Too many women are afraid of hitting the weights. No... I'm not talking about your wee little 5 pound pink dumbbells next to your yoga mat in your bedroom. I'm talking squatting, swinging, lifting actual weights that make you sore the next day and make your body change. Over the course of the last 8 or so years I have heard many reasons why my friends, colleagues, and strangers don't weight train. The top 5 reasons I'm told over and over again are below, and are followed by my suggestions on how to overcome those excuses. Let's begin...
5. You don't know the 'other' benefits of weight training
Women oftentimes think that weight training is hard, boring, or only for men that want to be jacked and put on mass. Oh ladies.. shake shake shake your heads. Weight training offers so much more than just aesthetic benefits of looking like a total badass. Besides getting you a solid toned bod, weight training also helps with many other aspects of your health, including (but not restricted to) the below:
- Improve everyday activities - think: climbing the stairs, playing with your kids, just being your awesome self
- Maintain or lose weight
- Change your body composition
- Improve bone density
- Reduce symptoms of diseases/illnesses
- Protect against injury
The Change: You need to start with a self-reflection on how much you really know and understand about your health (corny, eh?) and see how lifting a few weights can help lift you to a new level of health and fitness. Understanding needs to come before action. If you truly believe you see the benefits in lifting weights and want to make a change for more than just a great new ass, half your battle is done. But seriously, who doesn't want a great ass?
4. You have no time
Many women (and men alike, for that matter) complain that they have no time in their busy schedules to weight train. While life continuously gets more complicated and full, it may seem like fitness is an easy pusher - you keep pushing it off until magically life all of the sudden opens up a little more spare time. False. This will never happen. As we age, responsibility and priorities increase with us. So if you don't figure out a schedule now, you won't do it.
The Change: Take an honest look at your schedule and I guarantee you have some time to spare for your health. You do not find the time, you make the time. Find a gym that you know you will actually go to and want to go to. My suggestion is somewhere close to either home or work that has an atmosphere you enjoy being at. That's key: you must enjoy where you train. If that's at home, start building your own home gym collection if you feel more comfortable there. Personally, I prefer boutique gyms (smaller gyms that have only 1 or 2 locations) where you know the staff personally and the regulars personally. Do your research, make a schedule, and prioritize your health.
3. You're intimidated in the gym
We've all seen it. The juicer d-bags in the free weight area hoarding the squat racks, dumbbells, and bench presses with their chests puffed out, walking around like they own the place, and grunt whenever they pick up or lower, well, anything. They're not the type of person you want to say 'oh hey are you done with that rack yet?' while you're rocking your awesome new pink lulu head band. They're intimidating. Especially for a woman who a) doesn't want to look like a fool in front of them, or b) is insecure about what she wants to do, how she looks, and doesn't want other people to realize she's insecure (or even there). I've been there. We all have. They may be the sweetest men in real life but in that moment, they're scary beasts.
The Change: You have 2 options here, ladies.
1) Work up to a point where you have the confidence to own what you're doing at the gym, and get the equipment you need, regardless of who's around. To get to this point (depending on your level of confidence) you may need to start with a trainer first so you can feel confident in what weights to use, how to use them properly, and how to perform the exercise so you're confident enough in the free weight area to own your program. You have every right to lift those weights as he does, woman. You can get yourself to the point where you believe it too.
2) Change gyms. I know it seems drastic, but what is $10-15 more per month if you will actually feel better about yourself, love going to the gym, and actually feel confident walking up to any piece of equipment you want? Don't ever join a gym where you feel inferior, a second class citizen, or get sick thinking about walking into the weight area. I don't care if you get a company discount. Leave.
2. You're afraid of getting 'too big'
*Insert swear word*. I can NOT tell you how often I've heard this one. Ladies, I'll say it once and I'll say it a thousand times over: You will NOT get this big on your own (see picture below). To reach this kind of muscle mass and definition, it takes individuals months and months - even years - of dedicated training, dieting, hormone changes (in some cases... possibly in the case below...), and life style changes in order to look this way. You will never look like this unless you specifically set out to look like this. Get it? Good.
Now that we've established that, you also will not get a firm ass or perky breasts into your 20's, 30's and 40's unless you develop muscle mass. Seriously. Want your boobs to stay perky longer? Wear that backless dress without a suction cup on the front? Bench press, princess. Incline, decline, barbell, dumbbell, I don't care. Just do it.
The Change: Understand that it will not happen to you (above). That's it. Plain and simple. Understand that you will not get to be a beast by upping your weight limit and getting low down and dirty with a barbell. If ever you feel too 'bulky', just add in extra cardio or change some of your weight days to circuit training. By educating yourself, or working with a trainer, you can understand how lifting certain weights, lifting in specific types of programs, using specific equipment, and doing certain exercises in succession, you can shape your body how you want to shape it. This leads me into the #1 reason...
1. You're not sure what to do and/or how do train
This is the bread and butter from the women I've talked to. It's not that you don't want to lift weights, it's just that you have no effing clue where to start. Completely understandable, ladies. And there are solutions to overcome this.
1. Get a (qualified, educated, solid) trainer. I highly, highly recommend this to any woman who doesn't know what the hell is going on in the weight room. Even if you cannot afford to have a personal trainer once or twice a week or so, hire a personal trainer for a 2-time or 3-time session to just take you through all of the proper forms of regular exercises so you get your technique correct, and request a workout program based on the moves you've learned. It's worth the fee of these people if you can understand what the difference is between a good muscle burn and a joint or tendon hurting from improper form. It's also a great way to get off to your training on the right foot, both in terms of proper form as well as gaining a program you can understand and follow.
I beg this of you first, though: do your research on trainers. I will do a separate post on what to look for in seeking out a personal trainer, because there are too many out there that really should not be training at all. As a primary tip, a good trainer will ask you on your first assessment if you had/have any injuries, surgeries, c-sections, or health problems before you train with them. Failure to understand/recognize this in a client means the trainer may put your body through certain exercises that will worsen your health.
2. Do your research.
There are tons and tons of different programs, articles, and circuits on the internet about what to do. Everything from '15 minute abs' to 'Carrie Underwood's leg workout'. Some of them out there are fantastic. Others are so horrendous I don't know who posts those things, or what they actually look like... But the best way to know what ones are great and what ones are garbage is by understanding what your body responds to, what you want from your body, and what your goals are.
Now that we've established the excuses, there aren't any anymore... right?! Ladies, feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions. Happy squatting :)
