Only girl in free weight section

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  • ckspores1018
    ckspores1018 Posts: 168 Member
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    I use "the art of lifting for women" and have found it easy to follow and very effective, especially as a beginner with no confidence in personal trainers. You can buy it from Amazon for $12 and most libraries have it too.

    I'm much more comfortable now with free weights than I ever was with the machines. I don't follow the nutrition plan in the book, just the lifting.
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,575 Member
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    Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »
    I am very interested in using weights but have no idea how to do anything and I don't know anyone to help me get started. I use Planet Fitness since it's cheap and the closest to me, but the staff isn't that great. Though, I haven't actually met with the trainer yet... I plan to give them a shot.
    I only use a few machines because they are the only ones I know how to set up. I've asked different staff a couple of times if they could show me different ones and how to use them properly and basically get a generic "See this diagram here? Just sit like the guy in the diagram" and they act like it's just that simple. But I've approached some for the first time and couldn't even figure out how to adjust it to fit my height. Then I end up feeling like an idiot and go back to something I know or back to the elliptical...

    Planet Fitness can be a tough gym for running a proper lifting program. Many of them don't even allow you to dead lift. Anyway, you're not going to be wanting to use the machines very much. It's much better to start with a free weight program, using the barbell and compound lifts.
  • ireadlabelsdammit
    ireadlabelsdammit Posts: 64 Member
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    I tend to keep my head down and stay focused, but yes I do notice often being the only woman. I can usually ignore this, but admit it can make me anxious :/
  • kindrabbit
    kindrabbit Posts: 837 Member
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    OhioGuy37 wrote: »
    Nice high jack of a photo hot poison. The tattoo is a dead give away

    Bella Falconi. That's some serious motivation! Something to aspire to.
  • Ironmaiden4life
    Ironmaiden4life Posts: 422 Member
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    Karen_libert wrote: »
    OhioGuy37 wrote: »
    Nice high jack of a photo hot poison. The tattoo is a dead give away

    Bella Falconi. That's some serious motivation! Something to aspire to.

    THIS^^^ why does it matter OhioGuy37 who she chooses to use as her profile pic and Bella Falconi ......great choice! :)

    Love reading threads about women feeling comfortable in the free weights section. It makes me do a snoopy happy dance :):):)

  • s2mikey
    s2mikey Posts: 146 Member
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    Its good to see more women doing good old strength training. Its very good for their body composition and IMO a well built female with some "meat" on her bones is 1000% more attractive looking than a marathon-runner rail. ;)
  • richln
    richln Posts: 809 Member
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    Rock it, and then spread the knowledge to the cardio-only girls who are complaining that they aren't happy with their physique.
  • blobby10
    blobby10 Posts: 357 Member
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    I go to the gym at 5am and am often the only woman there with anything from 1 to 8 men! Very frequently I'm the only female in the free weights area and just get on with it. It helps that I'm a middle aged old bag and the men are only in their 20s so technnically young enough to be my son but we all laugh and joke together about the crap music, or their impressive weights (50kg dumbbells) compared to mine (10kg!). or the fact that we are all yawning our heads off! x
  • misslisaaahh
    misslisaaahh Posts: 10 Member
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    There are a few other women at the gym that I go to now, but there weren't always. The first time I started lifting it was a little intimidating, but I've found that having a plan helps a lot. If I always go in knowing which exercises I'll be doing with free weights, I feel less like I'm just a guest in the area and more like I look like I'm supposed to be there. Now that I've been doing it for a little while, it's not a big deal to just go into the free weight section and own my workout like I would anywhere else. It's a big confidence booster, and when I am the only girl with a bunch of guys I feel like I get to show them women are just as capable and get just as much out of lifting as they do!
  • whatatime2befit
    whatatime2befit Posts: 625 Member
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    Unless i'm there late a night, i've never been the only woman in the weights section of my gym. There are alot of women into lifting in my town.
  • peachyfuzzle
    peachyfuzzle Posts: 1,122 Member
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    There might actually be more women than men who go to my gym. If not, it is as about as close to 50/50 as possible. Then again, it isn't a chain gym either which means they don't have a ton of clientele, and most people who go there are very serious lifters/bodybuilders.
  • OhioGuy37
    OhioGuy37 Posts: 99 Member
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    Ironmaiden4life wrote: »
    Karen_libert wrote: »
    OhioGuy37 wrote: »
    Nice high jack of a photo hot poison. The tattoo is a dead give away

    Bella Falconi. That's some serious motivation! Something to aspire to.

    THIS^^^ why does it matter OhioGuy37 who she chooses to use as her profile pic and Bella Falconi ......great choice! :)

    Love reading threads about women feeling comfortable in the free weights section. It makes me do a snoopy happy dance :):):)

    Usually a profile pic implies that it's you, a snapshot of your body in this case- clearly it's not.

  • neaneacc
    neaneacc Posts: 224 Member
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    I am often the only girl, but I've gotten over the awkwardness of being the girl lifting heavier than most of the guys next to me. In fact, I have found a handful of male workout partners who just accept my natural ability to lift heavy stuff. I won't say that I don't work, but I also have to admit that I've always been stronger than most women anyway.
  • nossmf
    nossmf Posts: 9,370 Member
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    When I joined my gym 6 years ago, I would see maybe two women lifting. Fast forward to today, it's maybe 25% of the people lifting are female.

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