Everyone can exercise like a man!

You know what irritates me? When people refer to the difference in the way that women and men "should" work out. I'll admit we have our differences in many areas, but women don't need a special workout regime that is different from a man's. Why? Because we have the exact same muscles (to include the heart) as men, and what is being worked is muscle!

The differences we do have act as a safeguard to keep women from getting as big muscularly as men (as covered in an earlier post).

Therefore it is perfectly Okay, and even beneficial, for a woman to work out as hard as possible with the same types of workout formats and programs that men use. The female generally won't be able to lift as much as the male, but she can do the exact same exercises in the exact same way as a man without worrying that it's wrong because of her gender.

To further review my earlier post: If she is one day able to lift as much as the big boys in the grunt-end of the gym she won't be as muscular as said guys, because of the lack of testosterone in her body. The only way a woman gets big, gross, man-like muscles is if she uses steroids.

In the same vein, my good friend Kim asked that I discuss the difference between male and female push-ups. I call them "standard" and "bent knee" push-ups.

There is a reason men have an easier time with standard (strait-leg) push-ups than women- It's because they tend to carry a lot more muscle in the upper body than women do, so they are using their strong parts to lift their light parts (this is the same reason they have an easier time with pull-ups, aka "chins").

Additionally, because of the structural differences in how weight is distributed between men and women, the typical man has a higher center of gravity in a horizontal position, so this swings things in his favor when doing push-ups with legs extended: He just doesn't have to work so darned hard to balance, since his center of gravity is so much closer to the wide base of his hands.

This is also why women who are smaller through the bottom half and/or have built the muscles in their upper body usually don't have issue with strait-leg push-ups, and why men who do have a hard time with them frequently carry a lot of weight below the belt.

It's simply a matter of physics.

So, bent-knee push-ups are a perfectly acceptable place to start. However, going back to the theory that everyone can exercise like a man, no damage will be caused to a woman (and great benefit can be gained) by executing regular strait-leg push ups. Or performing chins, for that matter.

Personally, when doing push-ups I do as many in the strait-leg position as I can (usually only about 8), and then drop my knees and do them bent-knee until I can't do any more. If the push-up is my main chest exercise for the day I'll take a rest, then repeat this a couple of more times.

And, for the record, I've yet to be able to do a single chin. It's a goal of mine to be able to do 10. That's quite the feat, if you've ever seen these hips!