Girls who have the guts to lift

Ask one of the guys who looks like they know what they are doing if he minds showing you the ropes a little.
Never hurts to ask.
They were new at one point too!

Don't worry about it!! You can lift! And certainly don't assume that others at the gym know what they are doing!! Real lifters won't stare at you like you're weird. I learned by reading and then by trying and listening to my muscles. The most important thing is to really feel your muscles while you perform a certain exercise. You can also try picking up a copy of muscle and fitness or muscle and fitness hers. Male or female, the exercises are the same and the benefits are great. You may have to modify certain things based on what feels right to you- everyone is different.

I actually started with a personal trainer, just to make sure I was doing the moves correctly. Then I moved onto Body for Life and then New Rules.

Good luck!

Guys don't tend to "laugh at" the women in the gym who are lifting. It's the other men who are lifting that they snicker at. They figure that you're going to do light weights. So pick up those 7 or 10 pounders and get a bunch of reps in. Just dive in!

I only use the machines rather than the dumbells, barbells, etc. The machines make it easier because you have a specific motion, whereas with the bars, you have to make sure you are keeping proper form and technique, which can be harder for someone just starting out.

There are a lot of different pictures, videos, etc that you can find on the internet, or ask a friend or family to help you out and show you. I've gone to a few different gyms with friends to show them how to use specific machines and stuff, so even if they aren't a member of your gym, you may be able to get them a visitor pass or something.

If you are really intimidated and can afford it, see if there is a female personal trainer who will work with you. Even if it's just a few times, she will be able to help you find the right weight you should be lifting and will help you with your form and technique. Also, it's another female that will be standing there with you to buffer some of the intimidation.

I'm reading New Rules for Lifting right now. I haven't read the women's version but if you have read it, you probably know more than 80% of the people lifting.

and honestly, when I did go to a gym I was too busy working on my own stuff to worry about anyone else. And if I did stop long enough to snicker at someone...it was because they were goofing off.

Speaking as a guy, I'm encouraged and impressed when I see women busting it hard on the weights...and you're off to a great start with NROL for Women. Just get in there, follow your routine and handle your business. If anything people will be impressed because with the knowledge you gained from NROL you'll look like you know (and indeed you will) exactly what you're doing.

Remeber the old addage "the only dumb question is the one thats not asked" but ask just before the guy "who looks like he knows what he's doing " before he starts or after he seems like he's done (you don't want to mess up a routien). I alway's like to help and anyone i've ever worked out with likes to help. It's kind of an ego boost to be asked and to give help.

i do weights both hand held and the bar. i dont use machines as practicing technique is all part of it and works your core muscles like mad too. i have never been a lover of machines as you dont need to stabalise your core as much

When safety allows it, I do a lot of lifting on an excersise ball.

If you are really intimidated and can afford it, see if there is a female personal trainer who will work with you. Even if it's just a few times, she will be able to help you find the right weight you should be lifting and will help you with your form and technique. Also, it's another female that will be standing there with you to buffer some of the intimidation.

This is just so true - this was my experience just this morning as I hit the gym for the first time in public with my new trainer!

You see I used to train in the gym when I was 17 and remember being pretty intimidated by the guys there - particularly the ones that were strutting around like roosters and checking out who was looking at them, but I also remember being impressed at the definition of the women, and their confidence just absolutely impressed me (they weren't cocky like the blokes), but they seemed to be just so in charge of their game - I liked that.

Well I've tried to go to the gym a few times since then, but as I got older I always let the intimidation get to me and I'd run back home, even resorting to setting up a full bedroom with my own fully equipped gym. But guess what! It rarely got used except in fits and starts - and mostly it got used as a clothes hanger :-)

I've recently plucked up the courage to have another go for health reasons and I found a lovely little family-run gym that has a very friendly atmosphere and doesn't seem to object to having 40-something women in their midst. That helps. And the people behind the counter are very approachable, are very helpful and supportive, and don't laugh either, and so that helps too.

Then I spoke about my fears on MFP and *Everyone* on here was ever so supportive, and that helped heaps !!!

But still the carpeted lifting area seemed very daunting to me. I would watch in fascination and envy and .... fear & intimidation .... during my own machine workouts - I almost had to physically tell myself to "stop!" thinking like that so that I wouldn't get so afraid. Instead, I listened to the advice of my MFP friends and put on my iPhone headphones and just focused on my machine work till I got comfortable again .... and that helped.

But now I've got a lovely personal trainer called Julie to help me achieve the body sculpting goals I have. We've met a few times so that we got comfortable with each other and what I wanted to achieve, and our first training session was last week at her studio - over an hour's walk away! Now that's just too ridiculous, even for me, and so we arranged to meet at my gym for our first workout session in public. And what do you know! We went straight into the carpeted area - JUST one the very edge.

At first I was feeling very conspicuous, but after she guided me through a few hard super-sets, the least of my problems was who was looking at me and what they were thinking! I did notice a couple of people looking my way as Julie was talking me through it, but I just shifted my focus back to what I was doing with the weights and with my body so that I could get and keep proper form. I also focused on changing my thought process to "They are looking at me because they are so impressed that I am taking this seriously and am trying hard."

As the session progressed I found that we'd moved toward the back of the carpeted area only to find a couple of other women there with their trainers too. And the guys that were there, apart from being outnumbered, were so focused on what they were doing, that even when they looked up and our eyes happened to meet, they simply said g'day, gave me a smile and moved on to what they were doing next. "At least they weren't openly laughing at me", I thought to myself.

The point is that every time I began to feel nervous, I just had to choose to shift my attention back to what I was doing with the lift instead of worrying about what everyone else was thinking - It just showed me that I wasn't concentrating on the right thing.

Funnily enough, by the end of the session, as I walked out through the carpeted area with Julie, I felt a lot more at home than when I first went in there. And because I'd spoken to Julie about my fears, she helped me get over them because she is training me as if I was going into a competition - not that I'm going to do that, but it certainly helped make me feel like a professional and as if I was working out on-purpose. And Julie made sure I didn't have time to laze around in self-consciousness either. So all that helped too.

I'm certainly not through my fears, but I just know that I am on my way to being comfortable in the carpeted area. And just knowing that I have a plan to cope with my fears when I *do* go in there is perhaps the biggest help of all.

I hope that you can gain something from me sharing my experience from this morning, elsewise I've just prattled on and bored everyone to tears, but if nothing else, you can at least know that you are most certainly not in that boat by yourself. And by sharing our experiences through MFP, we can *all* get through the barriers that stop us achieving the bodies of our dreams!

Enjoy your journey.

Kind Regards,

Joy.
:flowerforyou:

Hey! Glad you want to start lifting...I had to stop for awhile, but I'm starting up again. I have also lost more weight when I lifted.
Don't let those guys intimidate you! Use your headphones, and just look like u know what u r doing ; ) The best way to start is to use machines, and you can find lots of work outs in fitness mags like self, ect. Rip out the pages and bring them with u if you want!

Back when I was a regular at the gym, it was no big deal to have a girl “work in” on a machine I was using. And to get asked a question or 2 because I looked like I knew what I was doing…even better.
Don’t be afraid girls….or any new person for that matter.

Totally take a friend! My bf's cousin is an ex-college basketball player who was used to lifting 4x a week. She joined my gym and after our first cardio workout she headed toward 'the basement' - where the weights are. 'What are you doing?' I cautiously asked. 'We gotta go lift.' she simply replied. So, I went with her. She just walked right thru there, grabbed some weights and created a 10x10 area for us to work. We did everything, arms/abs/legs, for almost 45 minutes. The muscleheads just moved around us. We were in! And invincible!