"No woman should ever lift more than 3lbs"

Who is Tracy Anderson and why should I listen to her? I listen to my trainer because he is an expert and I have way more respect for him.

Now i am freaking out! My 18 month old daughter picked up by 4 lb dumbells this morning :sad:

I'm with you. My 6 year old daughter loves to use my 5 pound dumbells.

Do you think I should take her to the ER and have her checked out?

She is talking about for her specific method to achieve a small, lean frame, she doesn't want women lifting more than 3 lbs while doing her exercises. If you watch, listen and learn then you would understand that. There isn't much to argue if you know what is being talked about.

3 pounds is awful light. So I don't agree there. Some degree of strength is beneficial.

At the same time, too much bulk isn't a good thing from my perspective. Men usually do not find bulky women attractive.

Moderate weight training would make sense to me.

As a guy though, I always strive to lift heavier, but there are weights that I can't lift and I'm not afraid to admit it.

Sounds like someone just doesn't want to meet a woman that can lift more than he does and make him look like a weakling...

As a guy, you should know damn well how hard it is to actually bulk, even for you, and women don't have near the testosterone levels to support the same kind of bulking. The bodybuilders (the ones who are actually going for bulk above all else) put an insane amount of time and effort (and possibly some chemical help) into getting the results they get.

That said, my husband has actually complains that I'm losing my butt from my weight lifting, because the muscle hasn't yet built to compensate for the fat loss, and that area seems to be the first place the fat is lost from. He'd be thrilled if I bulked there more.

And, as others have said, I don't give a crap what you or anyone else finds attractive.

I don't have a problem with women who can outlift me (some I would be attracted to) but you'd better believe that a woman who outlifts me won't find me attractive. If I find a woman with more muscle definition than I have attractive, and I make a move on her, I guarantee she'll pass on me. Women complain about the most trifling of things about men. So check yourself with the condescending words towards me and take a good look in the mirror before you put your fingers to your keyboard.

There are women that are too bulky out there. It happens. Is it a challenge to bulk? Yes. But it happens and mostly every guy I know doesn't like that. I like a fit & feminine body type.

So...still a confidence thing. Still has nothing to do with whether she's "bulky," though. Someone who has goals that conflict or don't mesh with yours isn't likely to find you attractive (still possible, just less likely), regardless of what those goals are, and if a woman can outlift you, then she's pretty much guaranteed to have different fitness goals than you, due to innate differences like physical size and base strength between men and women (women are generally smaller than men, so outlifting men in raw numbers takes a higher strength to weight ratio, and the difference in testosterone production means different levels of raw strength numbers for a given amount of training experience).

Powerlifting does not equal body building. For a woman to get "bulky" in the sense that humanity's sexual dimorphism starts getting vague (such as the first image here - http://infinitelabs.com/blogs/1/but-you-dont-look-like-a-bodybuilder/ ), it takes a very, very specific goal in mind, and powerlifting simply isn't that goal. Nor is garnering the attraction of men. And again, man or woman, you can't get "bulky" by accident.

As for being condescending toward you, perhaps you should look in the mirror, yourself, before saying things like "women should only lift 'moderately'" and otherwise implying that lifting heavy will make women bulky and that men won't find that attractive. Women, especially those that lift, don't do so for your approval, so when people say things like that, it's extraordinarily condescending toward all of us.

Now i am freaking out! My 18 month old daughter picked up by 4 lb dumbells this morning :sad:

I'm with you. My 6 year old daughter loves to use my 5 pound dumbells.

Do you think I should take her to the ER and have her checked out?

Now that I think about it, maybe I should have my 15 yr old looked at. She's benching the 45 lb bar.

Tell her boys won't want her.

Well, in that case, I'm gonna tell her to keep lifting! Then I won't have to worry about her.

She is talking about for her specific method to achieve a small, lean frame, she doesn't want women lifting more than 3 lbs while doing her exercises. If you watch, listen and learn then you would understand that. There isn't much to argue if you know what is being talked about.

Wow, strong first post there Tracy...

...and I have "watched, listened, and learned" and I know better than to believe that B.S.

My purse weighs more than that.

I know, right?????

This thread should be fun to read. bump

She is talking about for her specific method to achieve a small, lean frame, she doesn't want women lifting more than 3 lbs while doing her exercises. If you watch, listen and learn then you would understand that. There isn't much to argue if you know what is being talked about.

This is Marketing 101 (or maybe 200).

I think from a marketing standpoint, she's done a good job. Do you know how hard it is to get Oprah or Piers Morgan to give you publicity as a business owner? It's not easy at all.

Also, getting celebrity clients takes a lot of effort.

Yeah, but now that those celebrities are starting to show the effects of Tracy's bad info...I wonder how much longer she'll really last.

There are women that are too bulky out there. It happens. Is it a challenge to bulk? Yes. But it happens and mostly every guy I know doesn't like that. I like a fit & feminine body type.

No, it doesn't "happen". It is worked for by YEARS of lifting, eating a ton of food, and occasionally (in most cases of visually unappealing bulkiness on a woman) steroid use.

It will not "happen" to anyone pursuing a lifting hobby who does not actively pursue muscle gains for years.

RIGHT! "OMG, I WENT TO THE GYM AND ACCIDENTALLY GOT BULKY"....said no one..EVER.

ETA: And for those claiming to be bulky - 99% of the time, they aren't. The other 1% are usually the ones that end up not posting pictures at all so there is no way to say if they are really a special bulking snowflake or not.

Ironic that the average human brain weighs 3 lbs. Apparently that was too much for her to carry around.

She is talking about for her specific method to achieve a small, lean frame, she doesn't want women lifting more than 3 lbs while doing her exercises. If you watch, listen and learn then you would understand that. There isn't much to argue if you know what is being talked about.

The issue is not that her comments are for a target audience that we don't belong to; the issue is that regardless of who it is intended for, it is piss-poor advice. This is not going to help anyone achieve a stronger healthier body; as mentioned in the article posted earlier:
"
Gwyneth Paltrow, the most ardent follower of the Tracy Anderson method was recently diagnosed with shockingly low vitamin D levels, and osteopenia, a precursor to the bone thinning osteoporosis. Not exactly a shining endorsement of the Anderson method."

Don't blame Tracy for Gwyneth's problems; her mother, also an actress, has osteoporosis and this a disease with a high genetic influence. If one of your parents has it or had it, your chances of being affected by it are greater.

Don't assume that everybody that lifts HEAVY, will never get osteopenia or osteoporosis, and don't assume that people that don’t lift HEAVY will automatically be affected by it. Race (actually African Americans are at a lower risk), smoking, low vitamin D, use of steroids, pre and post menopause, etc, are also risks factor.

I don’t' agree at all with Tracy' statement, at least not as reported in the OP, but this self-centered-holy- than-thou LIFT HEAVY attitude is getting out of hand.

Stop demonizing people than doesn't do your same workouts or lift HEAVY as you do; and stop body shaming Hollywood people by calling them anorexic. I thought that body shaming was not allowed in MFP, I guess that I was wrong; it is allowed when it is convenient to some of you.

Ok fine, her mother has it too, but not consuming the proper balance of nutrients to maintain bone strength and never lifting anything heavier than three pounds probably didn't help matters any. It's not impossible for someone who lifts heavy to end up with osteoporosis, but it's certainly a good way to help prevent it, rather than doing nothing at all.

Too, did you read that article that was linked earlier? One woman tried the diet advocated by this person and after losing 14 lbs discovered she had been existing on something like 700 calories a day and felt physically terrible for it. If that's not at least borderline anorexia, I don't know what is, and that's the diet plan that she's selling to these celebrities.

The thing is I personally only recently discovered how awesome lifting weights is, and even now I don't do anything close to what most of the women here would consider "heavy", but it's been really beneficial. I was afraid of getting "bulky" for the longest time due to misinformation, and avoided it like the plague, and also struggled with my weight my entire life. Since I've started lifting and doing squats and stuff, even though I haven't lost as much fat as I'd like yet, I feel WAY better about myself, and that's a common theme of those who lift heavy. And THAT's why everyone here advocates it so strongly!

Let's hope she's not cooking turkey for Christmas.

She wouldn't want to put her back out!