There are no women in the weight room at my gym. Well, maybe not no women. The lighter dumbbells get some estrogen on them. And once I saw a woman in the squat rack. But I’ve never seen a chick deadlift unless it was me looking in the mirror.
Nothing against guys – I like guys. But I need a little female company and inspiration as I try to lift heavier and gain strength. Thus far I’ve found some reading your Powerful Women logs.
I’m 44 and have been lifting for a little over a year. I started this iron business last summer after my husband got hurt and left me to do the outside chores for a time. The first day I tried to carry a full trash can out to the street, I couldn’t believe how weak I was. That really pissed me off, and I decided to do something about it! I joined a local gym, got some instruction on how to use the free weights, read some books and the articles on this site and FA (when there were actual new articles over there) and here I am.
I started off this journey weighing about 123 lbs, with a size 6 ass, and with no upper body strength or muscle to speak of. I am a long-time cyclist, so my lower body was pretty strong and my overall conditioning good.
After a year of ferocious work in the gym, eating less white flour/sugar and more veggies, and surprisingly good genes (who knew?), I weigh about 113 lbs, I’m down two or three pants sizes and I’m as lean and muscle-y as I want to be. With no real aesthetic goals left to meet, I’m switching my attention to gaining strength.
Currently my PRs are:
Back squat - 120# for 5 reps
Deadlift (conv.) - 120# for 8 reps
Bench - 70# for 4 reps
Full-range-of-motion dips (10/5/6), 5 chin-ups, 1 close-grip pull-up and 1 neutral grip pull-up.
My goals are to deadlift twice my bodyweight, squat 190#, do 40 dips in a row and 10 chins in a row. Oh, and get up the nerve to post in SAMA.
Nice to meet you.