March 12, 2025 • 28 mins
Going into the FWW Vault this week so that if you missed this before, here's a chance to hear it.
Are there any truths to a recent news artcle from Times Now News sharing 5 exercises women should do differently than men?
What's real or what's BS? Let's get into it!
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Kindal Boyle has been a personal trainer for nearly 20 years focusing on women's strength and fitness. She'll teach you how to combine strength training and cardio for a hybrid approach to build the fittest body and life no matter where you are in your fitness journey.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) What's up, guys?
Welcome to a brand new episode of the
Fit Women's Weekly Podcast.
This is your first time tuning in.
Welcome to the show.
I'm Kendall.
I've been a personal trainer specifically for women
for over 17 years now.
And in this podcast, I bring to you
that knowledge as a trainer, as well as
my own personal experience and struggles to help
(00:21):
you figure out what is the BS when
it comes to living a healthy fit life
and what can you actually implement into your
own life to try to get through it
the best that we can.
Because that's all that we're trying to do,
right?
We're trying to adult the best way possible,
treat our bodies the best that we can,
and be healthy.
But what does that actually mean?
(00:42):
Because there is a lot of mess out
there.
There's a lot of stuff that clouds things
up and makes us go, wait, am I
supposed to be doing this?
Am I supposed to be doing this?
Is this the best type of exercise?
Is this what I'm supposed to be eating?
Should I take this supplement?
So what's real?
What's crap?
And we also talk about mindset and life
a lot too.
So welcome to the show.
I hope that you enjoy it.
(01:03):
If you do, I put out new episodes
every single week and I've already released over
550 previous episodes.
In fact, I think I'm actually coming up
on my 600th episode, man, that is freaking
insane.
So in saying that, that is a lot
of content floating around.
And if you enjoy this show, here's what
(01:25):
you can do for me.
Make sure that you have subscribed to the
platform that you listen to.
If you're watching this on YouTube, drop a
comment down below.
Just letting me know what is your favorite
topic when it comes to fitness and lifestyle.
Is it exercise?
Is it nutrition?
Is it mindset?
What are the things that you're looking for
that I can help you with?
(01:46):
And then of course, make sure to leave
a review and share the podcast.
That is by far the most beneficial thing
that you can do to help grow our
amazing community of women in the fit women's
weekly community.
All right, so let's just kind of talk
about what's going to happen today.
So I'm going to continue my series on
(02:08):
commentating some new research, some news articles that
I have found or some that my husband
has found.
And that's what we're going to do today.
Today's episode is called exercises that women should
do differently than men.
And to quote my husband, this is what
he said when he sent this to me.
This is the dumbest article ever.
Now, do I think that this is the
(02:29):
dumbest article ever?
No, because I do think that there is
a little bit of some facts in what
we're getting ready to read.
But I do think that it is filled
with a lot of fluff just to try
to get people to read it.
I'm actually not going to state the actual
article because I don't want to like bring
(02:51):
negativity to it.
But I do want to bring awareness to
you guys listening in because maybe you've heard,
oh my gosh, I'm a woman.
Should I not do this exercise?
Should I be doing this instead?
Well, let's break through at least what this
article has to say and clear some things
up.
All right, so exercises that women should do
(03:11):
differently than men.
Should women really exercise differently than men read
along as we delve deeper into the subject
when it comes to exercise, there's hardly any
one size.
And I got to explain the article real
quick.
Okay, there we go.
When it comes to exercise, there's hardly any
one size fits all an exercise routine should
always be tailored to one's fitness goals in
(03:33):
mind.
Whether women and men should train differently has
always been a topic of discussion.
And we often find articles on recommended exercises
for men and women leading us to ponder
even more if that is the real case.
So here's the thing that I want to
specify.
I'm kind of going to break.
I'm going to read a paragraph and then
kind of break it down and we'll figure
things out together.
(03:54):
So what you find other articles recommending exercises
for men and women is because people are
trying to market to their specific audience, right?
So for example, I always post workouts daily
that'll say something like 20-minute kettlebell workout
for women, leg workout for women, upper body
(04:15):
workout for women.
But does that mean that they're not good
for men too?
No, not at all.
I'm just trying to reach my target audience
and hopefully also let the platform know that
I'm working with what that audience is.
So that's who they show my stuff to.
For example, YouTube still hasn't figured it out.
(04:37):
YouTube, even though here we are on YouTube
for this podcast, sadly almost 75% of
my content gets shown to men versus women.
And that's on a YouTube algorithm thing.
So me personally, every time I put out
new content, I do try to put ex
-workout exercises for women so that that's the
(05:01):
people that are going to be shown that
content.
But it doesn't mean that these exercises or
these workouts are only for women.
So yeah, of course people outside of myself
are also going to be doing the same
thing.
It doesn't mean that they're trying to promote
different fitness for one or the other.
It's again, trying to talk to their ideal
market.
(05:23):
Moving on.
While the fundamental principles of exercise remain the
same for both men and women, our physiological
and anatomical difference may warrant some adjustments.
Yes, okay.
So I'm trying to see if I have
notes on this or if I broke it
down.
All right.
So yes, our bodies are slightly different because
our hips, specifically our femur angle.
(05:44):
So women have hips for childbirth, right?
Men have a much more narrow stance except
for me and some women.
I have a very box shape, but however,
it's the same because of my hips.
Our angles from our femurs are slightly different
than men.
And that means that we might have to
make a few adjustments, but I do want
(06:04):
to continue on and see what they say.
To start with, women are blessed with broader
pelvic region due to accommodate the unique demands
of childbirth.
There we go.
Same thing.
So right now, I'm on board with this
article and the nurturing of offspring.
Other than that, comparatively, women have softer ligaments
and tendons, which makes them more prone to
(06:24):
injury specifically in the knees and the hips.
Now that's a little bit interesting.
So yes, hips and pelvis.
Got it.
As far as softer ligaments and tendons are
concerned, I've never heard of that before.
And so I did do a little bit
more research.
Um, I wanted to see if that was
specifically true, but I do know that that's
(06:46):
not the reason that women are more susceptible
to knee injuries, specifically ACLs.
We hear a lot, especially in college age
and high school that women are more susceptible
to ACL injuries in their knees.
And here's the reason it's not because of
softer ligaments and tendons.
It's because of their intercongiular notch.
(07:06):
That's a very hard word for me to
say.
Anyways, it's the groove and the femur where
the ACL passes.
It's smaller in women.
So the ACL itself, which is the ligament,
is actually also smaller.
And that's what makes it prone to injuries.
Not because it's softer per se.
It's just smaller.
So it's something smaller.
(07:29):
It's to bend their knees more towards the
middle of their bodies.
So they're a little bit easier to bow
inward versus outward.
So adding that with the shorter ACL makes
them more susceptible of having injuries.
And then yes, because of hormones, women do
tend to be more flexible in their ligaments
and tendons, but not softer.
(07:51):
And it especially determines where you are in
your cycle, where your hormones are.
When women are pregnant, they have something called
relaxin, which goes throughout their body.
It's to help their pelvis expand to prepare
for childbirth.
But that actually makes everything else looser in
their bodies as well.
So when you're pregnant, you are actually the
(08:11):
more susceptible to injuries like twisting your ankle
or things like that, because you are more
mobile and those ligaments are a little bit
stretched out or a little bit more flexible,
but softer.
That's a really weird way to say that.
But I'm assuming that's kind of what they're
trying to say.
All right, moving on to demystify the age
(08:35):
old concepts Times Now.
So this is where I got it times
now.com spoke with Ishin Ayora, a bodybuilding
Indian certified personal trainer.
And he said women's bodies typically have differences
in muscle mass, distribution of fat and hormonal
composition compared to men.
Yes, I absolutely agree with that.
(08:55):
Instead of aiming for muscle training, women often
benefit from a training approach that emphasizes strength,
mobility, and overall fitness.
Okay, so they wrote this article with the
help of a male bodybuilder, right, which personally,
I'd prefer to see it if they had
actually used a female trainer as a source,
(09:19):
because the male doesn't really, like, I'm not
saying they can't do research, but they can't
emphasize or really know what it feels like
to be a woman.
They don't really know where they're coming from.
They have no empathy towards being a woman.
So I'm just wondering where he pulled his
information from would just kind of be one
(09:41):
way for me to go, I don't know
about that.
And you know, that quote, he said, where
instead of aiming for muscle training, women often
benefit from a training approach that emphasizes strength,
mobility, and overall function.
Okay, well, here's what's weird.
If women are more flexible than men naturally,
then wouldn't it make more sense that if
(10:02):
men would actually benefit more from mobility work,
women are already mobile, according to his article.
But the truth is that mobility and flexibility
is the most underrated training for both sexes
and should be included regularly for both.
As we get older, we only get tighter
and tighter from our especially from our lifestyles.
So that should not be something that just
(10:24):
focuses that women should focus on in their
training, especially if that's something that comes more
natural to us.
I think that actually, if we're trying to
play this man versus female thing, that men
would benefit more from mobility more regularly, because
that's where they lack.
That's something that they suffer just naturally from.
(10:47):
And then I also want to know what
the heck is the difference between muscle training
and strength training.
Strength training is literally muscle training.
So that's just a really weird way to
put it.
And finally, who would benefit from all three
types of these things, talking about foundational functional
strength, just that means working on fitness that
helps you get through everyday life, mobility and
(11:10):
strength training, freaking everybody, man, men and women.
Alright, so let's get to the specific exercises
that this trainer says that we should be
doing differently.
Number one, avoid the Smith's machine.
He says that women are advised to ditch
the Smith's machine, which is an artificial movement.
(11:31):
And it makes the body move in a
specific pattern, raising your risk of getting your
knee injured.
I actually am for this.
I'm not a huge fan of the Smith
machine.
I don't like the fixed range of motion
of the machine.
And I think it can also lead to
poor mechanics on squats.
The Smith's machine will often lead you, because
it has that weird angle to it, lead
(11:52):
you to the old fashioned way of squatting,
where we weren't supposed to push our knees
over our toes.
You're supposed to sit back onto your hips,
and it leaves you in a very unnatural
form of movement.
It is not very functional.
It does have a place.
Like I have seen people do single leg
deadlifts with the Smith machine.
(12:13):
I've seen them use it to do, I
forget what they're called.
They're not called hack squats, but basically where
you stand in front of the Smith machine
bar with it lowered very far down right
below your knees, and you squat back with
your knees going towards sitting onto the bar.
Kind of a weird image.
I'll try on YouTube to put an image
(12:33):
up here, and that's a great use for
it.
It is also one of my favorite ways
if you have access to a Smith machine
for mastering your pushups, because you can lower
it down to do incline, excuse me, incline
pushups.
And then it's also great for reverse rows
and for doing pull-up exercises.
(12:53):
If you are trying to get a pull
-up, you can use a Smith machine.
So it's not only used for squats, but
I'm also saying he's saying that it increases
your risk of getting injured, your knees injured.
That to me is a little bizarre.
I have never heard of a woman.
I've never seen a client talk about being
injured from doing squats and hurting their knees
(13:14):
on a Smith machine bar.
I think that you're probably more likely to
have an injury, especially in your knees, from
doing any other kind of free weight machine,
dumbbells, kettlebells, barbells, and trying to do it
without being properly trained, than to use it
on something like this, where the range of
motion is set in stone for you.
(13:35):
And I also think that if you are
trying to avoid every single exercise that is
going to risk hurting your knee, then you're
just going to have to buckle up and
lock yourself into a house, right?
Because literally anything could go wrong.
Whereas doing the moves like a squat is
actually going to help you strengthen the muscles
(13:56):
around your knee to help decrease your risk
of knee injuries.
So just a little thought for you, which
takes us to number two, which is squats.
Isaiah says that the basic form of performing
squats remains the same for both gingers.
However, women may consider adjusting the frequency in
the reps.
Women may have a wider pelvis, which can
(14:17):
affect the angle of the femur and alignment
of the knees and proper form and exercises
like squats is crucial to prevent injuries.
This, this actually really annoys me because again,
I am trying to make sure that you
guys have the right information to help benefit
your life, improve your fitness overall.
(14:37):
And when bad information like this is being
put around the internet, then somebody who's a
complete beginner might look at this and go,
oh my gosh, I read that a personal
trainer told me because I'm a woman, I
should, uh, shouldn't squat very often that I
should keep my reps really low and not
do it very often, which frequency.
Um, and that's just terrible training advice.
(14:59):
So here's what I go.
He recommends lower reps and frequency because of
our hips and femurs.
No.
Instead, make a few simple tweaks to your
form, which actually those completely against what he
says, because he says at the beginning, basic
form for performing squats remains the same for
both genders.
(15:20):
Whereas that is not the case for a
woman to be able to sit down into
your squat, sit into that pocket.
She's likely going to have to bring your,
your stance to a wider stance.
So you want to take your feet probably
a little bit wider than hip width, and
then you're most likely going to have to
turn your feet out a few degrees to
(15:40):
be able to keep your feet planted on
the ground and keeping your torso up tall
as you squat down.
That's going to help adjust for that femur
angle.
Whereas men, I'm going to use my husband
here for this example.
He can sit with his feet stacked directly
under his hips.
His feet are planted straight forward and he
can sit straight down.
(16:02):
When I tried to do that, my heels
come up, my chest starts to fall, and
it's just not very comfortable.
I can't get into a very good depth
with that while maintaining a proper squat.
So what I have to do to adjust
as I take my feet wider, I turn
them out a little bit and bam, I'm
able to sit down just as low as
he is into that like low Asian, you've
(16:23):
heard the term Asian squat, and I'm able
to do that from that position.
It doesn't mean that I have to decrease
my reps.
I don't have to decrease the weight that
I use.
I don't have to decrease the frequency because
squatting is a fundamental movement that helps us
function daily.
It makes you recover from sitting too much.
It helps with your knee health.
(16:45):
It obviously helps with your hamstrings, your glutes,
and your quads.
It is a proper movement that we should
be doing in most of our training in
some form or capacity, whether that's some sort
of squat variation or just the basic squat.
To me, saying that you should do it
for only limited reps and frequency also means
that you should limit the amount of time
(17:06):
that you go to the bathroom per day.
So make sure you're not properly hydrated because
otherwise if you squat on a toilet too
often, bad news bears for those knees.
This is absolutely terrible training advice.
The next one is opt for reverse lunges.
Women should opt for backwards lunges instead of
forward ones as a forward lunges can increase
(17:27):
pressure that falls on the knee joint.
Women put even more pressure on the joint
than men do.
However, during the reverse lunge, the hamstrings and
the glutes absorb the shock.
Now I'm not totally against this one to
be honest.
If you have knee issues, then yeah, reverse
lunges are probably the best bet for you.
But I also suggest doing walking lunges because
(17:47):
walking lunges is almost going to mimic going
upstairs and you can't walk backwards when you
go up and downstairs, right?
So doing a forward walking lunge is a
little bit gentler on the knees than just
doing a forward lunge where you're pushing back
off of that front foot to come back
to your starting position.
And so you're still being able to work
(18:09):
multiple planes of going in a reverse for
reverse lunge or forward and a walking lunge.
And yes, having a wider stance is going
to help activate more of the glutes and
the hamstrings more than the quads.
And having that shorter stance can put a
little bit of pressure again on the knees.
So if you have knee injuries, sure, reverse
(18:32):
lunges, walking lunges.
However, if you don't have knee injuries, then
the more angles that you're able to accomplish
and exercise while keeping good form, whether that's
doing forward lunges, side to side lunges, reverse
lunges, curtsy lunges is what's going to give
you the more bang for your buck and
work more of your muscles and work on
(18:53):
mobility as well.
Number four, focus on pelvic exercises.
One of the key differences between men and
women lies in your pelvic floor.
Women, especially those who have been through childbirth,
would benefit greatly from pelvic floor exercises.
To work your pelvic floor, you need to
incorporate exercises like Kegels.
They help in strengthening the muscles that support
(19:14):
the bladder, uterus, and the bowels.
These exercises can be particularly beneficial for women
in preventing and managing issues such as urinary
incontinence, which is rather relevant for women during
the post pregnancy as well as for aging
women.
Yeah, I'm all for pelvic floor health.
Absolutely.
Also, big fan of working the transverse abs,
(19:34):
which acts like a belt along your abdominal
muscles to help things pulled in and together
with your pelvic floor is going to help
keep you nice and healthy.
But pelvic health isn't just for women, especially
as men get older.
It's really important for them.
They also have a pelvic floor.
They have a pelvis, right?
(19:56):
It's also very important for them to have
proper pelvic floor health as well, which I
feel like is something that's often not talked
about enough in men's health.
And, you know, they don't think they're almost
embarrassed, I think, to talk about it.
But I do think that pelvic floor health
exercises is just as important for men as
it is for women.
It's just more frequently talked about and more
(20:18):
common in women's health.
But I think that pelvic health like Kegels,
there are a ton of different exercises as
well.
And working those transverse abs is key to
go.
So that one I can get behind.
And then finally, the last one, y'all,
is modifying high impact exercises.
(20:39):
Women are more prone to joint laxity, again,
flexibility, and conditions like osteoporosis.
To mitigate impacts on joints, consider modifying high
impact exercises.
For example, marching in place or doing a
(20:59):
low impact variations of exercises like squats.
However, he just told us we shouldn't really
be squatting.
What?
He added, though there are no strict rules,
some women may find benefit in incorporating HIIT
workouts into their cardio routine aiming up to
three times per week.
But HIIT workout is literally high intensity training
(21:19):
workouts.
And he's telling us to avoid high impact
exercises, which high impact exercises are often included
in HIIT workouts.
So I find this whole chunk was more
of like, wait, I need a fifth one.
What can it be?
I'm going to talk about modifying him high
impact exercises.
This is total BS.
If you're healthy, you have healthy mobility, you
(21:41):
have healthy joints, you have good healthy muscle
awareness, then there is no reason to avoid
high impact exercises.
Now, obviously, if you have a health concern
preventing you from do those, yes, there are
absolutely other ways that you can go about
with your workouts, but high impact exercises can
(22:03):
be extremely beneficial for women, especially because of
osteoporosis.
So we know that to build healthy muscle
is going to help us to also build
healthy bones.
So strength training helps decrease our risk of
osteoporosis.
However, high impact exercises like plyometric jumping also
(22:25):
adds loads to our body that tells our
body we need to make sure that our
bones are very strong to be able to
handle this impact.
So what I'm saying is this is total
crap because high intensity, high impact exercises can
decrease our risk of osteoporosis.
Not only that, but it also helps to
(22:46):
build strength.
It helps us to build awareness with our
body called proprioception, understanding where our body is
in space that can also help to go
over into other areas of our life.
Like if we're walking and all of a
sudden our foot rolls off of the edge,
we're able to catch ourselves a little bit
faster.
It helps build mind and muscle awareness so
(23:09):
that our brains can talk to our muscles
faster for reaction time and it builds some
serious strength.
So plyometric, high impact exercises do not need
to be avoided again if you are healthy
and able to do them pain-free.
And even if you can't do certain exercises
(23:29):
like squat jumps, you can do something called
squat jacks which are a little bit less
intense.
You can also start with just squat hops,
barely hopping off of the ground.
Jumping jacks are a plyometric exercise.
You can start very, very simple and work
your way up, but it is not something
that you need to avoid.
And I think that was all that one
(23:50):
I just I did not even read my
notes because it got me.
In fact, my note said get the f
out of here on this.
Jumping or plyo can help build bone strength.
If you're healthy, there's no reason that you
can't work out in high intensity.
Not only for bone health, but also strength,
mind-body connection, and even mental health can
improve.
That's right, mental health has been shown to
(24:11):
be elevated or improved, risk of anxiety, decreased
depression from doing high intensity training.
Get those endorphins moving ladies.
So basically, I'm going to give this article
a thumbs down.
The only thing that I could really get
behind was the Smith machine and the pelvic
floor.
Everything else makes me raise an eyebrow and
(24:32):
go, they were just trying to get clicks.
They were just trying to get traffic to
their website so they can show some advertisements
and make some money.
The overall arching information here is just poor
information.
So that's the article.
Before I sign off for the day, I
do want to just give you guys a
(24:54):
little bit of a heads up.
I have been loving doing the podcast this
way.
We're on Wednesdays, it's more informational.
I have like a specific topic that we
sit down and cover.
And then on Fridays are my time to
sit down and have girl talk with you
guys.
Share what's been going on in the world
with Fit Women's Weekly, share what's been going
on in my life.
So I don't want you to miss out
(25:15):
on any of those episodes.
The Friday episode I do not release as
a YouTube video though.
So if you're watching this on YouTube, make
sure to head over to whatever platform is
that you listen to your podcast on and
make sure to subscribe so that you can
get into those Friday episodes as well.
And then the last thing that I want
(25:35):
to mention, and I'm just trying to find
the website really fast, is that I often
get asked, what other podcasts do you listen
to?
So for the next several weeks, I want
to end the podcast just highlighting some of
my favorite podcasts that I get to listen
to.
And so the one that I'm going to
do today and for the next few weeks
(25:56):
is from my friend Brea and it is
the period Whisper.
And if you're somebody in your 30s, 40s,
50s, then I absolutely recommend going to listen
to her because she talks about all things,
hormone health, all the things that we battle
with that we don't even realize necessarily that
we're battling with.
We think it's normal as we're going through
(26:18):
this period of perimenopause, maybe going into menopause.
We're having so many things going on with
our body, so many hormone changes.
And Brea talks about all of those things
in the period Whisper.
And she is so passionate about it and
her episodes are just so conversational, which you
guys know that I love.
So definitely check it out.
(26:38):
Brea, the period Whisper, and I will link
that down in the show notes.
And if you have a podcast that I
should check out that you think the other
listeners would like, send it my way.
I'll listen in on it as well.
And that I like to highlight.
All right, you guys, thank you so much
for hanging out with me today.
(27:00):
Again, make sure share the episode, slide into
my DMS. What's my D?
What is my Instagram?
Oh, yeah.
Kindle Boil Fitness.
And if you have any questions, I am
here for you.
I love talking to you guys.
Make sure that you hit up fitwomensweekly.com
so that you don't just have to listen
to me.
We can actually train together.
You can get coaching.
(27:21):
I put out new workouts every day, Monday
through Friday.
I film them live.
I coach you through it.
I answer questions.
I talk to every single person that either
comes live or does the workout later and
leaves the comment.
So you're not just getting the workouts.
You're getting the workout partner, which is so
important.
(27:41):
You're getting the motivation.
You're getting the accountability and you're getting the
personalized training that you deserve.
Whether you're working out at home or not,
you deserve to have a coach that's going
to make sure that you're getting the right
workout for you and your goals.
So that's at fitwomensweekly.com.
Again, I will make sure to put the
link down in the show notes for that
too.
All right, guys.
(28:02):
Thanks so much for hanging out with me.
Talk to you later.
(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) What's up, guys?
Welcome to a brand new episode of the
Fit Women's Weekly Podcast.
This is your first time tuning in.
Welcome to the show.
I'm Kendall.
I've been a personal trainer specifically for women
for over 17 years now.
And in this podcast, I bring to you
that knowledge as a trainer, as well as
my own personal experience and struggles to help
(00:21):
you figure out what is the BS when
it comes to living a healthy fit life
and what can you actually implement into your
own life to try to get through it
the best that we can.
Because that's all that we're trying to do,
right?
We're trying to adult the best way possible,
treat our bodies the best that we can,
and be healthy.
But what does that actually mean?
(00:42):
Because there is a lot of mess out
there.
There's a lot of stuff that clouds things
up and makes us go, wait, am I
supposed to be doing this?
Am I supposed to be doing this?
Is this the best type of exercise?
Is this what I'm supposed to be eating?
Should I take this supplement?
So what's real?
What's crap?
And we also talk about mindset and life
a lot too.
So welcome to the show.
I hope that you enjoy it.
(01:03):
If you do, I put out new episodes
every single week and I've already released over
550 previous episodes.
In fact, I think I'm actually coming up
on my 600th episode, man, that is freaking
insane.
So in saying that, that is a lot
of content floating around.
And if you enjoy this show, here's what
(01:25):
you can do for me.
Make sure that you have subscribed to the
platform that you listen to.
If you're watching this on YouTube, drop a
comment down below.
Just letting me know what is your favorite
topic when it comes to fitness and lifestyle.
Is it exercise?
Is it nutrition?
Is it mindset?
What are the things that you're looking for
that I can help you with?
(01:46):
And then of course, make sure to leave
a review and share the podcast.
That is by far the most beneficial thing
that you can do to help grow our
amazing community of women in the fit women's
weekly community.
All right, so let's just kind of talk
about what's going to happen today.
So I'm going to continue my series on
(02:08):
commentating some new research, some news articles that
I have found or some that my husband
has found.
And that's what we're going to do today.
Today's episode is called exercises that women should
do differently than men.
And to quote my husband, this is what
he said when he sent this to me.
This is the dumbest article ever.
Now, do I think that this is the
(02:29):
dumbest article ever?
No, because I do think that there is
a little bit of some facts in what
we're getting ready to read.
But I do think that it is filled
with a lot of fluff just to try
to get people to read it.
I'm actually not going to state the actual
article because I don't want to like bring
(02:51):
negativity to it.
But I do want to bring awareness to
you guys listening in because maybe you've heard,
oh my gosh, I'm a woman.
Should I not do this exercise?
Should I be doing this instead?
Well, let's break through at least what this
article has to say and clear some things
up.
All right, so exercises that women should do
(03:11):
differently than men.
Should women really exercise differently than men read
along as we delve deeper into the subject
when it comes to exercise, there's hardly any
one size.
And I got to explain the article real
quick.
Okay, there we go.
When it comes to exercise, there's hardly any
one size fits all an exercise routine should
always be tailored to one's fitness goals in
(03:33):
mind.
Whether women and men should train differently has
always been a topic of discussion.
And we often find articles on recommended exercises
for men and women leading us to ponder
even more if that is the real case.
So here's the thing that I want to
specify.
I'm kind of going to break.
I'm going to read a paragraph and then
kind of break it down and we'll figure
things out together.
(03:54):
So what you find other articles recommending exercises
for men and women is because people are
trying to market to their specific audience, right?
So for example, I always post workouts daily
that'll say something like 20-minute kettlebell workout
for women, leg workout for women, upper body
(04:15):
workout for women.
But does that mean that they're not good
for men too?
No, not at all.
I'm just trying to reach my target audience
and hopefully also let the platform know that
I'm working with what that audience is.
So that's who they show my stuff to.
For example, YouTube still hasn't figured it out.
(04:37):
YouTube, even though here we are on YouTube
for this podcast, sadly almost 75% of
my content gets shown to men versus women.
And that's on a YouTube algorithm thing.
So me personally, every time I put out
new content, I do try to put ex
-workout exercises for women so that that's the
(05:01):
people that are going to be shown that
content.
But it doesn't mean that these exercises or
these workouts are only for women.
So yeah, of course people outside of myself
are also going to be doing the same
thing.
It doesn't mean that they're trying to promote
different fitness for one or the other.
It's again, trying to talk to their ideal
market.
(05:23):
Moving on.
While the fundamental principles of exercise remain the
same for both men and women, our physiological
and anatomical difference may warrant some adjustments.
Yes, okay.
So I'm trying to see if I have
notes on this or if I broke it
down.
All right.
So yes, our bodies are slightly different because
our hips, specifically our femur angle.
(05:44):
So women have hips for childbirth, right?
Men have a much more narrow stance except
for me and some women.
I have a very box shape, but however,
it's the same because of my hips.
Our angles from our femurs are slightly different
than men.
And that means that we might have to
make a few adjustments, but I do want
(06:04):
to continue on and see what they say.
To start with, women are blessed with broader
pelvic region due to accommodate the unique demands
of childbirth.
There we go.
Same thing.
So right now, I'm on board with this
article and the nurturing of offspring.
Other than that, comparatively, women have softer ligaments
and tendons, which makes them more prone to
(06:24):
injury specifically in the knees and the hips.
Now that's a little bit interesting.
So yes, hips and pelvis.
Got it.
As far as softer ligaments and tendons are
concerned, I've never heard of that before.
And so I did do a little bit
more research.
Um, I wanted to see if that was
specifically true, but I do know that that's
(06:46):
not the reason that women are more susceptible
to knee injuries, specifically ACLs.
We hear a lot, especially in college age
and high school that women are more susceptible
to ACL injuries in their knees.
And here's the reason it's not because of
softer ligaments and tendons.
It's because of their intercongiular notch.
(07:06):
That's a very hard word for me to
say.
Anyways, it's the groove and the femur where
the ACL passes.
It's smaller in women.
So the ACL itself, which is the ligament,
is actually also smaller.
And that's what makes it prone to injuries.
Not because it's softer per se.
It's just smaller.
So it's something smaller.
(07:29):
It's to bend their knees more towards the
middle of their bodies.
So they're a little bit easier to bow
inward versus outward.
So adding that with the shorter ACL makes
them more susceptible of having injuries.
And then yes, because of hormones, women do
tend to be more flexible in their ligaments
and tendons, but not softer.
(07:51):
And it especially determines where you are in
your cycle, where your hormones are.
When women are pregnant, they have something called
relaxin, which goes throughout their body.
It's to help their pelvis expand to prepare
for childbirth.
But that actually makes everything else looser in
their bodies as well.
So when you're pregnant, you are actually the
(08:11):
more susceptible to injuries like twisting your ankle
or things like that, because you are more
mobile and those ligaments are a little bit
stretched out or a little bit more flexible,
but softer.
That's a really weird way to say that.
But I'm assuming that's kind of what they're
trying to say.
All right, moving on to demystify the age
(08:35):
old concepts Times Now.
So this is where I got it times
now.com spoke with Ishin Ayora, a bodybuilding
Indian certified personal trainer.
And he said women's bodies typically have differences
in muscle mass, distribution of fat and hormonal
composition compared to men.
Yes, I absolutely agree with that.
(08:55):
Instead of aiming for muscle training, women often
benefit from a training approach that emphasizes strength,
mobility, and overall fitness.
Okay, so they wrote this article with the
help of a male bodybuilder, right, which personally,
I'd prefer to see it if they had
actually used a female trainer as a source,
(09:19):
because the male doesn't really, like, I'm not
saying they can't do research, but they can't
emphasize or really know what it feels like
to be a woman.
They don't really know where they're coming from.
They have no empathy towards being a woman.
So I'm just wondering where he pulled his
information from would just kind of be one
(09:41):
way for me to go, I don't know
about that.
And you know, that quote, he said, where
instead of aiming for muscle training, women often
benefit from a training approach that emphasizes strength,
mobility, and overall function.
Okay, well, here's what's weird.
If women are more flexible than men naturally,
then wouldn't it make more sense that if
(10:02):
men would actually benefit more from mobility work,
women are already mobile, according to his article.
But the truth is that mobility and flexibility
is the most underrated training for both sexes
and should be included regularly for both.
As we get older, we only get tighter
and tighter from our especially from our lifestyles.
So that should not be something that just
(10:24):
focuses that women should focus on in their
training, especially if that's something that comes more
natural to us.
I think that actually, if we're trying to
play this man versus female thing, that men
would benefit more from mobility more regularly, because
that's where they lack.
That's something that they suffer just naturally from.
(10:47):
And then I also want to know what
the heck is the difference between muscle training
and strength training.
Strength training is literally muscle training.
So that's just a really weird way to
put it.
And finally, who would benefit from all three
types of these things, talking about foundational functional
strength, just that means working on fitness that
helps you get through everyday life, mobility and
(11:10):
strength training, freaking everybody, man, men and women.
Alright, so let's get to the specific exercises
that this trainer says that we should be
doing differently.
Number one, avoid the Smith's machine.
He says that women are advised to ditch
the Smith's machine, which is an artificial movement.
(11:31):
And it makes the body move in a
specific pattern, raising your risk of getting your
knee injured.
I actually am for this.
I'm not a huge fan of the Smith
machine.
I don't like the fixed range of motion
of the machine.
And I think it can also lead to
poor mechanics on squats.
The Smith's machine will often lead you, because
it has that weird angle to it, lead
(11:52):
you to the old fashioned way of squatting,
where we weren't supposed to push our knees
over our toes.
You're supposed to sit back onto your hips,
and it leaves you in a very unnatural
form of movement.
It is not very functional.
It does have a place.
Like I have seen people do single leg
deadlifts with the Smith machine.
(12:13):
I've seen them use it to do, I
forget what they're called.
They're not called hack squats, but basically where
you stand in front of the Smith machine
bar with it lowered very far down right
below your knees, and you squat back with
your knees going towards sitting onto the bar.
Kind of a weird image.
I'll try on YouTube to put an image
(12:33):
up here, and that's a great use for
it.
It is also one of my favorite ways
if you have access to a Smith machine
for mastering your pushups, because you can lower
it down to do incline, excuse me, incline
pushups.
And then it's also great for reverse rows
and for doing pull-up exercises.
(12:53):
If you are trying to get a pull
-up, you can use a Smith machine.
So it's not only used for squats, but
I'm also saying he's saying that it increases
your risk of getting injured, your knees injured.
That to me is a little bizarre.
I have never heard of a woman.
I've never seen a client talk about being
injured from doing squats and hurting their knees
(13:14):
on a Smith machine bar.
I think that you're probably more likely to
have an injury, especially in your knees, from
doing any other kind of free weight machine,
dumbbells, kettlebells, barbells, and trying to do it
without being properly trained, than to use it
on something like this, where the range of
motion is set in stone for you.
(13:35):
And I also think that if you are
trying to avoid every single exercise that is
going to risk hurting your knee, then you're
just going to have to buckle up and
lock yourself into a house, right?
Because literally anything could go wrong.
Whereas doing the moves like a squat is
actually going to help you strengthen the muscles
(13:56):
around your knee to help decrease your risk
of knee injuries.
So just a little thought for you, which
takes us to number two, which is squats.
Isaiah says that the basic form of performing
squats remains the same for both gingers.
However, women may consider adjusting the frequency in
the reps.
Women may have a wider pelvis, which can
(14:17):
affect the angle of the femur and alignment
of the knees and proper form and exercises
like squats is crucial to prevent injuries.
This, this actually really annoys me because again,
I am trying to make sure that you
guys have the right information to help benefit
your life, improve your fitness overall.
(14:37):
And when bad information like this is being
put around the internet, then somebody who's a
complete beginner might look at this and go,
oh my gosh, I read that a personal
trainer told me because I'm a woman, I
should, uh, shouldn't squat very often that I
should keep my reps really low and not
do it very often, which frequency.
Um, and that's just terrible training advice.
(14:59):
So here's what I go.
He recommends lower reps and frequency because of
our hips and femurs.
No.
Instead, make a few simple tweaks to your
form, which actually those completely against what he
says, because he says at the beginning, basic
form for performing squats remains the same for
both genders.
(15:20):
Whereas that is not the case for a
woman to be able to sit down into
your squat, sit into that pocket.
She's likely going to have to bring your,
your stance to a wider stance.
So you want to take your feet probably
a little bit wider than hip width, and
then you're most likely going to have to
turn your feet out a few degrees to
(15:40):
be able to keep your feet planted on
the ground and keeping your torso up tall
as you squat down.
That's going to help adjust for that femur
angle.
Whereas men, I'm going to use my husband
here for this example.
He can sit with his feet stacked directly
under his hips.
His feet are planted straight forward and he
can sit straight down.
(16:02):
When I tried to do that, my heels
come up, my chest starts to fall, and
it's just not very comfortable.
I can't get into a very good depth
with that while maintaining a proper squat.
So what I have to do to adjust
as I take my feet wider, I turn
them out a little bit and bam, I'm
able to sit down just as low as
he is into that like low Asian, you've
(16:23):
heard the term Asian squat, and I'm able
to do that from that position.
It doesn't mean that I have to decrease
my reps.
I don't have to decrease the weight that
I use.
I don't have to decrease the frequency because
squatting is a fundamental movement that helps us
function daily.
It makes you recover from sitting too much.
It helps with your knee health.
(16:45):
It obviously helps with your hamstrings, your glutes,
and your quads.
It is a proper movement that we should
be doing in most of our training in
some form or capacity, whether that's some sort
of squat variation or just the basic squat.
To me, saying that you should do it
for only limited reps and frequency also means
that you should limit the amount of time
(17:06):
that you go to the bathroom per day.
So make sure you're not properly hydrated because
otherwise if you squat on a toilet too
often, bad news bears for those knees.
This is absolutely terrible training advice.
The next one is opt for reverse lunges.
Women should opt for backwards lunges instead of
forward ones as a forward lunges can increase
(17:27):
pressure that falls on the knee joint.
Women put even more pressure on the joint
than men do.
However, during the reverse lunge, the hamstrings and
the glutes absorb the shock.
Now I'm not totally against this one to
be honest.
If you have knee issues, then yeah, reverse
lunges are probably the best bet for you.
But I also suggest doing walking lunges because
(17:47):
walking lunges is almost going to mimic going
upstairs and you can't walk backwards when you
go up and downstairs, right?
So doing a forward walking lunge is a
little bit gentler on the knees than just
doing a forward lunge where you're pushing back
off of that front foot to come back
to your starting position.
And so you're still being able to work
(18:09):
multiple planes of going in a reverse for
reverse lunge or forward and a walking lunge.
And yes, having a wider stance is going
to help activate more of the glutes and
the hamstrings more than the quads.
And having that shorter stance can put a
little bit of pressure again on the knees.
So if you have knee injuries, sure, reverse
(18:32):
lunges, walking lunges.
However, if you don't have knee injuries, then
the more angles that you're able to accomplish
and exercise while keeping good form, whether that's
doing forward lunges, side to side lunges, reverse
lunges, curtsy lunges is what's going to give
you the more bang for your buck and
work more of your muscles and work on
(18:53):
mobility as well.
Number four, focus on pelvic exercises.
One of the key differences between men and
women lies in your pelvic floor.
Women, especially those who have been through childbirth,
would benefit greatly from pelvic floor exercises.
To work your pelvic floor, you need to
incorporate exercises like Kegels.
They help in strengthening the muscles that support
(19:14):
the bladder, uterus, and the bowels.
These exercises can be particularly beneficial for women
in preventing and managing issues such as urinary
incontinence, which is rather relevant for women during
the post pregnancy as well as for aging
women.
Yeah, I'm all for pelvic floor health.
Absolutely.
Also, big fan of working the transverse abs,
(19:34):
which acts like a belt along your abdominal
muscles to help things pulled in and together
with your pelvic floor is going to help
keep you nice and healthy.
But pelvic health isn't just for women, especially
as men get older.
It's really important for them.
They also have a pelvic floor.
They have a pelvis, right?
(19:56):
It's also very important for them to have
proper pelvic floor health as well, which I
feel like is something that's often not talked
about enough in men's health.
And, you know, they don't think they're almost
embarrassed, I think, to talk about it.
But I do think that pelvic floor health
exercises is just as important for men as
it is for women.
It's just more frequently talked about and more
(20:18):
common in women's health.
But I think that pelvic health like Kegels,
there are a ton of different exercises as
well.
And working those transverse abs is key to
go.
So that one I can get behind.
And then finally, the last one, y'all,
is modifying high impact exercises.
(20:39):
Women are more prone to joint laxity, again,
flexibility, and conditions like osteoporosis.
To mitigate impacts on joints, consider modifying high
impact exercises.
For example, marching in place or doing a
(20:59):
low impact variations of exercises like squats.
However, he just told us we shouldn't really
be squatting.
What?
He added, though there are no strict rules,
some women may find benefit in incorporating HIIT
workouts into their cardio routine aiming up to
three times per week.
But HIIT workout is literally high intensity training
(21:19):
workouts.
And he's telling us to avoid high impact
exercises, which high impact exercises are often included
in HIIT workouts.
So I find this whole chunk was more
of like, wait, I need a fifth one.
What can it be?
I'm going to talk about modifying him high
impact exercises.
This is total BS.
If you're healthy, you have healthy mobility, you
(21:41):
have healthy joints, you have good healthy muscle
awareness, then there is no reason to avoid
high impact exercises.
Now, obviously, if you have a health concern
preventing you from do those, yes, there are
absolutely other ways that you can go about
with your workouts, but high impact exercises can
(22:03):
be extremely beneficial for women, especially because of
osteoporosis.
So we know that to build healthy muscle
is going to help us to also build
healthy bones.
So strength training helps decrease our risk of
osteoporosis.
However, high impact exercises like plyometric jumping also
(22:25):
adds loads to our body that tells our
body we need to make sure that our
bones are very strong to be able to
handle this impact.
So what I'm saying is this is total
crap because high intensity, high impact exercises can
decrease our risk of osteoporosis.
Not only that, but it also helps to
(22:46):
build strength.
It helps us to build awareness with our
body called proprioception, understanding where our body is
in space that can also help to go
over into other areas of our life.
Like if we're walking and all of a
sudden our foot rolls off of the edge,
we're able to catch ourselves a little bit
faster.
It helps build mind and muscle awareness so
(23:09):
that our brains can talk to our muscles
faster for reaction time and it builds some
serious strength.
So plyometric, high impact exercises do not need
to be avoided again if you are healthy
and able to do them pain-free.
And even if you can't do certain exercises
(23:29):
like squat jumps, you can do something called
squat jacks which are a little bit less
intense.
You can also start with just squat hops,
barely hopping off of the ground.
Jumping jacks are a plyometric exercise.
You can start very, very simple and work
your way up, but it is not something
that you need to avoid.
And I think that was all that one
(23:50):
I just I did not even read my
notes because it got me.
In fact, my note said get the f
out of here on this.
Jumping or plyo can help build bone strength.
If you're healthy, there's no reason that you
can't work out in high intensity.
Not only for bone health, but also strength,
mind-body connection, and even mental health can
improve.
That's right, mental health has been shown to
(24:11):
be elevated or improved, risk of anxiety, decreased
depression from doing high intensity training.
Get those endorphins moving ladies.
So basically, I'm going to give this article
a thumbs down.
The only thing that I could really get
behind was the Smith machine and the pelvic
floor.
Everything else makes me raise an eyebrow and
(24:32):
go, they were just trying to get clicks.
They were just trying to get traffic to
their website so they can show some advertisements
and make some money.
The overall arching information here is just poor
information.
So that's the article.
Before I sign off for the day, I
do want to just give you guys a
(24:54):
little bit of a heads up.
I have been loving doing the podcast this
way.
We're on Wednesdays, it's more informational.
I have like a specific topic that we
sit down and cover.
And then on Fridays are my time to
sit down and have girl talk with you
guys.
Share what's been going on in the world
with Fit Women's Weekly, share what's been going
on in my life.
So I don't want you to miss out
(25:15):
on any of those episodes.
The Friday episode I do not release as
a YouTube video though.
So if you're watching this on YouTube, make
sure to head over to whatever platform is
that you listen to your podcast on and
make sure to subscribe so that you can
get into those Friday episodes as well.
And then the last thing that I want
(25:35):
to mention, and I'm just trying to find
the website really fast, is that I often
get asked, what other podcasts do you listen
to?
So for the next several weeks, I want
to end the podcast just highlighting some of
my favorite podcasts that I get to listen
to.
And so the one that I'm going to
do today and for the next few weeks
(25:56):
is from my friend Brea and it is
the period Whisper.
And if you're somebody in your 30s, 40s,
50s, then I absolutely recommend going to listen
to her because she talks about all things,
hormone health, all the things that we battle
with that we don't even realize necessarily that
we're battling with.
We think it's normal as we're going through
(26:18):
this period of perimenopause, maybe going into menopause.
We're having so many things going on with
our body, so many hormone changes.
And Brea talks about all of those things
in the period Whisper.
And she is so passionate about it and
her episodes are just so conversational, which you
guys know that I love.
So definitely check it out.
(26:38):
Brea, the period Whisper, and I will link
that down in the show notes.
And if you have a podcast that I
should check out that you think the other
listeners would like, send it my way.
I'll listen in on it as well.
And that I like to highlight.
All right, you guys, thank you so much
for hanging out with me today.
(27:00):
Again, make sure share the episode, slide into
my DMS. What's my D?
What is my Instagram?
Oh, yeah.
Kindle Boil Fitness.
And if you have any questions, I am
here for you.
I love talking to you guys.
Make sure that you hit up fitwomensweekly.com
so that you don't just have to listen
to me.
We can actually train together.
You can get coaching.
(27:21):
I put out new workouts every day, Monday
through Friday.
I film them live.
I coach you through it.
I answer questions.
I talk to every single person that either
comes live or does the workout later and
leaves the comment.
So you're not just getting the workouts.
You're getting the workout partner, which is so
important.
(27:41):
You're getting the motivation.
You're getting the accountability and you're getting the
personalized training that you deserve.
Whether you're working out at home or not,
you deserve to have a coach that's going
to make sure that you're getting the right
workout for you and your goals.
So that's at fitwomensweekly.com.
Again, I will make sure to put the
link down in the show notes for that
too.
All right, guys.
(28:02):
Thanks so much for hanging out with me.
Talk to you later.
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Boysober
Have you ever wondered what life might be like if you stopped worrying about being wanted, and focused on understanding what you actually want? That was the question Hope Woodard asked herself after a string of situationships inspired her to take a break from sex and dating. She went "boysober," a personal concept that sparked a global movement among women looking to prioritize themselves over men. Now, Hope is looking to expand the ways we explore our relationship to relationships. Taking a bold, unfiltered look into modern love, romance, and self-discovery, Boysober will dive into messy stories about dating, sex, love, friendship, and breaking generational patterns—all with humor, vulnerability, and a fresh perspective.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com