Shock! Horror! Women Lifting!
SpecialSundae
Posts: 795 Member
Does anyone else get this response from friends and family when you talk about strength training? I'm starting to find it really irritating. Even friends who would consider themselves feminist are horrified that I love it so much... because it's not feminine.
ARGH!
ARGH!
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From half my family, yes. The other half all lift weights (my stepdad has was an athlete and a strength coach at the local university). From the non-lifters, I get lots of jokes about becoming a man (I look nothing like a dude. I still have a high BF% so nobody can even SEE my muscle development at this point). I honestly don't care. I like doing what I do!0
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I've been coming to the realisation of late that I LOVE strength training. Cardio in the gym bores me, I quite like running outside but weights make me happy.
I just wish that I had more friends in real life who I could share that with. :-( I have one friend and her husband who I can talk with about it, but they have an 8 month old baby so they don't have a huge amount of time or energy for me.0 -
I only get slack from my mother. She says "you're going to hurt yourself!"
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Haha.. not quite that one, but things like "You work out? Running?" "No, strength training." "Ooohhh. You can lift me up then haha. Don't get too strong!"0
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I get a lot of "Don't end up looking like a man" type comments. Meh! More fool them.0
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I get more looks at the gym when I wait for the rack. The guys look at me expecting me to go do cardio. That only happens outside or.. bored at work when working nights.0
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I decided to do a few dips one day with out the assistance of the machine and one guy was so surprised. "Most women wouldn't even try it, good job." Made me feel good. Lol.0
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I only get the scornful looks from the guys in the gym -- until I chide them for using my weights and grab the next bar up to work out with...0
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I think most of my family and friends don't know how to take my strength training... the worst I have gotten was, "Don't end up looking like a man." or really bad advice (like how I am lifting too heavy, and girls need to lift light)...
As for at the gym, I don't get bad looks from the guys; guys will look as soon as I walk in but they almost get this 'whoa' look when they see me reach for the weights. Women... well if they are cardio 'junkies' (the spinning class especially) I get the weirdest looks, some even give the snarky look... makes me push harder.0 -
I get weird looks in the gym by most of the guys because of how much I lift. As for friends and family they think it's weird, except my brother and his lifting pals. He and his friends do it competitively and they think it's cool that I'm not scared to lift. Hubby like it because he does it with me.0
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No one really says anything to me. But, then, I just started lifting again this past fall. We'll see what people say this summer when I wear shorts and tank tops. I love lifting, and lift with my hubby when he's not lifting with our son. I don't get weird looks cause we lift in our shop.
Who cares what people say. Muscle is beautiful and you feel great after a good lift!!0 -
I don't really discuss my exercise routine or diet any more because I'm tired of getting ignorant responses from people, despite the fact that most personal trainers these days seem to highlight the benefits of lifting for women, and my gym is constantly encouraging women to get into weights on it's Facebook page. I still get friends and family insisting that it will make me bulky/large/manly/etc. A physiotherapist friend of mine who is quite sporty herself basically acted like I was an idiot for even considering lifting, telling me that 10kg is the absolute maximum I should ever use for strength training. And people are always only too happy to tell me I'm doing healthy eating "wrong" because I don't eat low-cal or low-fat. Pfft. If eating peanut butter and greek yogurt and fitting it all into my macros is wrong, then I don't want to be right.
The weight lifting area in my gym is very much a guy dominated area, but everyone keeps to themselves. Nobody says anything to me and I don't say anything to them, unless it's to ask if the squat rack is free! 0 -
I don't really discuss my exercise routine or diet any more because I'm tired of getting ignorant responses from people, despite the fact that most personal trainers these days seem to highlight the benefits of lifting for women, and my gym is constantly encouraging women to get into weights on it's Facebook page. I still get friends and family insisting that it will make me bulky/large/manly/etc. A physiotherapist friend of mine who is quite sporty herself basically acted like I was an idiot for even considering lifting, telling me that 10kg is the absolute maximum I should ever use for strength training. And people are always only too happy to tell me I'm doing healthy eating "wrong" because I don't eat low-cal or low-fat. Pfft. If eating peanut butter and greek yogurt and fitting it all into my macros is wrong, then I don't want to be right.
The weight lifting area in my gym is very much a guy dominated area, but everyone keeps to themselves. Nobody says anything to me and I don't say anything to them, unless it's to ask if the squat rack is free!
Agree!!
I keep much of it to myself. When they ask what I am doing I keep it general like , " Oh I just cut out the junk and got more active." If they are genuinely interested I may go into more detail.
At the Gym everyone shares, no one stares and we all just keep to ourselves, unless we need a spot or working with a trainer.0 -
At the gym, I get nothing but high fives especially when I am dead lifting (I barely see men deading). With my family, it is pretty much the same especially my hubby who thinks she muscle is hot. My aunt is also this <----> close to getting her IFBB pro card (physique) so she is a great inspiration. Now my friends, especially girlfriends, are EXTREMELY ignorant when it comes to weight training. I have heard everything from “muscles are gross” to “that’ll make you look like a man”. They are pretty much cardio bunnies except one or two. I have decided not to discuss it all with them anymore because it make me want to throat punch them. Their loss really....cardio is great but it won’t change the shape of your body!0
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Haha throat punch them, love it!
Only thing I've found cardio good for is time outside to clear my head, and I see a bit higher weight loss from it (20lbs left to loose) but my body fat is still dropping even if my scale isn't so I can deal. 0 -
After being a slug in high school I started lifting while rowing crew in college. What fun! My sister used to be a personal trainer and she taught me a lot. She said once she was waiting for a bench to do bench press. This guy finished, looked at her, and started taking weights off. She said, "No, you don't need to." and then put MORE weight on.
We're fabulous! One good thing about pushing 50 is you stop caring what other people think (if you ever did)...0 -
I lift more at 54 than I did in my forties. Hope to keep improving into my 70s. ;^)0
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I don't really discuss my exercise routine or diet any more because I'm tired of getting ignorant responses from people, despite the fact that most personal trainers these days seem to highlight the benefits of lifting for women, and my gym is constantly encouraging women to get into weights on it's Facebook page. I still get friends and family insisting that it will make me bulky/large/manly/etc. A physiotherapist friend of mine who is quite sporty herself basically acted like I was an idiot for even considering lifting, telling me that 10kg is the absolute maximum I should ever use for strength training. And people are always only too happy to tell me I'm doing healthy eating "wrong" because I don't eat low-cal or low-fat. Pfft. If eating peanut butter and greek yogurt and fitting it all into my macros is wrong, then I don't want to be right.
The weight lifting area in my gym is very much a guy dominated area, but everyone keeps to themselves. Nobody says anything to me and I don't say anything to them, unless it's to ask if the squat rack is free!
Wow! That's amazing...
I rarely get any bad comments...but I have been lifting weights for many years. Doing so, has helped me overcome many injuries....so I really have no choice but to keep lifting..0 -
I only get slack from my mother. She says "you're going to hurt yourself!"
I get this from my mum too! When I've come home and I'm proud of my newest lift I like to share but I get "you have a uterus remember" as if it's going to fall out....0 -
I love this post. It makes me smile every time and reminds me I am not the only woman trying to build muscle, not "tone up".
If you do what everyone else does you will get the same results as them. Most people are overweight and a lot of the skinny ones have no shape or strength. I don't want that.
Nothing feels better then being able to lift anything you need to without help from the guy standing next to you. I can also pick up my kids or carry all the bags from the car in one trip without hurting anything. Because of strength training I made it through pregnancy and birth without any of the standard back pain. I also have no problems with spaghetti straps falling down.
Most the the comments and reactions people have to women strength training shows how much people don't know. It is a shame more people don't look into it. I try to educate the people who actually seem interested and just smile at the others, and laugh about them later. 0 -
Ya, i don't get any bad looks or comments from women; occassionaly my break group will sarcastically comment how they "hate" me b/c i'm always working out lol - but it's all in good fun & they rarely even use the word "diet" around me anymore (probably b/c they see me eat all the time) - there was, mind you, one moment when i "politely" ripped a co worker a new one for nagging me about being healthy - something along the lines of, "ya i'm 'skinny' so i shouldn't be concerned about my health right?, i'll just wait until i'm obeise and have a heart attack and THEN i'll develop some character to get into shape!" :::and smiled::: lol
at the gym i work out with a pretty cool group of guys & a couple women - they are mostly cardio bunnies, but they've started asking questions & using some machines too. then men mostly ask me 1) if i'm using said weight or rack ore 2) (mostly this one) = why my tall bright socks never match
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One in-law said "We'll, you HAVE to lift weights because it's your job". I just told her I was doing weight-training decades before getting certified as a trainer.0
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It can really be frustrating for me, the staff at the gym will not even allow me and when I am stubborn about it, the guys at the gym looks at me from the corner of their eyes, a bad look though.0
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It can really be frustrating for me, the staff at the gym will not even allow me and when I am stubborn about it, the guys at the gym looks at me from the corner of their eyes, a bad look though.
The staff at your gym won't ALLOW you to lift? What?0 -
I got that a lot! you're gonna look like "those women!" No I'm not. But thanks!I get a lot of "Don't end up looking like a man" type comments. Meh! More fool them.0
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I've been coming to the realisation of late that I LOVE strength training. Cardio in the gym bores me, I quite like running outside but weights make me happy.
I agree! Cardio is pretty boring, but it is easy to get in via a short walk. When I am motivated to get to the Gym, I much rather do strength training.0 -
My mum told me that I should only use weights on my upper body, so that I wouldn't get "thunder thighs". I have pretty wide hips and a nicely round bum, so I guess she thought that muscles under all of that would look bad. Besides, I was "working out my lower body with cardio right???"
My hubby likes that I lift. Men at the gym either ignore me or look impressed. Women at my gym either ignore me or look a bit jealous.
Can't wait to see what 10 more weeks will do to me! I'm in a 12 week bulk which will be followed by a 14 week cut to get to my goal weight of 145 with much more muscle. I wish I wouldn't finish this AFTER summer ends *sigh*0 -
My partner constantly tells me I'll end up looking like Jodie Marsh or a man lol!0
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Back in college, I was one of those women that was afraid to lift because I did not want to look like a man! My Track strengthening coach and I bumped heads about this for 2 years. He showed me a picture of Mocha Lee (Ms. Galaxy, 1999) and I loved the way the muscles made her look so curvy and fit. My Mom loves that I am so strong! My Dad is the one encouraging me to do mostly Cardio and light lifting, "because I am naturally strong". When my Dad asks if I went to the Gym, I just say yes I had a good workout. I am just getting back to lifting after several years of injuries from an auto accident. I love the way my body is changing, and look forward to the day I reach my goal weight! Happy Lifting Ladies!0
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I love weight training...it makes me feel strong and accomplished. I especially like to work out my legs AND as a bonus it really does help melt the fat away faster. Not soon enough for me...
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