For the ladies who are afraid to lift weights...

Yeah Carl - just show your wife my before and after pix, lol!

Using weights doesnt mean becoming a body builder!!! Thanks for the post!

Thanks for posting this,will have to have a read.

I have learnt since joining mfp abt weight lifting and muscle building and that women dont bulk up. I do find it quite intimidating wheni have to ask questions as you get some really patronising answers. I guess most women do want to know but are afraid to ask. Like say myself, I started circuit training and have worked myself up from there- small weights but the fact is im doing strength training.and that is an improvement over what I used to do. What im trying to say is that some of us are misinformed and tips wouldnt go amiss rather than pitying us for not lifting.

on a side note, I just recently was certified by the US Olympic weight lifting team on Olympic lift coaching (I'm now a certified level 1 coach). I really always avoided these lifts because they are so technically challenging, but I forced myself to take the course because it is in SUPER high demand from athletes and that's what I like training, and nobody has this cert (like maybe 500 people have it in the whole country).

I'll tell ya what though, you want a FAST development, compound exercise that really works your core (I.E. abs and lower back), thighs, hami's, butt, traps, shoulders, and pectorals, this is the one for you. Yes, it's technically difficult to do right, but once you do, 3 sets of 4 twice a week and I guarantee that in 1 month you'll have strength increases in pretty much every other exercise you do, you will noticeably lift your butt, trim down your thighs, become faster, have better agility, better posture, and have better balance.

they are THAT good.

The two lifts I'm talking about are the clean and jerk and the snatch. And all the associated moves that go with them (they both have a 4 step technical progression, learning them takes 2 to 4 sessions before you really use weight and do it for real, form is really important).

side note, learning this will basically teach you the correct form for a lunge, back squat, front squat, overhead squat, Romanian dead lift, overhead press, all standard weight training techniques that should be part of your weight lifting anyway, and many people do them badly (which is dangerous).

I'll admit I'm one of the women who's scared to lift too much. I have lifted to failure in the past. My legs in particular put on unattractive bulky muscle super easy - I've seen it in person on my own body.

I lift my arms, back, chest, and abs, but I just do sprints, jog and walk for my legs. For my arms, back, chest, and abs, I lift heavy weights to create tension but low reps (5-6) and I don't lift to failure.

I think the biggest thing to realize is that every body is different.

on a side note, I just recently was certified by the US Olympic weight lifting team on Olympic lift coaching (I'm now a certified level 1 coach). I really always avoided these lifts because they are so technically challenging, but I forced myself to take the course because it is in SUPER high demand from athletes and that's what I like training, and nobody has this cert (like maybe 500 people have it in the whole country).

I'll tell ya what though, you want a FAST development, compound exercise that really works your core (I.E. abs and lower back), thighs, hami's, butt, traps, shoulders, and pectorals, this is the one for you. Yes, it's technically difficult to do right, but once you do, 3 sets of 4 twice a week and I guarantee that in 1 month you'll have strength increases in pretty much every other exercise you do, you will noticeably lift your butt, trim down your thighs, become faster, have better agility, better posture, and have better balance.

they are THAT good.

The two lifts I'm talking about are the clean and jerk and the snatch. And all the associated moves that go with them (they both have a 4 step technical progression, learning them takes 2 to 4 sessions before you really use weight and do it for real, form is really important).

side note, learning this will basically teach you the correct form for a lunge, back squat, front squat, overhead squat, Romanian dead lift, overhead press, all standard weight training techniques that should be part of your weight lifting anyway, and many people do them badly (which is dangerous).

The struggle is finding someone that can show you proper form, as you said they're quite technically challenging and you can hurt yourself too easily to be throwing around a ton of weight

When I started lifting heavy I got smaller and tighter, gained a little weight and lost inches. It works wonders! I am involved in Crossfit which we do all sorts of lifting, overhead squats, lunges with plates, snatch, clean and jerk, power cleans, push press you name it I've probably done it. It has literally changed my body composition and how I look and feel. I will never go back to the "cardio bunny" days.

on a side note, I just recently was certified by the US Olympic weight lifting team on Olympic lift coaching (I'm now a certified level 1 coach). I really always avoided these lifts because they are so technically challenging, but I forced myself to take the course because it is in SUPER high demand from athletes and that's what I like training, and nobody has this cert (like maybe 500 people have it in the whole country).

I'll tell ya what though, you want a FAST development, compound exercise that really works your core (I.E. abs and lower back), thighs, hami's, butt, traps, shoulders, and pectorals, this is the one for you. Yes, it's technically difficult to do right, but once you do, 3 sets of 4 twice a week and I guarantee that in 1 month you'll have strength increases in pretty much every other exercise you do, you will noticeably lift your butt, trim down your thighs, become faster, have better agility, better posture, and have better balance.

they are THAT good.

The two lifts I'm talking about are the clean and jerk and the snatch. And all the associated moves that go with them (they both have a 4 step technical progression, learning them takes 2 to 4 sessions before you really use weight and do it for real, form is really important).

side note, learning this will basically teach you the correct form for a lunge, back squat, front squat, overhead squat, Romanian dead lift, overhead press, all standard weight training techniques that should be part of your weight lifting anyway, and many people do them badly (which is dangerous).

The struggle is finding someone that can show you proper form, as you said they're quite technically challenging and you can hurt yourself too easily to be throwing around a ton of weight

Ironically, if you use correct form, it's very difficult to be hurt doing these lifts, it's far easier to hurt yourself with lighter weight actually, because people get lazy with light weight (or dumbbells and such), the incident of injury with Olympic weight lifting is really really low believe it or not. But yeah, if you don't do it right, it's easy to hurt your self, then again, that's true with any high weight lifting techniques. Course it's much easier to hurt yourself from endurance stuff than this, because the injuries are usually not sustained all at once, and are usually far more long term (I.E. chronic injuries, arthritis, bursitis...etc. that you get from cardio stuff, far more common and are actually not only harder to stop once started, but usually cannot be easily removed). Really it's all about perception. Because it LOOKS challenging, people think it's harder, but once you get the form down, it's really pretty simple, note, simple does NOT mean easy.

That's how I want to look!! Thanks for posting!! :happy:

Lift like a man, LOOK like a woman....That's by Alicia Harris who is in the some of the same magazines as Jamie.

I can't see myself not doing WEIGHTS, they are a Godsent!