Females only - lifting/weight training results?

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  • mc62412
    mc62412 Posts: 195 Member
    Everyone looks great. I’m only a few months into better eating, started April 12. I’m currently down 33 pounds. I haven’t really done much exercise yet. An occasional 30 mins here and there.
    I’m really interested in lifting. But I have so many questions. Does it matter what size / weight you are when your start. Where do you start. What is the best equipment to get going. So on and so on lol.
    I haven’t started to research it all yet, but it’s in my list !

    One day ... I’ll get there.
  • stuffyknee
    stuffyknee Posts: 13 Member
    What a great thread! I just got back into MyFitnessPal because I'm trying to build more muscle and get a bit of fat back on after a stress-related loss. I decided to start taking part in the community, and I'm so glad!
  • persimmonfig
    persimmonfig Posts: 15 Member
    mc62412 wrote: »
    Everyone looks great. I’m only a few months into better eating, started April 12. I’m currently down 33 pounds. I haven’t really done much exercise yet. An occasional 30 mins here and there.
    I’m really interested in lifting. But I have so many questions. Does it matter what size / weight you are when your start. Where do you start. What is the best equipment to get going. So on and so on lol.
    I haven’t started to research it all yet, but it’s in my list !

    One day ... I’ll get there.

    As a fellow newcomer, I think a lot of this is just up to you and what you feel most comfortable with/what your goals are! I linked to this article in a post above, I found it really helpful. There's a link in there too at the very beginning of that article about how to know what weight to start with. I started with 5 lb weights for my upper body and am up to 15 now for most exercises. I found I could use much heavier weights for lower body, which seems to be normal. I use adjustable dumbbells that I was given as a hand-me-down from my brother, which makes it easy to control what I'm lifting at home. But you can also easily find fixed-weight dumbbell sets. There are also alllll sorts of other things you can use for strength-building (water-fillable weights! kettlebells! resistance bands!). Depends on the exercises you want to try.

    I think it's really good advice to carefully practice the form of any exercise before you start--with no weights, with a water bottle, with a can of beans, whatever you can to get used to the movement. Once you can do that comfortably, start trying it out with a low weight. Then you can work up from there. More on that linked in the article above, as I said.

    I don't think your size or weight should matter much at all. I mentioned in a previous post that I like SELF's resources because they feature a variety of body shapes (not so much in the one I linked, but just poke around a bit and you'll see it!). It's probably much more important to know whether or not you have any kind of past injuries that you might need to be particularly careful about--like a lower back injury, for example. That way you know when to be extra cautious. I don't so much mean about form (you should always be careful with that!), but about when to take extra rest or not push yourself quite as hard for a while so that you don't risk repeating the injury or worsening any pain you might feel. That's probably pretty similar to most other exercise, though.

    All my advice is oriented towards trying this yourself, at home, and I'm basing this off of what I've read from a lot of online sources about beginner lifting and from my own experience. Some of it might not work exactly the same for you, and of course, if you have access to gym equipment and/or trainers, you might take a very different approach! Good luck! You can do it, and it will feel great!
  • mc62412
    mc62412 Posts: 195 Member
    persimmonfig wrote: »
    mc62412 wrote: »
    Everyone looks great. I’m only a few months into better eating, started April 12. I’m currently down 33 pounds. I haven’t really done much exercise yet. An occasional 30 mins here and there.
    I’m really interested in lifting. But I have so many questions. Does it matter what size / weight you are when your start. Where do you start. What is the best equipment to get going. So on and so on lol.
    I haven’t started to research it all yet, but it’s in my list !

    One day ... I’ll get there.

    As a fellow newcomer, I think a lot of this is just up to you and what you feel most comfortable with/what your goals are! I linked to this article in a post above, I found it really helpful. There's a link in there too at the very beginning of that article about how to know what weight to start with. I started with 5 lb weights for my upper body and am up to 15 now for most exercises. I found I could use much heavier weights for lower body, which seems to be normal. I use adjustable dumbbells that I was given as a hand-me-down from my brother, which makes it easy to control what I'm lifting at home. But you can also easily find fixed-weight dumbbell sets. There are also alllll sorts of other things you can use for strength-building (water-fillable weights! kettlebells! resistance bands!). Depends on the exercises you want to try.

    I think it's really good advice to carefully practice the form of any exercise before you start--with no weights, with a water bottle, with a can of beans, whatever you can to get used to the movement. Once you can do that comfortably, start trying it out with a low weight. Then you can work up from there. More on that linked in the article above, as I said.

    I don't think your size or weight should matter much at all. I mentioned in a previous post that I like SELF's resources because they feature a variety of body shapes (not so much in the one I linked, but just poke around a bit and you'll see it!). It's probably much more important to know whether or not you have any kind of past injuries that you might need to be particularly careful about--like a lower back injury, for example. That way you know when to be extra cautious. I don't so much mean about form (you should always be careful with that!), but about when to take extra rest or not push yourself quite as hard for a while so that you don't risk repeating the injury or worsening any pain you might feel. That's probably pretty similar to most other exercise, though.

    All my advice is oriented towards trying this yourself, at home, and I'm basing this off of what I've read from a lot of online sources about beginner lifting and from my own experience. Some of it might not work exactly the same for you, and of course, if you have access to gym equipment and/or trainers, you might take a very different approach! Good luck! You can do it, and it will feel great!

    Thanks ! I’ll take a look at that article !
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    Wow @higginsl1969 fantastic progress you are awesome!
  • higginsl1969
    higginsl1969 Posts: 20 Member
    sardelsa wrote: »
    Wow @higginsl1969 fantastic progress you are awesome!

    Thank you so much!! ☺️
  • alexmose
    alexmose Posts: 792 Member
    @sardelsa drop that pic
  • claireychn074
    claireychn074 Posts: 1,646 Member
    And highlighting the importance of lighting and angles , here’s a recent shot which looks like I have no muscles at all 🤣
  • sutralotus
    sutralotus Posts: 12 Member
    I started a strength training regime for the same reasons. Upperbody being weak. I focused all my energy on upper body and made huge strength gains. Took a year off and started again a few weeks ago. Thankfully because of my job being so strenuous, I didnt lose any gains, I actually gained some. Id love to have some ladies that lift send me a friend request so we can inspire each other. Right now I'm trying to figure out whether I should start cutting or keep working on these gains right now. Love this thread.
  • Silkysausage
    Silkysausage Posts: 502 Member
    Awesome photos ladies! Here's my back so far after 2 years lifting...ybdjllus8bgs.jpg
  • psychod787
    psychod787 Posts: 4,099 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Not in the realm of you serious weight lifters - y'all are glorious! - but I feel OK for a 126-pound li'l ol' lady who turns 65 in the middle of next month. I admit, whatever granny muscles I have come more from rowing (really *lots*, for over a decade), less from lifting (about which I'm suboptimally lackadaisical, but on again at this point). (Maybe some "cardio" is strength-y-er than others . . . ? 😆 And rowing's mostly a leg exercise, anyway, eh? 😉)
    s8czhm7phyi6.jpg

    :o
  • mom23mangos
    mom23mangos Posts: 3,069 Member
    @AnnPT77 You've got more bicep than I do at 20yrs younger. You are always an inspiration.
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,439 Member
    mom23mangos wrote: »
    @AnnPT77 You've got more bicep than I do at 20yrs younger. You are always an inspiration.

    Right?!? Super jealous! My biceps just don’t have a ton of definition.

  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    WOW @AnnPT77, looking awesome !!
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,551 Member
    Aw, thank you - y'all are super-sweet! I think the ability to move the big iron like you three (@mom23mangos, @quiksylver296, @sardelsa) do is the really major, admirable thing.

    I'll strive to keep chunking along with my slow, idiosyncratic, injury-avoiding, rehab-oriented kind of routine, and see where it gets me. These days, strength is of course a goal, but injury avoidance is key for me, because recovering is slower and detraining faster at this age/stage for me, so injury costs more in terms of progress. I've stumbled over that a few times already. A consequence of so many years of rowing volume - though overall a great thing for me - is that some muscle groups (and the related connective tissues) are more developed/conditioned than others. So far - knock wood - I haven't had any injuries purely from imbalance . . . more that some muscle groups can write checks that their neighbors can't cash. 😆
  • alexmose
    alexmose Posts: 792 Member
    edited October 2020
    psychod787 wrote: »
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Not in the realm of you serious weight lifters - y'all are glorious! - but I feel OK for a 126-pound li'l ol' lady who turns 65 in the middle of next month. I admit, whatever granny muscles I have come more from rowing (really *lots*, for over a decade), less from lifting (about which I'm suboptimally lackadaisical, but on again at this point). (Maybe some "cardio" is strength-y-er than others . . . ? 😆 And rowing's mostly a leg exercise, anyway, eh? 😉)
    s8czhm7phyi6.jpg

    :o

    This is awesome!! @AnnPT77

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