As a women who lifts weights, there are a lot of challenges that you’ll face in the weight room.

I won’t lie, getting into gym can be very intimidating at times, and I know a lot of other women feel the same way.

Whether it be from a fear of judgement or entering a male dominated space, these challenges can cause us to shy away from lifting weights.

However, when we do this, then we can’t reap any of the benefits of weightlifting for women. We also miss out on everything there is to love about weightlifting.

Because of this, it’s extremely important to overcome these misconceptions and fears.

Here’s how to overcome challenges in the weight room as a women.

The most common challenges for women to overcome

Although there are a lot of challenges that anyone faces when going to the gym, here are the most common ones that women face.

The misconception that weightlifting makes you bulky

The first biggest challenge to overcome is the belief that lifting weights will make you bulky. In fact, many women shy away from weightlifting out of the fear that weightlifting makes them look manly.

However, this isn’t true. Yes, men look like men when they lift weights, but it’s extremely hard for women to look like men naturally.

This is because us women have different hormones in our bodies then men do.

Men have hormones that make it much easier for them to gain muscle, while women have hormones that make it much harder. So no, you won’t automatically look like a man when you start lifting weights.

For anyone to see progress from weight lifting, it takes a lot of work. It’s impossible for you to pick up a weight and then suddenly look extremely muscular.

Additionally, seeing progress in the gym takes an extremely long time. So, if you start seeing changes from weightlifting that you don’t enjoy, you can stop working that muscle.

For example, if you think your arms look too big, then you can stop training arms. Or, start training arms less often or less intensely.

You don’t only see the benefits of weight lifting if you have the biggest muscles possible. You can still see all the benefits while training the muscles you want to train and only growing the parts of your body you want to grow.

Being a women in a male dominated environment

As a women entering the weight room, you’ll most likely walk in and see many more men than women.

This is another big challenge for women to overcome. The intimidation of being in a male dominated space.

This becomes especially challenging if you feel like you’re inexperienced or don’t belong there.

As time goes on, you’ll learn that there’s nothing to be afraid of, even if it’s a male dominated space. But for now, overcoming this is one of the biggest challenges there is.

Feeling like you don’t belong at the gym is not a good feeling. Especially when you’re trying to lift weights.

You might start thinking that because this is a male dominated space, weightlifting is a man’s sport and therefore you should stay way.

However, these thoughts are completely wrong! Just because there aren’t as many women there, doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be women there.

On top of that, there’s more women than ever in the gym right now. And, a lot of young women too.

Don’t let the men get all the benefits from weightlifting, there’s just as many benefits for girls too!

Just because you’re a girl, doesn’t mean there’s no space for you in a male dominated space.

Feeling self conscious

Many of us walk into the gym and automatically start comparing ourselves to everyone else who’s there.

If you do this, and many women do, this is when things start to go wrong.

You might start thinking things like this person’s skinnier than me, that person has more muscle, this person looks better, and so on.

This is one of the best ways to discourage yourself and make yourself self conscious.

If you do this, you’ll most likely end up quitting.

To avoid that happening, it’s important to learn how to overcome this comparison and self consciousness.

The first thing you can do is to realize that when you walk into the gym, no one is looking at you as much as you think they are.

This means that no one is judging you for the way you or your body looks, even if you think they are.

It’s important to realize that most people in the gym are there to work on themselves. That means that they’re proud and happy to see you there working on yourself, too.

It’s also important to avoid comparing yourself to people who have years of training on you.

For example, you may be just starting out in the gym and the girl you’re comparing yourself to has been lifting weights for many, many years.

Of course someone who’s been training much longer than you will most likely be much closer to their goals than you will to your own.

See what I mean? It doesn’t make sense to bring yourself down while comparing yourself to someone who’s in a completely different situation than you.

It’s best to learn how to accept yourself, your body, and your starting point. Then, go from there.

Fearing judgement

One of the most common reasons women don’t go to the gym is because of a fear of judgement.

Meaning being judged for what they’re doing, how they’re doing it, or how they look when they’re doing it.

For example, you might be afraid to look confused in the gym or to do an exercise wrong.

When this happens, you might avoid the gym as much as possible or even completely.

However, it’s important to realize that even the most experienced lifters walk will be doing the same things you do in the gym.

Things like trying out a new exercise, walking around the gym looking for an open machine, or failing a rep, are all things that everyone does.

Keep in mind that there are plenty of things that can throw off your workout any day.

Whether it be you’re more tired than usual, something’s sore, or someone took the machine you were about to use. This might be something that causes you to have to stop in the middle of the gym and think for a little bit.

However, you can overcome this by thinking on your feet and not getting in your head that people are judging your every move.

Additionally, you have to accept that there are going to be times when you’re going to fail.

But, you’re going to learn from that failure. Don’t be embarrassed if you fail a rep or use a machine wrong or anything like that.

This happens to everyone. You’d never be able to gain any experience or grow if you didn’t try new things.

Some ways that you can overcome these challenges

Now that we’ve been over the biggest challenges in the gym, we can cover how to overcome these challenges.

Realize that these are just stereotypes

As difficult as some of these challenges may seem, it’s important to realize that a lot of them are just stereotypes.

Anyone who tells you things like weightlifting makes you look like a man or weightlifting is a man’s sport is just feeding into these stereotypes.

You can be feminine and muscular at the same time. Just because you lift weights doesn’t mean that you’ll suddenly start looking bulky.

And yes, there are more men who lift weights than women, but that doesn’t mean that weightlifting is only for men.

As a women, you have as much right and ability to get into the weight room. So don’t be afraid to take up some space and lift some heavy weights!

It can be intimidating as a women to enter a male dominated weight room, but it’s totally worth it. There are too many benefits of weightlifting to miss out on it.

Trust me, you’ll thank yourself later for overcoming your fears and these stereotypes. You’ll start seeing the benefits physically and mentally and be glad you did.

Build your confidence

Building your confidence is one of the best ways to become decrease gym anxiety.

When you build your confidence, you’ll no longer worry if people are looking at you in the gym.

Not because you realized that people don’t care as much as you think they do, but instead because you realized that you don’t care if people are staring at you.

You’ll stop caring if people are judging you once you become confident in yourself and your abilities.

Become secure in knowing that you are always learning in the gym, and it’s okay to not know everything.

With time, you’ll start to gain experience and realize that you know your body best. This means your workouts might look different than other peoples’ but you’re doing what works for you.

Because of this, it’s important to gain confidence in your ability to navigate the gym and plan your workouts.

While being courteous of everyone else who’s trying to workout, realize that you have as much right as anyone else to be in that weight room.

Embrace your strength

As a women, it can be hard to overcome the ideas that weightlifting is a man’s sport. However, if you’re serious about lifting weights, it’s important to embrace your strength.

Being strong should not make you feel like a man. And you shouldn’t feel like a women’s only place in the gym is at the cardio machines or in the yoga room.

Although there’s nothing wrong with having the preference of cardio or yoga over weightlifting, I love adding both cardio and yoga into my routine at times!

You can even train with a balance of weightlifting and cardio. As long as you know that weightlifting is always available to you.

Women’s bodies have so much more strength than we give them credit for. You can see that in the gym, so many women push themselves and challenge their bodies by lifting heavy weights.

Don’t be afraid to embrace your strength and start training like a women!

Takeaways

Being a women in the gym can be scary and intimidating, especially if you’re just starting out.

There are a lot of challenges for anyone to overcome when entering the weight room, but for women especially. Because of this, the important thing to learn is to not let these challenges hold you back.

The weight room is a place of empowerment for anyone who walks in there.

So let’s break stereotypes, become confident in ourselves, and embrace our strength!

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