Q: Clance,

One of my female friends just attended your Strength Training for Women seminar and she said, ”It was great!” She also told me you said, if women do not want to bulk up, they should lift heavy weights.

 A:  When I tell women they should lift heavy, they look at me like I am crazy. It’s as if I am telling them to go pick the heaviest weight in the gym, and if you can’t lift it, you will get muscle tone. That’s not what I am saying. There is empirical scientific research that states low rep maximums 1 – 4 do not hypertrophy muscle fibers. This means if you don’t build muscle, you don’t bulk up. Not to mention women have lower testosterone levels than men, which is why men put on more muscle. I don’t recommend you run to the gym and start lifting 1 – 4 rep maximums. You have to build that foundation, get co-coordinated with you technique, and learn to lift properly.

First phase of training starts with 15 -20 parameters

Second phase drop your rep bracket to 10 -12

Third phase drop to 6 – 8 

Final phase drop to 2-4 

Repeat phases.

This is just and example of how you can lay out your training plan. There are a million ways you can do it. When you build a foundation and you spend 60% of your training with low reps, you will get tone. Tension equals tone, I hear all the time from clients, ”Well, my trainer told me to do a lot of repetitions to get toned.” That is incorrect, if you spend all you time doing lightweight and a lot of repetitions you will look soft not toned. With all this being said, ANY UNWANTED BULK by a female client is not what she wants! Therefore I modify the program accordingly.