A queston for ladies who use the barbell

2

Replies

  • thirstyflea
    thirstyflea Posts: 114 Member
    I just recommend doing what works for you, who cares what you look like, it's your workout, and you are the one who will look more awesome for it!! Do what you need to do!

    I lift and don't wear gloves. I do have callouses, which I was very self-conscious about, but now I just don't care because they help!

    I may need to invest in gloves now that I'm doing heavier lifts, as I'm having trouble with my grip....
  • Ely82010
    Ely82010 Posts: 1,998 Member
    I've worn gloves as long as I've been lifting. No one has ever said anything criticial to me at the gym about anything, but then again I'm the type that could really give a crap what 99.9% of people say or think....

    This!
  • imhungry2012
    imhungry2012 Posts: 240 Member
    I felt the same way at first!! Now I don't care, my hands feel better and I have a better grip. I do still get callouses though just not as bad. BTW my gloves are pink and black and used to match my sneakers (just got a new pair) doesnt get much girlier than that! :) I'm sure he didnt mean it to be douchey but def came accross that way.
  • Capt_Apollo
    Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
    talking to a friend of mine here (and i use the term loosely... he knows who he is) he convinced me to leave the gloves at home. then i told him how my palms were hurting, and even showed him a picture of my calloused hands.

    he told me i was doing it wrong. you shouldn't be having some super death grip on the barbell. thats what causes the skin to get scraped off. for dead lifts, just curl your fingers around the barbell, and start developing some grip strength.
  • ItsCasey
    ItsCasey Posts: 4,021 Member
    I use chalk. I have tiny hands, and gloves just screw with my grip. I think there is value in the tactile feedback you get when holding a heavy bar in your bare hands. You don't get the same response with gloves.
  • LeslieC1970
    LeslieC1970 Posts: 160
    I think you might be looking too much into what was said. He could have actually been trying to be complementary. "When you start proper lifting" could have been about the act of lifting, not you actually lifting proper. If he was saying it with a bit of attitude to be a jerk, then just dismiss his comments. He isn't worth the time spent worrying about it.

    I do wear gloves and have for a while. I needed them at some lighter weights as well. I am more concerned about completing my reps than having to abandon a set because my hands hurt. What others think is their issue. Don't let it affect your program.
  • lacurandera1
    lacurandera1 Posts: 8,083 Member
    I HAVE gloves. Occasionally i'll use them for my iso lifts. BUT. They inhibit my grip strength when I am dead lifting. I do NOT use them for dead lifts, bc i'd rather be able to do more reps and have callouses.

    Then again, i had callouses before lifting so...not a big deal.
  • cljabusc
    cljabusc Posts: 48
    He doesn't sound like a jerk, or uneducated, or 'retarded' (which is a completely ignorant word, and should not be used to describe anyone...i'm just quoting someone else), he just obviously wanted to chat with someone/you about lifting and blurted out the words 'lifting properly' not knowing you would take offence to it. If you think he was trying to intentionally offend you...i think your mistaken.

    he may have chosen the word "properly" because he saw weights you were lifting, although they may have been heavy for you, might not have seemed heavy to him.... But i agree that 'lifting properly' is not the right choice of words. maybe he should have said 'lifting heavier.'

    Dont read into it, don't let it offend you, put on those gloves and keep doing what you're doing. see? like water off a ducks back.

    Edited to add: I don't wear gloves, because caluses make me feel bad aaaa..
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
    I already had calluses from riding my Harley.
  • iceqieen
    iceqieen Posts: 862 Member
    I started doing deadlifts a few weeks ago and after a few times going II started getting callouses on my hands so bought some gloves.

    I am quite a self-conscious person and I end up feeling all embarrassed when little old me goes to the barbell and put on my gloves like some hardcore heavy weight-lifter. I heard one guy laugh and as I looked up he he said "Hands getting f**ked?" and I just smiled, he came over and showed me his gloves and laughed and said "When you start proper lifting you will be pleased you got them, look at the state of my gloves, that would have been my hands!"

    After that comment it has made me feel so much more embarrassed, I know I am probably reading too much in to it, but it was the "when you start PROPER lifting" like he must have though "silly female try to lift" LOL.

    SO, ladies, do you wear gloves, were you self-conscious about it, or did you just forget about everyone else? How do you manage being down with all the men?

    awww he was being inclusive and nice to you.. I bet he would have said that to any beginner.. probably trying to be suportive ;)

    I dont wear gloves but seriously thinking of doing that.. but have callouses instead :P
  • iulia_maddie
    iulia_maddie Posts: 2,780 Member
    I wear gloves. Still got callouses. They would probably be worse without them.
  • RedHotHunter
    RedHotHunter Posts: 560 Member
    I have different gloves for each day of lifting. The only time I dont wear them is if it is a day I'm doing cardio only. (Well sometimes I even wear them on cardio days lol)
    My progress with gloves looks something like this:
    At first I didnt wear them because "gloves were for serious lifters"
    Then I started wearing them because my hands hurt
    Then I got Versa Gripps to help on "back day" and wow do they ever work!

    During the first maybe 2-3 weeks of wearing gloves, I felt rediculious and silly. However, I can tell you now that I feel serious, focused, and powerful when I put them on.

    Change your mind and you can change your life. :heart:
  • Otterluv
    Otterluv Posts: 9,083 Member
    Honestly, I think you are reading into it. Dude was definitely flirting with you, because he's observed you enough to know that you've been there before without gloves and now you have gloves. That was his opening line to talk to you. The proper lifting was probably just him talking out his butt because he was nervous about talking to you. he probably went home and started mentally kicking him going "Omg I told her she wasn't proper lifting, I'm such a tool!"

    I've used gloves with 15 lb hand weights. It doesn't matter. You do what you have to do for you, and don't feel self conscious. Feel hot.

    ^^ this

    His comments were actually pretty sweet, he was saying to you "don't be embarrassed for using gloves", with a smidge of "welcome to the weights area!" thrown in for good measure. Maybe he said it a little sloppily, but people get nervous and things can come out wrong.

    I don't use gloves, but only because when I tried to deadlift with them it felt like I couldn't get a good grip. But, I don't think that there's anything wrong with using them, whatever works for you!
  • bostongrl13
    bostongrl13 Posts: 58 Member
    I would feel naked if I didn't have my gloves while lifting...they and I are one at the gym :heart:
  • ahviendha
    ahviendha Posts: 1,291 Member
    i don't wear gloves, i love my callouses and they help when i go rock climbing.

    i deadlift my own body weight (155), squat 115 and bench/pendlay row at 60/65.

    i've ripped callouses before during deadlifts, and think it's kind of awesome.

    i LOOOVE my callouses
  • billsica
    billsica Posts: 4,741 Member
    Look, you wear gloves, he wears gloves.
    He lifts weights you lift weights.
    he has been watching you, offers in an awkward douchey way when YOU are lifting.
    Offering the opening for you to ask him for advice

    definitely flirting.
  • thecakelocker
    thecakelocker Posts: 407 Member
    Flirting, definitely. I'm sure he knows that you are a newer lifter and was more implying that once you have hit your stride and been lifting for a good while you will be happy you got the gloves... not that you are lifting "improperly ". HE has gloves, he wasn't sassing yours!
  • tracieangeletti
    tracieangeletti Posts: 432 Member
    My take on it is that he was probably just trying to make conversation and didn't mean to make it sound like it did. I've been considering gloves because of the callous issue but also because I can sweat a lot while strength training and it effects my grip. Thinking the gloves might help with that. Yes, I will be self-conscious as hell but I think it will be better than losing my grip and have weights come crashing to the floor!! lol
  • Alex_is_Hawks
    Alex_is_Hawks Posts: 3,499 Member
    he's a guy....approaching a lady in the gym....which most of them have learned can be a SCARY experience...

    AND he was trying to be helpful....

    don't read too much into his "proper lifting" comment.....I bet you he just had a small case of foot in mouthitis....

    and you are new.....he knows you'll be adding weight....that can shred your hands.
  • freckledrats
    freckledrats Posts: 251 Member
    Fellow glove-wearer here.

    That douche would totally say I wasn't "proper" lifting, because I'm small and weak and my max lifts aren't impressive to even children. But, 85 lbs still rubs my hands the wrong way, so I put on the ole gloves.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    sounds like he was trying to be nice about it but came out wrong way ..

    what he meant to say is 'as you progress to heavier weights you will be happy you have the gloves bc it will keep your hands from getting tore up"....or maybe he was just being an F'ing douche....

    I will say that I probably need to get some gloves because on Tuesday I tore my hand up doing sumo's - as in ripped some skin off - and then today when I went to do Deads I could not even lift the bar because the pain freaking sucked...so there went my workout for the day ..

    but don't let it deter you ...and be glad you got the gloves now .....

    on a side note you could just use them for deadlift day and then not sure them on other days....
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,329 Member
    yep i wear gloves because i dont want to have callouses. sometimes i get teased for it during crossfit but i'm the one who'd have to live with rough sandpaper hands not them. i'm also pretty good at taking teasing and returning so it's all good

    and yeah i think that guy was trying to flirt but came off sounding like moron. if it were me i would have asked "are you trying to flirt or do you normally say stupid stuff?" :laugh:
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
    Sounds like you were reading too much into it. He was supporting your decision to wear gloves, not making any statement whatsoever about your lifting.

    I wouldn't recommend trying to parse statements from guys or trying to mind read us. We're pretty simple creatures and generally what we say is exactly what we mean, no more, no less.
  • EmmaReed84
    EmmaReed84 Posts: 263 Member
    yep i wear gloves because i dont want to have callouses. sometimes i get teased for it during crossfit but i'm the one who'd have to live with rough sandpaper hands not them. i'm also pretty good at taking teasing and returning so it's all good

    and yeah i think that guy was trying to flirt but came off sounding like moron. if it were me i would have asked "are you trying to flirt or do you normally say stupid stuff?" :laugh:

    OMG, My eyes literally popped out my head @ "are you trying to flirt or do you normally say stupid stuff?" LOL!! I sure as heck would be for too embarrassed to say that.

    It is strange because I can either be totally shy and not know what to say, or be very chatty and quick witted. But I have to sort of force myself to be confident.

    I think I am just a bit overwhelmed by it all if I am honest, but I do enjoy it!
  • sarahstrezo
    sarahstrezo Posts: 568 Member
    I've worn gloves as long as I've been lifting. No one has ever said anything criticial to me at the gym about anything, but then again I'm the type that could really give a crap what 99.9% of people say or think....

    Ditto this. I wear gloves because I don't want my hands to be ripped up. I don't give a rat's hairy behind who thinks what of them.
  • Cmg2k
    Cmg2k Posts: 35 Member
    That guy is lame! Lol. I don’t use gloves so I have calluses. But gloves are excellent! Not only do they prevent calluses but they give you a better grip which can help you lift, either more reps and/or heavier weights! I should get some. Don't worry about what that guy said. He was probably just trying to show off and flirt (pathetic attempt)! Hah!
  • carrieous
    carrieous Posts: 1,024 Member
    he was probably flirting with you and wanted you to think he's a real badass. Dont be so quick to get offended.
  • SatchGallamax
    SatchGallamax Posts: 549 Member
    talking to a friend of mine here (and i use the term loosely... he knows who he is) he convinced me to leave the gloves at home. then i told him how my palms were hurting, and even showed him a picture of my calloused hands.

    he told me i was doing it wrong. you shouldn't be having some super death grip on the barbell. thats what causes the skin to get scraped off. for dead lifts, just curl your fingers around the barbell, and start developing some grip strength.

    I agree with this. I don't wear gloves and in the beginning, I was getting really bad, painful callouses. So I started working on my grip. Now my callouses are almost unnoticeable and my hands never hurt while lifting.
  • ItsCasey
    ItsCasey Posts: 4,021 Member
    Calluses are not a bad thing. If you keep them filed down (you know, so they don't get ripped off), they are hardly noticeable, and they protect your hands from further damage. My hands are heavily callused (from kettlebell snatches) in the fleshy area where my fingers meet my palms, but you'd never notice if I didn't point it out to you. I file them down with a pumice stone in the shower after every training session.
  • Cr01502
    Cr01502 Posts: 3,614 Member
    SO, ladies, do you wear gloves, were you self-conscious about it, or did you just forget about everyone else? How do you manage being down with all the men?

    I like it when girls go glove free. The friction of the gloves isn't too pleasent. And usually when they go down there's no gloves involved.

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