Do you know it takes extra considerations to train female clients? 3 experienced personal trainer shared with us the challenges they face when they are training female clients.
Wenisa Ng – ACE Certified Personal Trainer-Health Coach -Advanced Health & Fitness Specialist & NASM Women Fitness Specialist, Fitness Educator (Fitness Innovations Malaysia – FITM ), Founder Activ Lifestyle Personal Training Studio.
Norhasni Se’am @ Sa’im (Asni) – Personal Trainer. 9 years in the fitness industry.
Suhaila Ismail (Sue)- ACE certified Personal Trainer, FIT Malaysia Seremban Hotspot Team Leader
What are the differences training female vs male clients?
Wenisa: Physiological difference versus male clients: female has less lean muscle muscle mass and higher body fat percentage (%). Female may not run as fast or be as strong as our male counterpart as we carry more deadweight.
Hormonal wise: Estrogen producing capacity that changes over life and affects body fat distribution and bone mineral density. Female has 10 times less testosterone than male. It means women have a tendency to retain body fat. Pregnancy and lactation will also affects women’s training regime.
You have trained both female and male clients, tell us what we don’t know.
Asni: Male clients are more competative among themselves and towards their female trainer too (some of them haha!). So they will try and do their best during the sessions. Most of male clients have more “power” but in the end of the session they still needs someone to push them out from their comfort zone. So as a trainer I must stay stronger than them mentally and push them out from their comfort zone.
What do your male and female client prefer?
Sue: Male clients prefer muscular & aesthetic look and female clients prefer weight loss, get fitter and look lean. This needs to be taken into consideration with workout programming. Environment: male client prefer to workout individually or with 2 buddies at one time, while mostly female clients enjoy the group training to have fun and support. Program: Female clients workout program has less isolation movements, move around a lot to prevent muscle bulk. Most female clients believe in spot reduction even though they know they wont get rid of their belly fat after 10,000 sit ups !
What are the changes you have to make to train female clients?
Wenisa: Women do not have testosterone so it is harder to build muscle hence it is not recommended to do high volume in a single session.
Asni: I always stay alert with their mood changes. Example, if they are in stress mode, I will give them something that can increase their endorphine and lower down their cortisol level. I always ask what is their favourite type of exercise and I will add on aerobic movement, slow jogging and make them happy during the session.
Sue: Most females are initially very insecure about lifting weights. They need private or small group training environments since they’re less intimidating. That is why I’m offering a class only for female clients, to make them feel comfortable and they can give full attention during workout. And clients can make new friends, motivate and support each other to reach their goals.
What are the challenges training female clients?
Wenisa: Understanding female hormonal fluctuations and how it affects our ability to build muscle and losing body fat.
Asni: I have clients that want to keep ‘slim’ without exercise and changing their eating habits: they normally consider slimming treatment, and are usually afraid of building muscle mass. Therefore, a lot of education is needed.
Sue: Female tend to exhibit knee valgus during squatting. I have to spend more time on correcting their posture. Bodyweight exercises for the upper body are much harder for female compared to male, for example, proper push up form is much more difficult to attain. They are scared on getting bulky or have muscular look by lifting weight whereas it will never appear “too muscular” no matter how much resistance training they perform. Menstrual cycles usually have a huge influence on factors such as training motivation, mood, water retention, and self-esteem during exercise. Most female clients undervalue the importance of strength. Most still believe that more cardio will lead to more weight loss. Some of them have unhealthy relationship with food due to unhealthy attitude with their body image so they are prone to eating disorders such as bulimia, anorexia and binge eating.
Join us at Women Fitness Specialist workshop, which we will go deeper in discussing special exercise and nutritional needs for women in different life phases, explain why women can’t lift as heavy as men, why women is harder to lose fat than men, and many more.
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