Women and Weight Lifting

exrx.net is a great site. They have a beginners section, a few workouts. You can click on different body parts and they will give you exercises for them with videos showing how to do it.

It's pretty much my go-to site

That's great advice! I too am embarrassed around others but thinking about that is a good idea.

I am a fan of new rules of lifting. I wasted many many years doing split training with lots of isolation exercises. I've made more progress in 1 year than I have in the past probably 10 by doing heavy compound lifts (and eating for my goals). But in the end you need to find what works for you. If you are new, a full body routine might be a good start. You want to have the fundamental lifts down. If you are just starting out a good trainer could be useful. I was always afraid of looking like an idiot or wrecking my back doing squats or deadlifts. I hired a trainer to get my form down and now I am very comfortable in the gym. You can also find some decent youtube video tutorials, but its always nice to have someone that can watch and critique your form.

One of the reasons I like the compound exercises in NROL is because I feel like I get the most bang for my buck. I rarely do direct bicep or tricep exercises, but my arms look better than ever before and my time spent in the gym is less.

strong lfits
starting strength
new rules of lifting for women
strong curves

and don't worry about what other people think of you. You'll waste a lot of time in life avoiding doing things if you are worried about doing stuff that doesn't embarrass you.

Do what needs to be done to meet your goals. eff everyone else.

^so much this!

Eight reasons why should women do weight lifting-
1 more effective fat loss
2 more muscle, more calorie expenditure
3 curves
4 quality sleep
5 increased energy
6 heart health
7 bone health
8 stress relief

Hey, i would start off with a 3day split training. E.g.:

1.Day Legs: Squats, Hip Thrust, Leg Press, Lunges
2.Day Back and Abs: Deadlifts, Rowing, Pull ups, Knee Raises, Sit ups
3.Day Arms and Shoulders: Bicep Curls, Triceps extensions, fron raises, side raises, butterflys

I highly encourage everyone to give weight training a try! It just works

strong lfits
starting strength
new rules of lifting for women
strong curves

and don't worry about what other people think of you. You'll waste a lot of time in life avoiding doing things if you are worried about doing stuff that doesn't embarrass you.

Do what needs to be done to meet your goals. eff everyone else.

^so much this!

Another vote for this. Strong Lifts 5x5 is my top pick. It's short, simple and perfect for beginners. And they have a free app.

And if you can't afford a trainer, go to your library and check out "Starting Strength" by Mark Rippetoe and then watch his youtube videos on form. You can teach yourself how to lift. There's also a group on here called "Eat, Train, Progress". Join that and you can post videos of yourself lifting for form critique.

A great start for a newbie in lifting is:

1 exercise per body part
2 sets of each exercise
10 reps for each set
Get an experienced person to help with correct form

Squat
Leg curl
Pullup/pulldown
Push up/bench press
Shoulder press
Side laterals
Bicep curls
Tricep extension
Crunch
Leg lifts

Start there.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Love New Rules of Weightlifting - it's a great way to start, and of course with the internet you can find videos of anything to show you proper form.

Please don't be intimidated by the weight room. Nobody is judging you, nobody cares, everybody is there to do their own thang. The only time anybody pays attention to anybody else is when someone is killing it and I'm all, ooooo that's something new I can try!

Go to any of the sites mentioned, get the book, see how it's done. Walk into that weight room like you walk into your own kitchen - you are there for you and nobody else. Squat rack, deadlifts, free weights - all these can do SO MUCH MORE for you than what most women do.

I hate it when I'm the only chick in there.

bump

What about those of us who can't afford a trainer? Or can't do a push up let alone a pull up? Starting from Square -198756

What's a Hip Thrust? What's a tricep extension? The backwards one? What's a butterfly?

I'm dead serious. :laugh:

I guess I should purchase New Rules of Lifting?!

Honestly, you don't need to purchase anything except a gym membership or some weights.

You're sitting at a computer with the internet, a collection of information more complete and powerful than ever dreamed about in the wildest fantasies of the librarians at Alexandria; "What's a tricep extension?" is not a logical question.

Google it. Watch the millions of videos and gifs that come up showing you how to do it. And then do it.

I know, its really hard too start. But nowadays you will find everything in the internet, just spend a little time.

Do 3sets of 12reps for each exercise.

You can message me if you need help, i am not a professional, but i'm working out for quite some time now and alot of my friends are personal trainers, so i know at least the basics for sure!

Awesome!! Nothing beats a positive, encouraging response as opposed to a negative one. :flowerforyou: :happy:

strong lfits
starting strength
new rules of lifting for women
strong curves

and don't worry about what other people think of you. You'll waste a lot of time in life avoiding doing things if you are worried about doing stuff that doesn't embarrass you.

Do what needs to be done to meet your goals. eff everyone else.

Again This! Strong lifts is what I started with and it's super easy to follow. You don't have to guess on how to use all those machines and you will get stronger. Now all you have to do is fight for the squat rack!

What about those of us who can't afford a trainer? Or can't do a push up let alone a pull up? Starting from Square -198756

What's a Hip Thrust? What's a tricep extension? The backwards one? What's a butterfly?

I'm dead serious. :laugh:

I guess I should purchase New Rules of Lifting?!

Make friends with a trainer? Lol, that's what I did. My first trainer helped me with form, etc when he had time between clients. This went on easily for 6 months before I hired him.

I'm also one of the gals who started out with Stronglifts 5x5, and my first times in the free weights section.. I just found it so embarassing! It felt like I didn't belong, I wasn't quite sure what to do - like, can I even take this weight plate? Am I allowed to use the barbell from the squat rack even though I'm about to do deadlifts? People gave me weird looks, and I actually got into an argument with a guy who wanted the bench I was using and constantly kept nagging at me, MID SET, asking how many sets and reps I had left. Even though I had just told him! That was not even my fifth time at the gym, and I have never in my life felt so incredibly out of place.

In the end, those things are exactly what ended up boosting my motivation. *Why* did it feel like I didn't belong? Well, mainly because I felt like I had no idea what the hell I was doing. So I'm lifting this weight and putting it down, lifting it up and putting it down.. is that it? Is that all I'm supposed to do? Where's the awesomeness in this that everybody keeps talking about?

I got home and researched the hell out of those exercises, I got better form, I did them correctly, even got praise on how well I executed them from some of the more muscular guys (imagine how awesome that felt to my chubby little heart!), but it wasn't until the weights actually became heavy that I felt like I got it. I finally understood. And that's also when I stopped feeling out of place. There's a certain acknowledgement you get from yourself when you lift something that's heavy to you, and feel your muscles working. I didn't notice it when the weights were lower because at that point I wasn't focusing on the actual task, but everything around me. When the weight increased I was forced to focus and that's also when I fell in love with the whole "lifting it up and putting it down"-deal.

Give it a few months, and please do dare to try it out! Focus on how your muscles act and how your body moves when you're doing your exercises - and if you're unsure on how to execute them, ask us! It's hard to find information when you're not sure what you're looking for but I can promise you that there's a whole bunch of us here just dying to get more people to join us in the realization of how awesome it feels to lift weights!

Enjoy it!