Entering a male-dominated free weights room

AmandaBroun

Ditto on having a workout plan before you go in, and check on the gym's web site or call the front desk and see if they do gym orientations and if you can just have someone go over the equipment in the weight room with you. I know my university gym has staff that do this.

helenium

Pick up "New Rules of Lifting for Women". Great book on heavy lifting for women. Check the bulletin boards and see if you can find a cheap trainer to give you a few intro sessions to the weight room. Trying to do your first set of weighted squats in a room full of boys will be intimidating. And secretly watch the guys who look like they know what they are doing (typically the ones with good form - you;ll know it when you see it) to get some ideas . Start light-ish or even with no weigh (squat and lunch) to get a feel for the movement and form and then move heavier.
Assuming you have some decent strength:
Squat - start with no weight then try 30 lbs (a smith machine can be a good place to start), then work your way to the 45 lb olympic bar and go from there (without the smith machine). With some practice you should be able to do 60-100lb
Bench - start 15 lb dumbells and work your way to the 45 lb bar and add 5lb plates from there.
Curls - 12.5 to 15lb dumbells. At my absolute strongest I have never curled more then 25lbs.
Lunges - start with no weight to get the form and balance, then add a medicine ball or some dumbells (15-30lbs)
Dead lift - start with a 30lb barbell and work your way to the 45 lbs bar with added plates.
Rows, lat pull downs, tricep pull downs - use a pully machine, pretty easy to move the pin around to find the right weight, they are all set up differently so the weight will vary from machine to machine (often depending on how many pulleys it has).

Thank you for the weights in your post! I'll work my way through them (I went this evening, but don't want to overdo it because I have two hours of pole dancing tomorrow). I only worked my arms this time, though I discovered I can do curls with 17-18 lb dumbells which pleased me. I couldn't find any 20 lb dumbells to try out! Also one to two pull-ups (unassisted but shaky).

For now I'll stick mostly to pole practice to increase my strength (mostly because I have trouble motivating myself to lift weights) but will use weights in the gym to assess my progress. It's hard to separate what I can do on the pole because of strength and what I can do because of skill.

Wanted to thank everyone else who replied to this thread - you got me out there!

lilRicki

believe you me .... the guys would love to help you

yep they would! Or buy New Rules of Lifting for Women..you can get it used on Amazon. It's step by step and awesome. I also really like bodybuilders.com. I felt like a newbie after new years, because I changed my lifting program, but I am by no means new to lifting. I was blushing and worried, turns out the guys are more than happy to show you how it's done. There's one hottie at my gym (yes I'm engaged, but i'm not dead), he's a kinesiology student...so I flat out told him that I want 1 question a day answered...gives me a chance to flirt with him AND get educated lol he agreed, so now I get one question a day, while I'm dying on the elliptical, and he's happy to share his knowledge.

Now you need to understand, I go to the gym in 2XL jogges and a huge t-shirt, there's tons of little girls running around in their lululemon and spray tans, but if you have confidence than it won't matter. Even if you don't have confidence, fake it 'til you make it. I've been going for years, and I'm obese, nobody has enough balls to give me the fuzzy eyeball. If i'm having problems at the free weights, I will say something, no nonsense, no giggling, no stupid eyelash batting...just ask.