Women strength buidling difference between female and male gymnasts

[pumpkinpie]

So first of all, I know this is the WAG forum and I am a guy, but I thought that I would get better andwers here, beacuse it's more a "female-related" question.

Second, I want to say that I really think it's impressive what little gymnast girls are able to do with their bodies! That's so exciting!

So now to my question. I have been doing gymnastics since I was 5, started lifting weights 3 years ago and still train BWE and gymnastics.
I have a girlfriend since nearly 1 year now. She was a good siwmmer in childhood and is cheering at school, so she has a good body tighness and knows what to do with it.
She never tells me, but I know that she sometimes would prefer having me at home or just doing something together, instead of me training,
because I am at the gym 6 days a week! She is very active and wants to do something together, so I decided to get 1 training day off and do something together with her instead, because I really want her to be happy!

So at my gym, there sometimes are some girls who do CrossFit.
I know Maddie (my girlfriend) loves it, I sometimes caught her doing L-Sits and trying some handstand presses and tuck planches in the bathroom
She is not weak at all, but far away from a V-Sit or Planche and I know she is too shy to tell me that she wants to learn this, because she feels weak beside the CrossFit girls.

So long story short question:

I want to ask her to join me at gym 3 times a week in the afternoon, when almost no one is there and do a little workout together.
A year ago I started coaching the 7-10 y.o. boys team at my gym. Some boys who trained 3-4 times a week went from a 10 seconds tuck planche to a straddle one in 11 months! Same with V-Sits. One boy couldn't even hold an L-Sit, now he is pressing up into handstand on p-bars!

If Maddie is joining me - what can I expect/let her expect? Can I "train" her the same way as I do the boys in gym?
I will make sure she warms up adequatly and stops as soon as something hurts, and maybe focus less on arms and shoulders.
What is the difference between a boy and a girl concering strength building?
If they have the same amount of training, rest, sleep and healthy food - will the guy always get stronger in a shorter amount of time and will get his V-Sits/planches etc. faster?
Is it even possible for a girl to do a straddle planche if she hasn't started as a child?

Hope someone can help me!

PS: I really hope she never reads that

 

[Gymnast@<3]

i dont think there is a huge difference except i thing that guys have more of a pain tolerance, so yes train her but maybe just a little bit slower and ask her to awnser truthfully how shes doing does it hurt ect. no just becasue she didnt do as a child doesnt mean she cant learn it. you can learn anything if you work hard enough. hope this help and that everything works out, good luck!

 

[profmom]

I just have to say that you are a very sweet guy, and your girlfriend is lucky to have you!

Don't worry a lot about gender. Differences between individuals are more important than broad generalizations based on what chromosomes a person happens to have. I'm sure that in your group of boys, you'll have noticed that they all progress as individuals, with everyone faster and slower to pick up certain sets of skills. So it would also be if your girlfriend were training with a mixed gender group of people roughly the same age and at roughly the same starting point.

The relevant question for your purposes, I would think, is not whether training as a girl/woman is different than training as a boy/man, but rather whether starting to train these skills as a late adolescent or adult is different than training them before puberty. BlairBob will hopefully chime in on that one. But I would think that as long as you take care to warm up well, stretch adequately after, and pay close attention to overuse or overdoing it, the same things you're doing to strengthen your boys will work for your girlfriend.

Good luck to both of you!

 

[Sasha]

I was (in a younger day) into heavy weight training (with an old BF lol), in the gym 6 days a week, even competed a little. I now have a son and daughter who are young gymnasts.

I would say strength-to-weight ratio is usually higher for males, so holding/moving one's own body weight (using the arms in particular - many women have very strong legs), overall, is a bigger challenge to meet for most females. So it might take her longer, but the same progressions should be fine.

As for not starting as a kid, all those presses and planches put a lot of strain on the wrists, so that will likely be a weak spot for her (unless she's a yoga master or something already), and you'll have to rely on other exercises to strengthen the appropriate muscles (bands, machines, free weights, etc) beyond the holds themselves to see faster progress. You probably know that already since you train, though

As profmom pointed out above, though, individual differences are vast, so the most important criteria for her success is to make sure you are an enjoyable training partner and not too critical lol. If she is healthy and dedicated, in all likelihood she can indeed achieve the goals you mentioned with time.

Have fun!

 

[pumpkinpie]

I just have to say that you are a very sweet guy, and your girlfriend is lucky to have you!

Don't worry a lot about gender. Differences between individuals are more important than broad generalizations based on what chromosomes a person happens to have. I'm sure that in your group of boys, you'll have noticed that they all progress as individuals, with everyone faster and slower to pick up certain sets of skills. So it would also be if your girlfriend were training with a mixed gender group of people roughly the same age and at roughly the same starting point.

The relevant question for your purposes, I would think, is not whether training as a girl/woman is different than training as a boy/man, but rather whether starting to train these skills as a late adolescent or adult is different than training them before puberty. BlairBob will hopefully chime in on that one. But I would think that as long as you take care to warm up well, stretch adequately after, and pay close attention to overuse or overdoing it, the same things you're doing to strengthen your boys will work for your girlfriend.

Good luck to both of you!

Thanks for your nice words! Yes, you are totally right, I bet it's a lot different to learn them "as a grown up" and not as a child!
I will try my best!

 

[cbifoja]

i dont think there is a huge difference except i thing that guys have more of a pain tolerance

Please.......

One word: childbirth.