I'm the only girl I know who lifts weights

[BitsinTatters]

I go to the gym regularly..primarily it was so I could run on the dreadmill in the safe warm gym while watching trash in tv

However weights caught my eye and I have been using them for about 3 months.

I can dead lift over my body weight now (72kg)

Any way... problem is I flit around because I don't really know what routine I should be doing and i'm shamefully to intimidated to ask the meat heads gym guys

So, I row or run when I get there to warm up..then what should I do?

Oooh I love lifting weights. I haven't been able to lift for almost a year though because of broken ribs and then pregnancy, but as soon as this baby is out, I'm getting right back into it!
Best form of exercise IMO. I lost 29 inches in my first 3 weeks of weight training! I just had dh as my "personal trainer". He's very geeky about weights and muscle stuff. I'll ask him for some recommended reading for you later.

you can actually lose weight without the pain of cardio doing weights. I do weights I prefer it over cardio, I hate the treadmill. I use a cycle and cross trainer, and mainly do weights all at home.

I refer to the bodyforlife website, I think it's brilliant. It's american but a lot of people enter the challenge to lose weight using their advice and exercise regime and give before and after photos. I've not entered but I use the resources, mainly on exercise. In library section you should find active diagrams that show you how to do weight exercises correctly, and they give you number of repetitions to follow too. Start with fewer repetitions and increase slowly.

I sometimes refer to youtube, for physical demo too just for reassurance I'm not doing it wrong.

I have used diet suggestions but I don't think it's doable long term, short term yes, can lose weight, tried and tested.

Thanks Suzanne

There are quite a lot of woman at my gym who use weights (although not many of them really heavy- that is a bit of a niche pursuit!) The gym specialises in PT and they get almost all their clients strength training. Most of the blokes are used to it now, but it's fun when a new bloke clocks what I've got on the bar and does a double take

OP - what are your goals with training? Your program should be tailored to your goals.

Strength training def has cardio benefits too. My resting heart rate fell from 72bpm to 62 over a year of training in which I did virtually no specific cardio.

Agree that it can help weight loss. It doesn't guarantee it though . But I find I eat much better when I'm training hard because I feel really rough if I don't have the right nutrition for training and recovery. Lots of veg, lots of protein, enough carbs. Enough calories overall, in fact.

I'm rambling now. I'll shut up

well sure I see other women using 'weights' but never in a manner which suggests that they may want to actually get stronger

They tend to stay around the edges on stability balls with the littlest dumbbells and occasionally venture into a few triceps extensions
anything over 5 or 10 kgs may as well be kryptonite as far as most women are concerned, and olympic bars coated with some sort of women specific arsenic.

It is a very small niche

Ah yes. I remember that kind of thing from when I went to fitness first.

At my current gym, everybody squats & DLs . It's great

But most people don't do serious, below parallel, heavy squats. Mostly fairly light and not that deep. Def better than 1kg bicep curls though!

Cardio for me this morning, of the lift weights faster type: KB swings, front squats, cleans. Light weights, lots of reps, short breaks.

Strong, good point, the type of gym does make some difference.

Re weight training and fat loss, I've found it depends on food intake, and cardio if I train heavy and eat enough food to support muscle growth I tend to not lose fat (then again I've never not exercised so never been in a position of having much fat to lose)

Currently I want to stay as lean as possible so I train heavy, eat carefully and do some cardio, my strength is still pretty good but if I force fed myself a bit I'd be stronger...but with more 'padding'

I've started with the heavy - ish weights too.
I got some funny looks off some blokes for doing squats with x2 8kg dumbbells and for doing sets of 12 tricep dips rather than one or two and slacking off.
I can do full press ups now which is super exciting and got commented on in my gym class :)

There was a lady wafting around the machines at my gym the other day doing really light lifts. I wanted to tell her to stop doing so many reps and up the weights a bit. But I bit my tongue.

I lift weights too. Always feel proud of myself when I can lift more than a bloke

My one caveat would be that I once did a weights session with lots and lots of really deep squats with 40kgs on my shoulders (I weigh 55kgs) and literally ripped my bum, like a hernia. I bled for days and days.

Nice deadlift weights!
I can squat 50kg, bench press 40kg, deadlift 60kg and love a good 20kg dumbbell skull crusher along with all the other bits and bobs in my training plan.
I am strength training for Tough Mudder in June but will continue doing so after that as I love it! I have been out for the last two weeks after pulling something in my back doing deadlifts (distracted and not paying full attention to form sadly but I will learn and stick to doing them on quiet days not busy Saturday mornings), 3 sets of 10 at 60kg and my back goes on the 7th of the 4th set, not good!

I love weights!

Ill come back sober but look up Jamie Eason she's awesome.

I'm training with a PT, and have just moved up to 55kg dead lifts. I'm 54.

I have no idea if this is good/average/poor!

I'm doing general fitness training with him. I started off doing core training, and built up to a 5 minute plank, which I know is good.

I alternate back/chest/legs with him - I can't do much more at the moment as I'm suffering from rotator cuff tendonitis, so many of the arm/shoulder exercises are ruled out.

There are some good lifts here BUT the numbers don't mean much unless you also add how many reps you do with the weight and what percentage of your body weight it represents.

A person who weighs 50 kg and benches 60 kg for 10 reps is very strong.
If that person is 70kg and benches 50kg for one rep it's not such a big deal

Just for the record I can squat my body weight for 10 reps, deadlift it for 6 and do 8 chins.

... oh goodness, that's going to involve doing sums!

He-he, sorry I guess it is a bit over the top for a Sunday :o

That is pretty much my routine BIWI, I rotate through back and shoulders, legs, chest and triceps. Six sessions per week.

I hope your shoulder problems improve soon, the good thing about weights is the wide variety of exercises/movements means that it's often possible to work around injuries or problem area's.

I should know I'm riddled with 'glitches' from overdoing it when I was younger.
But nothing has ever stopped me training completely

Marking my place for when I can get back to the gym - buggered up my knee about 10 days ago and have to be in crutches for another week. This thread is very inspiring though!

Sally Moss has a good article on strength standards for women on her website. Scroll down for the table.

Blimey - some way to go then!!!

Mind you, I only have two sessions a week, so progress isn't going to be that swift, I suppose.

But I can also do proper press-ups, which I'm dead chuffed about/proud of

the Sally Moss table is good as a rough guide but it neglects the fact that (all other things being equal) the smaller you are the better your power to weight ratio.
So comparing strength to bodyweight ratio's doesn't exactly level the playing field.
(yes that makes my earlier post disingenuous since I am decidedly petite)

Also a persons one rep max can be difficult to determine unless your training is geared to one rep max lifts.
I appreciate that Sally Moss is coming from an Olympic lifting/cross fit sort of direction so it makes sense that she would use those criteria, but I've been lifting for donkeys years and rarely go heavier than a five rep weight, to avoid injury and because very low reps (according to conventional wisdom) are not the best way to create muscle hypertrophy.

OP I got the programme I'm following from my boxfit instructor, you could maybe ask around the gym and see if there is anyone that can put something together for you.
I have a plan for back and bicep, legs and shoulders, chest and tri's and do whatever I fancy ab wise. I don't always do things in order as I just wait and see what's available for use in the gym and go from there.
Yesterday was back (deadlifts, bent over rows, wide and close grip lat pull downs and dorsal raises), biceps (incline bicep curls, hammer curls and a superset of the two), tri's (dumbbell skull crushers and pull downs into push downs) then a bit of kettlbell abs.
I am at my happiest when I am working out, whether it be classes or in the gym and I give it full credit for me being anti-depressant free since July.

I have been reading up on heavy lifting for women. kind of want to give it a go.

I run two or three times a week. Do a stregthbased workout at least 3 times a week - such as Ripped in 30 or Turbo sculpt etc.

It's just a bit daunting going to a weights gym. There is one in my town - walkable distance.

Oo do it Albert - you won't regret it!

It took me years between first thinking I might like to try it and actually giving it a go - I regret leaving it so long...

Is it strictly necessary to use a gym? I'm not a member and have limited time or money at the moment to join, but DH has some weights in the garage that I've been sniffing around.

Could I do something meaningful with these? I can buy additional equipment if necessary but I'd like to keep costs as low as possible. I'd be grateful if anyone could point me in the direction of a home-based workout or book (sorry I'm clueless to heavy lifting!)

Thanks!