One of the biggest struggles of being a female personal trainer is reversing years of WRONG thinking in your female population that lifting any size weight beyond a 5-8 pound dumbbell will immediately make them bulk up into a female version of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Now, this post will not dive too much into that myth--my co-worker Lucy just wrote a fabulous post about that on her blog (which you can see the link to on the right). What I do want to comment on is a post that I saw on Rachel Cosgrove's blog about how weight lifting is for even the girliest of girls.
I wouldn't call myself a "girly girl" per se, but I do enjoy all the simple luxuries of being a girl--doing makeup, getting mani and pedis, buying a new outfit/pair of shoes/purse even though you have something oh-so-similar already in your closet. (I'm sure anyone from work right now is thinking really?? Because the attire they see me in everyday is black workout clothes, hair in a pony and maybe mascara if I was really feeling ambitious!) Rachel had a very intersting point on her blog...most of us women make time for appointments like manicures, eyebrow waxing, massages, etc. so why don't we think of strength training as another part of our beauty routine or body maintenance? Along with the health benefits and functionality for daily living that weight lifting brings, that's why we do it right? To stay toned and firm, and have some sculpting in the right places, and just feel overall attractive?
I've learned how to phrase questions during personal training sessions with women. Instead of asking "Were the weights too light?" or "Do these dumbbells feel heavy?" I've started re-phrasing and saying things like "Were the weights the right amount of a challenge for your goals?" "Could you have done 5 more reps?" or "Were those last 2 reps a struggle for you?" Even having a client rank the intensity level from 1-10 is a good way of fishing out the truth. Once these ladies get past the number on the dumbbell or cable machine and find out that they can in fact complete the set at the heavier weight, they start better answering my questions about how challenging the weights really are for them. Or, better yet, they start telling me when they need the weight to be increaesd, without me having to ask! When this happens the Hallelujah chorus always plays in my head, because one more female has reversed her thinking!
You can still be feminine and be able to kick your husband/boyfriend's butt in a push-up competition! And I'm sure a guy would agree that nothing is more attractive than the confidence...and strength training to the highest of your ability does just that!
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