The Student Room Group

The Barbelles Society: Ladies Who Lift

Before anyone asks: I have started another thread because there was some real garbage in the old one and I wanted to start fresh.

To start with, why should I, as lady, be lifting weights?

Well, if you want a body like this:



Or this:



Or this:



...well, you see where I'm going. Most of the lady celebrities you would die to look like lift weights - Beyonce, Jessica Alba, Jennifer Garner, Jessica Biel etc etc. They wouldn't have their bodies from cardio alone, no, that fantastic 'toned' look that the lady magazines rave about is gained through weight training.

How does it work?

We all know cardio burns fat, and that's what most girls want so it's really easy to just fall into doing cardio all the time. That's great for a while, but what happens when your muscle starts to get wasted. You've lost fat, you've lost muscle, now you're just a skinny weakling with no definition at all. Remember, though, weight training is exercise all its own and will also help you to burn fat off but with the added benefit of stopping your body from wasting its own muscle. When you're done, the fat will be coming off and you'll have nice firm muscles just waiting to pop out. On top of that, it'll help speed up your metabolism so you will burn off food faster than if you had no real muscle.

What about those massive female bodybuilders?

A mixture of things, higher levels of teosterone, constant training, 5,000 calorie a day diets - those girls are forcing their bodies to become that way because that's the way they want to look. The fact is, us average girls just can't achieve that look and so we shouldn't worry about it in the slightest.

Any other benefits to women specifically?

Bone-strengthening. As a woman, you're more likely than a man to develop oesteoperosis, bone-thinning, with age. Lifting exercises can help strengthen your bones, as well as when you have a good diet alongside it.

Shoud I use machines or free weights?

Free weights, I'd say. Machines are better than doing nothing with weights at all, but free weights are almost always the best option. The problem with some machines, moreso the Smith Machine, is that it can force you to do an unnatural movement as the bar you are lifting is locked in place. The one machine I'll give an exception to is the Assisted Pull-Up and Dip Machines, as a lot of women who are just starting are incapable of doing a pull-up with no help, so this is good for practice. Yes, it can seem scary to do weights without help for the first time, but we have all been there and it takes no time to get used to it, trust me.

The men in the weight section are big and scary.

But mostly nice guys. Of course you're going to get jerks, you'll get them anywhere you go in the entire world, but most of the people are the gym either don't care what you're doing or are nice people who would be willing to help you if you just asked them. Personally, I've only ever encountered polite, friendly men at the gym. Just because someone's big, doesn't mean they're mean.

Can I have some beginner workouts?

Since you asked nicely:
"Stripped" 5x5 - http://newbie-fitness.blogspot.com/2007/01/stripped-5x5.html
Beginner Full Body Workout - http://www.stumptuous.com/workout-1
Beginner Upper Body Workout - http://www.stumptuous.com/workout-2
Feel free to ask for anymore.

I see numbers and I don't know what they mean.

Those are reps and sets. A rep is the exercise itself i.e. one bicep curl, pulling the arm up and letting it back down, is the rep. Say you do 5 bicep curls, that's 5 reps, and if you finish there that would be your set. Then you may have a break and do another 5, that's 5 more reps and another set.
If someone puts something along the lines of - Bicep curls 3x8-12, the 3 is 3 sets, the reps are a minimum of 8 and a maximum of 12 (the person is aiming for anywhere between 8-12, they may not be able to get to the maximum because their arm gets too tired but they want to make sure they definetly hit 8). So they did 8-12 reps, one set, took a break, 8-12 reps, second set, 8-12 reps, third set. I hope I explained that well enough.

Other resources:

For the Girls - Toning, Diet and Exercise a very basic guide: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=887324

Anything else?

I'm hoping that other girls who lift will come here, so there will be a lot of people to talk to. If you're a beginner or been doing it for years and years, it doesn't matter, it's just nice to have a place for us all to talk.

Society Rules:

1) I do not want to hear about any fad diet, how drinking cranberry juice will make you lose weight or any such garbage.
2) I do not want to hear about how girls who lift weights will become she-hulk overnight.
3) No one cares about your opinion on women who lift weights or, in fact, on women generally.
4) Photos for you to fap to are what porn sites are for.
5) I don't want to hear about doing 1000 sit-ups a day or some such for perfect abs.
6) I don't want to hear advice you read in the latest lady magazine.
7) I don't want to hear about how we should be doing light weights, high reps.
8) If we want advice, we'll ask for it.

Note: This isn't open membership, I'll be approving people because I really only want serious people joining.

Members:
Sorani
Jelkin
sauce (Blog: Sauce's shiny new lifting and weight loss blog - http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1436335)
Serentonin
rlw31 (Blog: Rachel's Blog - http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1107133)
pina.Love
Sarky
Becca
Steffi.alexa
penelope18
GdotL
sleekchic
FormerlyHistoryStudent
Mm_Minty
black_mamba
LP_18
aivi
bekylouisex3
helpnowplease
humbug5678
Jen_App
Juicy Fruit
LADY755
Mija_Maryy
Miss Communication
MissLightyear
(edited 12 years ago)

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Reply 1
But I liked the other thread. :frown:

Anyway today I benched 35kg for 3x5. I'm pretty impressed and I'm looking forward to getting to 40kg
Reply 2
Original post by sleekchic
But I liked the other thread. :frown:

Anyway today I benched 35kg for 3x5. I'm pretty impressed and I'm looking forward to getting to 40kg


I think that thread started off well but it was kinda getting dominated at the end by silly arguing - particularly with male members.
Reply 3
Here's the link to the group itself for people who want to join - http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/group.php?groupid=969
Reply 4
I personally found the other thread was a bit dominated by annoying chains of photographs. Inspiration is good, but when it goes on and on and you have to scroll down the page to get to the end of it, and it's every few posts, it gets a bit much.

EDIT: By the way I might try out the "Stripped" workout linked in the first post - anyone else on it? Is it good?
(edited 13 years ago)
Reply 5
Original post by Jelkin
I personally found the other thread was a bit dominated by annoying chains of photographs. Inspiration is good, but when it goes on and on and you have to scroll down the page to get to the end of it, and it's every few posts, it gets a bit much.

EDIT: By the way I might try out the "Stripped" workout linked in the first post - anyone else on it? Is it good?


My faves from the whole old thread, cropped, re-sized and taking up less space :smile:




(edited 13 years ago)
Call me sexist, but I couldn't find a woman who could easily beat me up attractive. :nope:
Reply 7
Original post by Addzter
Call me sexist, but I couldn't find a woman who could easily beat me up attractive. :nope:


I don't think strong girls generally go out with weak guys.
Reply 8
So you girls lift?

Pics or you're lying.
Reply 9
Allow me to add some rules to this society:

1) I do not want to hear about any fad diet, how drinking cranberry juice will make you lose weight or any such garbage.
2) I do not want to hear about how girls who lift weights will become she-hulk overnight.
3) No one cares about your opinion on women who lift weights or, in fact, on women generally.
4) Photos for you to fap to are what porn sites are for.
5) I don't want to hear about doing 1000 sit-ups a day or some such for perfect abs.
6) I don't want to hear advice you read in the latest lady magazine.
7) I don't want to hear about how we should be doing light weights, high reps.

I'll undoubtedly have to add more later.
Reply 10
What the heck, I accidentally double posted and deleting one of them deleted both of them :s-smilie: . Ah well, best of luck to all the ladies who lift. :biggrin:
Original post by Sorani
I don't think strong girls generally go out with weak guys.


Oh, well, yeah, I guess that's true.
Reply 12
Original post by Sorani
Allow me to add some rules to this society:

1) I do not want to hear about any fad diet, how drinking cranberry juice will make you lose weight or any such garbage.
2) I do not want to hear about how girls who lift weights will become she-hulk overnight.
3) No one cares about your opinion on women who lift weights or, in fact, on women generally.
4) Photos for you to fap to are what porn sites are for.
5) I don't want to hear about doing 1000 sit-ups a day or some such for perfect abs.
6) I don't want to hear advice you read in the latest lady magazine.
7) I don't want to hear about how we should be doing light weights, high reps.

I'll undoubtedly have to add more later.


Thank you for this!

EDIT: Actually, maybe you could add these to the OP? I doubt any of the blokes posting crap will pay much attention, but it might be worth it anyway.

EDIT2: The top middle photo of your other post is my fave :smile: I love the phrase, "strong is the new skinny"!
Reply 13
Original post by Jelkin
Thank you for this!

EDIT: Actually, maybe you could add these to the OP? I doubt any of the blokes posting crap will pay much attention, but it might be worth it anyway.

EDIT2: The top middle photo of your other post is my fave :smile: I love the phrase, "strong is the new skinny"!



She does have a fantastic body - and yeah, I will put the rules in the OP.

It's annoying, because I am willing to allow some male honorary members because there are some guys who give genuinely good advice - the problem is, off the top of my head, I can only think of about 4 of them. This forum is so full of crap.
(edited 13 years ago)
Reply 14
I really admire girls who are serious about their fitness and dont just go to the gym to look pretty infront of the lads. So a thumbs up from me. Also post pictures so we can see your progress.
Reply 15
I am going to add links to member's blogs as well, if people want to follow specific progress.
Original post by Sorani
Allow me to add some rules to this society:

1) I do not want to hear about any fad diet, how drinking cranberry juice will make you lose weight or any such garbage.
2) I do not want to hear about how girls who lift weights will become she-hulk overnight.
3) No one cares about your opinion on women who lift weights or, in fact, on women generally.
4) Photos for you to fap to are what porn sites are for.
5) I don't want to hear about doing 1000 sit-ups a day or some such for perfect abs.
6) I don't want to hear advice you read in the latest lady magazine.
7) I don't want to hear about how we should be doing light weights, high reps.

I'll undoubtedly have to add more later.


I like this.


My deadlift is up to 75kg now :proud:
Reply 17
Original post by Serentonin
I like this.


My deadlift is up to 75kg now :proud:


So jealous.
Reply 18
Original post by Addzter
Call me sexist, but I couldn't find a woman who could easily beat me up attractive. :nope:




I dono dude, last friday i saw this really hot girl at the gym, huge boobs, nice legs, kinda big arms, anywais i was usin the bench and i asked her to spot me cos she was the only one there and i wanted to try a new max (100 kg) so i tried and i failed and she helped me up, then i went onto to do my shoulders at the shoulder bench, but she asked me for a spot when she was on the bench, i walked over and omg she had 4x25kg 2x15 kg 2x2.5 kg plates on there, and she managed 3 whole reps amazingly, and then i had to help, but damn she was stronger then me on everything besides squats (im quite proud of my fat powerfull ass, i used to go to the gym for a whole year and just do legs because i was scared i was going to ''stunt'' my growth)

Anyways im interested in how much the average woman that works out regularly can lift, would you all mind letting me know how much you do?
Original post by Nizzay!
I really admire girls who are serious about their fitness and dont just go to the gym to look pretty infront of the lads. So a thumbs up from me. Also post pictures so we can see your progress jack off.


Fixed for you.
(edited 13 years ago)

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