Weightlifting is For Girls Too - Something About Me

Little bit of a different post today, and a little more personal and about me! 

As a couple of you might have gathered from my instagram- which you can find here @liquidgrainofficial in my spare time I like to lift!  I thought I would do a little blog post about it and maybe it might encourage more girls to give it a go. 

I fell into weights a bit by accident.  Through my sport I was offered a lot of support to help me improve as an athlete, and part of that support was the expertise and help from a Strength and Conditioning coach.

So for the past three years I have really benefited from getting weights and gym programs written especially for me.  In the past year and a half or so I have been getting more into it all, and for Christmas I even got some fancy lifting shoes you can see above! 

I get a lot of lifting for a few reasons: 

- You can really watch yourself progress.  Every session I write what weight I did next to the exercise I was doing, which gives you a sense of accomplishment and progress when you see those numbers getting higher and higher.

- You don't get bored.  I sometimes find the gym a bit boring- you come in, do 20 minutes here, there, then you leave.  But I do two different sessions a week, and my program changes every six to eight weeks to keep things fresh.  There are other approaches to doing it but I like all the changes. 

- It's a great way to get fit.  Believe me, once you've learned the technique and start upping the weight you will get a serious sweat on in the gym.  And we all know sweat is good!  

- DOING WEIGHTS DOESN'T MEAN YOU WILL GET BULKY.  Sure if that's your goal you can match your program to it- keeping the weight heavy and the reps low.  But if you up the reps you're working more on the conditioning side of your body rather than strength and bulking up.  So you match your program to your aims.

So I would really encourage all you girls to get out of the cardio suite and into the weights room!  It can sometimes be a macho environment but if that puts you off a lot of gyms are running girls only sessions where you can work out without the boys!

Just give it a go, most gyms will offer a free introduction to the equipment and the basic moves.  And you can always hire a PT for one or two sessions to get you going so you feel confident by yourself.  I would then encourage everyone to get a gym buddy, because working out by yourself can get a little lonely / boring.  Plus it can help you progress because you won't be inclined to cheat like you will by yourself - I know I do!  Plus you can have someone checking your form and spotting for you if you need that.