You rock!

Thanks for keeping this going, I love it.

One of my best moments was in a class in college, where I mentioned to my friend that I’d had an awful charlie horse the night before (drink water! or wake up screaming in agony…at least that’s how it works for me) and was now limping.

Some random girl in the class told me that it was because I wasn’t stretching enough. I said I do stretch, just not excessively, and I hadn’t drank enough water the night before, which was the problem (never had a charlie horse after not stretching “enough” always happens after dehydration and free weights).

She insisted then (and on other occasions when I was talking to my friend) that doing the elliptical trainer most days and doing “weights” once a week was the best way for a woman to work out.

Apparently her doctor who had been in sport’s medicine at some point (because obviously that means he couldn’t possibly be wrong or believe any dumb myths about women in the gym) had said so, and she took an anatomy class and was a “physical biology” major (wtf that has to do with it). Having stronger muscles couldn’t possibly be a good way to raise your metabolism or lose weight. Because she said so.

When I contested that I had better results doing free weights with cardio days in the minority, and that women who do elliptical at my gym are building next to no muscle, she of course demanded I say where I heard such a thing etc, etc.

Fortunately she dropped the class soon (ha, inferior workout and bad at math, I win) and stopped interrupting my conversations with my friend.

My boyfriend not only loves that I do weights, and loves the effect of them on my ass, but he also loves when he sees me at the gym and not only am I the only woman doing free weights, my deadlifts are heavier than most guys’ (except the big, scary bodybuilder types…but their biceps are the size of my thighs, so…yeah). He also likes to ask men who do free weights if they like deadlifts and squats, and then brag about his girlfriend doing them (and enjoying them). Since he’s the only man who really gets to have any say in how I look (and that’s usually minimal unless it’s his birthday) I’m content to ignore dumb men at the gym who think I’ll get big and bulky unless I start doing smaller weights.

Today I was doing my bench presses, and it’s the first day of class so it’s crowded with all the New Year’s people. I have no idea what the standard is, but I have worked up to 100 lbs: it’s challenging for me, I’m proud of it.

So I have 2 x 25 plates (with dinky 2.5s) on a bar, and what else do I hear, loudly, mid-set, than “I don’t understand why all these bitches clog up the weight room! LOOK! 12 reps at 75lbs!”

Wanted to deck him with the bar to ascertain its weight.

He had a British accent–do they lift with 25lb bars there? They use the English system, right?

GRR!! Thanks for this article. I really needed to see it; love the site.

I was on the treadmill just WALKING, with the incline 3x higher than the big guy next to me, now i’m new at this so I was shocked when the guy told me I shouldn’t have the incline that high cause my calf muscles would get huge.?!!?! I couldn’t help myself, I looked down and said hmm they are pretty big, maybe I should go home and get pregnant.

Anyways just wanted to share. And see if there are any tips to get me started with free weight lifting and fat lose.

Thanks! Love the site so far.

A lot of women need to hear this information to get rid of all the crap, myths and lies that are associated with working out.

As a trainer who predominately trains women, I hear so many ridiculous things.

When I ask them where they heard it form they usually say somewhere on the net, or one of those celebrity magazines… *sigh*

I’ve came across your website some time ago, before I started lifting. At that stage I was doing machine, since “they are better adapted for woman” and “allowed me to use smaller weights”. I actually believed it!!

Well, two years later, with very limited results, my husband and I had serious help from an excellent personal trainer, who only believe in training with free weights. According to him it’s the only way to go and he actually treats me the same way he does my husband, by really pushing me and adding heavier weights all the time. I just love it!

I can already see results after just two months and am feeling very confident about myself. My bodyfat is still high, but I know it will decrease as I get stronger.

The best part of it is that weight training has encouraged my husband to train with me and we workout together and he encourages me whenever I get fatigued, which helps me to do a few reps more.

Great site, thanks.

Karin

The one that pissed me off the most was when a whole group of my “feminist” friends agreed that swimmers bodies are ugly, because women shouldn’t have that strong triangle shape.

On the other hand, I can name five people off the top of my head who said they lifted weights for a bit (in one case this meant one session) and stopped because they didn’t like how manly it made them look.

I don’t lift a lot, but I lift well, and when I bench press I only put ten pounds on each side of the bar, one guy looked at me at the gym and said, why even bother. I told him if he used the proper form I use he wouldn’t be able to lift nearly as much as he usually does nor for as long, and another male trainer in the gym agreed with me!

I’m 24 but i don’t think i have what it takes to keep up with that lady. Most of my workouts are super-sets and intervals since i can get a quick full body workout in about 40-45 minutes.

Oh and i have a question if you don’t mind. Are any of you fans of body weight exercises such as pull-ups, spiderman push-ups, grasshopper push-ups, body weight squats, etc? I’m a huge fan of body weight exercises since i can often do these exercises at home.