Does anyone else enjoy doing weights/kettle bells/trx training?

[rhondajean]

I'm just looking for a few people who love doing this type of training rather than just running/cycling/swimming.

I do A bit of martial arts too and I've got some friends who do that but I don't know a lot of women who like the weights and resistance bit and it would be nice to know some more.

It's circuits I do rather than powerlifting btw.

I only work part time, so have plenty of time to fit it all in. We also just got some bumpers, bar, squat rack etc for home and converted our little granny flat into a gym - no excuses!

Generally I do 2 full body weight sessions a week, 1 sprint session + bodyweight circuit, then a couple of Crossfit sessions and maybe a longer run (5 miles). Usually some combination of these to get 5 sessions in a week. Depending on the week that can be overkill, so am careful to listen to my body ánd have a couple of days off if I start to feel I need some more rest.

I´m doing my course with Fitness Industry Education distance learning as I´m overseas. Just passed my level 2 Gym Instructor (yay me!), so now I get to start the level 3 Personal Trainer more fun bit. Level 2 is compulsory and pretty hard to take when you´ve gone down the HIIT + weights road...

Those without a squat rack - have you asked your gym to get one? They´re not that expensive and will allow you to do so much more.

Know what you mean about the calloused hands. Maybe I´m a bit weird, but I get a certain amount of satisfaction from having them :)

Deadlifts, shoulder press & overhead squats for me later, along with a few other bits & pieces.

Happy lifting ladies :)

needabitofsunshine so jealous of your granny gym . My dream is to find somewhere to learn olympic lifting, but I don't think there's a chance of that around here unfortunately. I am doing overhead squats at the moment, but just with a broomstick! Partly because of crap- no equipment- gym, mainly because anything else would be too much. They are really making me concentrate on my form and technique.

loveineffable I blogged about just that the other day funnily enough. My foam roller had been gathering dust unused as it had hurt so much the first time I tried it. I resolved to stick with it this time round and it has definitely helped this last week and I no longer feel like I am peeling the muscle away from my bones

Ouch, eloquently put gene!

There's a girl who comes to kickboxing with me who is, I believe, entering the Olympics this year, powerlifting, she lifts 130kg over her head...amazing.

I have tried asking about the gym getting a squat rack and supports for the barbells but they seem to have the strange notion that these would turn the (friendly, council) gym into some kind of steroid driven, meat head hangout .

Following on from the "bulking up" theme, a pt I am friendly with approached me at the gym this morning, asking about what weights I lift...he said he has a female client who resists using the heavier weights he is asking her to because she doesnt want to get bulky. I repeated what we have all said and he agreed, said next time she is in at the same time as me he's going to point me out as evidence that heavy weights don't mean huge muscles for girls...feeling quite chuffed with that

My gym wouldn't let me use the box to do weighted step ups on as I might fall off it and have an accident. I asked what it was there for then if we couldn't use it for what it was designed for and they said they turned it upside down and kept things in it ... Pretty sure a squat rack will be out of the question.

Great compliment sleepwhenidie, lets hope his client is inspired to follow his advice.

Hi ladies,
Just thought I would see if I could join you here. I have recently started venturing into the scary weights and kettlebell section of the gym. My background is long distance running and tris. The reason I am doing the heavier stuff is that I just cannot face doing the long steady stuff with little return for speed etc. Anyway someone mentioned Crossfit and I am doing the multisport WODS from that, I am still learning the weights but I am getting better.

I am amazed with the 18 chinups that is awesome, I tried one and could only lift my knees up and just sort of hung there for a while. Look forward to catching up with you all.

'My gym wouldn't let me use the box to do weighted step ups on as I might fall off it and have an accident '

fgs you could fall off anything and have an accident..did they actually tell you off for doing them?

I've had similar issues in my local gym, tried to have a rational discussion about the actual risks of any kind of weight training but they just keep repeating the phrase 'health & safety'

Hello! I am into strength training although it doesnt look like it!
I currently do 2 strength workouts a week with free weights plus some short body weight exercises when I'm not knackered. I do 'pick and mix' workouts where I find some exercises and do them for a minute each or until failure for the heavy reps. I dont have time for the gym as I have two under 4 so my gym is currently under the sofa. I have a set of light weights 1.5 to 5 and a 8kg and 10kg dumbell. What I am also doing is using bags of compost as weights.
Still can't do chin ups yet - could do 6 consequtive chin ups before ds2 was born.
Glad I found this thread!

Hello! I am into strength training although it doesnt look like it!
I currently do 2 strength workouts a week with free weights plus some short body weight exercises when I'm not knackered. I do 'pick and mix' workouts where I find some exercises and do them for a minute each or until failure for the heavy reps. I dont have time for the gym as I have two under 4 so my gym is currently under the sofa. I have a set of light weights 1.5 to 5 and a 8kg and 10kg dumbell. What I am also doing is using bags of compost as weights.
Still can't do chin ups yet - could do 6 consequtive chin ups before ds2 was born.
Glad I found this thread!

Lurking too, as I've recently started going to the gym for strength training - using the resistance machines, not the free weights for now, but I hope to work up to using those. Can only do the pathetically small weights at the moment, but you have to start somewhere...

I'm doing it mostly because I have family history of osteoporosis and apparently this sort of exercise is good for keeping your bones strong? If that's true, I'm surprised more women don't do it!

Fantastic to have so many people on here!
lovesineffable yes they actually came over and told me I couldn't do them quoting the normal Health and Safety rubbish.

Ladyofthelift NROLW is great isn't it? How have you been doing your press ups? I followed the progressions in the book so started by doing them against the arm of the sofa, then a low coffee table and finally on the floor. If your gym has a smith machine then this is a great use for it as you can adjust the bar to the height you need and then slowly lower it down so you are gradually changing the distribution of weight to your arms and chest. If you are doing them at home then using your stairs will also create the same effect.

Do you still do push ups in stage 4? I have found I can no longer knock out many reps having done none in my last program, just focusing on bench press for chest and tris. There really is no substitute exercise for them. Once I have improved on them again I am going to add them in as part of my dynamic warm up so I always do them regularly.

Greeklove Great idea about using a bag of compost, similar to sandbag training! You could try looking into getting a set of adjustable weights or if lack of space is an issue look into a TRX that people have mentioned above, you can sling it in a drawer when you're not using it.

Ephiny resistance training is fantastic for increasing bone density. Don't be put off from trying free weights because you don't think you are strong enough. I read an article recently that looked at the effect of machine based weight training and it showed that after a year people had increased the amount of weight they could lift on a machine, but their overall actual functional strength had not improved at all and in some cases was worse. A lot of the movements machines have you do are not actually movements you do in day to day life, (think seated leg curl). Moves like lunges, squats, deadlifts, press ups and shoulder press are all basic movements that you do on a daily basis so it makes sense to train using them. Don't be put off by just using your own bodyweight at first, especially on squats and lunges, good form and developing a good range of motion are vital before you start adding weight. There is no such thing as 'pathetically small weights' just use the weight that is suitable for you for each exercise. I really recommend reading New Rules of Lifting for Women if you are new to free weights.

longdays I have read a bit about crossfit but there is nothing like that anywhere near me. What are multisport WODS? Really impressed by anyone who has done tris, when I think how my legs feel after a run, or how knackered I am after a swim session I cannot imagine doing one after the other and adding in a bike ride on top!

sleepwhenidie - how fab!

Totally agree with genecowan - just walk over to the free weights section and do it. Have a look on youtube for demo videos for the moves she mentions and then have a go. Even better if you can get some of the gym staff to do a free weight induction for you. You´ll get way more bang for your buck by doing free weights. Many are compound moves that are working many muscles at once and allow you to strengthen your core better than any situps.

Crossfit is great. There´s loads of info out there on it - start with www.crossfit.com. If many of you are getting health and safety gip doing weights then I can´t imagine Crossfit will go down well in your gym... Here´s a link to some bodyweight workouts that you can do anywhere, park, gym, back garden :)

www.board.crossfit.com/showthread.php?t=38312

Rest day for me today, my legs are struggling :)

Hmm, maybe I do need to have a go at the free weights sooner rather than later. Thanks genecowan for the book recommendation, I'll have a look :)

Rest day for me too, running on Thursday, followed by a rubbish nights sleep, made the gym a real struggle yesterday. Lazy morning so far but will get myself and the DC's dressed soon and head for the park or zoo, it's a beautiful day again here in London.

rubberduck are you feeling better? It's horrible being ill and unable to train , don't rush back before you are better though, I made that mistake at the end of last year and ended training at half strength for weeks and eventually having to admit defeat and rest completely for 10 days, it was miserable.

I'd second getting straight to the free weights Ephiny, no reason to put it off, as Gene said, there's no such thing as "pathetic" weights, whatever is right for you is great and you will probably be surprised at how quickly your strength increases.

Rhonda look what you started! Who knew there were so many of us around

gene The multisport wod are from crossfitendurance.com I am still getting used to it. My gym is not a crossfit gym but they seem ok about it all (not sure they wouldbe too pleased about doing ball slams into their mirrored walls though). Will post later as I have a 2 year old climbing on me.

lady, you might find that having your hands lower, in line with your mid chest rather than in line with shoulders,helps.
Also try tucking your elbows in...have a browse through you tube vids to give you an idea of different techniques

At the risk of sounding dumb what is a TRX? How much are they and how much space do they take up?

To answer the question about why women don't do more weight training I think there are two main factors: it is seen as a largely male pastime and there is the myth that you will bulk up - this doesn't happen unless you are ingesting more calories than you are burning up and women's hormone balance doesn't lend itself to rapid muscle gain.

TRX - look here, it's an amazing piece of kit, allows you to do hundreds of different exercises using your bodyweight as resistance, so you can adapt to suit the most unfit beginner or incredibly fit marine for example. It does the most fantastic things for your core in particular. It can be fixed to a tree or post or, using a door strap, indoors to a door. Fits into a small bag so easy to put away or take with you when you travel. I believe it was designed by a navy seal for training anywhere. Lots of clips of people using them on YouTube.

If you keep an eye on Amazin you should be able to pick one up (make sure you include door strap) for about £120, the prices vary quite a lot. It seems a lot but DH has been using ours a lot recently instead of going to the gym to do weights, he is so pleased with the results he's talking about binning the gym membership and just using the trx training with running/cycling on alternate days.

Press-ups with hand directly under shoulders or slightly behind will work triceps more than anything else and are definitely harder than a 'classic' press-up. Was trying to do some today as part of a Jillian Micheals workout and couldn't finish them all before dropping up my knees. I think there are some useful vids on YouTube re classic press-ups but am on iPhone so can't link.

Thanks for link to TRX- looks really interesting and potentially up my street as I exercise at home and both DH and I go away a lot so like to be able to maintain a workout routine.

Sleepwhenidie no, feel worse if anything. :( Has been a week now. I've tried to do something active for at least half an hour a day rather than "proper" exercise (if only to reserve the time slot and make it easier to get back into it when I'm well, rather than to 'keep fit') - been playing on the kids' Kinect Adventures and finding it surprisingly energetic (or that might just be that with this virus I get exhausted easily ) and today I went for a brisk half hour walk.

It's really annoying though, because I keep thinking of how far my progress is slipping back each day I'm not doing any strength training - you lose it so quick :(

the trx does look like a nifty invention...although I cant help thinking you could sort of make your own with rope & handles etc

The thing with the trx that surprised me is how strong it it! Our gym has gymnastic style ropes on the smith machine but the trx looks liked nothing and I was really worried it wouldn't hold me...

I have been hung over all day and no training. Tut.

I can't believe some gyms are giving you hassle about free weights! My gym is attached to a martial arts club and it's small but reading you guys, it's actually quite well equipped and also I have never had any rows about using equipment - except for the gym manager "encouraging" me to up weights/reps/treadmill speed on his way past haha. What a nightmare not being able to do step ups!