Hello out there!

[Deleted User]

Hello!

I've actually just acquired a gym membership two days ago and have started training with my fiance for our big day!

I start weights next week and don't want to turn into a manly girl...so I'm afraid. any tips?

ptrose13

Hi!  Congrats on the membership and the decision to start training!  Don't worry about turning into a manly girl.  The weights will do a lot for your fitness level, overall strength and any weight loss/toning you might want to do, but women's bodies don't have the testosterone to get all manly like....well, men.  Avoiding weights is a common mistake that I've had friends make before for the same reason, and they just didn't get the results they were looking for until they added the weights.  Have fun!

[Deleted User]

Thank you. I just saw a couple of girls at the gym yesterday that could beat my FI up. lol

1moreJohnson2be

More reps of lower weights. If your muscle thinks it has to lift heavy stuff it will get big. If it thinks it has to lift a small weight over and over though it will stay small but become more efficient and toned. I lift 5 days a week and am 5 foot and 115 lbs so the lifting hasnt made me manly, i'm still petite. The more I lift the smaller my inches are. I'm slimmer now at 115 than I was at 105 without weight training. Do the weights! I love them!!!

jennylee813

It's a common misconception.

The 'manly' girls you saw might have been training for a competition. During competitions, female bodybuilders undergo a super intense training program, and one of the final stages actually involves dehydrating the body, so that the muscles are even more visible. They will also be the first ones to tell you that they don't look like that in 'real life.'

Weight training will make a huge difference to your body composition and will make you healthier overall (as long as you don't sacrifice form and get hurt!). When I had access to a gym, weight training was my favourite part of my day.

And I lifted heavy. I'm still very girly.

meanpony

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_getting-shape_hello-out-there?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:238Discussion:d7c8bb9c-f0f0-46b2-b171-bec984700a7ePost:5d2ee4f6-0ace-4585-ba29-ad5d9fce6372">Re: Hello out there!</a>:
[QUOTE]It's a common misconception. The 'manly' girls you saw might have been training for a competition. During competitions, female bodybuilders undergo a super intense training program, and one of the final stages actually involves dehydrating the body, so that the muscles are even more visible. They will also be the first ones to tell you that they don't look like that in 'real life.' Weight training will make a huge difference to your body composition and will make you healthier overall (as long as you don't sacrifice form and get hurt!). When I had access to a gym, weight training was my favourite part of my day. And I lifted heavy. I'm still very girly.
Posted by jennylee813[/QUOTE]

I second Jennye, you probably say fitness competitors, and maybe even a rare female bodybuilder. They are on intense diets, and supplementation, and unless you hire one of them as a coach to get stage ready, you won't look like that. Ditto to the fact that few people look like that year round. The competition season is just starting though, so if the compete, it might be a good chance that they're a few weeks out. I personally love the look, but I know that most people don't.

Have fun with the weights, they do amazing things to your body.

firsttimersluck

Noooo!!! They don't make you manly!!! In fact, I was doing higher reps, lower weight for a long time until finally I got fed up and started lifting heavy. That's when I slimmed down and got awesome definition in my arms. Not manly definition. Smooth, "I work out but am still feminine" definition. 

Unless you have a more "manly" build or you start pumping the creatine, you don't bulk up at all. Promise. 

I have a girlfriend that does bodybuilding and she is considered a "natural" body building (ie, no supplementation that adds extra mass), and you would never guess when you see her on a regular day. It's only when she's all suped up with spray tans and crap that it's evident. On a regular day she just looks like a lean, fit woman. 

Lift lift lift! 

unchatenfrance

Ditto PPs. When I was into heavy lifting a few years ago I was able to deadlift and squat my body weight. I still looked basically the same and fit into the same clothes. Unless you're hitting the 'roids you won't look like a man.

Don't be afraid to lift heavy, especially on compound lifts. You need the functional strength, and that is how you should approach weight lifting - with the aim of developing functional strength, not to "tone" or "sculpt" or get "longer" muscles, or whatever other nonsense you hear on fitness commercials. Don't be that girly girl at the gym doing bicep curls with pink 2-pound weights. If women were really that fragile and dainty, the human race would have died out a long time ago. Embrace your strength!

unchatenfrance

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_getting-shape_hello-out-there?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:238Discussion:d7c8bb9c-f0f0-46b2-b171-bec984700a7ePost:65e4619d-03c6-4290-a3e1-74610c6c633e">Re:Hello out there!</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re:Hello out there!: Actually, you may need to start with the pink 2lb weights for some of the moves and there is no shame in that. Never let anyone tell you different! Lifting heavy means lifting the max amount that you can while still maintaining proper form. It doesn't have a minimum requirement. Most gyms have dumbbells in the free weight area that move up in increments of 5. If you need to start at 3, grab the "Barbie weights" out of the aerobics room. And when 5 is too light but 10 is too much, don't be afraid to go back in and grab the pretty purple 7lbs. That's my biggest advice, don't OVERdo it and don't get discouraged if you're lifting much less than everyone else around you starting out. Work at your own pace.
Posted by StageManager14[/QUOTE]

<div>No, I get that that we all need to start from somewhere. I just can't stand the Gwyneth Paltrow types who are all like "oh if lift anything  than 3 pounds you'll get bulky." Go ahead and enjoy not picking your kids up and having pre-osteoporosis at the ripe ol' age of 40, then. As long as nobody here listens to Tracy Anderson, I think we're cool. <img src="http://cdn.cl9.vanillaforums.com/downloaded/ver1.0/content/scripts/tinymce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-smile.gif" border="0" alt="Smile" title="Smile" /></div>

[Deleted User]

You gals are all awesome! My FI used to build, and is kind of like a personal trainer for me, because I'm clueless when it comes to the gym. I haven't done any of he free weights, but today I was on a few of the machines, one that was like doing crunches with weight, I was able to do three sets of ten at 20lbs, and for a novice I'm super proud of myself

meanpony

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_getting-shape_hello-out-there?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:238Discussion:d7c8bb9c-f0f0-46b2-b171-bec984700a7ePost:ee856e02-d3d8-47cd-b7a7-a0e8c310517f">Re:Hello out there!</a>:
[QUOTE]TK won't let me ETA my post, so sorry or the double post. Just wanted to point out that I wasn't trying to attack any particular poster. I just think it's really important to be super clear and encouraging to those who are starting lifting. And also important to remember that some of those Gwen Paltrows you are judging in the gym may well be just starting out recovering from an injury as well. I have to be honest, i'm probably a bit sensitive about this at the moment, but I don't think that means it's not worth examining it. I'm not looking forward to becoming fodder for some other message board when I get back to the gym this week, but I'll take my military presses with the 3lb teal dumbbells if that is what it takes to get me back up to the 30lb barbell.
Posted by StageManager14[/QUOTE]

Stage, don't feel bad. Whenever I learn a new move I grab the 3lbs. I rather learn form first. And I think I only lift 30 lbs for deadlifts and squats, so go you! I am happy with the results of throwing around baby weight, because it still challenges me. Once it stops being challenging, I move up.

unchatenfrance

I'm sorry, Stage, I didn't mean to cause offence. I will be more mindful with my "computer mouth" in the future. What I was just trying to say that, barring injury, 99% of women can safely lift more than they do. They just fear strength becauce there is a misconception out there that it leads to bulk. I could have put that in a million other, more elegant ways, but I didn't. Mea culpa!

1moreJohnson2be

These girls are all dead on. Start small. Instead of thinking you need to tackle 10 lbs weights, start with the 3s, then the 5s, then the 10s, then the 12s, then the 15s. there's a girl in my weight training class who is TINY and she can power lift and jerk 75 lbs. She built up to it doing smaller weights and building up to it. I cut back on my cardio and am losing the inches faster now that I weight train instead.  The girls who are "manly" are the ones who eat nothing but baked skinless chicken and protein shakes and competition train.

Also, whoever said they can deadlift their body weight is my hero. I SUCK at dead lifting and I'm at like 35 lbs right now and it kills me. Kudos to you girl!

jaenella

In Response to Re: Hello out there!:
As someone who is just now graduating from my at-home set of 2,3 and 5 lb weights, I appreciate the distinction! I like to think it's not too pathetic when I look at my 8 lb weights and am proud to be able to do my exercises with them, because not too long ago my 5s were too much Small steps, right? Next challenge: braving weights at the gym instead of my living room! And congrats to the OP!

jaenella

I definitely will do... I find lots of the big muscly people who tend to cluster around the weights to be very intimidating, but the gym I joined offers a free how-to with a personal trainer, so I'm going to take them up on that... and try and go at off times so it's not so crazy busy!

Thanks for the encouragement!