To think some women could lift heavier in the gym?

[Ilostallthepens]

I go to a strength training class a few times a week. It’s almost always all women, class size is about 15. I’m not especially strong or experienced at lifting weights but I notice I’m always lifting the heaviest (sometimes by a long way) than every other person there. I’m also working to my maximum capacity for the 8-12 reps we’re doing. I’m huffing and puffing and sweating doing bicep curls with an 8kg dumbbell in each hand and I look over and the woman next to me is lifting a couple of 2kg dumbbells with no visible effort at all. I see this in a lot of the women there. They don’t seem to push themselves to their limit or even that close to it. I’m talking about women a similar age to myself that have been going to the gym for at least as long as me. I get some people may not want to push themselves to their max effort for whatever reason, eg. an injury, but I’m seeing lots of women seemingly not putting in half the amount of effort that they seem capable of and over a long period of time. So this makes me think the reason must be they don’t believe they are capable of lifting heavier, or they don’t want to lift to their max ability for some reason. Why do you think this is? Have you experienced this? Do you not work to max capacity in the gym? If not, why not?

Are you able to elaborate on how it affects you? Presumably you can still do what you do without them putting in full effort? Just think how much more you will get done if you concentrate on your own performance rather than judging others 😬

Unless you're their instructor/ trainer, why should you care?

Those other people are going to be healthier and less likely to cause long term issues than you. If you want to go to the limit for zero reason, like sport or competition, go for it.

Wow, OP.

If anyone was in any doubt whether you’re a judgemental prick or not, you’ve just given them the answer.

Some women (plenty in this thread) think if you lift too heavy, you'll suddenly get bulky. Which is really not easy as a woman, especially without careful diet management too and, honestly, without steroids. Once you get the physique you want, adjust to maintain. Or to lose slightly if you want less muscle.

Lifting properly (can't say if these women are or not) is so important for women.

The OP sounds ghastly, casting their eye around during the class and feeling really smug about how great they are.
what an insufferable person

I started doing heavy weights and I got so muscly I stopped. I did not like the way I looked at all.

Yes some *people likely could lift heavier in the gym. But they don’t want to for whatever reason. Not sure why this required a thread. FYI lots of other women/people consider the weights you lift to be very light weights. Everyone is entitled to exercise as they wish and lift the weights they want to.

I’ve been strength training for many years and lift heavier than OP and I still think she is BU, and I’d suspect the same applies to many women on this thread. It’s very infantilising to assume that women who don’t lift at the standard OP considers acceptable “won’t understand” when she has no idea why they choose to lift the weights that they do. It’s also none of her business or that of anyone else!

I do agree with what you say about women not ‘bulking up’ easily.

Perhaps they think your ‘huffing and puffing’ is a little performative. But what you need to do is to ask these people. It’s the only way you will find out

I have a personal trainer and his recommendation is variety so some days I do very low weight but high repetitions. Constant high weights can strain muscles without proper training.

Do you have a trainer or someone monitoring you at the gym?

Get a good pair of lifting straps. I have arthritis in my hands and wrists so had to introduce them once I started lifting past 20kg dumbells and 50kg bars. Game changer!

Second this, it can also be helpful to use a trap bar if you have access to one.

You can't bulk out just by lifting heavy weights.

The person taking the class should be encouraging them to increase and suggesting doing half the reps with a heavier weight then dropping if necessary etc

If the class is designed for those who want to go heavier then it needs to include advice on how to do it.

I agree OP. I’m very small build size 6 and I push myself to lift 8 kg for bicep curls. 2 kg does nothing. It’s almost not worth it. There will be a pile on but I think it’s because it’s harder and most can’t be bothered. 🤷‍♀️ Well done for pushing yourself. It’s not easy to do.

You’re not going to get those results if you don’t challenge yourself a bit

But maybe they want different results to you?

Why turn it into a competition? I could bicep curl with a lot more than 8kg - should I judge you for the fact that leaves you huffing and puffing?

the best thing about the women’s only strength training class I go to is how supportive everyone is of each other irrespective of what they are capable of lifting. Every success is cheered!

The pile on is because the post is mean spirited and serves only to criticise people who dare to do things different

I really don’t understand why the weights other people lift affect you/OP?

So what results do these women want by lifting a weight that (by the looks of it, obviously I can’t know for sure) doesn’t provide any kind of resistance, so therefore doesn’t work their muscles at all

If you isolate the muscle & use that to lift the arm/leg etc you can still feel it even without a weight at all.

Not RTFT, just responding to OP

Judgy people like you are the reason my chubby arse is too scared to go to the gym.

Hope that makes you feel better!

Yeah OP I think it's a perfectly reasonable question - people are getting very defensive, but I see this as a feminist issue. I remember reading a quote from a strength trainer:

"Women aren't weak. Weakness is marketed to women".

We were endlessly told that heavier weights would make our muscles look bulky and that heavy weights make a woman look like one of those terrifyingly manly female bodybuilders, but that isn't the case. You have to take anabolic steroids to look like that. 2kg weights are absolutely fucking pointless and ridiculous and women should care that something pointless is being sold to them, that they are wasting their time using it. But it just becomes another "why do you care" and "mind your own business" issue here. Women will never be as strong as men, but we have so much more potential for strength than we think. It's a shame so few of us know that.

That's not very nice.

Thank you, OP, for giving me a good chuckle with my morning coffee.