On Sunday, I went to the gym to do something I haven’t done there in awhile: lift weights. A couple of years ago, I met with a personal trainer a few times, and she gave me two great workouts to do, one for home and one for the gym. Both yielded great results, but I haven’t done the gym workout since before Edwin was born. When I was pregnant, I did a lower-impact workout, and since his birth I’ve only been going to the gym once a week for my favorite Step class. (I still do the home workout at least once a week, along with walking and yoga.) Now that it’s summer, I want to kick my workouts into higher gear, so I’m headed back to the weight room.
My gym has two weight-lifting areas, free weights and high-resistance machines. The circuit the trainer set up for me mostly takes place in the downstairs free-weight room. Not a lot of women work out there. In fact, when I was working out on Sunday, I was the only woman surrounded by 12-15 men. (Once, an older woman walked through, and I got excited, thinking I’d have company, but she was just coming to find her husband.) In the ten years I’ve been a member of that gym (including the two years I worked there as a fitness trainer) it’s always been the same ratio, at least ten men for every woman.
Why is this the case? There seem to be more women than men using all the other sections of the club: the upstairs weight circuit, the cardio area, the pool, and especially the workout classes. It’s not that women don’t want to lift weights; the upstairs weight area is always full of women, and there’s a weight-lifting class that’s usually split about fifty-fifty. It’s only the downstairs free-weight room that doesn’t draw women. What’s going on here? Do women not like free weights? No, there are hand weights upstairs and I see those getting used by women all the time. Do women not know how to use the machines? I doubt it, because my club has a lot of great trainers to ask for help, and it’s common knowledge that women ask for help more often than men. Do women not like going downstairs? EUREKA! THAT MUST BE IT! (Just kidding.)
I suspect that the problem is exactly my reaction when my personal trainer first took me down there: it’s intimidating. There’s something about being a woman in a room full of men that feels uncomfortable. When I was there on Sunday, I did feel watched. (It was hard to catch anyone at it, because it’s easy to watch someone indirectly with all the mirrors around, but I had that “creepy” feeling on the back of my neck.) I’m not sure if I was watched admiringly (either “I’m impressed there’s a woman keeping up with the guys down here” or “she looks good”- that would be nice!) or resentfully (“why doesn’t she go back upstairs where she belongs” or “with her here, I can’t swear loudly or talk about farts”). Either way, it took me awhile to feel comfortable. But once I adjusted, I had a great time. Everyone was fairly quiet and focused on their work. The few interactions I had with the guys were all very polite. I didn’t even find, as I often had in the past, that they were inconsiderate with the machines, leaving them loaded with large weights that were beyond my ability to move.
I wish more women would brave the insecurity and intimidation and join me in the free weight room. Why? Besides wanting the company, I really believe that weight lifting is a vital component to good health for women. There are a myriad of reasons for this, but here the two I think are most important:
1. Muscle burns many times more calories than fat does. That means if you replace a pound of fat with a pound of muscle, you’ll be burning more calories while you’re resting, even sleeping. If you begin a weight-lifting program along with a healthy diet and cardio exercise, you’ll find that at first, the scale may creep up a bit, because muscle weighs more than fat. But you’ll be slimming and toning yourself all over. If you measure by the fit of your clothes or the circumference of your waist instead of the scale, you’ll see big progress. Weight-lifting also feels great and gives you the strength and stamina for everyday activities (such as lifting and carrying a 20-30 pound child).
2. As we age, our muscle system naturally atrophies. For women, this starts around age 30. Atrophy in your musculature leaves your bones more vulnerable to diseases like osteoporosis. Did you know that the number one predictor of whether you’ll end up in a nursing home is leg strength? Weight-lifting grows your muscle system and supports your bones, keeping you stronger much longer. This is one of the main reasons I’ve been lifting since my early 20s; my medically-induced hyperthyroidism (necessary to keep the thyroid cancer at bay) increases my chances for osteoporosis when I’m older.
And why free-weights, over high-resistance machines? You’ll still see results with the machines, but even after working exclusively with MedEx and Nautilus machines as a trainer for two years, I’ll take the free weights. I like that lifting them follows my natural range of motion, and I get better definition with free weights and other types of body resistance exercises, such as pushups and lunges.
Women, if you’ve never lifted weights before, and especially if you’re over 45, please consider starting. Take it slow at first, and consult with a certified trainer (or use a good workout DVD at home). You’ll thank yourself for it as you age, and even sooner if you slim down!
If you’re in the Poughkeepsie area, come join me in the free weight room on Sunday afternoons at Mike Arteaga’s! Let’s give the guys there something to respect us for (and maybe someone to impress).