Women: you can lift heavy things

I work with a lot of women and what always strikes me is how wired we are to underestimate ourselves. It applies to the gym and every single area of our lives. I see women who spend their time carrying their 10+ kilos kids, huge strollers and heavy bags but they think they can’t handle a 5 kg dumbbell. I read somewhere that pregnancy is harder than a marathon, and even though it’s hardly comparable and doesn’t make so much sense, I did both and I’d pick a marathon any day. Women can do incredible physical things, yet we always doubt our strength. Strength isn’t measured by the size of your biceps, but it’s something you have inside you and you can work on increasing it. 

I always try to push my clients to test their limits and go out of their comfort zone a little, and they often realize that they can do much more than what they anticipated. Women are anything but weak, but what’s weak is our self confidence. And it’s not only negatively impacting our gym gains but all aspects of our life. We don’t apply to the jobs we want because we don’t feel qualified enough, we don’t take risks because we think we won’t be able to deal with the consequences, we don’t ask for more money because we don’t feel worthy of it, and we suffer from this infamous “impostor syndrome" whatever we do. And in general, we just feel like we’re never enough. We’re not skinny enough or strong enough or successful enough or we’re not good enough mothers.


Women come training with me for various reasons like losing fat or gaining strength or toning this or that area but no matter why they’re training, their confidence usually increases exponentially over the sessions. That’s why I love strength training: not only it helps you get healthier and fitter but one of the most positive effects I see in my clients is a super quick gain in confidence. One client of mine wouldn’t touch a barbell in the first few sessions and now she’s benchpressing like she has done this all her life. A lot of my clients are often reluctant when I want to increase the weight of an exercise and tell me they won’t be able to do it but they do it perfectly. I love seeing my clients being more and more confident and enthusiastic over the sessions. 

And my point isn’t that your goal should be to lift as heavy as possible (this is my goal, though!), but simply that you believe in your strength and don’t underestimate yourself. When you get out of your comfort zone, you feel proud and energized and unstoppable and it reflects on all areas of your life.