girls gone strong – Tony Gentilcore

Why I Prefer Training Women

I recognize the title of this post can be a bit misleading; as if to imply I don’t like training men. This is not the case.

Copyright: <a href='http://www.123rf.com/profile_vadymvdrobot'>vadymvdrobot / 123RF Stock Photo</a> — Copyright: vadymvdrobot / 123RF Stock Photo

I mean, I spent eight years of my career at Cressey Sports Performance training predominantly men (baseball players). They were all lovely, if not a bit overzealous with the Axe Body Spray at times.

What’s more, given half the population on Earth has a Y chromosome it should come as no surprise that 50% of my current clientele at CORE are the proud owners of a “boy down there part.” Although I’m sure if I crunched the numbers the percent breakdown of female/male clients would skew a little higher on the female side.

I’ve always enjoyed training women. Men, too. But looking back at my coaching career I’ve always gained a greater sense of satisfaction and enjoyment from working with and training women.

Back in 2002, at my first job in corporate fitness, it didn’t take long for me to “recruit” a few women and to introduce strength training to them. The guys, for the most part, didn’t need much egging from me to pick up a barbell. Like me, they had been indoctrinated and encouraged at an early age – mostly as a result of watching Predator 3,987 times – to lift weights.

Most were lifting weights to some capacity already.

Because that’s what guys are supposed to do.

For the women, though, not all of them of course, the story was a bit different. Most were never encouraged to lift weights, and if they were it was always directed towards machines or “girl exercises.”

Read: cardio.

A Quick Aside (WARNING: you may want to drop kick something after reading this it will make you that angry): This reminds me of a story a female colleague of mine once told me about a local high school here in Massachusetts. She had offered to help out in the school’s weight room during the summer months and had asked the Athletic Director (a woman, who also happened to be the varsity coach for several of the women’s teams) if she could “target” the young girls and attempt to set up a strength training program geared towards them.

The AD said something to the effect of:

“Oh, well, you can try but it won’t do much good. The girls here aren’t interested in weight training and tend to only use the cardio machines. Besides, there aren’t any “female friendly” machines available.”

Mind you, she said this with 10+ empty power rack stations behind here.

Riiiiiiggggggggghhhhttttt.

This was the ATHLETIC DIRECTOR (Remember: a woman no less) saying something so egregious and asinine.

Is it any wonder then, after hearing that kind of bullshit, why so many young girls grow up thinking they’re not supposed to lift weights and that it’s just something guys do? And why many take the same mindset into adulthood?

Thanks for nothing worst athletic director ever.

So anyways, back to 2002, I started working with a lot of women and slowly but surly began to “de-program” them and helping them learn to debunk many of the common fitness myths they had fallen prey to:

Lifting weights will make you big and bulky.
Yoga/Pilates/etc will make your muscles longer, leaner, and more toned (<— again, feeding into the idea that guys do “that” (lift weights) and girls do “this” (yoga/pilates, etc).
Gazing at a barbell for longer than 15 seconds will make you grow an Adam’s apple, or turn you into this overnight:

This last point brings up a whole nother conversation of, 1) “Who gives a flying fuck if someone wants to look like this?” and 2) even if it is an admittedly extreme example, it implies the connotation that having any semblance of muscle is NON-feminine..

However, I hope most of you reading recognize the larger point I’m trying to make: that it’s not uncommon for women to think the above picture is the end result of performing a few sets of deadlifts over the course of a few weeks.

Spoiler Alert: It’s not.

It was very rewarding to start working with those women early in my career and to watch them make amazing progress in their strength – not to mention their confidence in themselves – and to finally see that switch turn on to where they wanted to work towards more performance based goals rather than worrying about aesthetics or looking a certain way to fulfill some BS societal norm.

Fast forward through a few girlfriends and questionable fashion choices on my end…to my time at Cressey Sports Performance. During my time there I worked with countless women, even started a “women’s only” training group (for beginners), and helped to procure an environment and culture where training was training regardless of gender.

Girls didn’t train any different than the guys.

We didn’t make it a “thing.” Girls just, you know, trained. And became badasses.

Fast forward, again, to today. I have my own studio in Boston (okay, technically, Brookline) and I still follow the same mantra as above: women, outside of a few circumstances, do not need to train differently then men.

I’m very fortunate in that I’ve been able to generate enough of a reputation (and following) that when women do reach out to me for coaching they tend to know what they’re getting themselves into.

Deadlifts, EDM, and plenty of Star Wars references.

But that doesn’t mean I still don’t have my work cut out for me at times. Just the other day I came across this article while I was in the waiting room at the dentist’s office:

The article implies that foam rolling leads to “lengthening” of muscles and a leaner look (because, you know, it’s foam rolling, not calories in vs. calories out that gets rid of fat).

It was all I could do not to want to run through the pane glass window to my left when I saw this.

This. This is why I prefer working with women.¹

So I can help serve as a counterpoint or antithesis to the garbage that’s directed their way in much of (not all) of the mainstream media.

Awful.

October 25, 2016 Tony

Stuff to Read While You're Pretending to Work

Stuff To Read While You’re Pretending To Work: 6/17/16

As this post goes live I’m in route to Austin, TX with my wife Lisa to take part in our inaugural Strong Body-Strong Mind Workshop.

We’re excited because we both feel this is an underserved “niche” within the fitness community. The stuff I’ll be speaking about is nothing new – program design, breaking down squat and deadlift technique, why Darth Maul is the best Sith Lord ever, you know the important stuff.

While I feel I offer a unique perspective on all of those things and feel I have expertise, they’re all topics that are covered by many other coaches.

However, it’s the stuff the two of us will be speaking about in tandem – The Art of Coaching & Behavior Change, how to increase motivation and autonomy with your clients, how to assess your client’s willingness to change – that’ll be the real treat to the attendees attending.

Well there’s that, and the 0.01% chance they all witness a marriage crumbling before their eyes. This is mine and Lisa’s first attempt at working with one another.

Either the weekend ends as a glorious success, complete with high-fives and a ticker-tape parade, or we’ll be hiring divorce lawyers and fighting over custody of the cat.

And who gets the VitaMix.²

The 6 Biggest Lies About Eating Meat – Mike Sheridan

I always appreciate articles like this.

Coincidentally, best read while eating a steak….;o)

How to Reduce Your Risk of Injury – Ann Wendel

Girls Gone Strong resident physical therapist, Ann Wendel, chimes in with some sage advice on what “functional training” really means.

Optimizing Movement – Eric Cressey & Mike Reinold

With their 4th installment in the Functional Stability Training series, Eric and Mike break down “movement,” from the assessment process to the gym floor.

The sale price ($30 off) only lasts until the end of this weekend, so act quickly while you can to take advantage.

How to Test Overhead Mobility – Me

In my latest article for Men’s Health I break down one of the easiest ways to “screen” for overhead mobility, and what you can do to improve it.

Epic beard not included.

June 17, 2016 Tony

Female Training Program Design Strength Training

3 Reasons Your Female Clients Aren’t Seeing Results

Note from TG: Today’s post comes courtesy of Molly Galbraith. She and the rest of the Girls Gone Strong pack released their new resource, The Modern Women’s Guide to Strength Training, today.

Molly was kind enough to write a little sumthin, sumthin to serve as an adjunct to its release.

Enjoy – it’s a doozy!

If you read Tony’s site much (which obviously you do because you’re reading this) you know that he’s a man that’s passionate about a few things:

Deadlifting
Eating dead animal flesh
Anything that has to do with un-doing the “work” of Tracy Anderson

So obviously, I’m going to talk about all 3 of these things today because Tony promised that if I did, he’d film a video of himself doing an Irish jig while wearing a kilt, fanny pack, fairy wings, and the clogs that he hasn’t got much use out of lately (he’s been busy).

So yes, I’ll be covering these topics today, namely #3.

Today I’ll be telling you the 3 reasons why your female clients aren’t getting the results they’re looking for… (Assuming that those results are that they want to look and feel amazing and strong).

Let’s get started!

1. Your Programming is Poor or Incomplete.

I know what you’re thinking:

“My programming’s awesome! My female clients squat and deadlift and do push-ups and all kinds of awesome stuff.”

That’s great. I’m super excited that your clients do those movements. That’s a great starting point, but there are a few things to ask yourself:

– Do you asses all of your clients as soon as they come in the door? Do you observe their posture, their body awareness, and their capability to perform basic movement patterns?

– Do you start your clients off with the basics of each of those movement? Do they perform squats and hinge movements with just their body weight at first? Do they start with incline push-ups so they could really master the movement pattern? Do you set them up for success at the beginning by building an awesome foundation? Or did you have them doing Barbell Back Squats on their first day?

– Is their programming tailored specifically towards what you found in their assessment? For example, if a female client has an exaggerated anterior pelvic tilt are you including more hip, hamstring, and glute dominant exercises that quad/knee dominant exercises? Are you doing a lot of anterior core stability and strength work with them?

Hopefully the answer to all of these question is yes. If it is, you’re *thisclose* to being a Rock Star. But I have a few more for you.

– Have you ever talked with your clients about the importance of breathing? Are there any breathing drills in their workout, even just to cool down at the end?

– Does your client Foam Roll or do other soft tissue work for at least a couple of minutes before their training session?

– Does your client perform a solid Dynamic Warm-up before every workout?

– Does your client do intelligent Energy Systems Training (i.e. cardio)? Also known as “not dumb shit?” This is generally a mix of short High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) sessions and Moderate Intensity Cardio (MIC) with their heart rate in the 120-150 beats per minute range 1-2x each throughout the week.

All of these things should be included in your female client’s training programs in order to get them the best results with the least amount of time and effort. If not, you’re leaving something on the table.

2. You’re pushing your clients in the wrong ways.

Let me start by saying that I have zero problems with training hard and pushing my clients hard. But it’s important that your client is properly prepared to be pushed, and there are ways to do it, and ways that just don’t make any sense.

Some examples:

A female you’ve been training for a year who has awesome deadlift form and you want to see what she can deadlift for a heavy triple? Awesome.

Seeing how many Burpees your client can do before they puke, pee, cry, or fire you? Not awesome.

Helping your client eek out a couple really tough reps on Dumbbell Bench Press and teaching her to “strain” a bit? Awesome.

Bragging to your friends that your client could hardly walk for four days after being trained by you? Not awesome.

Having your client really push herself on her last couple of prowler trips and try to beat her previous best? Awesome.

Making your client do 100 Box Jumps or Jump Squats because you think its “cool” to make her legs feel like jelly? Not awesome.

Prepare your clients to be challenged appropriately, and I won’t come kick you in the shin.

Note from TG (regarding Molly’s “kick you in the shin” comment): you DO NOT want to make Molly angry. Trust me. Look at her in the picture above. That’s the face she made after being told her boyfriend adopted a kitten for her.

LOL – I’m just kidding. Molly is a delightful human being.

But seriously, don’t piss her off.

3. Your clients are not recovering properly.

As their trainer, it’s your job to help your clients get the best results possible in the gym.

As an above-average-intelligence-trainer (I mean hey! You’re reading Tony’s blog aren’t you?) I expect you to know that your client’s success is directly correlated to how well they can recover from their overall stress load – meaning not just what they do in the gym with you, but what’s going on in their life, in general.

The more life stress they have, they less they need to be doing in the gym unless they have tons of time to sleep, eat nutrient dense food (like dead animal flesh), and recover.

If you’re not talking to your clients about recovery, you’re doing them a major disservice. Before they start training with you, it’s important to help them understand that they get better/stronger/fitter when they recover from, and adapt to stressors, not while the stressor is being applied.

Talk with them the importance of these things:

– Eat nutrient-dense, whole foods 80-90% of the time.

– Manage their stress effectively.

– Get moderate amounts of sunshine regularly.

– Get 7-9 hours of sleep in a cold, dark room every night.

– Use recovery modalities such as massage or other soft tissue work, Epsom salt baths, low to moderate intensity cardio, contrast showers, etc.

And your female clients will be on their way to looking and feeling better than ever.

Hi, it’s me Tony. So how’d you stack up? Are you making these mistakes with your clients, or are you absolutely killing it?

I hope you’re killing it, of course. But on the off chance that you might have been missing a thing or two, you should definitely check out an incredible new resource from Molly and the rest of the Girls Gone Strong crew (you know, The Women’s Fitness Authority) that discusses ALL of these issues, and then some.

The Modern Women’s Guide to Strength Training

I can’t tell you how excited I am to endorse this fantastic resource, as I feel it’s a product that will help a lot of women finally understand the merits of strength training and how strength is a good thing.

More importantly: it’s a manual designed for women written by women.

I know many of you are wondering what’s included. Here’s a brief synopsis.

– The Modern Woman’s Guide To Strength Training Getting Started Guide – this program comes with a LOT of information, but the getting started guide will walk you through it step-by-step.

– The Modern Woman’s Guide To Strength Training Manual – what is strength training, why is it important, a glossary of terms, and information about recovery, sleep, and stress management.

– The Modern Woman’s Guide To Strength Training Programs – three 16 weeks training programs for beginners, intermediates, high-level intermediates (with multiple options for every single exercise in case you want to make a substitution).

– The Modern Woman’s Guide To Strength Training Video Library – 90 minutes of high-definition video with me coaching GGS co-founder Alli McKee through 70 exercises. I will discuss proper – form, as well as common mistakes and how to correct them.

– The Modern Woman’s Guide To Strength Training Exercise Glossary – a print version of the video library for quick reference if you forget how a particular exercise is performed.

– The Modern Woman’s Guide To Strength Training Progress Tracker – a progress tracking guide where you can track measurements, weight (if desired), mood, sleep, stress level, strength level, energy level, etc. so you can get a comprehensive picture of what’s going on with your body.

In addition, for those looking for guidance on the nutrition side of things, The Modern Woman’s Guide To Good Nutrition Package written by Dr. Cassandra Forsythe, PhD, RD, CSCS, gym owner, and co-author of The New Rules Of Lifting For Women, and The Women’s Health Perfect Body Diet will also be available.

Included in this package is:

– The Modern Woman’s Guide To Good Nutrition Manual – 18 chapter manual with everything you need to know from determining calorie level and macronutrient ratio to recommended food sources and beverages, to what medications may be preventing fat loss.

– The Modern Woman’s Guide To Good Nutrition Meal Plan – Cassandra recognizes that every woman is different and needs a different nutrition structure to be successful. She put together done-for-you meal plans for fat loss and maintenance at multiple calorie levels, as well as a FODMAP plan for women with digestive issues, a Paleo meal plan at multiple calorie levels, and outlined multiple If It Fits Your Macros (IIFYM) plans for those who prefer that type of plan.

In a nutshell: this resource is the bomb-diggidy, and covers every base imaginable. So what are you waiting for? Click the link below to get started (you only have a few days to take advantage of the introductory offer).

—> The Modern Women’s Guide to Strength Training<—

About the Author

Molly Galbraith is co-founder of Girls Gone Strong, a movement dedicated to helping women improve their physical strength, mental strength, and strength of character through strength training.

She is also co-founder J&M Strength and Conditioning, a private studio gym in Lexington, Kentucky.

Her mission is to, ”Help women discover and accept what their best body looks and feels like, with minimal time and effort, and once they discover that, help them have grace and compassion about it.”

April 29, 2014 Tony

Female Training Uncategorized

Male vs. Female (Fitness) Double Standards

I just got done watching last night’s episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and the opening bit, as always, was hilarious……but there was also an important commentary on societal stereotypes concerning women in politics.

In a nutshell, Chelsea Clinton (Hillary’s daughter) let if be known to the world that she’s expecting her first child. Congrats to Chelsea (sorry, I voted against your Mom)! The media followed suit by asking the asinine question: “Will this news somehow affect Hillary’s decision to run for President in 2016?”

They then followed that up with: “Is it sexist to even ask that question?”

Answer: Yes. Yes, it is.

Especially when you consider 2012 Presidential runner-up, Mitt Romney, has enough grandchildren to field an entire football team, yet this was never brought up or became an “issue” during his campaign.

Expounding a bit further, Jon Stewart also took “beef” with how the media portrays female politicians in general, as these emotional, unstable, ready-to-burst-into-tears-at-any-moment-Titanic-watching-misfits.

If a female politician sheds a tear she’s weak and shouldn’t hold public office. And clearly it’s that time of the month. If a male politician cries, he’s a “man’s man.”

If a female politician debates or fights back she’s clearly an emotional wreck. Conversely, if a male politician does the same – ALA Chris Christie – he’s considered somewhat of a hero.

It’s a double standard, and it’s unfortunate.

Again, I HIGHLY recommend watching the opening bit HERE.

You find many of these same parallels in other aspects of society too. Hitting a bit closer to home, the fitness industry is no different.

Walk through any magazine aisle at your local CVS and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

Fitness mags geared towards men tend to have some jacked dude on the cover with words like “yoked,” “get ripped,” and “how to gain 10 lbs if 10 minutes” transcribed throughout.

Fitness mags geared towards women, though, paint a different picture. Here we’ll often (not always) see some petite, likely air-brushed iteration of a woman on the cover with key words like “drop x pounds, fast!,” “burn calories,” and “tank top arms” highlighted.

What’s more, the media doesn’t help. Women are programmed to think that lifting weights will make them big-n-bulky or that they’ll grow an Adam’s apple if they attempt to lift anything heavier than their purse.

It’s a double standard, and it’s bullshit.

Women CAN lift (appreciable) weight and build a strong, muscular, athletic looking body (which is also lean, sexy and feminine!!). What’s more, why place such a dark tone on women building muscle? Is that such a bad thing?

Of course there are a handful of unique considerations that differentiate how a woman should train compared to a man (women tend to be more hypermobile for example), but the mainstream media prefers to over sensationalize things and paint women as these delicate flowers who may hurt themselves if they attempt to deadlift. And if they do, they run the risk of adding gross muscle!

Which is why I’m really excited that the Girl’s Gone Strong crew are releasing their new project The Modern Women’s Guide to Strength Training next week.

The ball has been slowly rolling for a while now, women are starting to gravitate towards the squat rack instead of the Zumba studio (not that there’s anything wrong with that!), and understanding that there’s a lot of false information out there.

There’s still a lot of work to be done. Molly Galbraith and the rest of the Girls Gone Strong team have upped the ante and have produced what I feel is a stellar product that will empower and encourage many women to embrace the barbell.

Like I said, the product itself won’t be available until next week, but in anticipation they’re going to be releasing a series of FREE videos this week leading up to its release.

The first of which is titled The Role of Your Hormones in Training and can be viewed HERE.

It’s a quick video, but dives into some of the more controversial issues surrounding women and fitness – namely how and why most fitness programs geared towards women simply don’t work.

Admittedly, the video is for women-focused-on women, but even if you’re not a woman it’s still great for your girlfriend or wife to watch.

And, if that’s not enticing enough: everyone who views the video will be entered in to win some killer Girls Gone Strong swag.

—-> Free Video <—-

April 23, 2014 Tony

Uncategorized

Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: 2/10/12

Earlier this week my good friend, John Romaniello, released his opus to intermittent fasting (IF), Fat Loss Forever. For those who missed it, John was kind enough to stop by and answer a few questions regarding IF – what is it?, who is it for?, is there any science behind it?, will it make me grow a third nipple? – as well talk about the specifics behind the product itself.

In passing, too, I had mentioned how I experimented with IF a few years ago, but didn’t really realize it at the time. Yeah, I was smart like that.

Nevertheless, when John sent me an advance copy, I read it – in one sitting – and was thoroughly impressed. So impressed, in fact, that I am now on day #3 of my own intermittent fasting extravaganza.

Okay, extravaganza is a little bit of an indulgence. Really, all I’ve done is push my breakfast back a bit in the morning (essentially taking myself through a 12-16 hour fast), and then pwning my first meal after I’m done picking heavy things up and putting them down – which, is generally around 12PM

I’ve always had the tendency to crush a HUGE breakfast every morning, and often wondered whether or not that affected how I felt heading into my workout. I have to say, after a few days, I feel spectaculous!!!!

I can’t say for sure whether or not I’ll do it long-term, but at the very least, I wanted to try it out.

Fat Loss Forever – John Romaniello and Dan Go

Anyways, today (2/10) is your last chance to purchase Roman’s opus to intermittent fasting at the discounted rate of $50 OFF the regular price. He’s has gone out of his way to include a TON of sweet bonuses – including a training manual and supplement guidelines, to name few – but I’m going to sweeten the pot.

1. This kind of got lost in the shuffle earlier in the week, but for anyone who purchases FLF from this site, and emails their receipt to me ([email protected]), I’ll send you a TG written and Roman approved strength-based, 2-day-per-week workout that acts as an adjunct to the program.

2. In addition, I’ll also throw anyone who emails me their receipt into a raffle for a free DIGITAL copy of Muscle Imbalances Revealed – Upper Body. And, if you play your cards right, maybe a bologna sandwich. Winning!

Performance Training: Adaptations for Femoral Acetabular Impingement (FAI) – Kevin Neeld

This was an excellent post by Kevin detailing the intricate and complicated mechanisms behind FAI – how to recognize it, and more importantly, how to go about implementing training modifications.

While it’s generally accepted that FAI is more prevalent in the athletic population, it’s something that we’ve witnessed creep into other less common populations as well – including your typical gym rat population.

If you’re a fitness professional, I HIGHLY suggest you give it a read, and don’t ignore the other links in the article as well, as Kevin as a TON of information to share on this topic.

5 Questions with a Girl Gone Strong: Julia Ladewski – Trey Potter

Continuing his series interviewing the amazing Girls Gone Strong crew, here Trey speaks with Julia Ladewski, wife, coach, mother of two, and formerly the world’s #1 ranked female powerlifter in the 132 lb weight class. Yes, she’s probably stronger than you.

February 10, 2012 Tony