Many women are scared about weight lifting, I admit that when I first started I had fears my figure would become bulky and masculine. But so many of us are finally ignoring those stupid myths and lifting heavy weights, yay!
I've noticed loads of changes since I started weight lifting a few years ago, so thought I'd share them with you to see if you've experienced the same things:
1. Your fear of lifting heavy weights will disappear
When you think back to your first few days of lifting weights and recall how concerned you were about not lifting 'too heavy' (you know, just in case) it makes you giggle because now you get excited each time you get to lift heavier weights. Oh, and leg day is the best because you get to lift the big chunky weights. So what if they're only 5kg - the fact they're almost the same size circle as the 20kg makes you feel like a badass!
2. You find a strange pleasure in lifting things to show off your strength
Shopping trips will never be the same again. Gone are the days when you used to pretend to be a delicate little flower in the hope someone would offer to carry your bags - now you challenge yourself to see how many of them you can carry in one hand. I recently set myself the challenge of carrying all of the food shopping from my car boot in one hand and although I only had to carry it for about ten seconds (from my car to the house door) I felt super strong.
3. You experience DOMS like never before
Remember those days after an aerobics style class when you used to ache? That was like an aromatherapy massage in comparison to the DOMS you now get from squats and deadlifts! Yes, cardio gives you DOMS but in my opinion, weights hurts way more. It's all good though, we love DOMS - they mean you're working hard.
4. You may have developed a slight hatred of cardio
This one really depends on whether you liked cardio before. I like running in the summer and I also love HIIT, but that's all. Now you know what a great workout you can get from weight lifting, cardio just seems like a boring thing that you feel you have to do.
5. Walking past the mirror will never be the same again
You used to check out your hair or make up as you walked past a mirror. Not anymore. Now you stop, pull up your top slightly and tense to check out how your abs are coming along. Oh, and the occasional bicep and calf check happens too. I can't remember the last time I JUST checked my hair in the mirror!
6. You stop caring about getting skinny and start celebrating your strength
Remember the thigh gap trend? That's long gone from your mind. Now you're lifting weights it's more likely you'll be celebrating any leg gains because they usually complement butt gains (yay). If you ever did crave being skinny then that's all gone because all you want now is to become stronger. I'm constantly testing my strength to see how it's going and I love how strong and healthy I feel. Strong really is the new skinny.
What other things have changed for you since you started lifting weights?
Check out my top ten reasons for women to start weight lifting.
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