[Greenleaves]

I found this great inspirational site about women and weight lifting. http://www.stumptuous.com/cms/

It debunks some myths of weight lifting and people. Two big ones are that lifting weights will make women bulky and the second of which is that women should train with low weights and high repetitions.

I've been motivated to join the YMCA. I am starting to weight lift and I love it. I am still weak, but I am looking forward to one day squating my bodyweight and doing weighted chin ups.

Right now I can squat 20 pounds for 2 reps before failure. I know I am getting stronger. At first I could only do 5 squats with only my bodyweight before failure.

This is fun. I can't wait to gain muscle, lose fat and be strong and fit.

Any other women weight lifters? Or men? (PM me LOL)

[Peppermint_Patty]

Hi Greenleaves,

I weightlift. I have found it to be good cross training for my long distance walking. I lift 4 times a week and currently use a pair of 15 lb dumbells for strengthening my upper and lower body. I do 2 sets of 25 reps each of about 10 different exercises (e.g. squats, calf raises, bicep curls, tricep curls, bench press, shrugs, etc, etc).

All women should weight lift because it can help ward off osteoporosis. Also from what I have read, weightlifting is good for weight control because muscle burns more calories than fat.

In addition, as a person ages, they start losing muscle. Weightlifting can reverse this process so it is a good exercise for elderly people too as it can help them maintain their independence.

Anyway... Keep up the good work!

Peppermint Patty

PS: Women CAN gain muscle mass but it's never to the extent of men (unless the woman takes anabolic steroids).

From what I have read, women gain strength because weightlifting stimulates the production of growth hormone and to a much lesser extent testosterone (women have this hormone too.. but only in very small quantities).

In men, weightlifting stimulates primarily the production of testosterone, which is why a guy who lifts tends to bulk up, as men have lots of this hormone.

Originally Posted by Greenleaves

I found this great inspirational site about women and weight lifting. http://www.stumptuous.com/cms/

It debunks some myths of weight lifting and people. Two big ones are that lifting weights will make women bulky and the second of which is that women should train with low weights and high repetitions.

I've been motivated to join the YMCA. I am starting to weight lift and I love it. I am still weak, but I am looking forward to one day squating my bodyweight and doing weighted chin ups.

Right now I can squat 20 pounds for 2 reps before failure. I know I am getting stronger. At first I could only do 5 squats with only my bodyweight before failure.

This is fun. I can't wait to gain muscle, lose fat and be strong and fit.

Any other women weight lifters? Or men? (PM me LOL)

[Greenleaves]

That's great Peppermint. I am just starting out. I am looking forward to this. Yeah, strength training is good for women.

I am doing squats and push ups at home. I will do more at the Y. I have to learn the different exercises.

[BalishBun]

You would really have to pump a lot of iron (and probably take steroids) to end up stocky, I would never fear weight lifting, if anything it gives nice definition