Why do so many ladies not lift?

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codsterlaing95
codsterlaing95 Posts: 221 Member
edited December 2015 in Fitness and Exercise
Am I making a generalization or is this a fact? When I go to my college gym, all I see is the females doing cardio. Do they not realize lifting (of course with diet) is what improves body composition? I see them doing the treadmill for hours on hours, while dudes lift heavy and push themselves with weight lifting. So is just how we are programmed/mankind?
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Replies

  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,535 Member
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    The same fear that it's always been......................lifting weights leads to muscular physiques. It's the same reason many males who are trying to gain don't do cardio...........they believe it eats muscle.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,575 Member
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    I don't know. I know plenty of women, at least in the online community, who lift.
  • cherrybomb333
    cherrybomb333 Posts: 332 Member
    edited December 2015
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    @codsterlaing95 Speaking strictly from personal experience, it can be tough to find a partner to workout with you. It's easy to find someone to walk or do cardio with, but it's hard to find another female who wants to lift heavy. I like working out with a partner or in a group setting, and I have yet to convince one of my girlfriends to try lifting.

    I've had great success lifting heavy in the past, and after some life setbacks, it's my first step to getting back into working out. It's given me the most consistent results and the most confidence in what I'm doing. I just wish more people were willing to give it a shot.
  • LBL1986
    LBL1986 Posts: 58 Member
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    I think alot of women still think that lifting will result in them getting bulky. I've heard alot of women say that they avoid lifting because they don't want to get "big".

    From my own experience, I was shy (and still am in many ways ) in the weight room because I had no clue what I was doing and felt very intimidated by all the equipment!

    I think the mindset is changing though! I see alot more women in the weight room before.

  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,575 Member
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    Honestly, I could ask the same question of men. Even the ones in the weight room.
  • savageman69
    savageman69 Posts: 339 Member
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    wish i could just wake up big like girls think it just happens
  • singingflutelady
    singingflutelady Posts: 8,736 Member
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    Me too. I want all the muscles that lifting heavy isn't giving me lol
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,575 Member
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    singingflutelady wrote: »
    Me too. I want all the muscles that lifting heavy isn't giving me lol

    :D
  • RoseTheWarrior
    RoseTheWarrior Posts: 2,035 Member
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    I think this is often a worry of the significant others of women. I know my hubby thinks I'm going to get bigger muscles than him LOL. My response... "you better lift too so you can stay ahead of me."
  • Willbenchforcupcakes
    Willbenchforcupcakes Posts: 4,955 Member
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    In my old commercial gym, there were definitely a lot of ladies who lifted. Not the majority by any means, and very few who would do any lower rep strength work. Since I never really talked to anyone I wouldn't know their own personal reasons.

    In my current gym, you are either a strength athlete, either powerlifting or Olympic lifting, and therefore lifting is what you actually do, or you are a sports athlete doing your strength and conditioning work. Which means you lift as well. Even the very few general fitness people around lift at my gym.
  • joinn68
    joinn68 Posts: 480 Member
    edited December 2015
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    I have been to gyms and told the trainers I wanted to lift heavy but they always show me low weight high rep exercises. Even when I insist I get nowhere.

    The other thing is finding "programs" that work. It is all so complex. I can pop in any exercise video and lift my cute purple dumbbells fine. But anything (heavy) weight lifting seems to come as a "program" with exercise descriptions that require deciphering, and that can be daunting. My current gym also doesn't have barbells so all the recommendations about SL and 5x5s don't do much for me. (I just discovered darebee with clear descriptions, pictures and no barbells!)

    Other reason I don't lift is because although everybody says it "works", it doesn't show big calories burn numbers and since I am trying to lose weight mentally it is a bit of a block.

    I do pick up dumbbells at the gym which most wouldn't consider "weight lifting" since it is probably not heavy enough(?) but even that is a lot more than women do at my gym. They are all about crunches and sit-ups!
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,344 Member
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    savageman69 wrote: »
    wish i could just wake up big like girls think it just happens

    Yep, if only it was that easy to just accidentally "get bulky"!

    As to the OP, plenty of women lift in the gym I go to (commercial gym) - some lift more weight than I do. Some are overweight, some are very fit, but none of them are what would be considered "bulky".
  • TxLisa251
    TxLisa251 Posts: 152 Member
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    I'd be interested, but I have absolutely no clue where to start. I use the weight machines when I go to the gym, but using a barbell/weights just seems so foreign to me. I feel like I would need a lesson on proper form. If gyms offered an introduction to weights class, where you learned where to start and how to do sime basic lifts using proper techniques, I'd definitely try it.
  • misspancakes
    misspancakes Posts: 96 Member
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    I have been weight training for approx. 4 months now... My results in 4 months are better than my result in 4 years doing boring cardio.
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 17,959 Member
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    I'm not lifting YET... apart from time, my main reason is I just don't know where to start. I don't know anything about form, I don't want to hurt myself, I don't want to be the noob watching videos on their phone then trying the move... I'm just a bit chicken about it all, really.
  • Expatmommy79
    Expatmommy79 Posts: 940 Member
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    I'm going to start in Jan... As pp said before.... Trying to eat at a deficit and not getting credit for lifting is a bit hard to swallow... An hour on the treadmill gains me 200-300 calories; whereas lifting for 45 min is uncertain... It's more of a mental block but I'm gonna do it anyway.
  • shelleysykeskeene
    shelleysykeskeene Posts: 110 Member
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    Loving the replies in this thread! I have been asking about weight lifting for women for a while now and got some really nice advice. I started lifting following some arb program I found on the internet but I actually need to get that NROL4W book.

    My hubby suddenly started lifting again when he saw me lifting (ha ha RoseTheWarrior, so true) - probably also afraid I would get bigger muscles (as if) I wish it was as easy for women to gain muscle or tone as men do when they train! Its actually very, very difficult and takes a lot of commitment and hard work to get half the results that men do!

    Also there is a lot of intimidation in the weight room at gym - men will often be quite condescending when they see a woman lifting - mostly because there are those barbies doing endless reps with super light weights (smacks palm on forehead)

  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    Because I never used to even consider it, never crossed my mind. Heavy lifting would have been for meatheads and steroid obsessed dudes ..wimmin do yoga and zumba and jog and maybe use a resistance band or the coloured dumbbells

    Women's exercise is different cos we are women, right?

    Only I've been lifting heavy since May 2014 and I'm in the best shape, at goal weight with a return to my pre-children figure ..even with injuries, which I am bizarrely rather proud of ..."got tendonitis, yup from lifting dude" *shakes head at self*

    Actually who am I trying to kid...my figure is totally different from in my 20s...tighter, tauter and I'm more capable of doing the impossible



  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,725 Member
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    Assuming you mean lifting heavy, I feel my workouts are more fun, and have kept me consistently in the gym for ~7 years, plus I'm happy with my results. No need to jinx a good thing.

    Also don't forget that women at a healthy weight are generally smaller than men at the same. Burning off excess calories may feel like a necessity for more women than men, if we want to consume a decent amount of calories
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    Expatmommy79 wrote: »
    I'm going to start in Jan... As pp said before.... Trying to eat at a deficit and not getting credit for lifting is a bit hard to swallow... An hour on the treadmill gains me 200-300 calories; whereas lifting for 45 min is uncertain... It's more of a mental block but I'm gonna do it anyway.

    The credit you get from lifting may not come in extra food but it does come in smaller clothes and more confidence :)

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