Ladies who lift. Part 1: Beginners

TL;DR: Basically how to lift. This is for the ladies who want to get into lifting who said they were interested. If you already lift, or have no interest in doing so, you probably don't need to read this at all. If you're interested, take the time to read the whole thing

Disclaimer: I am not a qualified personal trainer, just a girl who has been lifting for a couple of years and has made decent progress in the gym. I am speaking from personal experience, and everything that has worked for me may not work for you. However, I do believe foundations to lifting weights are the same for everyone, so feel free to use this post if you want to get started. IF YOU HAVE ANY INJURIES please consult your physio/doctor before you start training.

In the comments of one of the recent posts, some of you ladies expressed interest in starting weight lifting, and as someone who has been a regular weight lifter for two years (and has done other sports previous to that), I thought I would create some posts to give you advice. This post will cover the benefits and drawbacks of weightlifting, different outcomes you can achieve depending on your goals, how to start, what you should focus on at the beginning and some very basic nutrition tips.

Mind set first: weight lifting should be something you are doing for yourself because it keeps you well and healthy. There are aesthetic benefits, but if you focus solely on those, you may find yourself more likely to fail and your motivation will dwindle. Focus on how you feel and how your body feels, and reap those benefits.

If interest is keen, I can do other posts later on about how to branch out once you are confident as a beginner. Now let’s get into this, and I apologise if this post is really long. I want to make sure you ladies get as much information in one place as possible.

Also just before we start, as I hear this SO often. YOU WILL NOT GET BULKY. Women do not have the testosterone levels to get really big without taking steroids. Yes you will see a small increase in muscle mass, but you will not look like a massive bodybuilder unless you eat 3000kcal a day and inject gear like it’s going out of fashion. You will actually look more feminine when you slightly grow your booty and upper back/shoulders as it makes your waist appear tiny.

Benefits of weightlifting:

The benefits of weight lifting are endless.

1. Strength and wellbeing – weight lifting helps you build lean muscle mass, which obviously makes you stronger. It also supports your joints, meaning if you continue training through your life, you will be more agile in your later years.

2. Increase in self-esteem – this took a little while for me, as I first developed some self-consciousness rather than confidence by comparing myself to other women who had been lifting for years, but after a few months I developed a much healthier body image than ever before. Realising what my body could do, how I could control and change it to an extent, and that I could lift heavier weights than some men made me feel really confident and happy with my body. I felt like I was finally giving it a purpose.

3. Nicer body/increase in SMV – obviously if you train regularly and nourish your body properly, you will begin to get leaner and see more muscular definition. You can also alter the appearance of your figure to an extent by focusing on specific body parts in order to make your waist appear smaller.

4. And my favourite one: YOU CAN EAT MORE. Weight lifting and proper nutrition makes you gain lean muscle mass and lose fat. Lean muscle consumes more calories, therefore your metabolism will increase significantly, firstly because you are using up calories working out, and secondly because your muscles are using up more calories even in a resting state. I see a lot of ladies on here say they stick to 1200-1300kcal a day. I currently weigh 52kg and eat 2000-2200kcal a day just to maintain my current weight.

Drawbacks of weightlifting:

1. There are no instant visible results – this makes it easy for most people to get discouraged quickly. You will feel internal results quickly, but for your exterior to change, it will take at least 4 weeks for you to notice a difference, and at least 8 weeks for everyone else to notice. Please go into weightlifting with the right mind set and do not expect to have abs in a week.

2. It can be time consuming. Personally I dedicate about 5-7h a week to the gym split between 4-5 separate sessions, but when I started it was much longer, as I did not know how to make my workouts super efficient. I would say 3 sessions minimum is a good number for anybody, but you can increase this once you are more confident.

3. DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) – DOMS are the aches you get in your muscles 24-72h after working out. They are especially bad when you first start working out, or when you increase weight/intensity of exercise or introduce a new exercise. I rarely notice my DOMS anymore if I ever get them, but my first month of working out was tough. Your muscles will eventually adjust to your new ways and your DOMS will be much milder if you get them at all. You can improve recovery time with proper nutrition, stretching and foam rolling.

Different outcomes of weight lifting.

Depending on the style of lifting you adapt (this will be based on your goals), you will see different results from different times of weight lifting.

Olympic Lifting – this is a competitive form of lifting aimed at solely increasing strength and mobility and includes snatching, overhead squats, power cleans, clean and jerks and such. I have never dabbled in power lifting myself as I have some hip mobility issues and cannot squat (an essential movement for powerlifting), but it is a great option if strength is what you want. Olympic lifting is mostly centred around a low rep range.

Powerlifting – this is also a competitive form of lifting, based around the 3 core movements – squat, bench press and deadlift. It is also aimed mostly at gaining strength, however as it does also build some muscle mass you can use it in combination with other lifting styles to achieve better results. Powerlifting stays around the lower rep range (1-5 reps).

Bodybuilding – this is a form of lifting where your outcome is solely centred around your appearance. It includes using powerlifting movements, as well as a lot of isolation exercises to build lean muscle mass, and lose body fat. You will still build some strength, but you would be mostly focused on building body mass. Bodybuilding is mostly done in the mid to higher rep range (6-15 reps).

Toning – this is not so much weight lifting, as it is mostly based around isolation exercises to lose fat and tone each muscle group. It is often combined with steady state cardio. Toning does not build much muscle mass, it mostly tones and exposes whatever you already have. You will only build minimal strength. It is done in the higher rep range (15-20 reps).

Getting started.

You just have to start going. Get a gym membership. Get a tour before you pay to make sure there is at least basic equipment – a bench, a squat rack, a pull up bar dumbbells and weight plates. I recommend signing up to a gym that has a decent sized free weights area, some good resistance machines, different cardio machines and, if you wanna get really fancy, bars and a TRX, which you may want to use as you advance. Get a monthly membership to start with so you can change gyms if you realise yours is missing something. Make sure you get an induction on all the machines if you are completely new to the gym. And then start going and experimenting.

I hear a lot of excuses such as

• I don’t have the time: If you really want to be healthy, or lose weight, or work on your body, you will MAKE time. Even three 45 minute sessions a week will bring you results.

• I don’t want to get bulky: already covered at the start.

• I’m very weak: the purpose of weight lifting is to BUILD strength. It does not matter where you start. You will get stronger as you go along.

• I don’t want to go into a gym full of men: Honestly, this is just something you will have to get over, unless there is a lady only gym near you (these are sometimes badly equipped though, I would always choose a unisex gym). Yes, men will probably look at you, sometimes they may laugh at you, sometimes they will make sarcastic comments like “do you need help lifting that” etc. Focus on your own workout. Be polite, but ignore them. If someone is being really creepy (someone tried to video me once), report them to staff members. In the long run you will probably benefit from men being in your gym – you can observe people who really know what they’re doing and learn from them or outright ask them to teach you. You can also ask them to spot you once you start lifting heavy weights. But don’t be too intimidated, and focus on why you are there. Once you become a regular, they will leave you alone and respect that you are there to work hard.

Once you are there

As a beginner, I firmly believe you should focus on getting key multi-joint movements right over the first couple of months, and then you can build from there with isolation exercises. These include weighted and body weight exercises. Do all the weighted exercises light, until you are confident your form is correct. Then you can go about finding out your one rep max and proper working weights.

Weighted:

1. Squat – squats help build your quads, hamstrings, glutes and back muscles, as well as core. They are the king of multi-joint exercises. You need to perform them with good form, which comes with practice, and you will reap the benefits. I can’t squat myself as I have huge hip and ankle mobility issues, but if you can squat, do it. Here is a video of how to correctly set up and perform a back squat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW_C1A-rejs https://www.instagram.com/p/BPm6ciMAR8I/?taken-by=pcos.powerlifter

2. Deadlift – deadlifts build your hamstrings, glutes and lower/middle back. They also involve your core muscles and some upper back muscles at the end of the movement. There are two types of deadlift: sumo (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQ3A_HmfQyk) and conventional (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DcPMV9uEdQ). The set up is different for both, so please watch the videos. The way you deadlift is personal, so try both and see what feels better. You can also do both.

3. Romanian deadlift – this is similar to a conventional deadlift, but you keep your knees straighter, concentrate on your glutes and hamstrings, and you don’t set the bar on the ground between sets. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCXUYuzwNrM

4. Lunge – lunges work your quads, glutes and hamstrings, and are a brilliant multi joint exercise. You can do these with a barbell on your back, or holding a dumbbell to each side. Keep your back straight, core tight, and don’t let the knee of your front leg go past your toes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSvAMBGbQAY

5. Bench press – the bench press works your upper body ‘push’ muscles – your pecs, triceps and shoulders. Women tend to avoid this for some reason, but it really helps to tone your arms and lift your breasts. The bench press should be performed with your upper back and glutes on the bench, and as big an arch through your mid back as possible. Your feet should be planted on the ground. The bar should touch your chest before you press it up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_V189hK85BI https://www.instagram.com/p/BP7FD5wAdA1/?taken-by=pcos.powerlifter

6. Overhead press – this works your shoulders, triceps and upper chest muscles. This video explains it better than I ever could: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4WoLZbonns

7. Barbell row – the row works your mid and upper back muscles, as well as your biceps. It’s a great exercise for improving your posture. Keep your back straight through the movement, keep the tension in your lats and make sure you don’t transfer the weight to your shoulders. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9efgcAjQe7E

Body weight exercises:

1. Pull ups – these work your back, biceps and core. You can do them on an assisted pull up machine until you get strong enough to do a body weight pull up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGo4IYlbE5g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aP83vi_2Jhw

2. Push ups – these work your chest, triceps and core. You can do so-called ‘lady press ups’, but I advise you to just attempt normal push ups straight away, and work on your form. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IODxDxX7oi4

3. Plank – This is a full body exercise you do for time, rather than reps. It works the core and upper back and shoulders especially. Hold the plank with good form for as long as you can, trying to go longer each session. Do not arch or curl your back, and do not let your hips drop. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSHjTRCQxIw

4. Sit up – I think we all know what these are – they work your core. A good exercise to add at the end of your session. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fbU_MkV7NE

5. Tricep dips – these are a fairly advanced body weight exercise, but most gyms have a tricep dip assist machine. They can work your chest or your triceps, depending on set up (see video). Practice these until you can do them without the assist! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sM6XUdt1rm4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=df9Z3CF7x20

These exercises should get you started. Make sure you read up more on proper form for each exercise, and watch a tonne of videos – it would take me years to describe them all, and visual guides do a better job. For bench press and squats, make sure you have a spotter (ask another person at the gym who knows what they are doing, or one of the gym staff), especially if you are trying a new weight for the first time. Video yourself and look at the mirror in the gym to check your form.

Splitting your exercise

For a beginner, it is probably best to split your workouts into an upper (chest and back exercises) and lower (leg exercises) body day, with 4 sessions a week repeating each session twice, or into push/pull/legs (chest, shoulders and tricep/back and bicep/leg exercises) with 3 or 6 sessions a week to get you started. Once you become more advanced, you can look into specific programmes targeted towards your specific goals.

After exercise, make sure you stretch each muscle group you have worked. You should hold each stretch for a minimum of 30 seconds. Hold it for 1 minute minimum if you want to increase your flexibility.

Feel free to work in your favourite cardio (steady state or hiit) and other exercises like core, burpees or anything else into your workouts.

Last but not least: Nutrition and supplementation.

Please make sure you eat enough. I cannot emphasise this more. Work out your BMR, RMR and you daily maintenance calories (calculators here: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/calculators.htm?searchTerm=calculators) and eat at least what your ‘fat loss’ calories are. NO LESS. Ideally, eat at maintenance to start with to avoid fatigue and injury. For reference, I am a 155cm 52kg 24yo reasonably active female and I currently eat around 2000kcal just to maintain my weight.

Eat a lot of protein (around a gram per pound of body weight is a good place to be) to promote recovery, and lots of fibre, complex carbs and good fats. Try to cut out as much junk as you can (though don’t completely deprive yourself) and focus on nutrition dense food you enjoy eating. Listen to your body, and eat if you are hungry. Although you can count your calories and macros, I find it easier to eat quite intuitively. This is a personal choice though.

Also, GET OFF THE SCALES. Stop weighing yourself. Once you start lifting weights, the scales are not always an accurate measure of your progress. Muscle is heavier than fat, therefore you could get heavier but smaller. Do not be alarmed if you gain weight on the scales – this does not mean you are getting fat. Your mirror is now your best friend for noticing progress!

I realise this is probably the longest post EVER, but I feel it is very important to cover a lot of this information. I still feel like I should have covered more. Please feel free to message me if you need any extra information, and I will happily answer any questions below  I hope this inspires some of you to get into weightlifting!