Men vs. Women
 

So I've been going to the gym for two years now and I've learned so much! And lately DH has been making some noise about wanting to lose some weight and firm up a bit, but we don't have the time or the money for him to join a gym too (mine is an all-ladies gym) unless we join like the Y or somewhere we can both work out....but I'm drifting off subject....

He has a nice weight bench in the basement with dumbbells and free weights, so can I teach him what I know? Should he be using higher weight/ lower reps? Obviously my goals are leaner muscles, toning and some strengthening, his are a little different, mostly to lose that belly! So what is the difference for him vs me? Do men use resistance bands too?

Side note, his b-day was the 25th and he was really excited about the rollerblades we got him!

I would think the first thing for him to lose the belly would be to get some good intense cardio. Can he run or walk on a daily basis? Then yes, weights would be good too. You probably need to see how much he can comfortably lift now to see if you have enough. See what he can do about 12 reps on where the last 3 or 4 become difficult and he struggles by the last rep. That's probably where he wants to start working out and he'll need to have increasing weights to move up to from there. Congrats on your own weight loss - that's great!!

Men and Women can lift in the same manner although men are generally stronger in the upper body and need heavier weights. When DH and I lift together, we usually lift about the same weight and sometimes I'll lift more than him even on the upper body stuff. So I'd recommend the same standard routine, doing 3-4 sets using 8-12 reps on each set, lifting to failure on the last set.

As nelie said, men and women can lift in the same manner. Your individual rep/set schemes will be determined primarily by your goals not by your gender.

As for men using resistance bands, I use them. I think more should. In fact, I think more people of both sexes should use them more. They are extremely versatile as they can be used for resistance or assistance, and are great for rehab and prehab work as well. Of course, this is just my opinion.

I do know that, among others, Dave Tate http://asp.elitefts.com/qa/default.asp?qid=4174&tid=101 uses them and I don't think I'm man enough to tell him to his face that he is not a man.

If he is looking for a good fat loss program, have him search Chad Waterbury or Alwyn Cosgrove over at the T-nation website. Starting out with a beginner program like Chad's Big Boy Basics Big Boy Basics
http://www.t-nation.com/findArticle.do?article=284big2

then progressing through some of the fat loss programs is a good fit for most just starting out or starting back into lifting and looking to shed some pounds while doing it.

Yep, and I'm certainly not going to tell Juan Carlos Santana that he's not a real man or a real trainer!

If your husband is pretty much a beginner at weights and weightloss, I'd recommend that he read Bill Phillips' Body for Life or Tom Venuto's Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle. Both programs have been around for a while and aren't anything earth shattering, but they are good starting places for people who don't know a whole lot about how to put together the whole nutrition, weightlofting and cardio pieces of the puzzle.

Mel

T-Mag ran a two part article on Dave Tate's diet a while back. He lost a bunch of weight: http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=971737

Unlike Dave I do not need to force feed myself 10,000 calories a day to maintain a 300# bodyweight.

Yeah, Muscle is a very nice ally in the battle against weight gain, ain't it?

Yeah, if it wasn't for the health concerns I would be tempted to join Dave on "The Dark Side". It would be nice to be able to eat all I want and worry about losing too much weight.

:faint: OK,forget it! Men ARE different from women! I eat less than 10,000 calories per week :( and maintain.