Female novices from a Starting Strength coach's perspective
bumblebums
Posts: 2,181 Member
A recent article written by a woman who is a Starting Strength coach:
http://startingstrength.com/index.php/site/article/how_to_talk_about_lifting_to_adult_novice_women
http://startingstrength.com/index.php/site/article/how_to_talk_about_lifting_to_adult_novice_women
At 40, I wandered into barbell training, wanting to see if I could learn to “do something really hard,” compared to my normal routine of bicycle commuting. This was inspired by seeing how jacked my husband got by doing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. I figured barbells were safer! Luckily, I found a communicative coach. Two years later I started teaching other people to lift because I couldn’t help myself, and I haven’t stopped.
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Thanks for sharing this! This line struck me:
"Many women don’t know we have significant strength potential, nor that we owe it to ourselves, just as men do, to explore it."
I never thought I needed to lift heavy things. Why would I? That's what big bulky men did! Obviously I've since changed my mind. ;-)0 -
I liked the idea of building a muscle mass retirement fund. That's exactly how I think about it--I hate the idea of not getting so enfeebled that I am unable to get up off the toilet without using all four of my limbs.0
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I liked the idea of building a muscle mass retirement fund. That's exactly how I think about it--I hate the idea of not getting so enfeebled that I am unable to get up off the toilet without using all four of my limbs.
This!! I don't wanna get up there in age and be one of those old people clogging up all the space taking forever to walk down the street :laugh:0 -
I've seen first hand what being active and having more muscle/strength does vs. not. One set of my grandparents had a dairy farm, so it was constant movement. They're well into their 80s and slowing down a little, but my grandpa still has a few fields he plants, and they're always out doing something. Other grandparents had desk jobs (accountant and secretary). My grandma passed away a few years ago and my grandpa can't walk without 2 canes and he uses a wheelchair for long distances. He's younger than my other grandparents.
It hits home when you can really see how you life could be down the road.0 -
I have good role models in my parents. They are in their late 70's and go to the gym 3 times a week, as they have for decades. My father has Huntington's disease and his dedication to working out has slowed the progression a LOT.
Off to read the article now...0 -
I liked the idea of building a muscle mass retirement fund. That's exactly how I think about it--I hate the idea of not getting so enfeebled that I am unable to get up off the toilet without using all four of my limbs.
I like that idea too. And a bone density retirement fund. Everyone blames osteoporosis in diet and tells people to take calcium supplements, but bone is a dynamic tissue like muscle, and just as muscle won't grow just by eating protein, bone tissue won't get stronger just by eating calcium. You need weight bearing exercise to make the bones and muscles stronger.0 -
I liked the idea of building a muscle mass retirement fund. That's exactly how I think about it--I hate the idea of not getting so enfeebled that I am unable to get up off the toilet without using all four of my limbs.
I like that idea too. And a bone density retirement fund. Everyone blames osteoporosis in diet and tells people to take calcium supplements, but bone is a dynamic tissue like muscle, and just as muscle won't grow just by eating protein, bone tissue won't get stronger just by eating calcium. You need weight bearing exercise to make the bones and muscles stronger.
True dat. And let's not forget tendons--all part of LBM.0 -
I liked the idea of building a muscle mass retirement fund. That's exactly how I think about it--I hate the idea of not getting so enfeebled that I am unable to get up off the toilet without using all four of my limbs.
I like that idea too. And a bone density retirement fund. Everyone blames osteoporosis in diet and tells people to take calcium supplements, but bone is a dynamic tissue like muscle, and just as muscle won't grow just by eating protein, bone tissue won't get stronger just by eating calcium. You need weight bearing exercise to make the bones and muscles stronger.
True dat. And let's not forget tendons--all part of LBM.
yep. didn't even think of them.... it's a shame so many people think physical strength is only for men...
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Great article, thanks!
Nevermind the benefits when elderly, I am close to 30, and the past few years, I had already started experiencing the slowdowns associated with aging. I know, it sounds like I'm exaggerating, but in all seriousness, I didn't have any radical issues, but I had new issues (creaky joints, lower back pain) all the same. I feel like I've taken 5 years off within the span of 4 months. It's amazing how "easy" it is to do, even if we are working hard during our workouts.0 -
Great article, thanks!
Nevermind the benefits when elderly, I am close to 30, and the past few years, I had already started experiencing the slowdowns associated with aging. I know, it sounds like I'm exaggerating, but in all seriousness, I didn't have any radical issues, but I had new issues (creaky joints, lower back pain) all the same. I feel like I've taken 5 years off within the span of 4 months. It's amazing how "easy" it is to do, even if we are working hard during our workouts.
30 is about right. You are not even a grown-up until about age 25, physiologically and mentally. What you are noticing is not signs of aging, it's just signs of no longer growing.0 -
Maybe. I haven't changed in stature since about 4 or 5 years ago though, just slower metabolism leading to fat accumulation, slower recovery time for everything, aches, etc.30 is about right. You are not even a grown-up until about age 25, physiologically and mentally. What you are noticing is not signs of aging, it's just signs of no longer growing.
One really noticeable change was that I used to be able to rebound from a night of heavy drinking like it never happened. Nowadays, I have a couple drinks on a night out and just want to get to bed and sleep. I don't feel "normal" again for quite a fews days after. Most of my friends also seem to have noticed this sort of a change around 27.
Then again, we're technically always aging.
But yeah, getting fitter dialled back many of those things.0 -
Maybe. I haven't changed in stature since about 4 or 5 years ago though, just slower metabolism leading to fat accumulation, slower recovery time for everything, aches, etc.30 is about right. You are not even a grown-up until about age 25, physiologically and mentally. What you are noticing is not signs of aging, it's just signs of no longer growing.
One really noticeable change was that I used to be able to rebound from a night of heavy drinking like it never happened. Nowadays, I have a couple drinks on a night out and just want to get to bed and sleep. I don't feel "normal" again for quite a fews days after. Most of my friends also seem to have noticed this sort of a change around 27.
Then again, we're technically always aging.
But yeah, getting fitter dialled back many of those things.
Well, some people can add quite a bit of height between 18 and 25. Dennis Rodman supposedly grew from 5'11" to 6'7" after graduating high school. Although that might have been due to whatever happened to him during his alien abduction. Still, for a normal person, it is normal to grow not just in height (usually just a few cm, but it's still there) but also in other dimensions. Women often look back to their 17-year old physiques without realizing that a teenager's body is still underdeveloped; you are not a fully grown woman yet at that age, so of course you look more slender.
Anyway, yeah, the drinking thing--those college all-nighters don't really work too well after college. I also cannot function on three hours of sleep now, and it was a breeze when I was 19.0 -
Great article - thanks!0
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re growth/development after age 16/18.... after you stop growing in height, you don't stop growing in other ways. The clavicles are the last long bones to fuse, and in men that happens in the early 20s. That's why men around age 18 might be very tall but they're often very lanky, and don''t get shoulders that look like grown men's shoulders until they're in their early 20s. (of course you have to take genetics into account as smaller framed men will have narrower shoulders even when they are fully grown, but their shoulders at 18 would have been that much smaller)
I stopped growing in height at 13 but I'm sure my rib cage carried on growing after that, I was quite barrel chested by age 14 I'm sure I wasn't at age 13... and throughout my teenage years I competed in judo, my fighting weight at 13 was ten kg less than it was at 17, even though I had a very low body fat percentage, and even that weight was too light for me due to coaches following BMI charts rather than observing that I was large framed, muscular with a low body fat percentage... when I got to my best in ice hockey in my early 20s, I was strongest at ten stone.... my fighting weight at judo when I was 13 was -48kg (105lb), at around 14 it was -52kg (114lb) at 17 it was -56kg (123lb) but I should have been fighting in the -61kg (134lb) by then... my ideal ice hockey weight was ten stone which is 140lb and 64kg. This is based on what weight I felt strongest at, skated fastest at, could knock people much taller than me down at, etc. (I'm currently bulking, I'm aiming at getting to 140lb again, while keeping my body fat percentage in the low 20s, and this weight is based on my ice hockey ideal weight. Though I'll get heavier than that if I can and my body fat percentage doesn't get too high.)
I quit judo at age 17 because of stupid, ignorant coaches getting me to fight in too light weight categories, based on BMI, and telling me to starve and dehydrate myself to make the weigh in. I got sick to death of it. Ice hockey no-one gives a **** how much you weigh, provided you can skate fast and play well. No ice hockey coach ever said anything to me about my weight, ever. Only about skating, stick handling, positional play, level of fitness, etc... stuff that actually matters for performance in sport...
anyway, just wanted to illustrate the point about how your weight changes after you stop growing even if your height doesn't, as does your bone structure... I don't have a detailed account of how my bone structure changed but I wore a size 32A bra when I was 13... I was a 40A when I was in my early 20s, so obviously my rib cage grew quite a lot.0 -
Great post, thanks!:flowerforyou:0
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I have MS. I have been bedridden and in a nursing home unable to go to the bathroom myself. All I have to say is... LIFT ladies!! Do everything you can to be the healthiest and strongest you you can be. You never know what's down your life path and you're gonna need all the muscle and strength you got to get through!!
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Just to be clear about what I was saying, I meant that in the past few years (27+, I am now 29), I have noticed the signs of aging. So I agree fully that I was still developing up until I was at least 25, if not another year after that. After I stopped growing/"rejuvenating", is when I started noticing everything slowing down and getting achey. That's what I meant by aging. When I decided to get back in shape this year (at 28), I started feeling like my 24/25 year old self again, if not better because I wasn't fit then either.re growth/development after age 16/18.... after you stop growing in height, you don't stop growing in other ways. The clavicles are the last long bones to fuse, and in men that happens in the early 20s. That's why men around age 18 might be very tall but they're often very lanky, and don''t get shoulders that look like grown men's shoulders until they're in their early 20s. (of course you have to take genetics into account as smaller framed men will have narrower shoulders even when they are fully grown, but their shoulders at 18 would have been that much smaller)
I stopped growing in height at 13 but I'm sure my rib cage carried on growing after that, I was quite barrel chested by age 14 I'm sure I wasn't at age 13... and throughout my teenage years I competed in judo, my fighting weight at 13 was ten kg less than it was at 17, even though I had a very low body fat percentage, and even that weight was too light for me due to coaches following BMI charts rather than observing that I was large framed, muscular with a low body fat percentage... when I got to my best in ice hockey in my early 20s, I was strongest at ten stone.... my fighting weight at judo when I was 13 was -48kg (105lb), at around 14 it was -52kg (114lb) at 17 it was -56kg (123lb) but I should have been fighting in the -61kg (134lb) by then... my ideal ice hockey weight was ten stone which is 140lb and 64kg. This is based on what weight I felt strongest at, skated fastest at, could knock people much taller than me down at, etc. (I'm currently bulking, I'm aiming at getting to 140lb again, while keeping my body fat percentage in the low 20s, and this weight is based on my ice hockey ideal weight. Though I'll get heavier than that if I can and my body fat percentage doesn't get too high.)
I quit judo at age 17 because of stupid, ignorant coaches getting me to fight in too light weight categories, based on BMI, and telling me to starve and dehydrate myself to make the weigh in. I got sick to death of it. Ice hockey no-one gives a **** how much you weigh, provided you can skate fast and play well. No ice hockey coach ever said anything to me about my weight, ever. Only about skating, stick handling, positional play, level of fitness, etc... stuff that actually matters for performance in sport...
anyway, just wanted to illustrate the point about how your weight changes after you stop growing even if your height doesn't, as does your bone structure... I don't have a detailed account of how my bone structure changed but I wore a size 32A bra when I was 13... I was a 40A when I was in my early 20s, so obviously my rib cage grew quite a lot.0
