There is a plague that is devastating the world of women’s strength training, and I’m not just talking about the foolish “light weight and high rep” recommendations touted about in fitness magazines and all over the internet. No, what I am referring to are the marathon workouts performed multiple days per week with the only goal being to achieve as much fatigue as possible.

Some men are guilty of this as well, but women especially tend to believe that if they don’t end a workout completely exhausted and drenched in sweat that they didn’t “do enough”. And if they can’t dedicate at least 60 solid minutes to training, they don’t see a point in training at all. So they perform session after session of circuits, conditioning work, and anything else that has them sweating, panting, and working themselves into a puddle of sweat.

Some women thrive on this type of training and can follow such routines long-term. However, the women I have witnessed who perform these marathon workouts quickly burnout, and stop coming to the gym all together within a few weeks or months. They realize it’s not practical to perform such gruesome, long workouts on a consistent basis. And because they are told that such workouts are the best way to get results, they stop training all together assuming it’s hopeless to even try something different, and less fatiguing.

Ladies, it is entirely possible to spend much less time in the gym (about 2.5 hours per week, to be exact) and still reap the benefits you desire from your training program. Furthermore, it’s even possible to enjoy your training and leave the gym feeling energized and not wiped out. [Read more...]