Why do so many women lift such light weights?

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  • notdebby
    notdebby Posts: 58
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    The light weights do what I want them to do. I see no need to increase them.
  • BinaryPulsar
    BinaryPulsar Posts: 8,927 Member
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    If you're talking dumbbells, for women it can be harder to progress simply due to the weights available. Many gyms only have increments of 5 lbs after you hit 15 lbs, so if 15 lbs is too easy but you can't quite do 20 lbs, you're kinda stuck. They don't have 17-18 lb dumbbells available, which would be challenging but manageable, and many women don't know that even a few reps at the higher weight can be beneficial, so they give up, stay at the lower weight, and just do reps all day long. It can also be because the woman is self-conscious and thinks people will laugh at her if she can only do one or two reps of a weight that is "light" compared to what others around her are lifting.

    Women need to learn progressive loading. There's no such thing as being stuck at doing a million reps at 15 but unable to do 1 at 20. Progressive loading doesn't work that way.

    To go up to the next 5 pound weight, add reps. If you can do 10 reps, you can lift the next 5 pounds. Go to the next 5 pounds, and work up again. Of course, with accessory lifts, you don't always want to progressively load, but that's a different matter altogether.

    Easy peasy.

    Yeah, I agree with all of this.

    Also, the gym I go to right now does actually have 17.5 pound dumbbells. I'm looking at switching to a different gym now that my membership has reached it's 2 year point, and there is another gym I think I might like better now.

    For me there are certain lifts that I don't care if I progress much. It's not my main focus and I'm fairly happy where I am for now. Other lifts I do like to progress, but also happy where I am at for now. And additionally there are some things that body weight exercises are efficient enough for me. I am a dancer, so lifting my own body weight is helpful and important.
  • elprincipito
    elprincipito Posts: 1,200 Member
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    i lift lighter to concentrate on form with slow negatives plus i don't wanna mess up my body.
  • DamePiglet
    DamePiglet Posts: 3,730 Member
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    Had a meeting with the trainers at my gym (they're both new) and one is a female who uses free weights (yay!)
    Saturday I meet with them again to establish a good routine and make sure I have correct form, etc.
    They both seemed very happy to help me. YAY!
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
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    The trainers in most gyms don't help.

    I had to stipulate very strongly (at least 3 times) that I wanted to be shown how to use the barbell - otherwise I would have just got hit with the usual round of the machines 2x15 plus 20 min each on each cardio machine.

    Yet, a very overweight/unhealthy male will automatically qualify to be shown Olympic cleans etc on a first visit without asking :/

    ^^^This!

    I hired a personal trainer at my gym thinking that even though it was incredibly expensive it would be a wise investment. I stated over and over again that I wanted to focus on strength training and weight lifting, especially free weights as I already knew that the machines do most of the work for you and with free weights is uses more muscle contraction and stabilizing muscles to balance out the weights. Each time I met with him, he always had me doing fricken cardio, and not just the standard warm up, the entire hour would be focused on cardio workouts. Occasionally he would have me do calisthenics and only on a few occasions did he have me doing super sets on the weight machines or working with a kettlebell. Only one time in the eight weeks I met with him did he show me anything to do with free-weights. What a waste of money. But hey, I learned how each and every cardio machine and nautilus circuit worked! :wink:

    I'm always sorry to hear stories like that. Since most exercises can be scaled to fit the individual, I base my clients routines on their goals, abilities, health histories, etc. Because I am an old guy, most of my clients are in their 50s and 60s. Most are unfit, many are quite overweight, and they often have complicated health histories. There is no preset or canned approach that is suitable for everyone. Some need more machines, esp at first, some don't. For many, I use some basic machines--like a leg press for example--while we also work in some functional exercises. But we continue to progress, and I don't set any predetermined limits on what exercises they can do and how heavy they can lift. Everything is designed around the individual.

    Maybe that's one of the advantages of still doing this at age 60. I know what these folks are capable of, and I don't have any prejudices or preconceptions based on age or gender. I think many younger trainers just don't know what to do with older clients--esp females over 40-45. They lack both experience and an in-depth knowledge of exercise science to scale quality, functional exercises to adults in that group.
  • Fithealthyforlife
    Fithealthyforlife Posts: 866 Member
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    Just curious to hear the reasons..

    I've been in the gym on and off for about 3 years. In that amount of time, I've seen very few women actually lifting "heavy" weights. Occasionally, I'll have someone ask me about an exercise I'm doing, or how to do an exercise that targets a certain body part. Inevitably, when I choose a weight for them, without even trying it, I usually hear, "thats too heavy!"

    However, I've never once suggested a weight that was actually too heavy. In fact, I tend to recommend lower than what I actually think they can do. Their concern usually turns to wonder when they realized than actually can lift more than 5lbs..

    So ladies.. why are so many afraid to lift heavy weights?

    (btw, this applies to many of the men I see in the gym also)

    I just read through a good part of New Rules of Lifting for Women last night, and this is a common thing. It's WELL explained in that book. Among the reasons the author cites are intimidation, women thinking they can't do it, not being aware heavier weights are needed, being afraid to "bulk up", etc.

    The book shatters this light weight myth and implements a "new rule"...that weight must be challenging. The book is amazing...as a guy I feel it's great! It even talks about how light weights can shrink type I muscle fibers!
  • BeckyGee84
    BeckyGee84 Posts: 124 Member
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    Well, that's not a very nice thing to say. I lift as heavy as I possibly can. I'm not going to sacrifice good form just to say I lifted the heaviest weight possible. I take good notes of how many reps I can do with a particular amount of weight. If it's too light I make it heavier for the next time! If 15 lbs for bicep curls is a lot for me and nothing to some, so be it. At least I'm not Denise Austin. Sheesh.
  • redraidergirl2009
    redraidergirl2009 Posts: 2,560 Member
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    Everyone starts somewhere. I started with 5lbs. I don't care who watches me at the gym. My philosophy is that if you are too busy watching what other people are doing at the gym then you're not working out hard enough,
  • howdoieven
    howdoieven Posts: 4
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    I can't even do bicep curls with 5 pounds so I don't know what that says about me. Maybe it's because it's %5 of my weight and it doesn't bother me that I'm a "weak" person.
  • littlekitty3
    littlekitty3 Posts: 265 Member
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    They have three times the muscle building hormones than men. If they lift anything moderately heavy they will end up looking like Mr. Olympia contestants. Many have the astonishing ability to gain muscle in a calorie deficit or in a very short period of time.

    ^^^ This is exactly why XD
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    Hmmm... well, I have no choice about the hay bales, feed sacks and firewood ( unless I want to freeze while the horses starve), so I better stick to hay bales ( 150 reps., pick up, carry to hay trailer, stack up to 4 rows high --used to be I could only do 3 rows--50 to 75-80 lbs. each) and not go near a weight rack. Don't want to end up looking like an ageing She-Hulk.

    And that's the POINT....you won't look like a she-hulk by lifting. It takes some significant effort beyond just lifting weights to get that bodybuilder physique and you have to actively pursue it. So you may want to re-evaluate adding in a strength training program, because it won't make you a she-hulk. It really, really won't -- and that's what so many of us have been saying in this thread - too many women think like you do, that you'll get all bulky and stuff, and you won't!

    Now, those lifting light because that's all they can do at that moment, that's fine - and it will be obvious to anyone with any gym experience that you are following a strength program like SL 5x5 because you aren't just poofing away for an hour on one movement with super light weights, but you are using super light weights and struggling to do your reps. No shame in the latter AT ALL....I'm a forty-something fat woman who is stronger than she looks but isn't that strong, so it's not like I've got massive weights on the bars right now! It's just obvious that I'm building up and doing the most I can.



    But if I can already do what I just described, why would I want to add strength training? What's the point? It's certainly not enjoyable......

    I have to respond to this as my husbands family has a farm (horse farm) and I throw haybales etc and lift...

    Why lift, becaue it makes throwing those hay bales really easy and a lot less work, grain bags ditto, throwing wood onto a truck, off the truck ditto, piling wood ditto....

    I enjoy the work outside much more now than I did before I started lifting...

    Saddles aren't heavy for me now esp throwing it up onto the horse, I have the strength to tighten it as well on my own...I have the leg strength not to fall off the horse when it bucks...

    All that stuff is made better by lifting heavy...and I am not bulky..I am getting slim and trim...

    ETA: I lift heavy Squat 180lbs, DL 200lb, Bench 115, OHP 75, rows 115...no personal trainer just the Stronglifts 5x5 summary and all the videos and the "So you think you can_________________" series on youtube.

    I love being strong, I love that I can do chin ups (survive zombie apocolypse.:bigsmile: )

    If I ever had a personal trainer that didn't do what I asked I would fire their *kitten*...
  • phred_52
    phred_52 Posts: 189 Member
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    Not to be a jerk, just stating what I see at gym.

    See many women lift lite for toning as some have told me. Whether true or not, at least they are doing something.

    Is it any more of an issue (?) than guys that feel they must pose in mirror after every 15 rep exercise? Must be an ego boost, or not.

    I like the lite lifters, it makes me lift less, need to feed my inferiority complex. :happy:
  • luadams2
    luadams2 Posts: 122
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    I use free weights when I lift weights at all because I find that a lot of the machines don't seem to fit my body very well. I guess I have long legs and a short torso? I lift 10 lbs. with more repetitions rather than going to heavier weights because I want don't want to bulk up, I want to tone..
  • singingflutelady
    singingflutelady Posts: 8,736 Member
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    Most women aren't very strong and cannot lift heavy weights. They are also much more focused on using proper form unlike guys who are only focused on showing off how much they can lift.
    really? Lots of women lift heavy
  • singingflutelady
    singingflutelady Posts: 8,736 Member
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    I use free weights when I lift weights at all because I find that a lot of the machines don't seem to fit my body very well. I guess I have long legs and a short torso? I lift 10 lbs. with more repetitions rather than going to heavier weights because I want don't want to bulk up, I want to tone..

    Lifting heavy doesn't make you bulky and you are not going to get stronger by lifting the same amount of weight all the time. You need progressive overload.

    Plus "toning" is a made up concept...
  • ShreddingIt_84
    ShreddingIt_84 Posts: 141
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    Maybe they just got breast surgery
    Dont judge!
  • RaggedyPond
    RaggedyPond Posts: 1,487 Member
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    Maybe they just did a bunch of compound lifts and 5 lb curls is them going to failure.
  • Natmarie73
    Natmarie73 Posts: 287 Member
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    Why don't women lift heavy? Let's see...
    Because we don't want to?
    Because we don't want to build visible muscle? ( I sure don't!)
    Because we don't need to, so why should we bother?
    All perfectly valid reasons.

    Yes this!!!

    Not everyone wants to spend time in the gym sweating and grunting. I do it because it's the only way I know to look like I want to look but I hate every minute of it and completely understand why other women only want to look slim without visible muscle. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

    BTW, there are a few the female personal trainers at my gym and sorry to say they are bulky. There is no other word for it and I can understand that not everyone wants to look like that. And no, they don't pump steroids and what not into their bodies they work hard for their muscle. So to say that all women won't get bulky by weight lifting is wrong.
  • 6ftamazon
    6ftamazon Posts: 340 Member
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    For me, it's because I can't lift as much. I used to bench, squat, deadlift hundreds of lbs, but now I can't do 50. I'm sure I'll work my way up though.

    Now for most women...they just think they're going to turn into the hulk for some unknown reason.

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