Women Who Lift Heavy- How did you start?

juliewatkin

I pretty much jumped in after doing a bit of reading on-line. Books and programs are nice to have but don't wait to get Starting Strength or New Rules to begin. I think much of it won't make sense until you're doing it. Many people do very little because they are overcome with analysis paralysis and the need to understand everything on paper. Real comprehension comes with practice.

This is a site I found early on and it was invaluable to me: http://www.stumptuous.com/

Go to your gym with a plan in mind and do it. Practice at home if you like.

stealthq

only thing- my experience has NOT been that the people at the gym are "happy to spot" or "happy to give pointers".. I've actually only experienced high pressure sales from the "trainers" around the gym- and I question if they even know how to train a woman to lift honestly.

Here's the thing:

There is no difference in training good form to women versus men. Good is form is exactly that, regardless of gender.

You know, I hear that. And I'm a newbie so who knows, perhaps I will eat my words one day! But I *feel* like there is a difference in the emphasis of the muscle groups they want to focus on, the strength they assume in certain muscle groups (and weakness in others). The weight load itself. And especially lower body posture/stance.

Maybe I'm just a delicate flower. lol...

And maybe one day I'll eat my words. But I would sure feel better getting women-specific advice for the time being. But enough people have said this- so there must be truth to it.

I think you'd find that the trainers focusing on 'women-specific' lifting are more likely to be the ones who don't know what they're doing. The forms for lifting really are the same for everyone (with mods to get around injuries, unusual physical structure, that sort of thing).

A good trainer should not be assuming anything about your strength to start. He/she should be starting you out at some 'beginner weight' and then modify based on your actual performance. He/she should also not be assuming that they should focus on muscle groups X and Y without seeing you perform. Everything should be based on where you are now, where you want to go, and how motivated you are to get there. Not your gender.

For the record, I'm starting out with StartingStrength and doing just fine. It didn't need modification for me because I'm female - I followed the instructions, found my 1 rep max for each exercise and figured out my starting weights from there. No help from a trainer needed. Just a lot of research

lamps1303

Research
Access to weights (either gym or home)
Research
Trial and error
Research
Research
Research....

As another poster mentioned - bodybuilding.com is great. It has video demonstrations for both men and women.

BeanQueen3000

I'm actually just a few weeks into it myself.

I bought and read Starting Strength, casually practicing some of the postures along at home. I also read (okay, skimmed) Stronglifts 5x5 and a few other programs and ideas before ultimately hiring a trainer from my gym, just to help get me started and offer perspective on some of the research I've been doing so far. The first guy I booked was not super helpful, but I talked to my gym and found someone who I worked a little better with. This morning was my second week, and it was AWESOME.

Financially, it's quite a stretch for me sometimes to even maintain my gym membership (let alone personal training sessions), but the help i've gotten so far has been invaluable. TREAT YO'SELF

savemama

Thanks everyone for your input- it's already helping

I've ordered NROLFW and its coming from Amazon. I found a lifting class at my gym to get me started (thought they only did cardio).

I'm gonna hit those websites you all mentioned and start watching videos. Research, I can DO!

So excited- thanks!