Training with the wife... HELP!

gibbob2 · Aug 12, 2008

Aight guys, i HOPE one of you have gone through this at least once in your careers...

My girl is a teacher, and since school ended she has been training with me 6 days a week. THe workouts have been slow paced, we have had a few arguments, and they have been cut short many times. Not to mention the constant WHATS NEXT that she asks hoping I say we are done.

That being said I love her and want to help her with her fitness goals, I just don't want her to impair MY goals.

So the dilema is this... the school year starts on august 25th (just happens to be the start of my next cycle, how convenient) so she will be back in school and only able to train 4 days a week with me (two weekdays and weekends)

My plan is to train monday to friday by myself in the morning, and then go to the gym on the weekends and 2 weeknights with her. Ideally I would just spot her and help guide her, especially since i will have already trained in the am. However she will have non of that! It's training with me or not at all. So will I overtrain if I hit the same bodypart in the pm as I did in the am?... I am having a hard time laying out a actual training plan. Especially since she only trains back, bi;s tris, shoulders and legs. No chest and my second bi;stri's days she does cardio.

Usually I do Chest, back, bi'stri's, legs, shoulders, bi'stri's, Off (mon-sun)

Any help would be awesome guys.. THanks again.

oldfella · Aug 12, 2008

gibbob2 said:
Aight guys, i HOPE one of you have gone through this at least once in your careers...

My girl is a teacher, and since school ended she has been training with me 6 days a week. THe workouts have been slow paced, we have had a few arguments, and they have been cut short many times. Not to mention the constant WHATS NEXT that she asks hoping I say we are done.

That being said I love her and want to help her with her fitness goals, I just don't want her to impair MY goals.

So the dilema is this... the school year starts on august 25th (just happens to be the start of my next cycle, how convenient) so she will be back in school and only able to train 4 days a week with me (two weekdays and weekends)

My plan is to train monday to friday by myself in the morning, and then go to the gym on the weekends and 2 weeknights with her. Ideally I would just spot her and help guide her, especially since i will have already trained in the am. However she will have non of that! It's training with me or not at all. So will I overtrain if I hit the same bodypart in the pm as I did in the am?... I am having a hard time laying out a actual training plan. Especially since she only trains back, bi;s tris, shoulders and legs. No chest and my second bi;stri's days she does cardio.

Usually I do Chest, back, bi'stri's, legs, shoulders, bi'stri's, Off (mon-sun)

Any help would be awesome guys.. THanks again.

OK this raises an interesting point. I am currently training the same body part twice in one day. I have been doing this for around four months. Not overtrained, actually making some of the best gains of all times for me. The only thing I do not train twice in one day is legs. I do train them twice in one week though.
Just train one body part per day, I train both sessions heavy and with volume. I just pick different exercises for both sessions. Your wife does not need to know what you did in the first session so just pick what you want her to do and do those. Again, I am not overtrained, making great progress and loving my training. So your split could be Mon-back, Tu-chest, Wed-legs, Th-arms, Fr-shoulders, Sat-legs. On wed just train legs with her once only. Try it. it is so different and I usually find my second session is better than the am session. I am stronger for round two. Like I said, I have been doing this for 4 months now and no probs. Just excellent gains and getting leaner!Body weight has hovered around 250-255 all the time. Oh and I am 49 next month!!!

dragonfire101 · Aug 13, 2008

I train with my wife and we usually don't have a problem. When we train togtehr we warm up and do cadio together.She trains her entire body 3 days a week with a different exercise each time. I showed her how to do all the exercises one day at the gym. So usually goes off and does her thing and I do mine. She comes to check in a few times during the workout and I have to keep her on task a little. My problem is sometimes i see that she is not training hard enough and she finish a whole body workout in 30min flying through all the sets and I'm only half done. So I made her do real light set extenders (drop sets) on the last set. Its more of a pump set. If she finishes early she then is to go do extra calf and ab work and wait for me.

The other option is she has to fill my water bottle and wipe my bench after my sets whiling waiting

JOK

Ability · Aug 13, 2008

I've been there training with my ex girlfriends. Had its ups and downs. Got into many fights especially when im all reved up in training mode. Currently i only "train" my girl (work) and i lift by my self. Which is more ideal.

If you have to train with her i suggest doing completly diffrent routines and just stay in the same area. Or just set her off if shes cool with it.

As for the training twice per day. I'm sure you know your recovery abilities pretty well, i would just listen to your body. All though your workouts should not double in volume, the volume of Each session should be reduced, however the total volume load should remain larger.

If your going to hit the same body part..

a good idea is to train diffrent rep ranges. Ideally Low volume high intensity in the am, and high volume lower intensity in the pm.

So in the Am hit your big presses 5x5,4x6, 3x3, what have you. Train for strength and power.

And in the pm work in the 8-15 rep range, maybe some drop sets, super sets, pre-post fatigue, again you know your recovery best.

best of luck.

wrought · Aug 13, 2008

Ok, I went through this many many years ago when my wife first started training with me. She did the same stuff as your wife is doing but it was mainly because she wasn't confident in her abilities at the gym and having me with her all the time made her feel much more secure in her training. Once she got comfortable with the exercises and training she set up her own schedule independent of mine, just like dragonfire and his wife.

I'm not sure what your wife's training history is, but if she's relatively new to it you may just want to try and be patient and considerate. Sit down and write out a schedule for her that would compliment what you're already doing but wouldn't interfere with your training, so look at the layout of your gym and figure out what she can be doing that is in the same area as what you're doing (like if the equipment for training back is by the benches while you're training chest) so you can give her the support she wants without compromising on yourself.

mrshoulders · Aug 13, 2008

I train with my wife and she is the only one I really trust to spot me correctly...We sometimes have our probs, but mostly because she tries to push me too much past failure...I have puked more than once just training biceps....