Newbie woman lifting weights

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe the men should be complaining the cardio section is full of women!

If you do weightlifting right (proper pace and intensity) it is cardio.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe the men should be complaining the cardio section is full of women!

If you do weightlifting right (proper pace and intensity) it is cardio.

Not if your goal is strength

[Anonymous]

Whatever you do, don't learn how to lift at a Crossfit gym.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyRVQjZL5gE

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whatever you do, don't learn how to lift at a Crossfit gym.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyRVQjZL5gE

I disagree with this. There is a lot of crazy shit going on in many CF boxes, but there are plenty good ones with a significant strength focus and very qualified coaches too. I have started with CF myself and it was critical for me in gaining confidence with basic lifts and finding the courage to eventually venture into the lifting area of a commercial gym. I have abandoned CF years ago but still think it is a good way for women to get familiar with lifting (though second best to hiring a highly qualified strength coach as a personal trainer). The fails generally happen during WODs when people get a bit too competitive, but in my experience the teaching of fundamentals is solid in most gyms. I have been frequenting commercial gyms for a few years now and many things hurt my eyes just as much as whatever CF people sometimes do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I felt the way you did and talked to a friend who is a trainer. She suggested I go to a lifting gym rather than something like Golds or One Life.

I was intimidated by the idea but she offered to go with me. It is amazing! There are men and women, parents teaching their teens, old and young. Everyone is so nice. There is a general common interest.

I think about going to One Life and even after lifting for 3 yrs I’m still not comfortable in the big gym.

Please suggest a lifting gym!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe the men should be complaining the cardio section is full of women!

If you do weightlifting right (proper pace and intensity) it is cardio.

Not if your goal is strength

+1, as someone who’s done many different types of lifting. It’s only when you’re doing endurance lifting/circuits that it becomes cardio. Lifting for strength isn’t that. The only way to do weightlifting “wrong” is to use poor form, IMO. There are so many different plans, depending on your goals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe the men should be complaining the cardio section is full of women!

If you do weightlifting right (proper pace and intensity) it is cardio.

Not if your goal is strength

Yes, it is. Do your hypertrophy lifts with a short interval in between them and your HR and respiration will get up there and stay there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe the men should be complaining the cardio section is full of women!

If you do weightlifting right (proper pace and intensity) it is cardio.

Not if your goal is strength

Yes, it is. Do your hypertrophy lifts with a short interval in between them and your HR and respiration will get up there and stay there.

I am not talking about hypertrophy but about building serious strength, like lifting multiples of your own body weight. Nobody does that with 30s rests between sets gasping for breath. It is just a completely different lifting style than doing HIIT with weights. It does not mean it is doing weights wrong. It is just that different goals require different approaches.

[Anonymous]

How long does it take for one to develop good form?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How long does it take for one to develop good form?

Not that long at all if you’re starting from scratch. Unlearning bad form that you’ve practiced repeatedly is another story.

[Anonymous]

Did you guys all hire a trainer or just teach yourself? I really want to start but I’m afraid to look dumb in my work gym.

[Anonymous]

I used the form advice here: stumptuous.com. The site originally had tons of pics, looks like some link rot since then. But it’s all on Youtube now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did you guys all hire a trainer or just teach yourself? I really want to start but I’m afraid to look dumb in my work gym.

A trainer isn’t the worst idea, but I mostly learned from observing other people at the gym and what worked for them and YouTube experts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did you guys all hire a trainer or just teach yourself? I really want to start but I’m afraid to look dumb in my work gym.

You can start with machines. If its not clear how to use it, most have instructions. You can also search youtube.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did you guys all hire a trainer or just teach yourself? I really want to start but I’m afraid to look dumb in my work gym.

You can start with machines. If its not clear how to use it, most have instructions. You can also search youtube.

They’re not really that great a choice, since they are not sized or proportioned for women and often they present the weight for the lift at a distorted angle compared to where a free weight would be held with proper form.