This puzzles me because almost every strength website I come across these days has the obligatory “why women should lift weights” article. Yet despite all these attempts at myth-busting, it appears the message isn’t getting through.
Body Pump, a group exercise class involving free weights set to music, seems to be as popular as ever with women, but this enthusiasm doesn’t carry over into the gym proper. In my own gym, Body Pump classes are always full but I don’t see a single participant in the free weights room. They know how to lift the weights, so why don’t they do it outside class?
Some people argue that women are intimidated by the male environment, but this doesn’t seem to be the case in other areas. Both in the workplace and in other exercise environments (such as military fitness classes or running clubs) I have seen plenty of women not at all afraid to mix it up with the blokes. So what’s different about the weights room?
Perhaps there a perception that weightlifting just isn’t particularly elegant and one doesn’t look attractive doing it. But surely there must be plenty of women who find, as I do, the Olympic lifts some of the most elegant movements in sport. And plenty of guys like seeing women squatting or deadlifting, especially the rear view!
Women who enjoy weightlifting – whether Olympic, powerlifting, kettlebells, bodyweight exercises – seem to be few and far between, at least in this country. I get the impression that the United States and Canada are way ahead of the UK in this regard, and organisations like Crossfit seem to be encouraging more women to get used to the idea of being strong.
But are we female weightlifting types just a bit weird? How do we change this status quo? Do we even want to?
 Stumble it!
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My wife just doesn’t like to lift weights. She knows that it is good for her, and when I’m there to supervise I can get her to lift at home sometimes, but she avoids it when there are other alternatives.
First, I’d like to point out that there are lots of men don’t like to lift weights when there are alternatives. My husband was one…..!
I think there are fewer OLDER women in the weight room, at least in my area. There are lots of younger (post Title 9) women. This may simply be the “California Effect” though — it IS different here.
While it is true that fitness magazines promote lifting weights, they always show the model with a very light dumbbell. Fashion magazines nearly exclusively promote dieting, or at best a bit of cardio.
I think at least in part our culture has taught women to ignore weights in favor of “toning”. (what is that?) Crap like Jenny Craig and “ano” celebs perpetuate the idea that women should be waifs, and muscles waif. (I would much rather look like Lucy Lawless, Rachel McLish or even Nigella Lawson could I choose, but in reality I’m told I look more like Kate Winslet. We can’t have everything I guess.)
Even magazines covers perpetuate that myth, and it not all Vogue’s heroin-addict models. “Women’s Health” has healthy women, sure, but I bet they all have very low body fat, and I’m also willing to bet that most (1) do not have jobs outside fitness (2) do not have house/kids/spouse claiming their time (3) are all under 35 and (4) have never had to lose more than 20 lbs.
Oh, time to go to the gym…..gotta push the boys out of the way.
Sad but true, there are a lot of women who lift at my gym, but unless their a client of mine, they don’t generally lift WEIGHTS. I think it has to do with fear, and most likely fear of success (if you can believe that one). Something about hoisting iron is scary to them, getting a manicure is the same way with me, fear that my hands might actually look nicer. Nonetheless there are a few brave souls fighting the good fight, spreading the word, acting as a beacon of enlightenment for those in the dark about weightlifting. The problem a lot of times with group classes that teach weights, is that the weights are usually pink for girls, and neon green for boys, and rarely over 12 pounds. The instructors do not dedicate enough time to form and function, and it shows if you ever watch them. Some instructors are there just to work out, while other just plain suck at weight lifting. Who are you going to trust to teach you weights; someone who can barely pick up an olympic bar, or someone who has the physique of a veteran of the iron game? So many reasons, so many answers, too many damn opinions, I say.
Well, so far three comments and three different answers! Clearly it’s a more subtle and complex topic than one might think.
Blaine’s point is apposite: some women just don’t particularly like the activity, in the same way that others don’t like running.
Clickertrainer, I think the role model issue is significant. Could that contribute to the ‘fear of success’ that Jason talked about? i.e. not fear of the weights themselves, but fear of being ‘a woman who lifts weights’ because that’s a bit weird and freaky?
I agree that classes like Body Pump are not really about free weights, but more about using a bit of weight to do a cardio workout. Funnily enough, Body Pump is what got me into free weights in the first place.
Nice site. I like your overall philosophy and your approach to training, willingness to try new things (open-mindedness), and enthusiasm. Hey, you look like you’re having FUN and it’s that enjoying yourself. It’s that the point (for me it is–along with progress in strength or conditioning).
I see several things that keep women away from the weight-room or relegated to pink dumbbells.
1. Weight training is associated with male/female bodybuilding (BB). BB is all about size (and, let’s face it, lots o’ drugs to get that size). Even female “fitness competitors” display a “large” look. Lots of our (wife and me) female friends initially fear “bulking up” before if we try to get them to train with us. I tell them that unless they’re using drugs they’re not going to bulk up. Nevertheless, many of them fear “getting bigger” and the BB culture drives them to cardio and looking skinny/fat. Goal for most = “don’t get big”
2. The other side of the getting bigger fear is the need to “weigh less” as a primary goal. Weight training and GPP makes you smaller but doesn’t necessarily cause a scale-weight change. Lots of women are conditioned to measure success by the scale rather than by performance, fitness, ability, or even how their clothes fit. Goal for most = “lose scale weight”.
3. BB and women’s fitness competitions are about a “look”. Not performance, not fitness, just a look. I think women already have enough pressure from a host of sources about how they look and adding another one to the mix is just more stress and negativity for most. Goal for most = avoid more stress about how I look and my body image.
4. Many women seem to gravitate toward group activities that are generally non-competitive (unlike team sports). (Note: This isn’t always the case—I have lots of competitive female friends—but they’re all independent “I’ll do what I want not what someone else or society wants” types.) “Classes” appeal to the group/passive/do what I’m expected types. Also, I rarely see “classes” being built around heavy iron activities or some type of GPP. Although my wife’s gym is a bit different. The clientele is largely female—but with a high percentage of artists, musicians, other alternative types. There are classes but you drag a sled or flip tires. No mirrors. Indian clubs, kettle bells, Olympic lifts/bumper plates. Hey, it’s an art-gallery and a gym!. (I found my way here through a link Chip had up. http://www.physicalsubculture.com ) Typical goal = do what I’m supposed to–women don’t flip tires….
5. Being strong and powerful kind of goes against the cultural media/social grain. If your friends aren’t into it chances are you won’t do it either if you’re average. I don’t think going against the grain is something the majority of people–male or female do. They have jobs they hate, a large house, a nice car, and debt to their eyeballs ’cause “that’s what you do”. Goal for most = fit in, do what I’m supposed to do (which isn’t lift heavy things).
6. The focus of “working out” is just that: work. It’s not seen as fun, play, or me time but just another thing “you have to do”. That mindset is a killer and keep folks from trying things or challenging themselves. Goal = avoid more work (avoid lifting, it’s “hard”)
7.I’ll quit now, I’ve said a bit too much already!
@ron, I want to go there! but I’m way out in ‘burbs, so I will stick to World in Rancho Cordova for now, though it would be cool to flip that tire. At least World has no pink dumbbells.
I think you are dead on with the “work” comment. Most of my girlfriends want to have fun with their workout. I don’t think Pilates is fun though, it bores me so much I think I might fall asleep.
My wife does ‘cardio’ until there isn’t an ounce of fat on her body, and does a quick whizz around the machines she’s been shown by her instructor.
I’ve tried to teach her that lifting is a better way to look better and had almost got over the ‘looking like Arnie’ hurdle, then I showed her some poorly chosen examples of women who lift that seemed to confirm her prejudices.
I think Ron had a point about it being all about weight for women – I know my missus would be mortified to put on weight, even if it was good lean stuff. I also think that strength has just never been a desirable quality for women.
Oh, and you’re sooo right about enjoying watching women squat by the way
@Clicktrainer, hi! Gold’s in Rancho Cordova (CA) is now a Powerhouse Gym (w/in the last week it changed). The new owner says they’re ditching the “women’s pink weight room” in the back for strongman stuff–KBs, boulders/rocks, farmer’s walk bars, Conan’s wheel, AND truck tires outside. (We’ll see if he follows through…)
Might be worth a look in a month or so if you’d like to give tires a try! My wife loves flipping tires @the Tribe–it’s like a deadlift plus a bench plus and overhead press but most of all it’s lots of fun! (So is whacking them with a 5 or 10 pound club…)
Bodytribe’s workshops are always worth a go–I don’t train there, not enough time–but I sure have learned a thing or two about “weird” and olympic lifts at the training/seminars. Weird and effective–always great for getting folks to wonder what the heck you’re doing–some of less timid even give it a shot after seeing something “new”….
@ Ron: thanks for your insights. Every one rings true, particularly the tyranny of the scales.
@ Ben: most images of strong women are taken when they are actually working out, so they look pumped up and kind of big. And the tight-fitting, sleeveless gym clothes accentuate the look. But if you saw them wearing normal clothes walking down the street, they probably wouldn’t look big at all. I’m always shocked at how big my arms look after a few sets of pull-ups.
Organisations like Crossfit and Bodytribe seem to combine the work ethic and high intensity with fun, interest and group exercise really well. I’m jealous!
i find most of the women i know who train seem to think if they hit the hard iron are going to grow into arnie over night (if only it was that easy), or it just isnt something women do.
i suppose it is a mindset enforced by media and an obsession with wieght, when i mention to my wife that if she uses weight training her body weight might stay the same, even though she will lose the inches, she is horrified. she thinks she should be a certain weight and thats it, so the weight training is out of the question.
there is a lack of understandiing, what weight training can do, which is common with men and women, more so with women. you often see it with men where they only train the t shirt muscles, women have the same problem with lack of knowledge, you only see them in the weights room doing either arm ‘toning’ exercises or belly ‘toning’. that said if i tell my good lady something is ‘great for toning body part x’ she’ll do it!!
so i think lack of understanding, media and cultural pressure is the reason you dont see ladies in the weights room.
well thats my thoughts, only a pennys worth i am afraid.
Lots of interesting responses here, I agree with a lot of what has been said.
I started weight training just over a year ago. I was ‘skinny fat’, had zero strength and the majority of my fat was carried over my abdominal area (not so great when you consider I have a family history of cancer, heart problems and diabetes).
Now, I’m stronger than I ever have been, I am leaner and I dropped 2 dress sizes (although that was an incidental finding, I never had a dress size goal in mind).
My girlfriends keep asking me what my ‘secret’ is. They tend to focus more on the fat loss than anything else. When I say I do weight training (while keeping a good eye on my diet), they’re always a bit confused, not really making that connection between weights and getting leaner/looking smaller. They’re even more confused when I say my weight hasn’t really changed. I think someone else said that the point of focus for most women is to ‘lose weight’ so I expect they’re a bit surprised at that.
Guys reactions are a little different. In my gym, I’ve had nothing but support from most guys. Some have even come up to me and said how pleased they are to see a woman doing weights. My boyfriend likes seeing me ‘pumped up’ after a session
The only ‘negative’ reaction I’ve had is from a guy on my course who doesn’t understand why I wanted to train for strength. The women in my group tend to do long distance running. His exact words were, “Why are you weight training? You’re so small!” Yes, I may be 5ft1″, but it’s *because* I’m weight training that I’m smaller overall.
Very few women in my gym do weight training. I think it’s a mixture of seeing the area as ‘the guys’ area, sticking with what they know i.e. reading Women’s Own on the cross trainer and the instructors not showing them what they can do, that’ll give them their lovely eugh, ‘toned’ physique. I remember asking a female instructor (who I’ve seen lifting weights) what sort of compound exercises I could do to help the muscle groups work together rather than isolating them. Her answer was, ‘do cardio.’
To be fair though, one of the instructors at my gym always encourages women to weight train. 99% of the time, it falls on deaf ears. He really helped me with bench pressing and getting me started on pull ups, yay for him!
On a slightly cynical note, I’ve tried encouraging people who have wanted to ‘tone’ to lift weights and how they could work out more efficiently rather than slaving to a machine, obsessing about what the LED is saying. Despite this, some are happy to stay on the machines, and part of it might have to do with people wanting to be ‘martyrs’ to the process. A ‘real’ workout is one where you spend hours on a machine, building up a sweat and feeling your heart wanting to jump out of your chest, 5 days a week.
@ tentigers: absolutely agree the weight question is an important factor. It’s unfortunate that not only the media but the medical profession uses it as a key indicator of health, so it’s not surprising that people think that scale weight is the only issue. I suppose it’s only recently that there have been moderately reliable and convenient ways to measure body fat.
@ rooroo: your experience in the gym sounds a lot like mine! Despite your peers, you’ve gone against the grain and achieved success – what made you do it?
Probably too many reasons to count!
Mainly because I was fed up with the way I looked and felt. I had wanted to lose fat before, but never took the time and care to research it, so I hopped into the crosstrainer at my uni gym hoping for a miracle. It obviously didn’t come and my body shape didn’t change.
A couple of years later, and my buddha belly was still wibbly, I had no strength (I would flex and there was literally no change in my bicep) and I felt tired and moody all of the time.
I don’t quite know what changed in me, but I decided to do some proper research on nutrition and fitness. My diet before then was ok, but needed some tweaking, so I made those changes, and I started out following the body for life plan. I started to lose fat and gain strength, then I discovered stumptuous, and the rest was history! After that I started to lose interest in cardio (I still sometimes do a little bit now but I much prefer the freeweights) and started learning how to squat, deadlift and bench press.
In a year, the changes through weightlifting far outweigh any progress I could have kept up with cardio. To start with, I would struggle doing dumbbell flys with 4kgs (no joke) now I can bench press nearly 30kgs, and I’m still making progress. I can deadlift more than my bodyweight, and I can do a couple of unassisted pullups. And it’s nice to see that little ‘blip’ when I flex my arms in the mirror
Not only that, but it has really helped boost my self-esteem, and keep my mood up (I used to have depression), it helps me to stay focused at uni and makes me more aware and critical about what’s going into my body.
Is there an entry on this site about how/why you started out? If not, I’d be interested to hear about it.
I like your site, and just felt like throwing in my 2 cents here. Men generally desire to “bulk up” and are afraid of scrawniness – the opposite of what women want. And since there isn’t enough emphasis placed on body composition in the mainstream media, most women are clueless about overall physical well-being. They just see the scale numbers and BMI readings… and fail to understand the benefits of lifting weights. And like Rooroo, I’ve explained repeatedly to my female friends how I dropped a few inches around my waist, arms, etc. through strength-training but didn’t lose much scale weight. However, I might as well talk to a wall when I do that
Also, women aren’t encouraged to do bodyweight exercises beyond squats and lunges. Push-ups and pull-ups are still seen as unglamorous, but they provide such a wonderful workout! We’re told to do push-ups on our knees instead, which is useless. (On a side note, my husband actually built a good deal of muscle without going to the weight room. But he does numerous variations on push-ups, as well as pull-ups, sit-ups, and plyometrics regularly. I bet that if he does decide to take up weightlifting, he won’t face as steep a learning curve. That’s why bodyweight work is so important!) I do a push-up/pull-up routine in the gym, and I notice that some of the older women will look on in puzzlement.
Ah, I contributed nothing new, but I was thinking the same thing you were w/women and strength-training a few days ago. And do you think Schuler’s “New Rules of Lifting for Women” will reach the audience it needs to?
Keep up the great work.
@ rooroo: Yup, I’ve written about
http://gubernatrix.co.uk/2007/11/how-i-got-started-with-free-weights/
Funnily enough, the discussion on this post has made me understand more about myself and why I got into weight lifting than I had previously recognised, so it’s been therapeutic!
@ JT: You certainly have said something new! You’re the first to refer to the important point that women often have less strength to start with – no background in bodyweight exercises or general hefting things around – so its potentially more daunting. They have no idea how strong they are or how strong they have the potential to be.
As for the New Rules of Lifting, I’m afraid I haven’t seen the women’s version, only the men’s. But I am not sure if any woman who isn’t already into her weight training would pick it up off the shelf.
I think a big part of it is knowledge. Not even stuff like “this won’t bulk you up without steroids” and so on, but also the simple muscle memory of how to do things. People talk about how a lot of the early gains in weight lifting come from activating the nerves, not actually building the muscle. If you have no idea how to move like that, it can be really difficult to figure it out.
Daedala, I think that’s very true. I remember when I first started squatting and deadlifting there were aspects of the technique that I simply couldn’t get my head round.
I think this relates to what Jason was saying about classes, that there is a lack of emphasis on form and a lack of knowledge and experience among the instructors as well.
After reading many of the responses here I think this is less an issue of “Why do most women still avoid the free weights room?” than it’s a question of what drives someone to take a different path or approach to “working out”. (Or, at least that’s where the journey has taken me….)
We can ask kind of the same question about both sexes–it’s a different twist but at its core I think we find the same things:
Why do so many men avoid squats, deadlifts, and hard GPP conditioning and bench and curl only?
Why do women avoid free weights and heavy/hard training?
The common denominator for those who have taken a different path seems to be that:
The folks here lead “examined lives”–examine their own actions, feelings, motivations, assess outcomes/results relative to goals, etc. and are willing to make changes. This is a paradigm I’d suspect covers most aspects of these folk’s lives.
Are willing to “go against the grain” or do their own thing based on what THEY WANT regardless of what “society” dictates or what’s “accepted” or mainstream.
Thanks for setting up this question–it’s been a fun journey to think about this, reflect on input from different people, and learn a thing or two about myself and others who seem have the same paradigm for training/life regardless of the individual path they’re on.
There are other things we all can learn from this blog journey but that’s what jumped out at me. Thanks!
Ron, thanks for expressing this so well. I never realised before how much one’s training can reflect one’s values and attitude towards life.
I used to lift weights around a male dominated group. They weren’t that heavy, but I did a variety of upper and lower body exercise weights. Many didn’t seem to care. Some offered help and the rest just looked. Never mind what the guys or gals think. When you’re going to the gym you are there for you! I have 2 body builder champs in my office and one is a woman!
Natural Woman, I completely agree that you can’t worry about what other people think in the gym
I think most women just still haven’t got a clue as to the benefits. I’m not saying that in a pejorative way, I only found out myself last year and that was mainly through doing my own finding, reading books and fantastic websites like yours and stumptuous. The excellent results that come through strength training aren’t common knowledge. Whenever I mention it to anyone that I’m training with heavyish weights, they look at me as if I’m a little mad and darkly counsel me of the dangers of getting big and bulky! The image of the ripped, orange musclebound, steroid-enhanced bodybuilder is still the predominant one of the weight-lifting woman. The information is out there if you look for it but it hasn’t yet penetrated popular culture.
@lisa, when my girlfriends say they won’t lift weights because they do not want to look masculine, I just smile and say “I don’t think I look like a man”. Once, in a restaurant, I countered with that, and the guys at the next table just about choked on their beer.
@ Lisa: well, you go girl! I am ashamed at the number of my female friends I *haven’t* managed to convert. I taught my youngest sister how to deadlift in the kitchen on Christmas Day but I don’t know whether she’s done it since!
In the 4 years I have been involved in powerlifting there has been a relatively large increase in the number of women competing, going from there only being one or two ladies lifting to eight, ten or more per meet. So I think the message is getting through.
The “judge your fitness by the scale” theory is, I think, the sticking point. BMI is a killer for anyone who lifts heavy, mine is 27 and I am way more fit than any of my non-lifting friends.
Also, you are correct in thinking that Canada, at least, is more open to women lifters than the UK. I moved across the pond 10 years ago and I struggle to find a gym to train at when I go back to visit family. Fitness just isn’t a priority for men or women there, but that is a whole different can of worms…..
Just for the record I compete at 67.5kg and squat 130kg, bench 80kg and deadlift 142.5kg, oh and I’m the wrong side of 40.
Wow, Jackie, very impressive numbers!
It’s interesting about the problem of BMI. I have noticed in the UK that this year there are more bodyfat monitors being sold in high street pharmacies, so perhaps this is the start of people being turned away from the traditional scales to bodyfat scales, and treating muscle with the respect it deserves!
I think women avoid it because even though they read over and over that they can’t get big, they still see women who lift weights and look big to them. For instance, on the Biggest Loser in the US – Kim Lyons is in great shape but she is bigger than most women want for themselves. The truth, as I’m sure everyone here knows, is you can increase size by lifting weights. To lose inches and reveal a toned body women also need to lose fat and watch what they are eating. So often, that step seems to be left out of the articles written to convince women they won’t get bigger. Who knows, just my two cents
Hi firefly! Yes I think diet is often left out of the equation. But the other aspect that women sometimes ignore is the fact that we are not all the same shape and we can’t all be elegant waifs. Realistically, I am never going to look like Kate Moss, I simply don’t have that frame or body type. If I tried, I would probably just end up looking ill and malnourished.
So it’s about making the best of what you’ve got and from the sounds of it, Kim Lyons (I don’t know her but just googled her) has done a terrific job of doing that.
You wouldn’t know to look at her whether she is bigger now than she used to be or smaller. Myself, I might look more muscley than some women would like but I am actually smaller than I used to be. So the perception of size is a bit awry.
I started getting into lifting weights like a lot of women these days — reading Stumptuous.
I didn’t start in a gym though, but started with dumbbells (adjustable ones that are heavy, don’t worry. They weren’t pink!). Partially it was because paying for a gym membership was expensive, but it was partially because… well, I’m fat. As in 5’2″ and over 200lbs.
I’d seen so much fat contempt and self-hatred for minuscule amounts of body fat on the body building sites that it really made me afraid to set foot in the free weights room for fear I’d be treated badly.
I finally decided that if someone was rude enough, hitting them with an empty bar would probably settle the issue (not really. That could KILL someone! But I AM strong enough to swing one now, which is cool). I got a membership to a gym.
What did I find? The hard cores? The ones that were REALLY in shape and serious? They were pretty welcoming, and I don’t mean in the condescending head-patting way. I’m accepted as belonging there as much as anyone else.
Noel, I completely agree with you about gyms and if I was advising someone now I would tell them not to bother with the local chain health club down the road. Call up your national powerlifting association, Crossfit affiliate or whatever you’re into and find a proper gym!
Great blog, by the way. I do like your writing.
[...] Gubernatrix: Why do women still avoid the free weights room? [...]
Personally, I enjoy lifting free weights and doing squats. I’ve tried the typical machine, body weight and cardio combination but can’t seem to lose weight. But my boyfriend convinced me to do free weights and that’s when I started seeing results. I do feel really odd when in the free weights room ESPECIALLY when there is no other female around. Typically, I avoid the free weights room if there is no other female around and because I’ve just started lifting so I feel embarrassed if I can’t lift much of do it incorrectly. I think in my case, it’s just a self confidence thing but I think women that lift are hot!
Hi Erika, I understand where you are coming from but I think you should take the bull by the horns! Your technique is probably much better than you think it is. Hey, the fact that you are seeking out sites like this on the internet shows that you’ve got a genuine interest in getting things right. Believe me, most people at the gym don’t bother!
I actually wrote an article about getting to grips with the free weights room for the first time.
Check out my tips here:
http://gubernatrix.co.uk/2007/11/your-first-time-in-the-free-weights-room/
[...] Why do most women still avoid the free weights room? [...]
[...] Why do most women avoid the free weights room? [...]
[...] Why do most women avoid the free weights room? [...]
[...] Why do most women still avoid the free weights room? [...]
Hi Gubes,
I’ve found while training in The Netherlands, Greece and France that a few general rules apply that contribute to women still avoiding free weights (also mentioned above):
1. Myths. The inertia of old superstitions and continuous bad publicity since the start of the workout era: outdated “beliefs”, still used by popular media, are still fed to and picked up by the public. It’s like the rule of inertia: only after a prolonged and heavy continuous truckpulling session without giving up will you succeed in pulling the truck free and gain momentum. Personally I think we’re on the brink of pulling the truck free if WE KEEP ON PULLING that is.
2. Bad gymtrainers, brought up in the good old pink weights only for women tradition. Enough said.
3. Good old plain laziness: to use free weights and train hard, you have to sweat, burp, fart and possibly grunt.
4. Marketing (I’m a marketeer myself) No damn money to be made by something you have to do all by yourself is there? Buy the myth, it’s easy!!!!
5. Lots of women feel it’s more fun doing something in groups, it also makes them feel less “looked at”. I guess.
6. Many people regard machines in the same way as free weights: both give you a strength workout, right?
Might have forgotten some, but this is pretty much what I came across in most of the gyms I went to.
Very good list, thanks!
I think that fear of appearing foolish comes into things, too. When I started at the gym my aim was to blend in and not stand out. When I’d been there a while I got a buzz out of feeling that I was doing well and that I knew what I was doing. After a while I realized that I’d become afraid to try new things because I was afraid of sticking out in a foolish way all over again.
Imitating a t-rex with limp forearms and my butt shoved out standing side on to a mirror was good for me. I learned to upright row (first no weight then stupid little weights and now semi-respectable weights). Face planting over and over and over while learning to do a proper push-up had a similar effect. I’m over the fear of appearing foolish now. But maybe its because when I grunt and fail to pull myself up and everybody notices (because I’m the only girl they have seen even try) then I can go feel like a pro on the stationary bike for a while and nurse the wounds to my pride that way.
lol, yes it’s a real issue Alex. If I’m trying something new in the gym I admit I have to psyche myself up for it (i.e. be so determined to do it that I don’t care what happens or who sees).
At times like this I think of the Dr Seuss quote: “Those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind”!
Anyone who thinks less of you for trying something new is not worth an iota of your mental energy
Yep.
Trying to learn to hang clean now. Need to get a stronger front squat and probably slow down the descent because I’m doing a lot of ass planting.
I really loved the vid of you at the Dan John workshop. You both have been a real inspiration to me and I’m determined to learn the olympic lifts and get strong enough to do them respectably. I’ll be interested to read about your progress on the olympic lifts.
You are right that what the gym people think really doesn’t matter. I’m doing this for me and not for them. I think I’m regarded as more of a curiosity than anything else now ‘what on earth is she up to this time?’ I work out at a campus gym and mostly there are 18 year old dudes curling their biceps and bench pressing. And the girls doing endless cardio, of course. I just started 9 months ago after a life of being sedentary and I’m 31… I don’t really mind what the undergraduates think of me.
I might be wrong… But I think more girls have started lifting weights since they have got used to seeing me lift them. Heavier weights, too. The girls are (just) starting to take over one of the sections of the weights room. It really is good to see. I saw a lady try a turkish getup the other day – and I’ve never seen anybody do that before.
Maybe I should take off my headphones some time and… Try to talk to them. I don’t know… I’d like someone to show me how to use the powerrack at some point and how to load the weights on the bar because at the moment I’m doing deadlifts with dumbbells off the reebok stepper and the dumbbells are starting to get unmanageable.
Anyway, you are a real inspiration to me. Thanks so much for the site
Alex, reading about women like you getting out there and lifting in spite of all the prejudice and plain puzzlement inspires me!!
If you haven’t already, do check out the Women’s Strength Training Network that I’ve started on Facebook – precisely for women like you! There’s a link in my sidebar.
I’m relieved to say that I’ve made a lot of progress on the olympic lifts since that video was made. At the beginning of 2010 I joined an olympic weightlifting club and train the oly lifts three times a week with a coach. I have my first meet in a couple of weeks!
Wow. Awesome to think I might partly inspire you since you played such a huge role in inspiring me! I’m afraid I resolutely avoid facebook (work politics) – but I suppose I could join up under a pseudoname and not let anybody from work know…
I joined an olympic lifting club too. Turns out there was one at my gym. Felt a bit stupid (with my broomstick antics) but the guys are being pretty terrific about coaching me and helping me along. Lots (and lots and lots and lots) of front squatting and the occasional overhead. Turns out my form wasn’t anywhere near as good as I thought it was. It is finally starting to come right so I can access / work on developing some strength with the movement. Can overhead press more than I can squat with good form at the moment lol. Making progress, though.
It was humbling to go from the main gym weights area (where people often move out of my way now and some come to look at the odd exercise that I’m doing) to the heavy weights area (where I sometimes struggle to squat the women’s bar with perfect form and the lightest dumbbells are right on my overhead press max). Good for me, though. Learning to use the powerrack and getting used being spotted (which throws me off a little). I think the guys are a bit scared that I’ll hurt myself. Can’t wait to develop some real strength – brah!!! lol.
How did the meet go? Did you have fun?
I did have fun, thanks Alex. Was very nervous though!
I really enjoyed this post and your blog. I even tried out some of the ‘standards’ yesterday and was pleasantly surprised considering I’m just getting back into it after an unsatisfactorily long absence.
My tuppence worth is that in my experience a lot of people just treat women that lift or want to lift as a little absurd, often to the point of dismissing them entirely.
I had an experience last year of going to a super excellent personal training company with the view to get stronger and leaner. I wasn’t even ‘interviewed’ by a real personal trainer but got an admin staff member who promptly told me what i wanted wasn’t possible and that anyway i didn’t have the ability unless i was a junior olympic triathlete lol! I can laugh about it now but i have to admit i was highly insulted to be written off in such a way. After all she never even bothered to find out my athletic background. For all she knew the unassuming little, slightly podgy blonde girl could have been a junior slalom competitor lol!
So. I think that until the industry accepts women as equals in aspirations and intelligence then its always going to be a rocky ride. If the industry itself doesn’t promote lifting to women in the mainstream how can those few that are really keen ever have the support. The bigwigs of the gym/personal training world need to sit up and start promote female health and looks benefits in a realistic and attractive way, as opposed to try and make as much money off poor fashion mag brainwashed women as possible.
At the gym I go to, I am usually the only woman in the weights area and I have never encountered any problems with the men. All the other women in the gym are chained to the treadmills and other cardio crap and it shows on their physiques. They are all different shades of skinny, skinny fat, flabby fat ect. The only woman I saw there with a good physique is the instructor – she lifts!