Haha God no! I'm having mango juice for lunch. It is delicious, but my diet has been so low in sugar the last month, I can already tell that in five minutes I'm going to be bouncing off the walls of my office!

Two times a week should be fine. For the longest time I did 1 day a week with a smattering of light weights here and there in my group fitness classes. It was only this January that I started doing more.

Don't worry about what other people at the gym think! Who cares? Chances are they probably don't care what you do anyway. One of the things I always tell people is that if I actually cared what other people think, I would still be fat as it was those thoughts that kept me from trying to lose weight and get fitter for YEARS.

I guess I feel the same about running as you do with lifting though...to me it's so BORING that I have trouble doing it. I cut back on it though since I was having trouble keeping the weight on doing running, group fitness, and lifting, haha. What I DO like about lifting is how that it helps me with my running. Each time I run my time improves and it's easier even though I run sporadically.



I'm feeling a whole lot better today about my back. Just stiffness this time (a good stretch this morning helped quite a bit) and I tried doing some push-ups this morning and some dips off my desk before the kids came in (yeah I'm crazy). I felt fine. I also went for a short walk during lunch as it is far too nice to just stay inside. I'll probably do the same later when I get home. I'll see how I feel when it comes time to go to the gym later.

Edit: ok, I ran around for about five minutes with my dog because she was giving me sad eyes and I feel REALLY GOOD and not stiff. Hopefully this is a good sign.

Do any of you ladies have trouble loading the bar bell? I always feel like such a fool.

Lisa, what do you mean when you have trouble loading up the bar? Are things too heavy?



I'm all better!! I was feeling great yesterday so I went to my weight training class and lifted a bit heavier this time around.

I've been weighing myself sporadically so I don't really know if I should put too much stock in this. Last week the scale said 114 on the dot, today it was 116 point something. I have a tiny, tiny pair of shorts that I bought that actually fit better than they did when I bought them a few weeks ago (no stretch, size 3. I bought them at the thrift shop for the purpose of gauging my progress). My legs feel thicker though, but that could be water retention from all the exercise.

I don't know, I think I'm just getting paranoid with the scale. Time to stop weighing again, I think and go by measurements for the time being Not to mention that I don't really trust this new, digital scale we got since my BF% varies so much from day to day whenever I've stepped on it!

I still way within the same pound at the gym scale though.

I am afraid of barbells to be honest, I can barely handle 40 lbs on the lat pull down machine so I have nightmares of just failing miserably and being judged.

I'm going to lift today with my boyfriend who is pretty big, so I think I'll have him spot me.

It's been a week and a half since I started. Maybe it's all in my head but my biceps seem bigger, or at least a little inflamed!

I have the exact same! But I don't see how that's possible so quickly. Weird stuff! Gonna do my routine in a bit. Glad I can do it on the attic.


Edit: so I finally lifted again, but gosh it bores me so much. Haha. Oh well. I'll stick with it. Might ask my gym-guy if I can lift there with some help. I either want to do it there but then with guidance or do it alone but at home so people don't see me mess up. Haha.

Is it possible that the veins in my hands/wrists/lower arms are getting a tad more visible from lifting? I have very weak wrists/fingers due to a disease I had years ago, so they have to work extra hard I guess. But it looks like my veins are just laying atop of my skin when I am lifting. Looks so scary! I have scrawny hands/arms. So yeh. Hihi

I'm very pleased to report that I have "graduated" to heavier weights already.

Dumbbell row has gone from 20 to 25.
Barbell curl has gone from bar +5 lb to bar + 15 lb.
Lat pull down has gone from 40 to 50.
Front press has gone from 40 to 50 (but not entirely).
I can do planks for 90 seconds at a time now and my core feels stronger.

Maybe it's mental but I feel like my shoulders are bigger and my waist is more tucked-in.

WHY DIDN'T I DO THIS BEFORE?! haha!

Hi girls! I want to start weight-lifting but it's incredibly intimidating for me -- my gym (at work) is full of middle-aged business types, including SVPs at my company, and 95% male. I almost never go, actually, and keep my workouts to running and yoga. But I'm afraid that I'll end up really skinnyfat if I keep avoiding it...

Where do I start?! I've plyometrics and I know how to use the machines, but is there a basic program I should follow for 1-2x weight lifting per week? I mostly want to tone my butt, core, and biceps... I feel like I have triceps and quads handled, with running and yoga.

for "toning" (a misused term, btw: it refers to the contractile ability of your actual muscle fibre, not how much muscle is visible under the fat) that's what the running and yoga is for - cardio burns bodyfat which makes muscles more visible.

weights should never be intimidating. if you lay a hand on a barbell, your lipstick will not instantly transform into a beard.

my experience at the gym is there are 3 types of guys at the gym: there are those who feel that women have no business being in the gym and should be back home in the kitchen where they belong; there are those who honestly didn't even know you were there; and there are those who think it's totally awesome and great that you're in there slinging iron.

the loud-mouths in the first class don't stay around long - they get frozen out by the other guys if they haven't already been kicked out by gym staff.

the second group, you can ignore them - unless you get pinned and need help FAST, they have their eyes locked on the mirror and are completely oblivious to your existence unless it's to ask you which pose brings out more bicep.

the third group, USE them! pick the buffest guy there and ask him flat out: "hey - my shoulders are so weak i can't progress on my bench. what did you do to strengthen your shoulder?"

i suggest you get a notebook and pen before you ask him because his mouth will open and reams of information will come streaming out complete with practical demonstration, offers to spot, and finishing with "any time you need a hand, give me a shout - i'm here mon - fri all week after 8 but i'm on nights next week".

IF you're really lucky, you remembered to introduce yourselves to each other.

I don't do my weights at the gym, I only do cardio there, which has me on the elliptical for 30mins with a great view of all the guys lifting their weights. And it is just HILARIOUS.

I read this book by brzycki and it explains a lot of do's and don't. Now, my form is not perfect because I just can't see myself from all angles and just don't know. But most guys manage to do atleast 2 of the don't in their workout. One thing I see a lot is guys swinging weights in like 20 reps. You can see they use their back/torso movement to do the fast bicep curls. That does not look effective at all!

Then there's the matter of 'dropping' the weights. Now I see how when you are doing super heavy lifts you drop your weights after you've done your lift. But some guys just throw them and huff and puff like they lifted the Empire Sate building, while in reality they are lifting like 50lbs at most. nd seriously, if you can't do a full start-lift-start with a weight, then go for a bit less lbs!

It just seems to me that a lot of guys, especially the younger ones, are there for the show mostly. They wanna look cool. And they make sounds like they are working super hard the entire time. Now I am sure there are men/guys that work real hard for sure. But certainly not the majority.

My gym got these bar things that let us do some bodyweight exercises. They're a lot of fun and are similar to what I already do on the playground on Mondays. Yesterday when I got there early to do my usual heavy lifting routine, I was just about done when the owner comes over to show them to me. She was waiting for me to get there so she could show me everything! Ha!

I had fun with them. She showed me different exercises and boy were they tough! I was a little bit sore today, actually.

Today before the spin class she called me over and had me show off the different exercises to the guys. I surprised myself because I wasn't scared at all! I just said "Yeah sure!" and did a quick run through of the different exercises. The guys were impressed and said "holy crap she's strong!"

Someone also suggested that we make a poster of my before and after pictures to hang at the gym. Not quite sure I want to see that each time I walk in, lol.

lackadaisy, don't be intimidated by the guys. I find that a lot of them are just shocked that a woman wants to lift weights, or that she can lift them in the first place. My fiance's friends think it's pretty awesome I can lift heavy and now they joke about me beating up one of his creepy friends when he tries to hit on me.

I learned most of my weight training at my gym, but I learned some other things from http://www.nerdfitness.com. They have videos and tutorials, which really helped me when I wanted to do some bodyweight stuff. I know some members here have had success with the New Rules of Lifting for Women book. Look into various things and see what appeals to you

Start small but don't be afraid to go heavy. Lifting heavy does WONDERS for your body.

I have gotten nothing but jaw drops, compliments, and offers for help from the guys at my gym.

Definitely don't be afraid!!

Sontaikle - I have trouble when doing dead lifts, probably because I try to load the bar on the floor and it ends up rolling around everywhere with the 25lb weights.

I find most guys at the gym either totally ignore me or are super friendly and offer form tips and help. I'm also usually not the only girl in the weight room.

Philana - thats funny you find it so boring because I find the elliptical even more boring!

Lackadaisy - Don't feel intimidated I'm sure your coworkers will be happy to see you there!

Maybe I'm insane, but it seems like my midsection is already redistributing itself. I am totally going to lift tonight before the Passion Pit concert.

Krampus I feel the same way about my stomach! I've been lifting 2-3 days a week for 2 months and I feel like my body looks a little better