muscles are awesome!

this is something I discovered recently, seriously it took me 27 years of life to find out that women have physical strength. 

I started lifting weights a little with my husband and I took the body pump class at the Y and discovered that I love it!  I don't do body pump anymore, it is more of a cardio with weights program or an endurance increasing class than actual strength training but I will always appreciate it for showing me weights and it's where I learned some of the lifts and about form. 

I was scared, not real fear more like...timid when I started. 

I was afraid of  losing my femininity by bulking up, making a fool of myself in the weight room or injuring myself. 

So to negate my first fear I went on the hunt for other women that lift.  I had a hard time figuring out what a woman that lifts weights looks like.  Googling is never a good idea, it led me to pictures of roided up, fake tanned freaks and olimpic lifters.  I wanted to know what a normal woman that weight lifted looks like.  What do they look like when they're not in the middle of their max deadlift,  when they haven't been dehydrating themselves and coating themselves in fake tan?  What do they look like when they're not flexing? I stumbled on a couple blogs( this is my favorite) and articles that made me feel like weight lifting is what you make it and that no one turns into a muscle freak overnight so if I start to see results I don't like I could just back off.

My second fear, doing something stupid where people can see me...I do this all the time in my normal life but have yet to make a fool of myself at the gym.  I discovered that most of the guys in the weight room mind thier own business and are nice and helpful when they have talked to me.  My first few times I was going to lift I came up with a routine at home, youtubed any lifts I wasn't sure how to do and tried to estimate how much I "should" be able to lift based on soome bodyweight charts I found.  I have never had my pants rip mid squat or had to have someone pull the bar off my chest, no one notices if I wimp out and only do a couple reps instead of a full set.

My third fear and probably the only one worth having is injury.  I now know how to do lifts correctly and I listen to my body.  I have respect for the possability of injury but I don't fear it anymore.  I love the feeling of a good muscle soreness for 2 days after a workout and I know that that doesn't mean I've done anthing wrong.