I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again: I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Lou Schuler and Alwyn Cosgrove for writing The New Rules of Lifting series. I think there are five books in total; two more and JK Rowling will have to look over her shoulder. But it’s the second in the series, The New Rules of Lifting for Women, co-written by my friend Cassandra Forsythe, that holds a special place for me.
The fitness industry can be funny—not funny ha-ha, but funny in the sense that it often confuses people. Every week a new fad diet, gadget, or gimmick hits the scene and adds fuel to the debate about who’s right and what we’re supposed to do. Sometimes it feels like a flood of nonsense.
For example, I’ve seen some tips that are clearly ridiculous. A personal trainer once suggested bizarre ideas like recovering minerals by eating 32 ounces of nut butter on certain days, and eating it by hand to maximize electrolytes and trigger “fat-burning mode.” Another suggested blending a chocolate bar with blueberries into red wine and applying it to the skin to protect against the sun and radiation. Obviously that’s playful exaggeration, but it’s surprising how many people might take such advice seriously when information is so accessible.
Training isn’t immune to confusion either. People argue about whether to train on an empty stomach, whether CrossFit is the best, whether body-part splits or full-body routines work best, and how to pace lifts with different tempos. The bottom line is simple: keep it straightforward.
Yet things get trickier when we talk about training women. Many understand that men and women don’t need different training in principle, but too many gurus pander to the fears some women have about lifting. It can feel like we’ve stepped back in time, with outdated ideas about what women should or shouldn’t do.
There’s no shortage of so-called experts who claim to specialize in training women but who merely reinforce fears, telling them not to lift heavy or they’ll grow an Adam’s apple. That’s why I’m grateful to Lou, Alwyn, and Cassandra for The New Rules of Lifting for Women. In my view, no other resource does a better job of providing practical, evidence-based information that works in real life and cuts through the noise. They’ve helped move the conversation back to a sensible middle ground.
With that in mind, I’m starting a new mini-series of my own, borrowing a page from their book, to share some of my own “Rules of Lifting” for women. Fair warning: there will be times when I’m not going to sugarcoat things. Tough love has its place.
This idea came from a client I recently trained who got engaged and wanted to step up her training for the wedding. The client—let’s call her Kate Upton for the sake of the story—has been training at Cressey Performance for about a year and a half. She’s done plenty of deadlifts, squat variations, push-ups, Prowler pushes, med ball throws, and other challenging work. She’s made amazing progress and has become a gym enthusiast, often sharing stories about other trainers doing things that don’t make sense.
When she started adding short 10–15 minute arm circuits with ten-pound dumbbells during the week, I asked why. “To get my arms in shape for the wedding,” she said. I was both proud of her for wanting to do more and skeptical that such light work would have a meaningful effect. I explained that while any activity is better than nothing, the goal should be real progress, not quick, small improvements.
So here is one of my New Rules for Women:
Rule 1: Chin-ups, 5 push-ups. Until you can perform one clean, dead-hang chin-up and five clean, chest-touches-the-floor push-ups, you shouldn’t do isolation bicep or tricep work. The total muscle involvement, calories burned, and overall effort to reach those movements matter more than what you could do with a pair of light dumbbells. The effort to perform a push-up or chin-up is what builds real strength and shape.
If you can’t yet do a chin-up or push-up, that’s fine. We’ll work on progressions and alternatives like TRX suspension training. For push-ups, I prefer elevating the body from the feet rather than from the knees, and we can use a resistance band to help progress. You can do push-ups anywhere, even at home or in the office with the right setup. If you’re the boss, you can make it happen; if not, you can still find ways to train.
What do you think? Do you have your own rules to share or topics you’d like me to cover in future installments? Please leave a comment. And if you found this helpful, please like and share. The more we spread this message to empower women and boost confidence, the less likely I’ll feel the need to retreat into cynicism.
