From a physiological standpoint, the female body takes physical exertion much harder than the male. The weight vs. body mass ratio, or the number of reps in any given exercise is much smaller for a woman than for a man. Female muscles and organism take more time to adjust to the given weight. Supplementation in order to quicken the process of adjustment is also much more limited, especially during the menstrual cycle. But on the other hand, women are much more ferocious when they fight, as it can be observed during tournaments. And women handle injuries much better than men.
As a rule, women want to work with heavy weights, but don’t want to gain too much body mass, as men usually do. So large weights in women’s training serve only to build strength in angles, not to build mass. It is a common misconception that strength training builds mass in women. Any mass build up in the female body is extremely slowed down by estrogen (one of the most important female hormones), which successfully blocks any anabolic effects of training. In addition to that, seeing as armwrestling engages mainly the upper body, women don’t have to put any special focus on legs, which allows them to remain their normal shape, in training as well as when they quit training. These are the main elements that should convince potential female armwrestlers to enter this sport.
We recommend the training cycle to be divided into 3-4 times a week, 1-2 of those times dedicated to sparring at the table. As with men, so with women the most important factor when going to the gym is how you feel. If your muscles and tendons aren’t regenerated and you feel sore, and your joints hurt, you should take a break and go back only when you’re fully regenerated.
Supplementation is equally important with both men and women. One of the most popular supplements in armwrestling are amino acids, both simple and their BCAA form, which greatly support the regeneration process. Creatine is used to increase strength. Recently the FitMax compaby has released a supplement designed especially for armwrestlers – Crea Mission. It consists solely of the creatine orothynian, ethyl ester HCL. At the time being it’s the only form of creatine that doesn’t “draw water”, while still increasing strength. It’s also recommended for women. As for injuries, for both men and women we recommend the Cissus Quadrangularis Extract, similar in effect to Ibuprofen, to ease the pain and regenerate bone and joints.
As you can see, seeing women’s strength training in the light of traditional gender division is a faulty stereotype, it’s not only a man’s domain. We should keep in mind though, that the methods of training vary. We will now attempt to demonstrate the differences by examples, presented by the Russian armwrestler, Jana Malakhova.
Jana Malakhova trains in Moscow, at the Bauman University. Her coach is Artur Agadżanian. She’s only been training for half a year, although looking at her and the amount of her progress you can see she’s a fast learner. She’s at the beginning of her career, what got her started was coming to Poland often, as a member of Cyplenkov’s team.
WARMUP
Remember that it’s crucial to warm up before any workout. This is the same for both men AND women. For women, we recommend more reps with minimum weights. Before sparring we recommend a thorough warm up with expanders.
PULLEY WORKOUT.
EXERCISE NR 1
One handed pulls, using fat handle grip. Start the movement from the wrist. Pull towards the opposing shoulder. When done properly, this exercise will strengthen the muscles of our back, chest and wrist. The fat handle grip additionally strengthens our fingers. Notice that Jana does this exercise sitting down. This limits the movement to the shoulders and the targeted hand. This exercise doesn’t utilize body weight as a balance point during the fight. It’s a good start for a beginner trainee.
Jana does this exercise in 5 sets, 10 – 12 reps, increasing weight in the last two sets.
EXERCISE NR 2
One handed pulls, using fat handle grip. Very similar to EXERCISE NR 1, but this one is done in a standing position, and the rope is pulled towards the body from the bottom. This exercise uses the whole body, upper as well as lower parts of muscle. The movement starts from the arm. The weight is pulled towards the opposite shoulder. This exercise targets the chest muscle and the fastening muscles. Recommended for the beginners and the semi-advanced.
Jana does this exercise in 5 sets, 8 – 10 reps, increasing weight in the last two sets.
EXERCISE NR 3
One handed pulls, using fat handle grip. Similar to EX 1 and 2, only this time the exercise is done to full arm extension. The rope should be pulled towards the center of the chest, from the bottom. The pull comes mainly from the back muscle. This exercise strengthens the fingers, which must hold a lot of weight, and the back muscle.
Jana does this exercise in 5 sets, 8 – 10 reps, increasing weight in EACH set.