Beginner's Guide To Weight Lifting

For all the women who are afraid of lifting weights, this is for you. I'm no expert, but want to share my personal experiences with others and hope you can learn from them. If you're an already avid weight lifter, hopefully you can pick up some tips!

Raise your hand if you have ever asked yourself one of those questions, you're in the right place. That's me raising my hand to ALL of them.

When I first started lifting I was overwhelmed. The dumbbell room and weight floor are entirely different sections of the gym dominated by mostly loud grunting men. Very few women lift heavy and I hope this "Beginner's Guide To Weight Lifting" will change that.

1) Learn Proper Form- This is one of the most important tips to start lifting. You can injure yourself so easily on different weight machines if it is not adjusted to your body height. Most gyms offer a free session with a personal trainer to help teach you how to adjust the machines to your height. I did this 3 years ago and it was the best decision I've ever made. Once you have this knowledge, you will feel comfortable lifting without getting injured.

2) Lifting Will Not Make You Look Like A Female Bodybuilder- No matter how heavy you lift, you will not look like a crazy Amazon woman. Women's genetics are just not included to have those huge muscles. Bulging muscles like that only occur in the presence of lots of testosterone (aka men). So unless you are taking steroids you will not get huge.

3) Invest In A Good Of Gloves- I sweat through my hands ALOT. Gross, but true. I was losing reps when going heavy because the weight was literally falling out of my hands. A good pair of gloves not only gives you better control over the weight leading to more reps, but it protects your hands from nasty callouses. Most likely, you'll still get them, but they will be much less pronounced if you weren't wearing gloves. When I first started training, I was using a pair of Nike gloves. Now I've switched over to a more expensive pair, Versa Gripps, and they have made a world of difference.

4)Set Up A Nutrition Plan- Eating too little calories is just as bad as eating too much. You can't put on muscle if you're not eating enough food. Just like you won't burn fat if you're eating brownies every night. Figure out what your maco needs are. It sounds complicated but it's not. If you just google "how to figure out my macros" so many step by step instructions will pop up.

5) Set Up A Workout Split- A workout split will schedule how often you train certain muscle groups. For example, right now I am on a 3 day split. Usually I hit shoulders/hamstrings on Monday, chest/back on Wed, and quads on Friday. Sometimes I do take two days off to recover depending how sore I am. At least one rest day from weights is recommended in between. 

This list does not even begin to cover all the questions I had when I first started venturing into the weight room. These were my top 5 concerns. I plan on doing another round, so please if you have any questions about weights/nutrition/or just life email me at lifeandfitnessbyashley@gmail.com

Hopefully you will feel more comfortable venturing into the weight room among the men who sound like they are giving birth.

*Questions for you:

What tips would you give a beginner?
Do you weight lift?