A Must Read!

[lukewarm]

I think this is somthing that most women share - and a lot of guys don't get. It's not an unreasonable fear cause the intimidation factor is huge. I belong to two gyms (long story) and 90% of the time there are exactly 2 females in the free weights room - myself and my work-out partner. And it took literally months to stop getting the stares and the comments (even from trainers) and the feeling of being "out of place". One of my gym memberships offers 3 free sessions with a trainer...I used mine to go armed with a list of movements and say "show me proper form for this (i.e. squats, deadlifts)".

EXACTLY! I feel intimidated WALKING past the free weight section on my way to the cardio room. I really do hate it that I feel intimidated though, it's not like I want to feel like a meek little girl, because I'm not, but I feel ridiculous trying to manipulate the weights in front of all those men. My gym offers 3 free sessions with a trainer too and I have been wondering how to go about it, because I really do want to start lifting but I can't just go over there and start lifting, despite reading all I can and looking at tons of pictures, I feel like my lack of experience with the proper form would result in hurting myself. The reason I'm hesitant about bothering with the trainer is because I am worried they won't take me seriously. So going in with direct questions would be a great idea, but I also don't know exactly what to ask. I did work out on the weight machines tonight because it's so easy. I put on as much weight as I could but there's so many machines I didn't know how many of them I should do, or how many for each muscle. WEIGHTS ARE HORRIBLY INTIMIDATING.

 

[lukewarm]

oops, haha I posted without even reading the article, maybe it will give me some insight as to what I should be asking the trainer. I'll read it now.

"Question: "Sugarbottoms, how 'bout I teach you how to squat today?"

Answer: "But I don't want to get big and bulky." "

Ugh. And in my experience, the only people who have ever told me I'd get big and bulky were men. Men are entirely chauvinistic in the free weight section and it's not amusing, it pisses me off. I feel as though I have to prove myself when I'm there, and that's not me being paranoid or a raging feminist, I distinctly detect that vibe.

I think I better understand why SS Cardio is not ideal now. I have heard the marathon/sprinter analogy before but I get it that it doesn't compare to HIIT. And no I really don't enjoy 60 mins on the Elliptical but the dude that wrote that article makes it sounds like every woman is walking 3 mph on a treadmill without breaking a sweat. I know that I'm not doing HIIT, but I don't understand if what I'm doing is SS cardio when I'm pouring buckets and my heartrate maintains around 170-180 for 60 mins. If the intensity is kept high and such, then surely that's middle of the road, pretty decent cardio? Thanks for posting the article. I hear so much about deadlifts, and those seem the hardest to do.

EDIT: Sorry if this comes across as hostile. I didn't mean it that way, I was in a mood.