesting and would love to see one about the tangible factors that result in these differences. Also, my husband doesn't make my program... I make his.
@maltheri9833 I meant that in the nicest possible way. Gay like Dr. Mike. So a funny kinda gay i guess. I'm sure she probably thinks the same thing since she is his mother as well as his wife 😂. No disrespect again.
This was such an amazing video! I have had men telling me “I’m doing too much” in the gym. But 4-5 exercises at 3 sets for 10-12 reps DOES NOTHING. 😂 I don’t feel like I’ve reached my full potential for that session. For reference, I am 5’10 190. Built Ford tough baby! 😂
When training women, mostly older women as well I found they were all surprised when I bumped up the weight they could do it! It was already awesome seeing them so happy with themselves. I got "I would have never tried that weight before". Chicks are strong but they just don't believe they are
Yeah they don’t believe because of misogyny. Girls are stereotyped as fearful and weak. I went to forest parkour yesterday (we were climbing trees and stuff) and the men started to tease me like “haha you’ll slow us down” but I was wayy ahead and we had to end it early because they were ‘tired’ 🙂
I’ve been there myself, and I feel like we aren’t pushed to be familiar with muscular failure, but moreso cardio failure. So when I first started, I thought the weight was fine because “I could feel it working the muscle” which to me meant it was good enough. Then I thought “why am I doing 15lb dumbbells on bench press, and 20 lb dumbbells on squats??” And I kept upping the weight on my lower body all the way to 40s on the same day. Like “oh THATS what it’s supposed to feel like”
@@SillyGoose-tv6qd That's called banter. When men hear banter, we take it as a challenge. If women respond to banter by being scared, that's not misoginy, thats a difference in mindset.
@@Verbux I geniunely have no idea what you are trying to tell me. Men told me I wasn't shit and I proved them wrong by doing better than them. I wasn't scared or anything lmao.
you accidentally just gave my fiancé and i some couple’s counseling. the gym has always been such a struggle for us to understand each other (he’d think i’m not pushing myself and i think he’s taking ridiculously long breaks 😂). super useful information!
I’m a female watching your channel! Could you pretty please with a cherry on top 🍒 make more videos that apply to women? I really appreciate your content from a science perspective and have been binge watching your channel after finding it recently. I’m getting strong and recently started training as a PT so these videos are very helpful! Thank you! 💪 💪 💪
From my experience, this seems pretty spot on. In nearly 50 years of bodybuilding, I've had a few female training partners. And without exception they were ready for the next set in about half the time I was. What worked was either they do another set between mine on heavy compound movements or a pre-exhaustion exercise between, like dumbbell flys with bench press. Also, they sometimes held back because of societal expectations. One girl could easily do 6 plates per side on the leg press for 12 reps, and I could tell she had way more in the tank. One day, I put 8 plates on the leg press for her, and she protested, "That's boy weight!" I told her, "Hon, you passed girl weight 3 plates ago." She ended up getting 12 reps, but she was a little uncomfortable with the effort it took; she had to grimmace and grunt to get all 12. Although we agreed that 8 plates was a little much for her goals, from then on, she knew what near max effort felt like.
Female here 👋 in my 15 years of working out, (crossfit, calisthenics, weight training etc) I can say that this is all true. Now I know for a fact that I can train harder despite all the long "breaks" I'm supposed to take. I was born ready bby! 💥
I think it's wise for anyone going to the gym to take general knowledge and get the basics down, but after that everyone should be experimenting with what works best for their goals. I personally don't mind going really heavy on Olympic lifts, but I prefer to do the 6-10 rep range with lower rest times making it more about endurance strength.
I did crossfit for a bit and I noticed that a lot of women seemed to really thrive on that. Makes sense since most of the criticisms against it seem to be less relevant for women.
So you hit the nail on the head. I've been training for a few years and my wife is wanting to get into it now and I've been wondering how to setup her training program optimally. Much appreciated.
This is all really good information to know, one thing you missed is our menstrual cycle. I know I could train hard and fast whilst I’m ovulating, but once that Luteal Phase starts I can barely motivate myself to get out of bed, I’m significantly weaker, I need more rest and a lot more food to function daily. So if men are planning a workout routine for a woman they should probably learn about the menstrual cycle and how it effects our ability to work out at certain times
The stuff about RIR is so damn true. I distinctly remember a workout where my partner was grinding sets of five, and genuinely convinced she was maxed out. Then a friend of hers started working out with the same weight, my partner got competitive, and I kid you not, cranked out a set of 20.
@@kadaj7269that’s the thing. Guys are trained in feat of strength and women in resilience of mind (think dominance hierarchies within the same gender). Guys are used to meeting technical failure because it’s the only way they see who’s best and competitiveness can really push you.
One of the 1.5 females here! So glad you made this video. I was just looking for a video on the differences in training between men and women the other day so this was timely. I was really glad to learn about the deloading difference. I have always felt that I could go a few more weeks when looking at certain programs that have you deload every fourth week, so I'm glad to hear that maybe that means I actually should push myself for another week or two before deloading.
I was wondering why rests between sets felt far too long and could go longer than my male counterparts. I've learnt so much from you, Dr. M..... Thanks for your knowledgeable, invaluable content.
Addressing that unscientific claim around the 15 minute mark about women being more compassionate, better kindergarten teachers, better with young children- it's whoever learns and trains best. As a sexist society, we expect these services from women, hence why they are "better" at said traits- because they're made to practice it more. Men just don't wanna share those responsibilities.
Well said. Men and women (and others, can't ignore our intersex siblings out there) are both capable of the same amount of compassion and empathy and child rearing. It's just who is encouraged to do what from birth. Boys are, generally speaking, told they need to be a man and be less emotional and so on from a very early age and aren't automatically given dolls to play with (unless they're action figures) or taught child rearing skills. So you're going to see more female adults in childrens education than adult males. But we need both.
As someone female and not good with kids, I say so cliche. There are gender differences, but not those. These are societal expectations and norms re-enforced by stereotypes. And counterproductive as it makes it more difficult for men to get access to these "typical female" jobs.
these social conditioning you are talking about are rooted in our biological differences. They are not come out of no where. There is whole lot of literature on psychological and biological and behavioral differences of men and women other than social factors that dictate these differences. The fact that you are deliberately ignoring our 300 million year old evolutionary history’s effects on our behavior and blaming it on men or society shows the fact that you are the one who is not admitting that people are different, and the more we add limiting factors like age and gender or even race, the more different we become.
I am one of your 1.5 women that watch your videos and I appreciate when the information is shared when there is a difference between men and women and how we should train. I am a big fan of RP!
I watch this channel because every episode I learn in some way that we've been lied to by alleged "experts". Through watching this channel, I now understand why it was so difficult to learn about fitness in the past. So much info is contradictory or false! Listening to a real Dr of Sport Physiology has really cleared up a lot of things and has made learning a lot more straight forward. Happy to be part of the
This makes so much sense and explains a lot, I feel like I have so much more potential and I’ve been stopping after hitting failure but I always feel like I could go again in a few minutes but never do..I will after this though
@maltheri9833 I’m not sure where they hide. I think they only make themselves visible if they want to be seen. I swore I saw one, I tried to approach her but, by the time I could get a word out she had already disappeared.
I was literally asked if I could put some stuff together for my neighbor's teenage daughter to get stronger in-between wrestling seasons. I used to wrestle. I used to personal train...but training a teenage girl, for wrestling, that's a new one. This was a perfect "hey remember this stuff!"
My experience why I sometimes don't push myself hard enough: 1.) fear of injury 2.) fear of quality loss in technique 3.) embarrassment (going to your training limit is against everything that a woman is "supposed" to be (quiet, dainty, not taking up space). I know it is bs, but it has been engrained in my brain since I was born so of course it has hard for my brain and body to go against it) 4.) I don't want to hurt my male training partners' feelings (I'm probably already rushing and overpushing them all the time :D)
Number 3! I had my trainer (training someone else at the time) pull me aside and ask “are you okay you look red .. no no like you’re really red .. no you’re very red” I’m FINE please don’t expect me to look like a pretty princess who has been having a picnic in the park! I’m working HARD!
@@Emily-cc6gghere you go getting worked up over something you had no clear proof of, How is him saying " oh you look super red" means you had to look like a pretty princess? Maybe just maybe he was worried of you because something was wrong......... things are not that deep Stop having this mentality of all guys expecting something outta of you and worry about you OR tell him why hes asking that
That embarrassment thing you described is almost always something women (and men) self imposed on themselves. No one cares how quiet or “girly” you are. As a dude if i ever wanted to let everyone else’s never-disappearing judgements around me, affect me, then i wouldn’t even make it outside my house.
I'm intrigued by the effects estrogen has on hypertrophy in women. Apparently it has some acute effects on recovery and the anabolic response. I think we all associate muscle-building with solely testosterone, but that isn't the case. Anyway, this is a much-appreciated video, and I appreciate your focus on the positive--higher reps relative to max--instead of framing it as "our absolute strength/max strength is lower." I think chasing failure is unfairly describing a psychological phenomenon rather than a physical one. I go to failure too often, especially chasing new calisthenics skills, and can sacrifice form for reps.
Estrogen is a great hormone indeed. Don't rule out growth hormone for hypertrophy for muscle growth in women either. Women who don't use hormonal anticonception produce 3-4 times more of it than men. Women produce just as much IGF-1 as men.
My understanding is, estrogen is essential for muscle building. Postmenopausal women have a much harder time gaining muscles and apparently need to train differently, i.e., much higher load to get the same muscle stimulus compared to premenopausal women. The difference is mainly estrogen. I recommend reading "Next Level by" by Sims if you are interested in this topic.
Estrogen is essential for muscle recovery and bone health, but only in small doses like in men. It's not a fully linear relation like testosterone, where the most testosterone possible is always better for muscle growth. Which is why men with more estrogen than the recommended amount don't really have an advantage. Females recovering faster has more to do with how they have more slow twitch fibers on average. They also seem to have a weaker motor unit recruitment response, which is why in male and females of the same muscle mass, the male will always be more stronger as he can actually make use of more of his muscle fibers at once. More muscle mass used = higher recovery demand.
@@adrianahaverhoekits not always about the amount, the way of how each of those hormones work in body and affect the cells are different between genders.
This reminds me the time when I, a powerlifter, attended my wife's body pump class. About half-way through the class I was lying on the floor begging for death. Differences in the ability to handle volume indeed
How many women are applying to become seals? How many men who apply actually become seals? Its complicated, and women dont usually like gettting into male dominated spaces
@@100ovrbatmanbron7 i think that can be placed under the umbrella of higher self preservation instinct, addressed about pushing through the "true failure"; as i see it pointed out in the comments from women; i'd word it as "better risk management", a gym is not "on the field" danger; men can switch that danger scenario make-belief easier apparently, and lean more often into "high risk - high reward" decisions in general.
As a one of your 1.5 female viewers, I’m currently binge watching all of your videos - this was great info! Totally validates all the arguments I’ve had with my friend about how I like to train. Thanks Dr Mike! 😄
fellow sister in steel here! this video was super helpful! would love some additions to your regular videos if there are differences for men and women too! all this info makes so much sense too, my gym bros always tell me to take more rest but i’m all good! please keep it up 🙏
I appreciate this so much, there's so little information garnered to women. Ive always wondered why i can do 20-30 sets, 2 1/2hr workouts, 6 times a week with no real fatigue, when so many male influencers say to do less volume or I'll LICHerally die
Dude, the timing of these videos lately is on point. Week 1 of wife's first meso and I'm attempting to help her through a lot of new stuff. This video will help me be less of a dick. Thanks Dr. Mike!
I’m so intrigued to know on average women don’t push themselves as close to failure as men do when doing their sets. I am a woman, and I have to actively remind myself NOT to take every set to failure, as I have conventional joint issues. I take most sets 1-2 reps from failure, with the rest being taken to complete failure.
I think the point is that what we consider failure is also effort dependent. True “muscular failure” would be an actual muscle tear/strain, which obviously none of us are doing (hopefully) on a frequent basis. But how close your perceived point of failure is to that hard limit is variable person to person and lift to lift. For all of us, the point that we call “failure” for many sets probably wouldn’t be failure if we were doing that lift to save our own life. The key point of the effort difference he described is that men get closer to the real point of failure than women do, on average and without coaching. This fits with the general trend of men having much lower propensity for self-preservation than women do so to me it makes complete sense, as real failure is dangerous and should be avoided unless absolutely necessary. Maybe all that was clear to you already and you really are getting right to the edge of muscle tears on all your sets, but that seems pretty hard to achieve without occasionally going too far and actually straining a muscle which I hope isn’t happening for you. Regardless, it’s a little ambiguous in the video so I think it’s worth stating plainly.
There is a MAJOR point missing in this video: hormonal cycle. Women don’t perform the same way depending on the phase of their cycle, whether they are before/around the ovulation or before their period. This has a massive impact on performance, recovery and injury risks.
Same, my husband says I look like a squirrel running from set to set and going hard like I’m training for the SEALs. We don’t train together, very different goals but we do it at the same time and we can high five each other as we go through.
You definitely have plenty of females listeners & followers, we love ya. You're great at explaining & walking through things, and you make it fun & hilarious while still giving it to us honestly & straight forward. Keep doing what you're doing, one of the best to do it no doubt!
Woman here. Just started training seriously and I love this video!! I love female focused training; I always feel it works better for me. Thank you for this video.
My old trainer used to tell me I needed to rest more. I hated taking such long rest breaks. Decided to train myself and I feel like I get a better workout in with my shorter breaks 😀
Same here. Heard that for hypertrophy, that I needed longer rests so I implemented them and have been finding less gains. Feel better knowing I should just train intuitively.
an advice that applies to everyone is "listen to your body", obviously harder to do confidently as a beginner; so maybe an overly cautious trainer was the better choice back then; if you train for health (as opposed to Olympic performance) you can see it as a good thing.
One thing I need to mention medically speaking as a female. Wong past menstrual years, we tend to have more strength because our iron levels become normal, we don't go through mood swings or fatigue, or bloating or hormones yo yo ING. 50 year Olds and up. We build strength faster, thus doing the math.. we see a difference in pushing it longer, the steady continued on the schedule continium.. so age has a big impact on hormones as from younger women It's taken a lot of research for Me and years of testing and experiments and learning the difference of male stages of age male hormones dieting. I'm still learning From other women over 45 and what works and does not work on the female body.. you are such a huge contributing sifu.. in my learning and growing in knowledge old school new. Taken me 7 years to get to my showing my so far began to show at my age. Thank you sir at 62 I feel better and look better than in 20s..
Great content. Have you done one of these informative videos on the differences between training at different age groups? I'm 44 and have been hypertrophy training for about 26 years. I've found that my body is not responding to the same rep and weight ranges as it was in my 30s. Same with diet. I feel like I'm having to do less meals but more protein per meal to feel better overall and recover.
My husband and I workout together and we truly enjoyed this information. There’s not enough out there for women (especially in their 40’s). I would love to hear more! I’ve been lifting for 10 years and absolutely love it. I’ve hit a lull and can’t wait to start your program to see some new progress and gains. Thank you!! Your videos are truly entertaining!
I appreciate this video. Being in my twenties and seeing males younger and older who barely started at the gym, sometimes it’s frustrating to see them get to where I’m at really quick. One thing that helped me was logging my progress and competing against myself. And just using everyone as accountability and motivation instead of comparison.💛
Remember ppl, this "MUST" train differently is meant if you wanna achieve your max/highest potential, most of the basic work fine for both sexes but these are specific details to achieve max. , not if you want to exercise yourself to keep healthy to a point without caring much about potential, if you are somewhere in between you may adapt some changes depending on wether you're male or female to be nearer your max.potential and remember there's also exceptions and not all people from a group or another always benefit from what's usually best for their group , you may have more active or lazy genes and/or ""unusual"" learned tendencies that make you the exception to these avrg. *anatomy* differences... Even then if training differently doesn't mean you gotta train separately, for example if you're a girl you can restart sooner another set meanwhile your guy pal is getting a bit some more rest.
Mom from the Netherlands here, I binge watch your video's! Thank you so much for all your knowledge. I have high functioning autism and Ehler's Danlos Syndrome but I've always wanted to get into weight lifting and this channel has helped me so much along the way. Because I'm prone to injury I don't push myself as far as I'd like (learned that from your video on your genes). So I focus on form and reps and not injuring myself. That's a win for me. I've lost 5 kg and my husband is commenting on how I look already. So Mike and team, THANK YOU! 💪🙏
Thanks for the video from a female that goes on Reddit. Hoping to see some content for planning around the different phases of the menstrual cycle if there's enough literature on that.
This answers so many questions I didn't realize I had. I've been on and off training since I was 19 (currently 32) taking training advice entirely from males and I always felt I wasn't getting the results I had expected, where it clearly worked for them. I'm sure a lot of that has to do with some self shortfalls (aka #7) but I think it's time to get more fellow female trainers in my life.
Great video! This will be helpful for training my wife. I tried to type this message several times, but I was an early adopter of robotic limbs. I can lift car, but typing, not so much.
Hi Dr Mike, I am a full female, love love love, your sense of humour. I was fitness management and group ex trainer for many years, now primary health care as a UK/Europen osteopath. I'm back in the gym again, working on my technique and increasing weight. Thank you for cleaning up the idots myths around exercise and speaking the truth ( as we know it so far) as learned through research. Thank you for being you & launching on RUclips. Thank you for making sense.
I appreciate these videos so much! I've been training for 3 months 4x a week in (what feels like) an all-male gym and having good information like this makes me feel more secure about my technique over more weights approach.
if RP use their app data, they can single handed revolutionise strength/hypertrophy research: while studies struggle to recruit 10 people for 6 weeks, these guys have 10,000s of datasets for multiple mesocycles.
Love this Dr. Mike! Always thought I wasn't going hard enough cause I can squat & dead till the cows come home... now I understand why! Though I'm not particularly gifted in the genetics department I can move more than I look like I should. Great tip on adding that extra session, think I will do that
My wife has starting going to the gym with me and all of these make so much sense! Really appreciate the video so I can make some adjustments to our training program.
I've always said I hated going to the gym and doing weightlifting because there was so much boring standing around between sets! Just got back into it; will definitely keep this in mind.
a lot of this stuff checks out! one of the 1.5 women here, been training a year and a half, started out at 140lbs at 5’8, and i’m now 170lbs. recent numbers are deadlift 295x6, bench 150x4, and squat 225x6. i was able to run 6 day a week ppl for a while without getting too beat up, but i’m planning on pivoting soon to a 4 day powerlifting program because i want to compete this spring! rate of initial gains seems to match with the guys, and i still think i have a solid amount of muscle left to gain, planning to get up to the 180s before my next cut and hit a 185 bench hopefully. despite hitting upper body 2x as much as lower, my lower lifts are still closer to that of the guys than my upper ones are (tragically lol). hoping to hit the ol 2/3/4 bench squat deadlift before i die 🤞
Just wanted to say I’m a female frenchie and newish to your channel… ABSOLUTELY loving the content and been watching consistently for weeks. Thank you so much for all the GREAT advice and information you are providing us. Been training consistently for over 3 years now 💯on my own… your channel keeps things in perspective for me so thanks again.
Number 7 is me. 😂 My husband has gone so far as increasing the weight on me when I wasn’t paying attention to show me that I can go much much heavier… and I ain’t weak to begin with! 😂
I learned this in practice with my clients I always have to urge the majority of my female clients not to rush to the next set while I have to blow the whistle for males line "now NOW, C'MON!!" 🤦🏾♂️🤣
Hey! From 1/2 female watching. You are insanely hilarious and informative. I have had a great trainer in the past and I’m about to restart training by myself with this new mindset. Thank you.
I'm the 1.5 woman (literally, I'm 250 lbs) and there's something very important you didn't mention: the menstrual cycle. We're usually a lot stronger during the follicular phase and a lot more fatigued during the luteal phase (pms). I know some women skip an entire week of training per month during their luteal phase. I usually just have to cut my usual weights by 30-40%. Either way, it does get in the way of gains.
Woman lifter of over 20 years here. With the bone density issues women have as they age, all women should be lifting heavy weights. It always makes me laugh (cry) to hear a woman say she can't lift heavy, then she goes and throws a 40lb toddler onto her hip and carries them around the shops for the next 20 minutes 🤔
40lb toddler? Is that some kind of a weird american euphemism that I am to European to understand?
@@arturrutkowski2100toddler = a child of about two to four years of age// 40 lbs = 18kgs
@@elaineweaver12In Europe, the average 40 lbs child is already riding a bike. They don't get carried anymore at that point.
@@arturrutkowski2100yeah... in European weight 40lbs is a normal 5-6 year old😂
Yas! I lift heavy and have for many years. 💪🏻 Don't skip out on the heavy stuff ladies
0.8 female of the 1.5 females in the audience tuning in!
Getting any sort of research backed sports science or nutrition information FOR women (as a lay person) is like pulling teeth. Videos like these are highly appreciated.
Makes me feel like less of a freak when high volume workouts feel wayyyy better
As the other 0.7, I concur.
As the other .8 female, I agree. I did the full body workout he posted a couple weeks ago, and I kept having to pause it so I could do more reps, and when it was over I wasn't as tired as the guy in the video at all.
The maths is getting fucky, but I'll say I'm the other 0.53. I agree re volume, definitely
As other female I do like this video since I want to aim more to "male typical phisique" than typical female bodybuilder. Idk more strong women like
But I'm noob so it can change and I don't know really what I'm doing yet 😂
1.5 females seem to become really hard to split up between all of us ._.
In short "women are not small men" Dr Stacy Sims. Excellent summary and explanation of the key physiological differences between male vs female training adaptations. More videos like these Dr Mike please :)
Heck yeah 😊
Yes. Was just about to write the same. Love Dr Stacy Simms and her work.
Another vote for Stacy Sims here. 💪😃. I appreciate Dr. Mike for trying, but think he missed the mark here. I think he's not quite got the message that Women are NOT small men. 28mins, and not a single mention of how female hormones, menstruation or menopause effect womens performance and ability to train.
Amen! Something I wish doctors and pharma companies realised.
I mean everything hes saying can be equated to the hormone difference. We recover better due to estrogen. Its also a hard subject to talk about for men because the momment they start talking about how periods and hormones affect women they get shit on and are told they are being sexist. @lmack6596
One of the reasons I don't "max out" is safety. If I have a strong workout partner I trust I am MUCH more likely to test my limits. I think this also plays into why women are generally more trainable and tend to pay closer attention when it comes to form: We have a higher sense of self-preservation.
When most doctors don’t understand your body, you’ve gotta be careful lol
Yeah we have a thing with ignoring our bodies lol also, I found the a lot of guys that do genuinely train to failure. They’re doing it as a replacement for self harm or violence, so they don’t give a shit about there physical well being 😅😂
You've got a point. Whenever I load up the bench, I use my fear of dying as a motivator to push harder
@@risu2312 Oh boy!! I hope you have a reliable spotter!!
I don't max out barbell squats for this reason only. We don't have safety bars, and I don't know how to safely drop the barbell.
2:35, you have no idea how bad I needed to hear this, i’ve actually felt INSECURE because of how quickly I recovered compared to the (primarily male) bodybuilders I watched. It made me feel like no matter how had I was training, how close to or past failure I went, how in pain I was by the end of a set, it simply was no enough because after a small rest i’m completely fine again
Women are programmed differently otherwise they couldn't handle birth labour
I totally relate to that yet at least for me it's hard to get 10 reps per set (at once) but i can def do a lot of sets
@@shreyap3705 THISS, i’ll be struggling to hit my last rep w the muscle being in unbearable pain, and then a less than a minute later i’m back at it able to hit the same amount of reps if not almost as much
Yup! I've always felt like/been told "if you don't NEED 3-5mins rest, you're just not working hard enough," and it's been such a buzzkill hanging over my head. It's made many workouts feel less engaging/time-efficient due to sitting and waiting, and compromised safety/recovery/morale due to chasing some magic number that'll adequately fuck me up but stop shy of killing me. It's been such a relief to put that thought behind me and just hop back in for another set whenever it feels right.
Question, and i'm just curious as a man. Could this factor be the same reason why women still want more sex after orgasming intensely, whereas a man after an orgasm is basically comatose.
Wow, Dr. Mike stretched out all of his knowledge about women in a 28 minute video. Impressive.
that's the longest he's last regarding women
@@eug4684 anything longer than a minute is cardio. And the stimulus to fatigue ratio of women is too low. Paying for dates, fights, ruining your macros with weekly brunches and wine nights... not a sufficiently anabolic environment in which to place yourself for optimal results.
You'd think the Lamborghini collection would have them flocking around him. . . . . . .
@@adam92486😂😂😂😂
@@adam92486gotta do the V-shred HIIT and quit. None of that sustained bullshit
THANK YOU!!! My husband and I stop working out together because I think he takes TOO long rest periods and he thinks I rush the workout. Can't wait to show him thw video! Thanks for the info, saved my marriage 😂
Lmaoooo
saaaame 😂😂😂😂
Aw 😂. Will you go back to working out together?
@Gizelle-cs6ix
Lol, he said he likes to be married to me, so no.
Mine thought I spent too long in the gym
Men and women absolutely need to train differently. More specifically, in different rooms.
Because I've never seen a woman (other than my mom, I love her) and the thought of talking to one terrifies me.
This made my laugh and cry 😂😭
I love my mom, too!
Why are some terrified/scared/nervous (call it what you want) to make conversation? I know you’re joking around but I think there’s some merit to this feeling among some men. Just curious.
@@amperage8032because women can be rude and probably assume every guy is hitting on them when they are not. I know women on both sides of the spectrum.
@@amperage8032 Cause women are rude
as a woman who uses both reddit and watches this channel i can confirm i do not exist. but if i did i’d say thank you for this absolute goldmine of a video for myself and my training.
I seem to not exist either. Oh well.
Same! 🙋♀️
I watch Zack Telander and he always starts off with “Lady and Gentlemen” since he has low female viewership and Im always like “yes, its me, Im the singular lady”
😂
Same! On Reddit, lifting heavy and on here.😅
I was putting off watching a video made by a man about women's fitness - I prefer watching women's channels for that as a woman... but honestly this felt like a half an hour of a dude complimenting me and it not being creepy. Even the use of the word "female" was to be inclusive rather than incelish.
I think a big difference is Dr Mike says “males and females”, not “men and females”. It makes it clear he’s using these terms to be precise about the topic, not to dehumanize anyone.
@@Uhshawdude totally
I think he’s using it in a scientific way too, using the term males as well.
Not everyone has evil intent, he is a doctor using doctor language, no need to be defensive over imaginary attacks.
Was anyone getting offended though? Just a question lol 😆. @@crepusculey863
As a woman, the biggest problem I have in the gym and in bring discipline with fitness is something people on the internet RARELY talk about. And thats the fact that every month, for a week, I bleed and feel like a sloth, with aaaall the hormone imbalance during the rest of the month, that this fact brings. But every fitness influencer out there, seems to have no idea that this is a big thing for women who train, and that we need to work AROUND that with our training, to jot be discouraged and leave the gym and never go back after the first time we had to workout while being 1 week before our period starts
Are you speaking of female influencers? Because males tend to focus on male training, so they aren't going to be too likely to include perior workarounds.
I jumped around in the vid( am a guy). Not sure he mentioned it. But. " deload" aka Training lighter or even taking a week off( turns out I generally don't pay enough attention) is seen as beneficial every....5-8 weeks? So. Taking a week off every month doesn't seem like a hindrance necessarily. Not perfect but most aren't. At least after a week with no training you know what your true fully recovered strength is. I feel it's just about the max before you feel a bit weaker first session. If I take 2 weeks off I gotta start light. Or do one light session in that week. That's it. If you know what's happening when it seems like the ideal moment to throw in one really ultrahard session a month, too. As you know you can chill after that. Helps cause you then need the recovery and just psychologically. I bet plenty motivated people are still gonna be that bit tougher if they know this is the one and only set before the gym closes or because they watched too much mentzer content or whatever.
Or just leave the weights for the men. Jk jk 😂go for it. 👍
Same here, I plan my workouts with periods in mind. Although since I switched to a plant based, whole food diet, my periods are very light and short and I am able to push harder even during the down week.
I definitely agree and I appreciate it when the online fitness folks address it, I follow several that do and talk about the slump so to say. There are definitely resources if you Google search it but don’t believe the potions, lotions, fix-it-all solutions because the truth is if you are having a seriously strong cramps day nothing going to help you “push” through. For myself I always keep my planned time I had for the gym so it stays a habit but I may opt for a sauna, message, zone 2 cardio, light lifting type of vibe. If I feel truly awful I just go take a hot shower and remind myself it will all be over until 28 days from now 😂😂😂😂 and come back the next training day feeling better. 😊
As a female lifter of 4 years, I agree we can handle a lot of volume. 4 months ago I finally started programming my "mesocycles" to better fit with my menstual cycle, and it has changed the game for me. I have never had gains like this, both hypertrophy and strength. I'm hoping this continues! I'm currently in the middle of my highest volume week, and it is an insane amount!!! I push through and just look forward to my deload week and know I come back even stronger! After years of what felt like spinning my wheels I am so freaking excited.
I would love to know more about how you set up your program.
same as @garowen13720
Never considered matching training with hormonal cycles-it seems so obvious once you say it
Oh wow yes. I’m interested in that. I have noticed changes, as obviously during my cycle it seems like everything I do just sucks… but I’m curious about loading etc.
Ooo, please share what you're doing! I've sort of just learnt not to get too disappointed and not to beat myself up if I fail a lift during or just before shark week. But would love to hear how you've adjusted your program.
Female gym newbie here! Just hit my 13 weeks of nonstop training so you can say I am a baby in this gymworld. Thank you so much for your information and knowledge, I hope I can push myself further every week 😊❤
What a privilege to have found Mike within your first 3 months of lifting!
Congrats on not being misled by all the bad info out there and going straight here
Welcome to the gym world! Enjoy!! - Dr. Mike
@@qwertziop0 Ikr!
Sounds great 👍🏻
But please consider the possibility of requiring a deload (videos on that available here on RP) some time, it will allow you to progress.
Honestly I appreciate how respectful he was. I'm a girl who's only 15 but I really enjoy working out, especially weight lifting. I only got disciplined fairly recently, (we love our highschool heartbreaks) and I found I didn't know enough about how to workout to maximize gains, and was constantly comparing myself to my male cousins who work out. Just wanted to say thanks for making the video-definitely helped a good amount.
Good for you getting started now! Lifting is one of the few known ways to help with bone density, as is impact, which reaches its peak around 20. Also, it’s way easier as you get older (44 here) to rebuild muscle after injury or time away because of life than it is to build it the first time. Biggest thing is to not fall into the trap of comparing yourself, even to yourself, to others too much. Even from one guy to the next, genetics can play a big role and not every tip works for every person. Figure out what type of plan works for you and your goals and I think you’ll find great gains. My only other tip is to use multiple measures of success to get an overall picture. Measurements are great but also, sensation. Did you get a good pump? Does your clothing feel more snug in that one area you’ve been targeting? Can you lift something more easily? Do you feel stronger?
Hell yeah
As a married man I've always loved training with my wife. She's always had insane leg stamina and can handle a ton of volume. I can't. But over the years she's definitely pushed me to go harder on leg days. Same goes for her with me, I push her harder on her back and chest workouts as she had to work super hard to develop her upper body strength.
Aww, that's so sweet
Why does your wife need to have male-level upper-body strength?
@@xKarenWalkerx because...
She wants to🤷
As one of your female viewers I just wanted to say I REALLY appreciate this video. Thanks!!!
You are the channels female viewer.
Same
@@KeyserSoze23think you’d be surprised just how many female viewers tune in to Mikes vids. He’s no bs and that resonates with the feminine persuasion
Yea!
Another female from the audience here. Great insights from this one, will definitely try and push myself harder next time. Would also love more info for female training in the future Dr Mike. I’ve been incorporating someof the training tips from your videos and they are great 💪🏻
Man I think I said all I know here lol. I've gotta learn more so that I can pass it on! - Dr. Mike
@@RenaissancePeriodization Please would you check out Stacy Sims? You have a massive audience, and it would be amazing if you could spread the word that women are NOT small men, and how taking account of hormone fluctuations when planning training can have profound effects on female performance. We all need to get more comfortable talking about the menstrual cycle and menopause. You have a great platform to do this. 💪
@@RenaissancePeriodization It would be super nice that in future videos about training you would include some paragraph about if this thing is applied to women and how:)
As a relatively new female lifter, this video is super informative and empowering. I always appreciate when science based creators discuss female biology and fitness.
Would be fun to hear about the ways menstrual cycle affects training for women and how to train around the cycle next!!! (Was actually rly expecting to hear about it in this video but maybe next one..?)
It does massively!
It’s a cycle…
From the 1-2 days after d start of my cycle to a few days after ovulation I can lift d heaviest.
The week before my period is a struggle… so I just deload and increase reps that week. Most women that track their periods can notice the trend and not get discouraged when strength and motivation are fluctuating.
It was interesting how he mentioned women don’t need reloads because honestly I feel my cycle creates a deload no matter what so a real deload I feel like why am I even going to the gym because it’s nothing 😂
Natasha Oceane did a video about it (she is an exercise scientist) but the results are probably not what you’re expecting…..not a lot of evidence to suggest there is any difference over the cycle or a need to train differently.
I do like to train according to where on my cycle I am, for examoke I know a week before my period I am at my weakest, so I don't look for any PR, and I actually deload, then comes my period and I actually don't even have a lot of energy and even less strenght, but I still do what I can, as soon as my period is over, I feel energized again, and it is the time to increase the load back to normal and ten days after my period is over I am at my peak, and is on those days where I look for PR's, so you have to try what works for you and your cycle, xxx
I’m a woman, and I’ve always found this to be true! This video was pretty validating. I’ve never needed a ton of rest between sets. 45-60 seconds and I’m good to go. And I have to hit failure over and over and over to really feel a burn the next day. I also am typically ready to hit the muscle group again after two days.
I've been trying to help a friend of mine with her training, and each time we train together to the point where I can't walk anymore, she's just like "that's it?" It all makes sense now. Hope professional trainers see this, I feel bad for not knowing already.
Yeah why wasn’t this in my ACE curriculum? 😂
We are the women RP viewers, there are dozens of us!
DOZENS! 💪 💖 ✨
18:16 bang on. I took my gf at the time rock climbing. She'd never done it before. Within an hour she was better than me cos she listened to me telling her how you should do it. Which wasn't how I was doing it.
😂
12:01 i think also some women dont push as hard is because we get periods as well. when im on my period and im mentally and physically tired and sore mostly in my hips and lower back. everything just feels very heavy than it usually does, even when i havent done much on that day, and just unable to push myself.
Check out Dr. Stacy Sims her work shows how to train around your monthly cycle.
@@thebootjournal6037thanks for the heads up.
females also have hormonal cycles that change our sensation of physical strength and our perception of it as well- and those hormonal changes are happening around the clock whereas males cycles are 24 hours
@@thebootjournal6037thank you
Post menopausal woman here, been training all my life. Suddenly post menopause I’m having tendon issues 🤷♀️ science on women please, it’s ridiculous that we have to figure this out alone
I would say, unfortunately, except for recently, there haven’t been enough women training in later years to create studies according to guidelines. The stigmas around strength and muscle are slowly going away but I think it’ll be awhile. I would say, from a scientific perspective, post menopause, also as we age, you are dealing with increasing inflammatory response, as well as tissue flexibility (although tendons are not stretchy, it would stand to reason that some lactic acid build up would occur at the point of connection). Also, as we age, joint wear itself can cause tendons to track improperly. Finally, I know the reduction in estrogen can cause issues with collagen, and similar tissue in the skin, as well as fat deposits. It would make sense that this would also impact joints.
Dr. Gabriel Lyons says it's crucial for muscle mass for all older people. Calcium. Do warmups with the lowest weight and perfect form before you do heavier sets for each exercise. Thats the best way to stretch instead of actual stretching which doesn't prepare you for the actual exercise and causes too much strain. according to Dr. Mike...
Hi, I noticed my joints suffering more too. Started taking collagen supplements daily. It seems to help. Also I need more warmup time.
Sorry you’re having tendon issues, I’m perimenopausal and have started facing it too. Turns out Tendon issues in peri and post menopause are because of declining estrogen levels. There are enough data to suggest bioidentical MHT is helpful in relieving symptoms.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4241423/
I haven't hit menopause but I went through a bout of over-exercising and my period stopped for a few months. It aged me drastically--my skin aged 10 years over the course of a couple months and has never recovered. I've also started getting tendon injuries. I thought it was just b/c I started a desk job but now you have me wondering 🤔
One of the 1.5 females here! I found this video very interesting and would love to see one about the tangible factors that result in these differences. Also, my husband doesn't make my program... I make his.
Boom, take that, husband! - Dr. Mike
@@RenaissancePeriodization hahaha he's gay. No disrespect, Dr. Mike is too 😂
@@akbananachucker2441bro 😭💀💀
Lol I make my husbands as well on days we train together.
@maltheri9833 I meant that in the nicest possible way. Gay like Dr. Mike. So a funny kinda gay i guess. I'm sure she probably thinks the same thing since she is his mother as well as his wife 😂. No disrespect again.
This was such an amazing video! I have had men telling me “I’m doing too much” in the gym. But 4-5 exercises at 3 sets for 10-12 reps DOES NOTHING. 😂 I don’t feel like I’ve reached my full potential for that session. For reference, I am 5’10 190. Built Ford tough baby! 😂
😢cap
I can absolutely relate
I'm 5'3" and 130 😢 I would kill for a bigger frame.
Female lifter here, and your observations are 100% consistent with my experience under the bar
When training women, mostly older women as well I found they were all surprised when I bumped up the weight they could do it! It was already awesome seeing them so happy with themselves. I got "I would have never tried that weight before". Chicks are strong but they just don't believe they are
Yeah they don’t believe because of misogyny. Girls are stereotyped as fearful and weak. I went to forest parkour yesterday (we were climbing trees and stuff) and the men started to tease me like “haha you’ll slow us down” but I was wayy ahead and we had to end it early because they were ‘tired’ 🙂
I’ve been there myself, and I feel like we aren’t pushed to be familiar with muscular failure, but moreso cardio failure. So when I first started, I thought the weight was fine because “I could feel it working the muscle” which to me meant it was good enough. Then I thought “why am I doing 15lb dumbbells on bench press, and 20 lb dumbbells on squats??” And I kept upping the weight on my lower body all the way to 40s on the same day. Like “oh THATS what it’s supposed to feel like”
@@SillyGoose-tv6qd That's called banter. When men hear banter, we take it as a challenge. If women respond to banter by being scared, that's not misoginy, thats a difference in mindset.
@@Verbux I geniunely have no idea what you are trying to tell me. Men told me I wasn't shit and I proved them wrong by doing better than them. I wasn't scared or anything lmao.
@@SillyGoose-tv6qd then why the resentment and bitterness?
you accidentally just gave my fiancé and i some couple’s counseling. the gym has always been such a struggle for us to understand each other (he’d think i’m not pushing myself and i think he’s taking ridiculously long breaks 😂). super useful information!
I’m a female watching your channel! Could you pretty please with a cherry on top 🍒 make more videos that apply to women? I really appreciate your content from a science perspective and have been binge watching your channel after finding it recently. I’m getting strong and recently started training as a PT so these videos are very helpful! Thank you! 💪 💪 💪
Dr Stacy Sims has great content for females and weight lifting!
From my experience, this seems pretty spot on. In nearly 50 years of bodybuilding, I've had a few female training partners. And without exception they were ready for the next set in about half the time I was. What worked was either they do another set between mine on heavy compound movements or a pre-exhaustion exercise between, like dumbbell flys with bench press. Also, they sometimes held back because of societal expectations. One girl could easily do 6 plates per side on the leg press for 12 reps, and I could tell she had way more in the tank. One day, I put 8 plates on the leg press for her, and she protested, "That's boy weight!" I told her, "Hon, you passed girl weight 3 plates ago." She ended up getting 12 reps, but she was a little uncomfortable with the effort it took; she had to grimmace and grunt to get all 12. Although we agreed that 8 plates was a little much for her goals, from then on, she knew what near max effort felt like.
Female here 👋 in my 15 years of working out, (crossfit, calisthenics, weight training etc) I can say that this is all true. Now I know for a fact that I can train harder despite all the long "breaks" I'm supposed to take. I was born ready bby! 💥
I think it's wise for anyone going to the gym to take general knowledge and get the basics down, but after that everyone should be experimenting with what works best for their goals. I personally don't mind going really heavy on Olympic lifts, but I prefer to do the 6-10 rep range with lower rest times making it more about endurance strength.
Lost credibility at crossfit
I did crossfit for a bit and I noticed that a lot of women seemed to really thrive on that. Makes sense since most of the criticisms against it seem to be less relevant for women.
CrossFit is the only class workout they keeps me working out regularly. I also check my ego at the door and scale all the time.
So you hit the nail on the head. I've been training for a few years and my wife is wanting to get into it now and I've been wondering how to setup her training program optimally. Much appreciated.
I'm here for exactly the same reason, lol.
This is all really good information to know, one thing you missed is our menstrual cycle. I know I could train hard and fast whilst I’m ovulating, but once that Luteal Phase starts I can barely motivate myself to get out of bed, I’m significantly weaker, I need more rest and a lot more food to function daily. So if men are planning a workout routine for a woman they should probably learn about the menstrual cycle and how it effects our ability to work out at certain times
100%
The stuff about RIR is so damn true. I distinctly remember a workout where my partner was grinding sets of five, and genuinely convinced she was maxed out. Then a friend of hers started working out with the same weight, my partner got competitive, and I kid you not, cranked out a set of 20.
Same. Girlfriend said she was tapped out at 12 reps, explained technical failure, next set she hits 27 with more in the tank lol.
That would make me so god damn mad 💀
that means your training partner was 15RIR before that set
@@kadaj7269that’s the thing. Guys are trained in feat of strength and women in resilience of mind (think dominance hierarchies within the same gender). Guys are used to meeting technical failure because it’s the only way they see who’s best and competitiveness can really push you.
One of the 1.5 females here! So glad you made this video. I was just looking for a video on the differences in training between men and women the other day so this was timely. I was really glad to learn about the deloading difference. I have always felt that I could go a few more weeks when looking at certain programs that have you deload every fourth week, so I'm glad to hear that maybe that means I actually should push myself for another week or two before deloading.
As a newly subscribed female. This video actually made so much sense to how my training has been for the past couple years so thank you!
I was wondering why rests between sets felt far too long and could go longer than my male counterparts. I've learnt so much from you, Dr. M..... Thanks for your knowledgeable, invaluable content.
Addressing that unscientific claim around the 15 minute mark about women being more compassionate, better kindergarten teachers, better with young children- it's whoever learns and trains best.
As a sexist society, we expect these services from women, hence why they are "better" at said traits- because they're made to practice it more.
Men just don't wanna share those responsibilities.
Well said. Men and women (and others, can't ignore our intersex siblings out there) are both capable of the same amount of compassion and empathy and child rearing. It's just who is encouraged to do what from birth. Boys are, generally speaking, told they need to be a man and be less emotional and so on from a very early age and aren't automatically given dolls to play with (unless they're action figures) or taught child rearing skills. So you're going to see more female adults in childrens education than adult males. But we need both.
As someone female and not good with kids, I say so cliche. There are gender differences, but not those. These are societal expectations and norms re-enforced by stereotypes. And counterproductive as it makes it more difficult for men to get access to these "typical female" jobs.
these social conditioning you are talking about are rooted in our biological differences. They are not come out of no where. There is whole lot of literature on psychological and biological and behavioral differences of men and women other than social factors that dictate these differences.
The fact that you are deliberately ignoring our 300 million year old evolutionary history’s effects on our behavior and blaming it on men or society shows the fact that you are the one who is not admitting that people are different, and the more we add limiting factors like age and gender or even race, the more different we become.
They're getting really mad that women are admitting they are not that interested in having kids too 😅 what about freedom of choice?
People know not to ask me to watch their kids longer than fifteen minutes. I have never been mother material.
I am one of your 1.5 women that watch your videos and I appreciate when the information is shared when there is a difference between men and women and how we should train. I am a big fan of RP!
Female here. Love the channel. I’m not a body builder, I’m a CrossFitter but love the channel. It’s informative and entertaining.
As a full-time Pilates instructor this video is a superb wealth of knowledge, especially because 97% of my clients are female. Cheers Dr. Mike.
I love how once you flood my brain with a zillion details you break out into a funny. I appreciate that you know how to break it down.
I watch this channel because every episode I learn in some way that we've been lied to by alleged "experts". Through watching this channel, I now understand why it was so difficult to learn about fitness in the past. So much info is contradictory or false! Listening to a real Dr of Sport Physiology has really cleared up a lot of things and has made learning a lot more straight forward. Happy to be part of the
This makes so much sense and explains a lot, I feel like I have so much more potential and I’ve been stopping after hitting failure but I always feel like I could go again in a few minutes but never do..I will after this though
Yess! Enjoy pushing it a bit further! - Dr. Mike
As an adult virgin, I find these videos discussing females very insightful.
@maltheri9833 I’m not sure where they hide. I think they only make themselves visible if they want to be seen. I swore I saw one, I tried to approach her but, by the time I could get a word out she had already disappeared.
@maltheri9833they dont exist relax
Lol that’s so out of pocket but I am glad you learned a lot about the female physique cheers!
I'd love to have more videos like this!! Your videos have progressed me immensely as a PT on the strength side. Such great content. 🙏💪
Thank you! - Dr. Mike
I was literally asked if I could put some stuff together for my neighbor's teenage daughter to get stronger in-between wrestling seasons. I used to wrestle. I used to personal train...but training a teenage girl, for wrestling, that's a new one. This was a perfect "hey remember this stuff!"
My experience why I sometimes don't push myself hard enough:
1.) fear of injury
2.) fear of quality loss in technique
3.) embarrassment (going to your training limit is against everything that a woman is "supposed" to be (quiet, dainty, not taking up space). I know it is bs, but it has been engrained in my brain since I was born so of course it has hard for my brain and body to go against it)
4.) I don't want to hurt my male training partners' feelings (I'm probably already rushing and overpushing them all the time :D)
the fear of injury is so real !!! if i’m with a trainer i feel safe… but when i’m not i just worry 😵💫
Number 3! I had my trainer (training someone else at the time) pull me aside and ask “are you okay you look red .. no no like you’re really red .. no you’re very red” I’m FINE please don’t expect me to look like a pretty princess who has been having a picnic in the park! I’m working HARD!
@@Emily-cc6gghere you go getting worked up over something you had no clear proof of,
How is him saying " oh you look super red" means you had to look like a pretty princess?
Maybe just maybe he was worried of you because something was wrong......... things are not that deep
Stop having this mentality of all guys expecting something outta of you and worry about you OR tell him why hes asking that
That embarrassment thing you described is almost always something women (and men) self imposed on themselves. No one cares how quiet or “girly” you are.
As a dude if i ever wanted to let everyone else’s never-disappearing judgements around me, affect me, then i wouldn’t even make it outside my house.
Fear of injury... Not wanting to take risk... Who is gonna take care of me, if I get injured...
I'm intrigued by the effects estrogen has on hypertrophy in women. Apparently it has some acute effects on recovery and the anabolic response. I think we all associate muscle-building with solely testosterone, but that isn't the case. Anyway, this is a much-appreciated video, and I appreciate your focus on the positive--higher reps relative to max--instead of framing it as "our absolute strength/max strength is lower." I think chasing failure is unfairly describing a psychological phenomenon rather than a physical one. I go to failure too often, especially chasing new calisthenics skills, and can sacrifice form for reps.
Estrogen is a great hormone indeed. Don't rule out growth hormone for hypertrophy for muscle growth in women either. Women who don't use hormonal anticonception produce 3-4 times more of it than men. Women produce just as much IGF-1 as men.
My understanding is, estrogen is essential for muscle building. Postmenopausal women have a much harder time gaining muscles and apparently need to train differently, i.e., much higher load to get the same muscle stimulus compared to premenopausal women. The difference is mainly estrogen. I recommend reading "Next Level by" by Sims if you are interested in this topic.
Estrogen is essential for muscle recovery and bone health, but only in small doses like in men. It's not a fully linear relation like testosterone, where the most testosterone possible is always better for muscle growth. Which is why men with more estrogen than the recommended amount don't really have an advantage.
Females recovering faster has more to do with how they have more slow twitch fibers on average. They also seem to have a weaker motor unit recruitment response, which is why in male and females of the same muscle mass, the male will always be more stronger as he can actually make use of more of his muscle fibers at once. More muscle mass used = higher recovery demand.
@@adrianahaverhoekits not always about the amount, the way of how each of those hormones work in body and affect the cells are different between genders.
This reminds me the time when I, a powerlifter, attended my wife's body pump class. About half-way through the class I was lying on the floor begging for death. Differences in the ability to handle volume indeed
so why aren’t there any female SEALs and Rangers?
How many women are applying to become seals? How many men who apply actually become seals?
Its complicated, and women dont usually like gettting into male dominated spaces
@@100ovrbatmanbron7 i think that can be placed under the umbrella of higher self preservation instinct, addressed about pushing through the "true failure"; as i see it pointed out in the comments from women; i'd word it as "better risk management", a gym is not "on the field" danger; men can switch that danger scenario make-belief easier apparently, and lean more often into "high risk - high reward" decisions in general.
@@flintthepitbull8298 you can easily look up the pass rates into special forces by sex
Thank you for the great information from one of the 1,5 female watchers 😜 I am 63 and just started lifting 3 months ago - love it 🙂
Probably the most accurate yet non condescending videos on the differences
As a one of your 1.5 female viewers, I’m currently binge watching all of your videos - this was great info! Totally validates all the arguments I’ve had with my friend about how I like to train. Thanks Dr Mike! 😄
fellow sister in steel here! this video was super helpful! would love some additions to your regular videos if there are differences for men and women too! all this info makes so much sense too, my gym bros always tell me to take more rest but i’m all good! please keep it up 🙏
I appreciate this so much, there's so little information garnered to women. Ive always wondered why i can do 20-30 sets, 2 1/2hr workouts, 6 times a week with no real fatigue, when so many male influencers say to do less volume or I'll LICHerally die
Dude, the timing of these videos lately is on point. Week 1 of wife's first meso and I'm attempting to help her through a lot of new stuff. This video will help me be less of a dick. Thanks Dr. Mike!
I’m so intrigued to know on average women don’t push themselves as close to failure as men do when doing their sets. I am a woman, and I have to actively remind myself NOT to take every set to failure, as I have conventional joint issues. I take most sets 1-2 reps from failure, with the rest being taken to complete failure.
I think the point is that what we consider failure is also effort dependent. True “muscular failure” would be an actual muscle tear/strain, which obviously none of us are doing (hopefully) on a frequent basis. But how close your perceived point of failure is to that hard limit is variable person to person and lift to lift. For all of us, the point that we call “failure” for many sets probably wouldn’t be failure if we were doing that lift to save our own life. The key point of the effort difference he described is that men get closer to the real point of failure than women do, on average and without coaching. This fits with the general trend of men having much lower propensity for self-preservation than women do so to me it makes complete sense, as real failure is dangerous and should be avoided unless absolutely necessary.
Maybe all that was clear to you already and you really are getting right to the edge of muscle tears on all your sets, but that seems pretty hard to achieve without occasionally going too far and actually straining a muscle which I hope isn’t happening for you. Regardless, it’s a little ambiguous in the video so I think it’s worth stating plainly.
You absolutely don't know how many reps you are from failure if you don't take some sets to failure.
There is a MAJOR point missing in this video: hormonal cycle.
Women don’t perform the same way depending on the phase of their cycle, whether they are before/around the ovulation or before their period.
This has a massive impact on performance, recovery and injury risks.
This is me!! I recover so fast and can do a lot more than my husband in the gym. He of course is stronger, but I can do more volume and rest less
Same, my husband says I look like a squirrel running from set to set and going hard like I’m training for the SEALs. We don’t train together, very different goals but we do it at the same time and we can high five each other as we go through.
Cap
@@TheBaumcm For the seals! 🤣
LOVE it!
@@Radiation580Cry harder
@@ValadrienLeonhart cap
I definitely need to push harder. I needed to hear this
Yay thank you! I’m a woman and have been watching all your content lately, only been training consistently for 6 months after years of cycling.
Love the video and very informative. This will help me train better.
You definitely have plenty of females listeners & followers, we love ya. You're great at explaining & walking through things, and you make it fun & hilarious while still giving it to us honestly & straight forward. Keep doing what you're doing, one of the best to do it no doubt!
More videos for women lifters pleaseeee I’m one of that .5% female listers! Love your content Dr.Mike!
Another female lifter here. This was really helpful. Thanks for posting this content!
I’m a female who watch this channel and I absolutely love it!
Woman here. Just started training seriously and I love this video!! I love female focused training; I always feel it works better for me. Thank you for this video.
My old trainer used to tell me I needed to rest more. I hated taking such long rest breaks. Decided to train myself and I feel like I get a better workout in with my shorter breaks 😀
Same here. Heard that for hypertrophy, that I needed longer rests so I implemented them and have been finding less gains. Feel better knowing I should just train intuitively.
an advice that applies to everyone is "listen to your body", obviously harder to do confidently as a beginner; so maybe an overly cautious trainer was the better choice back then; if you train for health (as opposed to Olympic performance) you can see it as a good thing.
One thing I need to mention medically speaking as a female. Wong past menstrual years, we tend to have more strength because our iron levels become normal, we don't go through mood swings or fatigue, or bloating or hormones yo yo ING. 50 year Olds and up. We build strength faster, thus doing the math.. we see a difference in pushing it longer, the steady continued on the schedule continium.. so age has a big impact on hormones as from younger women
It's taken a lot of research for Me and years of testing and experiments and learning the difference of male stages of age male hormones dieting.
I'm still learning
From other women over 45 and what works and does not work on the female body.. you are such a huge contributing sifu.. in my learning and growing in knowledge old school new. Taken me 7 years to get to my showing my so far began to show at my age. Thank you sir at 62 I feel better and look better than in 20s..
Great content. Have you done one of these informative videos on the differences between training at different age groups? I'm 44 and have been hypertrophy training for about 26 years. I've found that my body is not responding to the same rep and weight ranges as it was in my 30s. Same with diet. I feel like I'm having to do less meals but more protein per meal to feel better overall and recover.
Protein absorption goes down with age, that's one part. And that tends to continue to get worse.
Also estrogen levels begin to drop which influences recovery. Might be worth getting a blood panel to check your levels.
He has done a video about age differences, very good, look it up (just type in: Rennicance periodization age differences or something like that)
@@Voidrunner01 that seems to be the case.
@@ChurchWorshipandvideo panels are all good, plus I'm on TRT for the past 5+ years so there is a steady supply of estrogen conversion.
My husband and I workout together and we truly enjoyed this information. There’s not enough out there for women (especially in their 40’s). I would love to hear more! I’ve been lifting for 10 years and absolutely love it. I’ve hit a lull and can’t wait to start your program to see some new progress and gains. Thank you!! Your videos are truly entertaining!
I appreciate this video. Being in my twenties and seeing males younger and older who barely started at the gym, sometimes it’s frustrating to see them get to where I’m at really quick.
One thing that helped me was logging my progress and competing against myself. And just using everyone as accountability and motivation instead of comparison.💛
Remember ppl, this "MUST" train differently is meant if you wanna achieve your max/highest potential, most of the basic work fine for both sexes but these are specific details to achieve max. , not if you want to exercise yourself to keep healthy to a point without caring much about potential, if you are somewhere in between you may adapt some changes depending on wether you're male or female to be nearer your max.potential and remember there's also exceptions and not all people from a group or another always benefit from what's usually best for their group , you may have more active or lazy genes and/or ""unusual"" learned tendencies that make you the exception to these avrg. *anatomy* differences...
Even then if training differently doesn't mean you gotta train separately, for example if you're a girl you can restart sooner another set meanwhile your guy pal is getting a bit some more rest.
Mom from the Netherlands here, I binge watch your video's! Thank you so much for all your knowledge.
I have high functioning autism and Ehler's Danlos Syndrome but I've always wanted to get into weight lifting and this channel has helped me so much along the way. Because I'm prone to injury I don't push myself as far as I'd like (learned that from your video on your genes). So I focus on form and reps and not injuring myself. That's a win for me.
I've lost 5 kg and my husband is commenting on how I look already. So Mike and team, THANK YOU! 💪🙏
very well done you should be very proud of yourself, a lot of people would not do what you do given your circumstances.
@@Flawgore Thank you! :)
Would love an update to the rp hypertrophy app for women with less deloads and more volume :) I definitely wasn’t ready for my last programmed deload
Thanks for the video from a female that goes on Reddit. Hoping to see some content for planning around the different phases of the menstrual cycle if there's enough literature on that.
I’m glad to be part of your 2% You are my absolute favorite and I learn a lot from you. ❤
This answers so many questions I didn't realize I had. I've been on and off training since I was 19 (currently 32) taking training advice entirely from males and I always felt I wasn't getting the results I had expected, where it clearly worked for them. I'm sure a lot of that has to do with some self shortfalls (aka #7) but I think it's time to get more fellow female trainers in my life.
Yep, another female here (also in the Bronx). I'm here to gain of the knowledge you impart. Thanks for making the science more accessible
Great video! This will be helpful for training my wife. I tried to type this message several times, but I was an early adopter of robotic limbs. I can lift car, but typing, not so much.
I always wondered why so many women loved crossfit. This explains it.
I'm flattered to represent 67% of the female viewership. I haven't met the half woman yet but I look forward to speaking with her.
Hi Dr Mike, I am a full female, love love love, your sense of humour. I was fitness management and group ex trainer for many years, now primary health care as a UK/Europen osteopath. I'm back in the gym again, working on my technique and increasing weight. Thank you for cleaning up the idots myths around exercise and speaking the truth ( as we know it so far) as learned through research. Thank you for being you & launching on RUclips. Thank you for making sense.
I appreciate these videos so much! I've been training for 3 months 4x a week in (what feels like) an all-male gym and having good information like this makes me feel more secure about my technique over more weights approach.
if RP use their app data, they can single handed revolutionise strength/hypertrophy research: while studies struggle to recruit 10 people for 6 weeks, these guys have 10,000s of datasets for multiple mesocycles.
Love this Dr. Mike! Always thought I wasn't going hard enough cause I can squat & dead till the cows come home... now I understand why! Though I'm not particularly gifted in the genetics department I can move more than I look like I should. Great tip on adding that extra session, think I will do that
Thank you for this! I am 45 yr old female and got a personal trainer who is pushing me beyond my limits and I love it!
My wife has starting going to the gym with me and all of these make so much sense! Really appreciate the video so I can make some adjustments to our training program.
I've always said I hated going to the gym and doing weightlifting because there was so much boring standing around between sets! Just got back into it; will definitely keep this in mind.
a lot of this stuff checks out! one of the 1.5 women here, been training a year and a half, started out at 140lbs at 5’8, and i’m now 170lbs. recent numbers are deadlift 295x6, bench 150x4, and squat 225x6. i was able to run 6 day a week ppl for a while without getting too beat up, but i’m planning on pivoting soon to a 4 day powerlifting program because i want to compete this spring! rate of initial gains seems to match with the guys, and i still think i have a solid amount of muscle left to gain, planning to get up to the 180s before my next cut and hit a 185 bench hopefully.
despite hitting upper body 2x as much as lower, my lower lifts are still closer to that of the guys than my upper ones are (tragically lol). hoping to hit the ol 2/3/4 bench squat deadlift before i die 🤞
Can you make a volume periodization chart for females? 🙏
I'm newer to the channel but I must say, "swooning Victorian/Edwardian lady" is quite possibly my favorite Dr Mike character. 😂
Just wanted to say I’m a female frenchie and newish to your channel… ABSOLUTELY loving the content and been watching consistently for weeks. Thank you so much for all the GREAT advice and information you are providing us. Been training consistently for over 3 years now 💯on my own… your channel keeps things in perspective for me so thanks again.
Number 7 is me. 😂 My husband has gone so far as increasing the weight on me when I wasn’t paying attention to show me that I can go much much heavier… and I ain’t weak to begin with! 😂
I learned this in practice with my clients I always have to urge the majority of my female clients not to rush to the next set while I have to blow the whistle for males line "now NOW, C'MON!!" 🤦🏾♂️🤣
She’s not rushing to the next set. She’s recovered and ready to go.
@@TheBaumcm definitely, pardon if my wording implied she wasn’t.
Dr Mike is not only extremely knowledgable about exercise, he's also one of the best comedians on this platform
Hey! From 1/2 female watching. You are insanely hilarious and informative. I have had a great trainer in the past and I’m about to restart training by myself with this new mindset. Thank you.
I'm the 1.5 woman (literally, I'm 250 lbs) and there's something very important you didn't mention: the menstrual cycle. We're usually a lot stronger during the follicular phase and a lot more fatigued during the luteal phase (pms). I know some women skip an entire week of training per month during their luteal phase. I usually just have to cut my usual weights by 30-40%. Either way, it does get in the way of gains.