Women Who Lift Heavy- How did you start?

1.) Have a gym membership.
2.) Learn proper form for lifting. (If you can't afford a trainer, watch videos at bodybuilding dot com, they're very informative and you can pull them up on your mobile device for reference. Practice form with light or no weight, then build from there when you can see you're doing it right. Two things to remember: focus on the muscle group you're supposed to be working, and in almost every lift KEEP YOUR ABS TIGHT. Those stabilizing muscles are essential to good form in almost every lift.)
3.) Practice.
4.) Increase your lifting every week or two weeks, even if it's just by adding a rep, or a 2.5lb plate. Every little bit helps.

I kind of jumped right in, practicing a lot of things in my room before I ventured to the gym. I learned by watching others first. I wasn't afraid to ask experienced lifters for help either. There are always nice people willing to help.

A good way to start is to buy a book like New Rules of Lifting, Strong Curves, etc. They will teach you how to do the lifts and give you programs to get you going.

I personally think trainers are expensive and unnecessary.

I went and picked up New Rules of Lifting for Women and just started It is what you have to do. You can wait and get training if you want, but it is deffinitely not nesessary.

I agree with TR0berts, get form corrections here if that is what you need I personally do not work out with anyone and that is how I like it. I don't have to wait for someone or get distracted talking :P

If you have a gym membership, the gym is typically the best place with NROLFW. Otherwise stronglifts requires the LEAST amount of equipment I LOVE lifting heavy and it is definately worth it

Good luck to you in your continued fitness goals!!

What does 'life heavy' mean? I do the open bench press, all free weights pretty much, etc. Is that what you mean, or do you mean competition lifting?

The trainers at my gym do mostly body weight exercises for strengthening and toning with their clients and steer clear of the open weights. Lifting is almost meditation time that you don't necessarily want to do with someone who is not inside your body telling you what is too heavy or too light. And no offense guys, you give the girls you are working out with weights that are too heavy for them and especially for moms, you don't understand that we don't want to have a rest day when we can't move our entire upper body - we have to lift the kids. I am very strong and I see guys all the time bringing their girlfriends in who look like they've never worked out a day in their life and they're handing them WAY more than I lift and barking at them that their form is off. Those girls appear once and never again.

Once you get some basics down you don't really want a trainer around, just some good music. You and I have other personal things in common based on your profile so you if you want to connect on the side just send me a friend request.

Push your car up and down the street for a week or two and see if you like it. I am not kidding.

-Got a gym membership.
-Picked a program (Stronglifts 5x5's last year, this year I switched to All Pro's SBR)
-Watched videos and practiced proper form without weights
-Went to the gym and just started

I started by taking a Les Mills body pump class. It taught me correct form and gave me the confidence to do free weights. I also have the new rules of lifting for women. Taking the weights class has been the best thing ever, it has changed my body shape faster than anything. Good luck.

I started adding weights to my exercise programme in January and have noticed a significant difference in my shape even in this short period. I do several lifts including dead lift, sumo lift, clean press, military lift and bench press. Technique i gained from watching recommended youtube clips and then took myself to gym. I just asked one of the trainers for some tips re the lifts and played with the weights until i found the weight that would allow me to do the repitition for 5 x 5 strong lift. Trainers are usually keen to offer advice and that is part of your gym membership. i wish you good luck with it and hope you find like me that it is a totally different workout to spending an hour at gym doing treadmill etc. To be honest the muscles that hurt the most weren't my upper body though they did ache at first but the killers were my quads and gluts lol

bump

I just jumped into it with NROLFW. That worked well for me. If you're very unsure, a trainer might not be a bad idea for a couple sessions just to get you accustomed to the gym and equipment. Right now I'm working my way through Nia Shanks Beautiful Badass. Look it up- its a downloadable manual full of different training programs and it has links to videos so you know how to properly do the lifts. Nia's workouts are very easy and simple.