Why do so many women lift such light weights?
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curious as to what the OP lifts at this point anyway to be challenging women on their weights?0
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I move up on the weights every now and then but doing 5 and 10 lbs sometimes 15 has done me just fine and has tightened my arms drastically now squats i do heavier weights0
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curious as to what the OP lifts at this point anyway to be challenging women on their weights?
I don't think the OP was really challenging women on their weights, at least that isn't the way I read it. I thought he was more curious as to what they thought they were going to achieve with small weights and many many reps and why they wouldn't consider going heavy. He later was asking whether the community thought a class on basics and getting started would be something people (not just women) would find helpful and want.0 -
Burning more calories than you consume is the way the lose weight. The calories burned can come in many forms, not just lifting.0
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Burning more calories than you consume is the way the lose weight. The calories burned can come in many forms, not just lifting.
Just a thought- weight loss isn't the be all end all of what people want to look like.0 -
Burning more calories than you consume is the way the lose weight. The calories burned can come in many forms, not just lifting.
Who says we do it to lose weight?0 -
Weighing less just to weigh less has never been a goal that I understood. I'm not saying it is a bad goal to have, but it is a goal that I personally have never found particularly motivating. I find it amusing that so many here assume that everyone's goal is less weight.
When I was younger, my goal was to look good naked. For me, that was less fat and more muscle. (Probably overall less weight too, but that was not the main goal.)
Over the years my goals have changed and have become more performance oriented rather than aesthetics.0 -
Weighing less just to weigh less has never been a goal that I understood. I'm not saying it is a bad goal to have, but it is a goal that I personally have never found particularly motivating. I find it amusing that so many here assume that everyone's goal is less weight.
When I was younger, my goal was to look good naked. For me, that was less fat and more muscle. (Probably overall less weight too, but that was not the main goal.)
Over the years my goals have changed and have become more performance oriented rather than aesthetics.
it's taken me a long time to understand that some people just want to not be fat.
They have that right. And that's okay.
I will never understand WHY- but I do understand that is a goal for people. It can be hard when you come from a performance/aesthetics background to understand that is the end goal. But everyone is entitled to their own goals
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Weighing less just to weigh less has never been a goal that I understood. I'm not saying it is a bad goal to have, but it is a goal that I personally have never found particularly motivating. I find it amusing that so many here assume that everyone's goal is less weight.
When I was younger, my goal was to look good naked. For me, that was less fat and more muscle. (Probably overall less weight too, but that was not the main goal.)
Over the years my goals have changed and have become more performance oriented rather than aesthetics.
it's taken me a long time to understand that some people just want to not be fat.
They have that right. And that's okay.
I will never understand WHY- but I do understand that is a goal for people. It can be hard when you come from a performance/aesthetics background to understand that is the end goal. But everyone is entitled to their own goals
For many it is an evolution with the 1st goal being to lose weight - for many it is not just to not be fat, but to get healthy or at least not to be on the edge of diabetes, heart disease, etc.. It may stop there but I don't know anyone who has just lost weight, kept it off and never exercised or become more fit in the process.
As I became more fit and loved the way it felt, I also was becoming stronger and my goals shifted to maintaining my new weight, toning and becoming even stronger. Now I am hooked :happy:0 -
Weighing less just to weigh less has never been a goal that I understood. I'm not saying it is a bad goal to have, but it is a goal that I personally have never found particularly motivating. I find it amusing that so many here assume that everyone's goal is less weight.
When I was younger, my goal was to look good naked. For me, that was less fat and more muscle. (Probably overall less weight too, but that was not the main goal.)
Over the years my goals have changed and have become more performance oriented rather than aesthetics.
I totally understand the goal of wanting to weigh less. Young skinny women can look good naked. Farrah Faucet was skinny with little muscle tone but she made a tidy profit off a certain swimsuit poster back in the day.0 -
Weighing less just to weigh less has never been a goal that I understood. I'm not saying it is a bad goal to have, but it is a goal that I personally have never found particularly motivating. I find it amusing that so many here assume that everyone's goal is less weight.
When I was younger, my goal was to look good naked. For me, that was less fat and more muscle. (Probably overall less weight too, but that was not the main goal.)
Over the years my goals have changed and have become more performance oriented rather than aesthetics.
I totally understand the goal of wanting to weigh less. Young skinny women can look good naked. Farrah Faucet was skinny with little muscle tone but she made a tidy profit off a certain swimsuit poster back in the day.
Well, I've never seen Farrah naked, I can't really tell ya.
I suppose if I were to be honest, there was time in my teens when I thought that being skinny was an acceptable goal. But I was a really dumb teenager (really, I was seriously stupid and and a self-absorbed brat from the ages of 14-22).0 -
It's what I have at home. I make do.0
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For many it is an evolution with the 1st goal being to lose weight - for many it is not just to not be fat, but to get healthy or at least not to be on the edge of diabetes, heart disease, etc.. It may stop there but I don't know anyone who has just lost weight, kept it off and never exercised or become more fit in the process.
But one can exercise and become more fit with light weights. There are more choices than lift heavy weights or be jiggly and weak.0 -
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Weighing less just to weigh less has never been a goal that I understood. I'm not saying it is a bad goal to have, but it is a goal that I personally have never found particularly motivating. I find it amusing that so many here assume that everyone's goal is less weight.
When I was younger, my goal was to look good naked. For me, that was less fat and more muscle. (Probably overall less weight too, but that was not the main goal.)
Over the years my goals have changed and have become more performance oriented rather than aesthetics.
I totally understand the goal of wanting to weigh less. Young skinny women can look good naked. Farrah Faucet was skinny with little muscle tone but she made a tidy profit off a certain swimsuit poster back in the day.
I think that's a matter of opinion to be honest. I don't find anything about young skinny women attractive. I've always really admired fit women. And women who were in their twenty's and thirty's who were muscular have always been attractive to me. I suspect our media's push for models and skinny have done a lot of damage- plus the fact that no one knows what exists between model shape and body builder shape- it's like this whole world of fitness doesn't exist.
You're only options are BIKINI MODEL or ARNOLD PRO CIRCUIT BODY BUILDER!!! tough luck bit8hes- pick one!!
forgetting the stages between! sigh.But one can exercise and become more fit with light weights. There are more choices than lift heavy weights or be jiggly and weak.
these things... they do not compute.
relative. "more fit" than you were before- but you still won't really bit fit. fitness comes with pushing- unless you are rehabbing- or have some sort of issue- light weights are only going to get you so far.0 -
For many it is an evolution with the 1st goal being to lose weight - for many it is not just to not be fat, but to get healthy or at least not to be on the edge of diabetes, heart disease, etc.. It may stop there but I don't know anyone who has just lost weight, kept it off and never exercised or become more fit in the process.
But one can exercise and become more fit with light weights. There are more choices than lift heavy weights or be jiggly and weak.
"More fit" is not the same as "fit". But then again, "fit" is rather arbitrary.0 -
OK I'm sorry but if you're on a weight loss journey the best thing you can do is lift weights... so...
Oh, and this was for the lady who said that people don't want to or need to.
Apparently my original post did not contain this quote I intended it to. This is what I was replying to and all the muscle heads jumped all over me.........0 -
Burning more calories than you consume is the way the lose weight. The calories burned can come in many forms, not just lifting.0
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Lol my first lifting NSV was pretty much this exact scenario. I didn't shoot him rude look, of course, but it was a rather awkward situation. :laugh:0 -
I've been lifting 'heavy' for around 16wks and LOVE it! Why don't I lift heavier? because I physically can't. Each and every week I desperately try to increase my weight..sometimes I succeed and sometimes I don't. But to be honest..to some I may seem like a weakling.lol A couple of examples.. my maximum laying dumbbell press is only 25lbs in each hand and that is a struggle. My max overhead tricep rope extension is 25lbs, max. seated cable row 70lbs. Like someone mentioned, my gym only has dumbbells going up in 5 lb increments and that's a huge jump. I've been stuck on 20lb seated shoulder press for ages because I just can't keep up that damn 25 lb dumbbell. It frustrates the heck out of me. The other thing that I have found is now that I am increasing my weights it gets kinda scary lifting a 25lb dumbbell over my head with shaky arms. Thankfully if my husband is around I will ask him to spot me to be on the safe side. If he's not around I feel really weird asking another guy to spot me. So I will often air on the cautious side and not up my weight at that time. I know I shouldn't care but it's kinda intimidating when they are lifting 10x my weight. The funny thing is you will find me breathing heavy, occasionally grunting to get that last few reps up and it's no act. It's crazy hard! i work up a sweat and feel the burn. I'm the only women in the weights area at my hour and that's something I had to get used to. Surrounding myself with a bunch of guys that are in pretty decent shape, when I still struggle with my body image was a challenge at the start and I'm sure that's one of the reason some women may stay away or just lift light as to not draw any more attention to themselves. Here I am a 42yr old women..far from my goal weight..in tight tights..rolls and all and I'm bending over to do a bent over row on a bench.lol I can only imagine what my *kitten* looks like from their vantage point.lol I really had to drop being self conscious of how my rear end looked etc.. I have now gotten over that and just do my thing...really loud music in my earbuds helps drain out all that negative self talk.lol
But overall..the guys have been pretty cool. They just say hi and go about their business. I love lifting!!! You won't find me sticking with one weight too long..I'm always trying to improve my strength.0
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