Ladies who lift page 7

[Pebbles67]

I downloaded "Starting Strength" on my kindle yesterday.
Of course now that I have decided to do this, I want to get started NOW. lol But I am carefully reading the book and watching the Rippetoe videos on You Tube. I will be practicing my squat technique with a bar at home for a while. I may go through a few movements with an empty bar at the gym today.

I found a useful FAQ on "Starting Strength" Starting Strength- Complete Guide

[Catrin]

I've never felt uncomfortable in the free weights section, and I am never in the cardio machine section so I've no idea how the men behave over there. They do pay attention in the free weights area though, but in a non-creepy way. I am quite short, and when I am struggling to pull that 25 pound weight off the top of the plate rack (I can barely touch the plates up there), within a few seconds some nice tall(er) helpful person shows up to help out - generally male. I've had a few positive comments about how hard I work but that is it.

Pebbles67, it would be good to have someone eyeball your squat technique. Even with videos it can be challenging to know what our body is actually doing rather than what we THINK it is doing. It took some time for my trainer to bash into my head about NOT leading with my knees - the problem was it didn't FEEL like I was doing that. You probably won't have the same problem but I wanted to mention it. A proper squat is the foundation for so many movements and you can cause yourself some problems if it isn't done properly. Is there knowledgeable staff at your gym that you can trust to give you good advice on your form? Not all gyms have this, sadly.

[Pebbles67]

My discomfort in the gym is totally about me and my self esteem. (ie. "What is that fat woman think she is doing?") and shyness. I work out at a small local gym where I meet a lot of my neighbors. They all watched me lose the first 50 lbs and have been incredibly encouraging. These days, I even get some appreciative looks.

[teach2183]

Anyone have a program that is for intermediate lifters? I'm pretty sure I've hit the wall for linear progress at this point and am trying to figure out what to do next. I had done some of New Rules for Lifting for Women a while ago and might look back into that when I can lift more than once a week. But right now my numbers are:
Squat - 125 3x5
Bench - 100 3x5
Dead - 155 1x5
According to the charts this put me in the intermediate lifting range so it's consistent with being stuck (at least on bench and dead). Ideas?

[unsuperb]

Anyone have a program that is for intermediate lifters? I'm pretty sure I've hit the wall for linear progress at this point and am trying to figure out what to do next. I had done some of New Rules for Lifting for Women a while ago and might look back into that when I can lift more than once a week. But right now my numbers are:
Squat - 125 3x5
Bench - 100 3x5
Dead - 155 1x5
According to the charts this put me in the intermediate lifting range so it's consistent with being stuck (at least on bench and dead). Ideas?

I've been enjoying the Wendler 5-3-1 programming. I'm currently only lifting twice a week, but have been seeing steady gains (I'm intermediate/advanced).

[kml]

Do any of you ladies have problems with your grip strength as well? When I am deadlifting I could quite comfortably lift around 40kg or sometimes more but I have to stop after 3-4 reps because my grip starts to loosen. I tried one of those grip thingies but this does not work for me. I am now trying to strengthen my grip with a power ball but perhaps you know better ways of improving it?

[unsuperb]

Do any of you ladies have problems with your grip strength as well? When I am deadlifting I could quite comfortably lift around 40kg or sometimes more but I have to stop after 3-4 reps because my grip starts to loosen. I tried one of those grip thingies but this does not work for me. I am now trying to strengthen my grip with a power ball but perhaps you know better ways of improving it?

Kroc rows

[sbhikes]

Do any of you ladies have problems with your grip strength as well?

What I do is on the heaviest set I do the over/under grip, where one hand is reversed. But all the warm-ups I do the regular grip. That way I kind of build up the strength as I go. So far so good.

[sakura_girl]

Re: the grips - I try not to do alternate grip if possible to make the arms unbalanced. I'm looking to buy some chalk now in order to make gripping better, since I can DL over 2 plate, but can't grip past 185 XD

[TheFastCat]

Re: the grips - I try not to do alternate grip if possible to make the arms unbalanced. I'm looking to buy some chalk now in order to make gripping better, since I can DL over 2 plate, but can't grip past 185 XD

Hook grip!