Women can feel intimidated in the weight room. Nancy and I discuss some ways around that.
In this podcast (Quicktime ipod compatible, 27MB; Google streaming flash video), Nancy Arnold and I (Bud) discuss a comment by Chris Dorr, a long time viewer from Iowa and blogger at Strength News. Chris had watched our podcast on interval training where we talked about motivation. He wondered if Nancy had any tips that could help his wife who has had a hard time getting into the gym and felt a little shy doing weights with the guys.
Nancy has sixteen years experience as a personal trainer. Her observation is that some of the motivation has to come from the individual. As for novices' intimidation the weight area, she has a few tips. She tries to get her clients thoroughly familiarized with the equipment so that they can do it almost automatically. We discussed how even Nancy, not really the sort to get intimated, can feel a little awkward in a new gym, sensing all eyes are on her.
For my part, I don't think this intimidation is just felt by women. I remark how I hated weight training as a teenager because I really could not do it as well as the others. Ultimately, I had some health problems a few years ago and realized it was a matter of getting in better shape or going down the tubes. My new attitude became that I was going to do it come hell or high water. I started flat pressing with 10 lb. dumbbells.
Additional Links
- Mich's blog Maspik Teruzim provides excellent links for women wanting to get into weight training. Mich chronicles her own progress from rank beginner to accomplished amateur.
- Stumptuous provides an advanced resource for women who have already made the commitment to weight training and want to go further.
- Our Men Vs. Women category provides articles on male vs. female training in bodybuilding. To be honest, one of our motivations is that female training is not well covered.
