This is a two-parter. I'm the only woman I've seen in my gym who lifts with any regularity, so there's no one there I can chat up.

If you don't mind, let me know what your typical weight is for these exercises (there are some machine exercises in there; I do machines for most of my leg exercises because they don't seem to put as much stress on my joints). If you don't do it, just leave it off--it's not going to be an exhaustive list, just what I think of off the top of my head. Also, let me know if you consider yourself beginner, intermediate, or experienced. (Oh, & if you use dumbbells for these, just give me the cumulative weight if you use two at once.)

(I"ll post my answers in a while; I want to see what everyone else says.)

Bench press:
Biceps curls:
Rows:
Shoulder press:
Overhead triceps press:
Triceps kickback:
Shrug:
Woodchoppers:
Leg press:
Calf press:
Leg raises:
Leg curls:
Adductors:
Abductors:
Leg sled:
Prone sled:




Second part of this--is it just my gym, or are there a lot of women out there who top out with a 20lb barbell? I have literally never seen another woman (besides my cousin when she was going with me) lift anything heavier than that. And they're not always with personal trainers.

You do many exercises that I don't do at all! The only one on your list that I do are rows (One-Arm DB) and today I did 3x10 at 27.5. I consider myself to be an intermediate beginner

As for your second question, I go to the Y and there are numerous women running around lifting things much heavier than 20lb. It tends to depend on the size and age of the woman though.

I am a begininer begininer and I use five and ten pound dumbbells. I just purchased a set of fifteens. I have a small ( maybe three foot) barbell that is loaded with 30.I pyramid my sets with lots of reps.
I don't belong to a gym- it's 20-25 miles away. I don't have child care. I have a bench on my back porch.
For my legwork I use resistance bands and ( cuss, cuss, cuss) squats.
I don't plan on topping out with twenty pounds- it is just taking me a long time to get strong enough to do flys with two tens.

My answers (with the disclaimer that we are all different, and these topics can be dangerous territory for some. But since I'm not superstrong, I hope not to discourage anyone! )

These are all with dumbbells, so x2 for the total weight:
Bench press: max is 20
Biceps curls: 15 (eternally held back by my left side from progressing. I can go up to 20 in hammers, but not traditionals)
Rows: 25
Shoulder press: these are really lite - I think like 8!
Overhead triceps press: I do this lying on my bench with 2 10 lb'ers, I can go higher doing standing triceps, but I'm afraid of dropping them on my face while I'm lying down.
Triceps kickback:10
Shrug: don't do
Woodchoppers: ditto
Leg press: ditto
Calf press: ditto
Leg raises: ditto
Leg curls: ditto
Adductors: ditto
Abductors: ditto
Leg sled: ditto
Prone sled: ditto

I do all my leg work via plies, squats, deadlifts, and wall squats. I can do 30 wall squats on the ball!

As you probably guessed from my answers above, I don't work out in a gym. So I don't see other people. My guess though, from looking at examples in fitness mags where the models don't lift over 10, is that most people are lifting light bc they've been told they only want to tone, so they think that's all they want/need to do. I don't think anyone but men (and a few women like those of us here) really lift to build muscle and to truly do toning. Just my opinion, which could be totally wrong.

I lift very heavy, but I've been at it for years. I'm in the process of changing the way I workout because the super-heavy lifts are destroying my shoulders and elbows. The amounts I lift vary depending on whether I'm doing supersets, giant sets, one legged, on a bosu, etc. Giving you absolute numbers would be pointless.

Lift what YOU can and want to do. If your goal is to build muscle and your joints can tolerate it...go for it! At my strongest, I was squatting about 280-300 pounds with a free bar, and bench pressing 145 with a free bar. Those days are behind me, but a 20 pound dumbbell is about the lightest that I pick up.

Mel

I appreciate it Mel. I am actually trying to see how...I don't know a way to say it that doesn't sound self-deprecating, which isn't how I mean it. Just going off of what I've been seeing around the gym--which, while not crowded per se definitely has a large number of people most of the times I've been--I lift a lot heavier than almost all of the other women. I'm not in great shape, I haven't been lifting very long this time (I didn't lift at all when we lived in Hawaii, or for the first 9 months or so of the time we've been back, so nearly 2 years), and I'm still lifting more than women who are at least apparently much fitter than I. But when my cousin was coming to the gym with me, she was lifting almost as much as I if not as much (she did do as much in a lot of things) and she's got zero weightlifting background.

Is it that much genetic?

Oh, & these are my answers, you can see that I'm not freakishly high up there:

Bench press: 50lbs max
Biceps curls: 25 or 30lbs (25 if dumbbell, 30 if barbell; I can do more but I usually leave this towards the end of the workout so I'm fatigued)
Rows: 30lbs barbell, 25 dumbbell--I just moved up from 20lbs here
Shoulder press: 40 or 60lbs (I usually cheat & use a machine here)
Overhead triceps press: 25lb dumbbell (Hrbabe, I've seen the laying-down ones called "skullcrushers" )
Triceps kickback: 20lbs--I don't do this one very often
Shrug: 25lbs (this is my standard dumbbell at this point)
Woodchoppers: 60lbs (cable machine)
Leg press:
Calf press: 120lbs
Leg raises: 60 lbs
Leg curls: 80lbs
Adductors: 60lbs to 80lbs
Abductors: 60lbs to 80lbs
Leg sled: 140 to 160lbs, though I can and sometimes do go up to 200
Prone sled: 160 to 200lbs (my max that I've ever completed a 10-rep set with was actually 300, which I did just to see if I could)

See, nothing spectacular. Our gym has a ladies-only area, but I left it long ago in search of barbells. (They do have a few machines.)

Momma - I think genetics has a lot to do with it. And sometimes even if you havent lifted WEIGHTS a lot, if you've been just a little stronger than your peers your whole life you tend to do things that use muscle more etc.

I remember one of the first times I went to the gym in college some musclehead making disparaging remarks about "chicks in the weight room" and I got on the leg extension machine and left the weight where he had it and by golly I pumped out 10 reps. .... I have genetically strong legs, my limiting factor is usually not the leg muscle itself. I cant do that much extension anymore or my tendons scream. I cant hold enough weight on my shoulders & back to do a good squat/legpress etc.

The other part is many women fear heavy weights....the "bulk up" myth is alive and kicking. (and actually for me its not totally myth but I'll still take my Mary Lou Retton Quads over stick legs any day of the week.

following up on "it could be lifestyle" as well as genetics even if you never lifted before....

When I was lifting regularly my weakest upperbody exercise was ALWAYS military press. I would top out there with 8 lb dumbells. and that was when I was doing about a 20 lb bicep curl

After ds was born I joined a gym, now I hadnt lifted regularly in a good 5 years. Much to my shock I STARTED military at 15 lbs and I was doing bicep at about 10 lbs.

Yoga was the difference, I spent a good deal of my pregnancy in down dog and half handstand and full elbowstand.

I've got great legs. I know that's genetics; my mom does too. I haven't met any guys who can do a full 10 reps at 300 pounds on the prone sled. I probably don't need to work my legs at all; just walking keeps them pretty muscular. I do it because I feel real good about myself when I set that pin down lower.

I know a lot of it, also, is what women are taught. Not many women would accept the kind of sexism that goes on in the gym if it happened anywhere else. The gym does the typical personal trainer freebie thing (which I skipped). I've seen personal trainers and women in the free weights area well enough to tell what they were doing only a handful of times, and they've always got the women working that 20lb barbell, never anything heavier. Even the female trainers do this.

I've always been of the opinion that any woman who's ever carried a gallon of milk should be insulted by 5lb dumbbells. And, really, if you can carry a five-year-old, can't you lift a 30lb or 40lb barbell?

I have trouble with those military presses too, ennay. I use the barbell and I haven't yet been able to finish 3x10 with the 35lb bar. I'm not making as much progress with that exercise as I have with most of the others. <grumble, grumble>

GBMM, when I first joined my gym, I signed up for one of the free personal training sessions and it was a total waste of time. It was a female trainer and she didn't seem to get that I wanted to be a bit serious about lifting and so she basically reinforced my lifetime dilettante approach to lifting. But there is another trainer (male) at my gym who helps me out alot and who encourages me to lift heavier whenever he spies me slacking (or using poor form) from across the gym. It's great!

umhum- and thankfully the 30-40 lb dumbbells aren't screaming, crying and throwing a wall eye fit when you carry them.
DD3 weights 32 pounds and wants to be my barbell all the time ! I can do it about three times before I put her down due to giggling.

yeah - I'd like to see the muscleheads press a squirming twirling barbell...my son is only 19 lbs but he can do the baby super gravity field thing like a champ

Our gym has 2 new PT's and I am trying to peek at their sessions to see if I think they are worth paying for after marathon. Hard to evaluate--most of their clients are over 70.

Ennay: I just have to say you really made me laugh. Yeah. Good luck with that. Pressing a squirming infant and evaluating the PTs. That's great. Really, though I think there are a few 70 year olds who could outrun me and kick my glutes on any given day at the gym if the truth be told. But I have a feeling that's not what you are referring to in your message.

And I've always been amused by the guys who offer to help with a 40lb bag of dog food at the grocery store and would never bat an eyelid at my carrying my 5 year-old (or my 7 year-old, who is 50lbs)!

I lift at home so I never run into the weights issue in a gym.

Jax

And my personal favorite is the "carrying the 8 year old up a flight of stairs to bed after she has fallen asleep on the couch". Not sure if the squirmy 4 yo is more of a workout versus the sleeping 8 yo. Either way, I am still working it.