TacticalBarbell.com

Hi guys, any experiences with Tactical Barbell for women?

I was wondering if the program should be modified a little bit for them. I read several times that women have more difficulty to recruit as many motor units as men so it's more difficult to go heavy. Also that they are able to handle more volume.

I observed the first affirmation because my girlfriend started to train with me in February. Every time she test for her maxes she failed fast even if the first reps seems easy. So it's easier to test for 4 or 5 Rep max than 2 or 3.

Also she progressed really slower than me in her numbers even if she's more of a beginner.

Would it be better to do 1 or 2 more reps on every sets and 1 more set with a little bit less load on the bar?

I know that every time a question like that is asked it's stick to the program, but I was wondering if it could be a little bit different this time.

Why would there be a difference? Her 1rm is going to be in line with her strength levels.

As far as conditioning, like anyone else she'd adjust the HIC or E to her ability, each conditioning session has an easy version.

As far as testing goes, it doesn't really matter. She can do what she's comfortable with. TB is more about a Dan John style "sorta max" than a scientifically accurate to the last ounce max. This isn't powerlifting.

Women are no different than men.

My wife was in the top 20 of female powerlifters in her weight class until we started having children. She trained no differently than any other man would. It works the same way.

My wife uses Operator. She went from 2 shaky bw pull-ups to 5 strict WPU with 10lbs. No changes or adjustments made to the program other than using a training max.

Some articles that I read by great coach I think. But maybe it's wrong. It's says the most part it's the same as men but some little variations with volume and frequency.

https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-w ... -most-part

http://www.theacademymaine.com/2011/07/ ... ing-1.html

http://tonygentilcore.com/2015/10/where ... ing-women/

https://bretcontreras.com/training-women/

I'm a petite lady (5'4", 120lbs), and I use operator + black as written in the book. As a fraction of my bodyweight, my lifts are progressing comparable to what you would expect for a guy. There aren't really any drawbacks to doing it as written.

Two thoughts about your girlfriend failing on test day - 1) women often aren't used to lifting heavy, and so aren't as *psychologically* prepared to go hard. This will be overcome with experience and 2) when your absolute weight is low, increases in weight feel pretty dramatic. For example, if she is squatting e.g. 100 lbs, then adding 10 lbs is a huge jump. 10 lbs for someone squatting 225 is not nearly as dramatic. She may benefit from fractional plates - you can buy them on amazon.

xfitxm wrote:Hi guys, any experiences with Tactical Barbell for women?

I was wondering if the program should be modified a little bit for them. I read several times that women have more difficulty to recruit as many motor units as men so it's more difficult to go heavy. Also that they are able to handle more volume.

I observed the first affirmation because my girlfriend started to train with me in February. Every time she test for her maxes she failed fast even if the first reps seems easy. So it's easier to test for 4 or 5 Rep max than 2 or 3.

Also she progressed really slower than me in her numbers even if she's more of a beginner.

Would it be better to do 1 or 2 more reps on every sets and 1 more set with a little bit less load on the bar?

I know that every time a question like that is asked it's stick to the program, but I was wondering if it could be a little bit different this time.

Xfitxm, I'm curious what you mean "she failed fast" when she tests for her max. How do you fail at testing for max? Is she predicting/guesstimating a new max and then trying to test it?

antlas wrote:I'm a petite lady (5'4", 120lbs), and I use operator + black as written in the book. As a fraction of my bodyweight, my lifts are progressing comparable to what you would expect for a guy. There aren't really any drawbacks to doing it as written.

Two thoughts about your girlfriend failing on test day - 1) women often aren't used to lifting heavy, and so aren't as *psychologically* prepared to go hard. This will be overcome with experience and 2) when your absolute weight is low, increases in weight feel pretty dramatic. For example, if she is squatting e.g. 100 lbs, then adding 10 lbs is a huge jump. 10 lbs for someone squatting 225 is not nearly as dramatic. She may benefit from fractional plates - you can buy them on amazon.

Good points. #2 can apply to men as well.

antlas wrote:I'm a petite lady (5'4", 120lbs), and I use operator + black as written in the book. As a fraction of my bodyweight, my lifts are progressing comparable to what you would expect for a guy. There aren't really any drawbacks to doing it as written.

Two thoughts about your girlfriend failing on test day - 1) women often aren't used to lifting heavy, and so aren't as *psychologically* prepared to go hard. This will be overcome with experience and 2) when your absolute weight is low, increases in weight feel pretty dramatic. For example, if she is squatting e.g. 100 lbs, then adding 10 lbs is a huge jump. 10 lbs for someone squatting 225 is not nearly as dramatic. She may benefit from fractional plates - you can buy them on amazon.

Yes I think it's point 1 when I say she failed fast. We add a little weight and I'm sure she can do 3 of them but she stop at 1. I think like you said, it's psychological, she won't fight for the rep as I do. If it's a little bit heavy she thinks she can't. Maybe experience and time will help with this.

She's using fractionnal plates. I was jumping like 20 25lb on my 1rm but her was more 5 lb. But like you said in your second point it's relative to the load.

All that said, it's working. I was just wondering if adding more volume would have been beneficial because I saw a couple of coach recommending it.

I will stick to the plan.

Kinetic wrote:
Xfitxm, I'm curious what you mean "she failed fast" when she tests for her max. How do you fail at testing for max? Is she predicting/guesstimating a new max and then trying to test it?

I answered to you too in my previous post.