NSV Girl in the Weight Room

Bailey_432

That girl was me.

At my old gym, it was just one big room with weights and cardio machines combined, so it was never much of an issue to go over and use the weights as I pleased. Now, I'm at my university gym, and it is divided up into several rooms, so that if you want to use the free weights (not weight or cardio machines), you have to go into a separate room. Now, a cramped room full of heavy weights and healthy, young, college-aged bros is intimidating for most people, but perhaps especially for a 5"2 blonde, curvy woman.

But here's what I did. Late last night when there were only 2 men in the weight room, I grabbed the instructor I had become friends with, put on my brave face, and asked him to show me how to deadlift, with proper form, using the barbell/olympic bar, situated in the weights room. Beforehand I had just been using dumbells and cable machines for deadlifts which can be found in other areas of the gym. So the instructor spent a good 15 minutes with me, making sure I had proper form and technique. It was so nice of him because now I feel confident walking into that room and picking up the weight and know I'm doing it right so no man in there can ridicule me. It's still terrifying to walk in there and have to walk past crowds of men staring at the small blonde girl as she carefully treads through the room to get to her spot to deadlift, but it feels like an accomplishment

Now I can further my progress with weight lifting, and now that I know I have proper form, it gives me slightly more confidence to walk in the weights room and be the ONLY girl amongst 10-20 men.

MissMissle

!! Excellent! I need to do this!

lishie_rebooted

If your profile hadn't stated you were a med student, I'd have asked if you went to my alma mater lol (our gym set up was identical - 3 rooms. Wretched.)

Good job!

mizzzc

thats awesome ! good for you
PS - they were probably staring at you because most men now adays find it super attractive to find a girl who lifts heavy

Liftng4Lis

Way to get it!

MrsMizart

Well done lass :-)

ElizabethKalmbach

Way to go! I'm also in the University Gym setup - only I'm the old lady in a room full of bros... >_<

wateryphoenix

Wooohoo! GJ! =D To OP and those of you other brave lasses. =p

xBabyLlamaDrama

From a guy's perspective - you get more respect than ridicule.

Hope you don't feel so intimidated. If they're worth anything in the first place, they'll be happy for you for trying. We men aren't so bad.. Sometimes.

sarahrbraun

Bailey_432 wrote: »

That girl was me.

At my old gym, it was just one big room with weights and cardio machines combined, so it was never much of an issue to go over and use the weights as I pleased. Now, I'm at my university gym, and it is divided up into several rooms, so that if you want to use the free weights (not weight or cardio machines), you have to go into a separate room. Now, a cramped room full of heavy weights and healthy, young, college-aged bros is intimidating for most people, but perhaps especially for a 5"2 blonde, curvy woman.

But here's what I did. Late last night when there were only 2 men in the weight room, I grabbed the instructor I had become friends with, put on my brave face, and asked him to show me how to deadlift, with proper form, using the barbell/olympic bar, situated in the weights room. Beforehand I had just been using dumbells and cable machines for deadlifts which can be found in other areas of the gym. So the instructor spent a good 15 minutes with me, making sure I had proper form and technique. It was so nice of him because now I feel confident walking into that room and picking up the weight and know I'm doing it right so no man in there can ridicule me. It's still terrifying to walk in there and have to walk past crowds of men staring at the small blonde girl as she carefully treads through the room to get to her spot to deadlift, but it feels like an accomplishment

Now I can further my progress with weight lifting, and now that I know I have proper form, it gives me slightly more confidence to walk in the weights room and be the ONLY girl amongst 10-20 men.

I know how you feel! I used to feel the same way, scared all the Bros were staring at me (and wondering wtf I was doing) when I lifted. Now I've got the Bros giving me fist bumps and high fives when I hit a new PR.

streamgirl

Good for you! I worry about that too.

erojoy

Nice Job! I'm pretty sure i just put on b**** face until I was comfortable. haha. Thank goodness for high school weight lifting and bodybuilding.com I just learned more and more. It's fun to try things and see the guys looks at you like, nah not going to happen. And I do it!

BigLifter10

Excellent! I just kept a b*tch face when I was new in the gym...nobody would look for long or they'd get vaporized. Three years later it's laughed about....but there is nothing like going in there and owning it!