The T-Vixen Roundtable, Part II
Featuring Patricia Smith, Cassandra Forsythe, Eva Moore, Sandy Joyce and Jalaine Ulsh
Moderated by Chris Shugart

In Part I, our panel of T-Vixens discussed weight training for women and dispelled a lot of myths that keep females out of the weight room. This week, they'll talk about dietary concerns and lay the smack down on insecure, candy-ass men.

Chris: Let's talk diet. According to the mass media, women should eat high carbs and potentially thyroid-zapping soy protein. When they're given diet advice, it's usually a starvation liquid diet plan. Makes me wonder if there isn't some conspiracy out there to keep women fat! Anyway, where do most women screw up with their diets?

Patricia: Maybe there is a conspiracy! After all, the diet industry makes a huge amount of money, especially from the infamous yo-yo dieters. If all women (and men) were to rely on just basic nutrition and just be physically active, that industry would fail!

That aside, one problem women have is expecting too much too soon. It’s thinking you have to make huge changes to your diet overnight. Most of all, it’s not eating enough, especially in the way of protein and just plain, old-fashioned food. Many women have told me, "I eat and I eat and I can never gain…" but when I read a couple of pages from their food logs, I see that’s usually not the case. They’re eating way below even maintenance level.

The learning curve with diet is huge. Mistakes with diet and training will occur, but people can learn from their mistakes and improve from them.

Eva: Women consume too little protein and good fats. They eat too much or the wrong types of carbs. Not eating frequently enough and fear of dietary fat are two big mistakes.

Jalaine: That's right, they don’t eat enough protein! That’s the major mistake. Most women also eat very lightly during the day, then consume the majority of their calories in the evening when they're sedentary.

Sandy: I don’t believe there's much difference between men and women when it comes to screwing up their diets. The only two differences I’ve found to be more common among women is that women are more exposed to the low calorie diets (it's not exactly considered macho for a man to be walking around the job site drinking a Slim Fast). I’ve also found it to be a more common pattern for women to skip breakfast, which is a mistake.

Breakfast is probably the best time of day to consume carbs (the other being post-workout) even when you're on a reduced carb diet, because, as Dr. Lonnie Lowery has written here at T-mag, the body can basically utilize carbs as fuel better at this time. They're "put to work" so to speak, and not stored as fat.

Also, studies have shown that a big breakfast keeps your appetite under control for the rest of the day, making it easier to consume small, healthy meals throughout the day without nighttime bingeing. This is why I recommend that men and women eat a large protein and complex carbohydrate breakfast.

Other problems I see in most people’s diet are:

1. Low calorie diets, which slows their metabolism to a screeching halt.

2. Not enough calories coming from lean sources of protein such as chicken, tuna, egg whites, etc.

3. Their biggest meal is usually eaten at night.

4. Too few meals eaten a day.

5. Not enough good carbohydrates, such as oatmeal, veggies, sweet potato, rice, etc.

Chris: Great tips, Sandy. Cassandra, what mistakes do you see women making?

Cassandra: I could write a novel about this with all the female clients I've worked with, but for now I'll try to just highlight the key issues. First, women completely avoid all fat. They eat only fat-free diet foods and shriek at the sight of anything that looks like oil. They miss out completely on the essential fats and the fats that help them to create more muscle and burn more fat.

What they don’t understand is it's not dietary fat that makes them fat. If they understood metabolism, they'd see that it's excess sugar and carbohydrates that are converted to and stored as fat. Certain fats even help to increase metabolism and will decrease fat stores while increasing muscle mass. Fat is also the building block for Testosterone and other hormones that are responsible for positive changes in body composition.

Second, women avoid all dairy products. The reason this trend started is because most dairy used to be very high in fat, and dairy fat was also associated with increased risk for diseases such as cardiovascular disease. But now we know scientifically that low-fat dairy products (not necessarily fat free dairy) are proven to help enhance fat loss and even lower your blood pressure. This is due to the calcium content of dairy, as well as the unique proteins found only in these foods.

Third, they don’t eat enough. They think they should starve themselves while increasing their training to speed up fat loss. This results in improper recovery from weight training and the inability to maintain energy throughout their workouts. They feel like shit the next day after a hard workout and complain about being tired all the time. These women are never able to put on any muscle because their bodies are constantly in a catabolic state from lack of calories.

Finally, they rely on energy bars and Slim Fast shakes to provide them with adequate nutrition. These products claim to provide the RDA for all the vitamins and minerals and replace the need to eat anything else. What these products lack is fiber, phytochemicals, and essentials fats. Typically, they don’t have enough quality protein, not to mention most of them taste like cardboard!

Chris: I agree. I think the biggest cause of yo-yo dieting in North America is that Slim Fast crap. Now they've added soy to it and advertise it for men! I just have to shake my head and laugh.

Okay, ladies, once a woman gets her diet in order, what supplements do you recommend?

Eva: Studies have shown that post exercise carbohydrate and protein ingestion increases both insulin and growth hormone concentration, stimulates protein synthesis rates, and reduces markers of muscle protein breakdown. So I'd recommend protein and carbohydrate supplementation post-workout to increase the anabolic process. Also, I'd recommend an increase of daily EFA’s spread throughout the day. This lowers food cravings and increases energy reserves. An iron supplement to accommodate for menses would also be a good idea.

Patricia: I'd recommend protein powder and a good multivitamin/mineral.

Jalaine: It’s always safe to add a daily multivitamin/mineral, calcium, and protein powder.

Sandy: I give my clients a high quality protein powder right away. I recommend Low Carb Grow!. This helps them meet their daily protein requirements and also helps me explain to them the important role diet has in shaping their physical appearance. This also helps them to understand that the human body needs food to survive, to function, to grow, and to recover, so in turn this ends up changing the way they view food. Before, food was just a lustful enjoyment; now they see it as a necessary tool in meeting their goals.

Another reason I give them the powder is because of convenience. Most of my clients have normal eight to twelve hour days at work and eating every few hours just isn’t possible. Shakes can be made the night before, early that morning, or even just shaken up right before you drink them. Convenience is everything!

I’m not really one of those "pill-pushing" trainers, but I have suggested Biotest’s HOT-ROX to a few of my clients, after I made sure their diet was in order.

Cassandra: I recommend women take a high-potency multivitamin that's formulated specifically for females, one with enough iron and B-vitamins. A woman should take at least 1000 mg of Vitamin C and 400 IU of Vitamin E per day to fight free-radical damage. She should take 6 grams per day of salmon oil to provide her with the long-chain n-3 essential fatty acids that are only found in cold-water fatty fish.

To enhance her bone health, increase fat loss, and help her sleep at night, take 600 mg of calcium carbonate (the most absorbable calcium) with 200 IU of vitamin D3 before bed. For post-workout supplementation, she should drink a rapidly digested and absorbed whey protein hydrolysate/isolate with a high-glycemic carbohydrate to help her fully recover. She should also eat a slow-releasing whey/casein blend protein like Biotest Low-Carb Grow! as one of her mid-day meals to provide her with a high BV, easy and damn tasty protein. Plus, chicks love sweet things and this stuff is a hell of a lot better than a Mr. Goodbar!

Chris: Okay, good info all around. Now I want to bring up something strange I've noticed. Most T-mag readers want their wives and girlfriends to go to the gym and lift weights, but I've run across some men who, through overt or subtle intimidation and misinformation, try to discourage their women from getting into great shape. Some men even try to wreck their girlfriend's diet by tempting them with bad foods. My theory is that this is a control technique used by insecure men. It really pisses me off! Have any of you ever noticed that?

Eva: I've had this happen; the reasons why are still unclear. My then boyfriend would have any number of reasons why it wasn’t a good time for me to go to the gym. It got to the point where my subconscious was waking me up at 5:00AM only to execute my stealth bed dismount. Note to gym junkies: this is warning sign, complete with red flags and sirens.

Patricia: Oh sure, there’s a group of guys who do that. The general attitude of some guys is that the weight room is some sort of bastion of manliness and women shouldn’t be muscular or strong; therefore women don’t belong. It’s like when I’m performing curls with 40-pound dumbbells. There’s always some idiot who needs to prove his "manliness" by picking up the 45-pound dumbbells and stand next to me while he lifts them using bad form. In his mind, he’s just shown this bitch that he’s stronger. Yeah, whatever.

Jalaine: I could see a woman pressured to not weight train by a male in her life for three reasons. One, the gym is the guy’s domain and he doesn’t want to share. I’ve heard that from several guys, bitching about how their girls either slow their workouts down or try to pressure them into leaving early. That’s honestly the most likely reason — men like having a place of their own, and the gym has historically played that role.

The second reason might be the guy is scared of the confidence and resulting independence his girl might achieve from weight lifting. The third reason a really insecure guy might not want his girl in the gym is he might fear having his girl compare him to other men at the gym…and come up short.

Cassandra: A guy like that has to be insecure, castrated, or both. I personally have never had an experience like this, but I'm not saying it’s untrue. Perhaps it’s because the men I've trained with are secure enough about themselves that they don’t find my presence intimidating (or they just like checking out my tits when I bench press).

However, something I've found that would potentially drive women out of the gym is sexual harassment and rudeness dished out by some guys. Case in point, I was in the gym training by myself and this guy came up to me and said "Do you know how many guys are scoping you out wearing an outfit like that with a body like you’ve got?" My reply was, "No, I’m here to work out, not to get phone numbers. Maybe you should try doing the same thing." At that he left me alone and has since not bothered me again. However, not all women would respond with such T-Vixen disgust, and probably would end up leaving.

I also often see men in the weight room undressing any decent-looking woman with their eyes. It makes most women feel very uncomfortable and violated — unless you're like me, and would rather not wear any clothes at all.

Chris: Er, thanks for the visual. Now I've completely lost my train of thought. Keep going please.

Cassandra: Also, for the women who are a little overweight and perhaps not in the most desirable shape, there's always that one guy who makes some rude comment about the size of her ass or the width of her thighs. This only causes a woman to feel more discouraged about herself and her pursuit of a more muscular and fit body.

Then there's the typical steroid monkey, a.k.a. the "overly-juiced-with-no-idea-what he-is-taking-guy" who thinks that women don’t know the first thing about weight training. This man pressures a woman to get off the equipment he wants because he believes she’s not worthy enough to share it with him. He shows no gym etiquette for any woman who tries to weight train, especially if he can see that she's new and inexperienced. That is, of course, unless she’s a hottie, and then he might grace her with a "nice ass" comment.

Chris: Hmm, maybe this is why some women prefer those "women only" gyms or areas of the gym. I have mixed feelings about those places.

Patricia: Personally, I think they serve no better purpose than to maintain the stigma of weight training: weight training will make women bulky, that women shouldn’t and can’t lift heavy, etc. They also don’t generally provide a solid base of weight training.

Listen, I firmly believe that women should learn the "big three" of compound movements (squat, dead, bench) right away when beginning weight training. Can you seriously learn these movements in "women only" gyms? Not the ones I’ve been in! Many of these gyms only have circuit equipment and the free weights are very limited.

Frankly, these women-only gyms don’t provide enough forward progress in the way of training and diet information. Their role is to provide some sort of "safe haven" for women (and their insecure husbands) who fear men staring at them while they "workout".

Jalaine: I think women lifting in "women only" environments lose out on the opportunity to learn from men. However, if the only way a woman will go into a gym is if there are no men in sight, then I guess they serve a useful purpose. I personally would never go to one or lift in the women-only" section of a gym. I walked out of a YMCA because they wouldn’t let me lift in the men’s weight room — the women’s weight room didn’t have enough weight or power racks. How in the hell would I ever get a good workout?

Eva: Sadly, there are still a great majority of women out there who aren't interested in training with or around men. These gyms may be helpful in those cases. I think it may be a catch-22 though, because this will just perpetuate or reinforce society’s views that women are meek and less capable. On a side note, the equipment in these gyms tends to be machine-only. This doesn't allow for stabilizers to strengthen.

Cassandra: Yes, those places are for fat old housewives and lesbians! No, really, I think these gyms and areas of the gym are good. They provide a starting point for women who are newcomers to the weight lifting scene. Once women learn how to feel comfortable with weight training in these places, they can then move on to the co-ed gyms and learn from the women and men who train there.

Sandy: As with most things in life, I don’t believe those women-only gyms are either all good or all bad. I personally don’t like them, but for some women it eliminates that obstacle of insecurity. So having a separate room or gym makes many women feel more comfortable.

Chris: Good answers. Now, I've often spoken out against professional women's bodybuilders (read: steroid abusers) because the average woman sees these she-men and vows never to touch a weight, not understanding that it takes buckets of illegal drugs to get into that condition. What do you think of pro-female bodybuilders these days?

Patricia: In a weird way, pro-female bodybuilders are doing the same thing as the women’s only gyms: maintaining the stigma of women and weight training.

Like I've said many times before on the T-forum, the "golden years" of female bodybuilding were in the mid to late 80’s. Yeah, women were using "gear" at that time, but the women pros were creating a whole new look to the "sport." They all looked stunning. There was no doubt back then that these were women. I was mighty proud to be a competitive bodybuilder back then.

Now? My back is to the pro side of bodybuilding. I’m done with it. Tired. I see no hope. Not even the judges know what to do anymore. Women continue to follow a parallel path with the men and grow into hulking freakazoids. Why can’t the women blaze their own trail and set the sport apart from the men?

It’s quite obvious what pro-female bodybuilders have done. I hear it all the time: "You can’t be a bodybuilder, you’re so small." Women believe that by being strong and muscular that's what you’re going to look like, that you’ll wake up one day with an Adams apple, since that’s what happens when you can bench more than 135 pounds.

I now find myself having to constantly reassure women about this. It’s tiring. After about twenty years of weight training, women are still hung up on these fears and they’re only made worse when they see pics of these "women." I can’t blame them!

Eva: No, I don't think female pro-bodybuilders are harming normal women with their image. For the most part, women understand that professionals are supplementing with synthetic hormones.

Chris: I hope so, Eva, but I wonder. What do you think, JJ?

Jalaine: The main reason women give for not wanting to lift heavy weights is because they don’t want to get big and look like "those women on TV." In other words, the extremeness of physique displayed in professional bodybuilding has definitely turned the "normal" woman off from weight training. I personally have nothing against pro-female bodybuilding — after all, it's body "building." It’s not a look I want for myself, but I have a ton of respect for the amount of work and dedication required to develop a pro-level physique.

Cassandra: I don’t think that pro-female bodybuilders are profiled as much anymore. Today, the fitness and figure women have dominated the magazine covers. These women still look very feminine while maintaining a high-quantity of muscle. Their tight booties and skimpy outfits even make me a little horny…

[At this moment, Chris chokes and spits his protein shake across the room.]

I think that "normal" women see these fitness women and it gives them a realistic goal to strive for. They see that muscle is attractive, functional, and healthy. Have you seen how flexible some of these women are? A T-man could have all sorts of fun with her!

Chris: And on that note, we'll close the roundtable so I can go touch myself. Hopefully we've convinced women out there that weight training is healthy, enhances femininity, boosts self-esteem, and most importantly, makes you look good nekid.

Note: Special thanks to Les Byerley Photography (www.les3photo8.com) for the pics of Jalaine.