just joined . . . shy

canadianlbs

hi people. i just joined this group, and i guess i should start by saying two things:

i'm feeling kind of shy/outclassed, and
i'm still glad to find this.

about me: i'll be 49 by the end of the month, have (mild-ish) rheumatoid arthritis which seems to be inactive right now, and i'm sort of an active couch potato type.

i've been a bike commuter for a long time but weightlifting as an idea only just entered my mind in march of this year. i got started in april with a few women-only classes that were of the little-pink-dumbbell let's-all-tone-up-our-upper-arms-ladies! variety and didn't seem to take the compound lifts seriously for any of us. aside from squats, of course . . . but again, cosmetic. having to disclose r.a. to the trainer didn't help much either, of course.

i don't have time or patience or interest for that. i found the sl 5x5 site on my own and it's much more the type of thing i'd been looking for. i've joined a real-world group for women who lift heavy which is also run by a trainer, but only meets intermittently. got a better primer on bench, squats and dl from there, and started out on my own with sl a few weeks ago. i actually prefer to work out on my own, since i'm horribly antisocial and really like my alone time, but it's nice to have somewhere to ruminate out loud to as well. plus, i'm a little defensive/kind of in my own niche since i'm trying to figure out my own way of balancing what i want to do with possibly-specialized ways i may need to go about getting to it.

i don't have anything specific to say at this point, aside from all that. i'm probably going to lurk more than i'll post to start with, but i did want to at least say hi and mention i'm glad of this group.

ErinRibbens

Hi & welcome! No need to be shy here, everyone is super friendly and helpful.

SezxyStef

Hi and welcome...I have to assume you are Canadian too...

Don't feel shy or outclassed we were all beginners once...

rps67

Hiya,

Another anti-social here! I'm 46 and have a family history of RA so I feel like that's going to be an issue for me, too.

I lift at the gym but I go at 10 PM or later when there are very few people in the weight room. The benefits are two-fold -- I don't have to wait for equipment, generally, and I don't have to deal with other people. I like to be in my own little world when I'm working out. i run several times a week, too, and LOVE how solitary that is.

Welcome to the group!

canadianlbs

thanks everyone. yeah . . .i'm kinda canadian. the username is a long-running joke with an american friend after all those years of being taunted about the exchange rate. so now i'm making it work for me. 'i'm 132 pounds today . . . but those are CANADIAN pounds.' just please don't say 'aboot' or 'eh' and i'll be fine. i've never heard anyone but a yank say the first one, and i can't even pronounce the second one right.

@rps67 . . . thank god for another anti-social ;-) i'm not unfriendly at all, just very . . . reserved. fortunately i've found that gyms have room for both introverts and extraverts, usually. the insies just do their thing quietly in among all the outsies and it works out most of the time.

it's an extra challenge at the beginner phase when you do need to interact more, though. organized-exercise culture just seems so damned PERKY :laugh: . the couple of pros i've tried to work with gave me the impression they were trained in only one style of interaction which isn't really copacetic for me. having someone in my face being peppy and 'motivational' while i'm trying to figure something out just baffles and overwhelms me. i find i have to exert extra personal energy to just avoid barking to make them back off, and if i fail they don't seem to take it too well. so i can leave more drained by the challenges involved in the people factor than i ever was by the weight.

r.a.'s been . . . i'm lucky so far in that mine seems to be inactive atm (touch wood). and i had no actual deformities at the last check, aside from a tiny bit in my hands. even 'trained' people don't really get it - which i don't fault them for, but it does mean they can only be of limited help when i have any questions that are specific to it. so i have to do a lot of figuring stuff out for myself. it's a perceptual barrier more than a physical one. your personal experience of r.a. can be so very personal and specific to you, having to do that pretty much comes with the turf.

thanks again to everyone.

SkepticalOwl

Hi everyone,

I'm new too, and somewhat reserved. Started SL two weeks and am enjoying it so far. I'm hoping to lose a few more pounds and work on recomp. It's nice to know there are women who lift heavy. At my gym it's mostly guys and, while I'm not exactly intimidated, I mostly try to do what I came to do and otherwise not attract too much attention.

navygrrl

Hi! I'm new to this group as well, and while I run off at the fingers on forums, IRL I tend to be very shy and reserved. I'm still a beginner, since I just this past week got access to a barbell, and I've been trying to hack it with dumbbells with limited success.

Fittreelol

Welcome to the group! Only some Canadians say aboot. I think it's the same ones that say sore-y instead of sorry. I've only noticed ithat on cbc kids shows that I used to watch like ghostwriter. We say eh where I'm from but it's in the us. Also ya as an affirmative.

cpiton

Hi and welcome! I'm 43 and my mom has RA. I've watched her deal with it for years and I know how painful it can be. She's using resistance bands and doing aqua Zumba right now and her flare-ups aren't as bad, thank goodness.

I'm an anti-social lifter, though I generally like people at other times I can relate.

Also, I've known several Canadians and only one that said "aboot." I thought it was kind of cute.

violet976

Welcome. I'm new to the group and the SL program as well. & although I didn't realize it until I moved out of state, I'm actually quite uncomfortable around new people as well. It actually took me a long time to even get into outdoor walks, as I felt as if people would be watching/judging me. Finally I got tired of sitting/working at home all day, got myself an mp3 player and realized that walks with music was a much needed break that felt more like "me time".

I actually just caved and bought myself a used bench/barbell setup after seeing so many others with the results I wanted who had been lifting. I couldn't bring myself to set foot in a gym - I don't think I'd ever get over the fear of people judging me while I worked out. I was hesitant to spend money on the home setup, but I'm absolutely loving it so far.

Definitely don't feel outclassed here. I'm sure there are many, myself included, who are completely new to weightlifting and just here to learn together. For me it feels great knowing I have somewhere to turn for questions, and the "form check" thread has been a wonderful place to double check that you are performing exercises correctly.