why are men intimidated by women who lift heavy?

[TheGr8S1]

Originally Posted by margalee503

I'm not saying all men, but most men hate to work legs and do not work legs because it sucks and its hard. That is why you see them with a nice upper muscular body then you look down and see them walking around with bird legs. I think women have a higher tolerance for leg pain. As a personal trainer I can say this. I have had more men throw up on legs than women.

Most of the men i always asked why they don't train them is cause they believe they are already strong (note these guys played sports like basketball, football, and ran track)

[Roke]

Those men are concerned about their pride and masculinity. I know I'm fairly strong so I don't mind to see a female bench pressing double of what I can. I recall seeing a 16 year old girl, weighing 118lbs and she could bench 225 lbs. She's 8 years younger than I am, 65 pounds lighter, and her 1RM is 35 lbs higher than mines. She's stronger than I am yet I'm not ashamed.

[matthewluke60]

Heck you find me a single woman that's super strong, heck even stronger than me, I may just propose to her on the spot! That's the sexiest thing ever. I'm one of few men that actually find a woman's overall physical strength to be an attractive thing, not necessarily her physique, but her strength, a strong woman to me is a very dedicated woman, who is not afraid to push herself to the limits. I would expect those women would be more real to me than women wearing makeup and dantily strutting around the gym like the belong there because they breathe! (as always this is only my opinion)

[pan321]

Originally Posted by Motiv8You

Many men (not all!) are definitely intimidated by women who lift heavy.
The ones who aren't intimidated by us are the ones who are OK with themselves.

I lift as heavy as I can. I do it for ME - not to show anyone up... but I will say that I get a HUGE amount of satisfaction from being able to lift more than quite a few guys at my gym... I hit a PB yesterday - a 270 seated row.
I won't lie... it gave me a big charge because I was waiting for the row (plate-load) and a guy was getting off... he had 4 plates on. I told him to leave it, popped on two more and did my 4 sets. He looked somewhat irritated. I have been working on this for about 3 mos. though - it didn't happen overnight.

There are worse habits I could have My hobby just happens to be fitness.
No drugs - just me being the best I can. I've put in my time - we all have the same 24 hours in a day. Work hard or go home.

As for the guys who want to direct you over to the powderpuff section... they're just confused. They don't know what to think about a woman who can get in there and perform as well as they do.

HOWEVER - I will say that I am single... I work in a gym... and if guys weren't as intimidated as they are I would have a lot better social life!

not to get off topic with this thread but I had to comment ... that's impressive ... the 270 row. Are you talking the plateloader you lay down on with your chest ... about a 45 degree angle? Jeeez

[javyn]

It's an attack on a man's ego. Is it really that hard to understand? Same as a woman's man checking out a more attractive woman as she walks by....man's gf/wife would get upset because it's an assault on her ego.

[egoatdoor]

A "man" with an ego is not a man, but a child.

[sugicalmike]

One time at the gym I looked over and saw a girl deadlifting, she had maybe one-eighty five on there, the HS kid next to her was totally phailing with 135 on, too bad for the kid, but that chick was teh hotness, she also had the best form I've ever seen! Her lifting form was pretty good too!

I think it's pretty cool when women go hard and heavy, none of that prissy cardio-bunny ****, althought the cardio bunnies are pretty easy on the eyes as well!

[Rutgers911]

Reading through this thread makes me realize how lucky I am, my husband loves the fact I lift heavy and we use each other as motivation. ( I try to lift atleast 50% of what he does )

[NJMuscle]

I would love to have my GF or female come to the gym with me and lift like I do, not that I go that heavy, but if someone was there to help and push me I could.

[9ine]

I am not intimidated by women who lift heavy. I actually have yet to see a woman who lifts heavy.

[ronin_ts]

at my gym we have a amatuer powerlifting lady and she kills me in deads and squats and i ask her advice about it and makes me motivated to train harder so i think its good there are some out there lifting heavy cause i generally see girls do the same 1kg bicep curls and 10kg squats again and again

[javyn]

Nice little assertion you threw out there, but it's dead wrong. Ego is present for both sexes and of all ages. And I'd say a child's ego is less than that of an adult's anyway.

A "man" with an ego is not a man, but a child.

[SpittfireDA]

wow some bump from Feb!

[szayia]

Originally Posted by Rutgers911

( I try to lift atleast 50% of what he does )

At training my boy friend trys to lift 50 % ( a litle bit more ) of my weights .
Sometimes it is not easy for him that i be so much stronger but i think he is not intimidated to have a women who lift heavy .
Most time he is very proud and loves to see me showing the guys who is the stronger one .

Szayia

[Rutgers911]

Originally Posted by szayia

At training my boy friend trys to lift 50 % ( a litle bit more ) of my weights .
Sometimes it is not easy for him that i be so much stronger but i think he is not intimidated to have a women who lift heavy .
Most time he is very proud and loves to see me showing the guys who is the stronger one .

Szayia

It's the same thing with us, I use to compete in Olympic Lifting so like you I'm much much stronger than "the average girl" and do many different lifts than I guess would be considered the norm. but I love it, he loves it, our lifting friends love it, and our family supports our goals and helps us reach them.

[szayia]

At my job as event host i do compasions of strength with tha audience ( armwrestling and lifting weights )
Many big man have problems that i be stronger and cant belive that a woman is able to beat them in strenght .

Szayia

[dvsness]

Originally Posted by javyn

It's an attack on a man's ego. Is it really that hard to understand? Same as a woman's man checking out a more attractive woman as she walks by....man's gf/wife would get upset because it's an assault on her ego.

That's not a good analogy, lol. That would be the equivalent of a woman checking out a more attractive man as he walks by, her bf/husband would be insulted.

[parsnip1965]

Originally Posted by dvsness

This thread is about intimidation, not sexual attraction. So are you intimidated by everyone you don't want to sleep with?

He can't change the topic?

I'm not intimidated by women who lift heavy and I also find them attractive.

[parsnip1965]

Originally Posted by Motiv8You

I hit a PB yesterday - a 270 seated row.
I won't lie... it gave me a big charge because I was waiting for the row (plate-load) and a guy was getting off... he had 4 plates on. I told him to leave it, popped on two more and did my 4 sets. He looked somewhat irritated.

Congratulations. That's huuuuge. Although you've got me beat (I can get a few reps with 270 with questionable form, and I think I'm moderately strong), I wouldn't be the slightest bit irritated if you jumped in and did four sets.

I hope you wouldn't mind if I watched, though :-)

[dvsness]

Originally Posted by parsnip1965

He can't change the topic?

I'm not intimidated by women who lift heavy and I also find them attractive.

That's lovely, but you missed my point.

[parsnip1965]

Originally Posted by dvsness

That's lovely, but you missed my point.

No, actually, I chose to ignore it. You said that you didn't care whether men found women who lift heavy attractive but I do care.

Just having fun with ya...

[miaheatfan]

Women who lift heavy don't intimidate me because I've never seen a woman in the gym who lifts anywhere close to what I do.(no brag)

[parsnip1965]

Originally Posted by miaheatfan

Women who lift heavy don't intimidate me because I've never seen a woman in the gym who lifts anywhere close to what I do.(no brag)

Have you checked out Szayia's statistics? http://bodyspace.bodybuilding.com/szayia/

Or Laura Phelps (725 squat, 4x bodyweight), Kara Bohigian, or any of the other great female lifters?

[parsnip1965]

Originally Posted by szayia

At training my boy friend trys to lift 50 % ( a litle bit more ) of my weights .
Sometimes it is not easy for him that i be so much stronger but i think he is not intimidated to have a women who lift heavy .
Most time he is very proud and loves to see me showing the guys who is the stronger one .

Szayia

OK, let me back up a little. I checked your profile and statistics. I would certainly not be intimidated by you in the gym, just fascinated.

If I were actually your boyfriend, though, I might wonder if you secretly wanted some huge-ass lifter instead of me. I don't know whether you call that intimidated or not.

[szayia]

At my strength and posing shows at my job as event host many are fascinated and i enjoy .
At comparing strength this is different many man are fascinated , some are intimidated and don?t like get beaten by a woman .

My boy friend dont have to worry about me thinking to have a bigger and stronger man . Our relationship is the longest i ever had in my life and he knows that .

Szayia

[Trapstar4.4]

I am not intimidated by a heavy lifting woman. Although I must note that I have NEVER seen a woman lifting what I would consider heavy at my gym. I only say this because I somehow get impressed when I see them curling a 20lb db. and I know some of the women on here probably do that easily ^^^
I am more impressed at how hard I see a woman working moreso than how MUCH she is lifting.

When I see that, it motivates me. Maybe thats me being a jackass, maybe not, but if it motivates you, it cant be a bad thing...right?

[JAWS22]

HAHAHA pwned. Well its like this, after I lift I go upstairs and do the cardio machines, I go a lot faster than the girls but they can go for around an hour or so.... I can only go 20 minutes.... I just say (man I wish I could rock these machines like you!). And then they laugh.

[parsnip1965]

Originally Posted by Roke

Those men are concerned about their pride and masculinity. I know I'm fairly strong so I don't mind to see a female bench pressing double of what I can. I recall seeing a 16 year old girl, weighing 118lbs and she could bench 225 lbs. She's 8 years younger than I am, 65 pounds lighter, and her 1RM is 35 lbs higher than mines. She's stronger than I am yet I'm not ashamed.

She should enter a powerlifting contest for sure. She might even win on her first try.

I would say "this post is useless without pictures" but someone will call me a pig :-)

[Tikibeast]

Originally Posted by tiTHEking

its a guy's natural instinct to help out women, guys dont open doors for women because they think they cant open it themself, its just called being nice and maybe even being flirty with the girl

Agreed, I open doors, assist with heavy packages, etc not because I think the woman can't handle them but it's just the way I was raised and in the gym I know after a heavy set unloading the plates can be a pain in the ass so if I'm still fresh or plan on loading different plates on I'll tell a woman she can leave them and I'll swap them out myself. I'm not being insulting, hell there are days I wouldn't mind somebody (male or female) unloading my machine/bar/etc. And as to women lifting heavy, when I first started out one of my lifting partners was a woman. Since then nobody else has pushed me like she did, she could really push my buttons and force me to get that last rep out, I might hate her halfway through it but she knew how to motivate. Some men believe women don't belong in the gym, imo we need more (serious) women in the gym.

[Devils]

I admire women who lift heavy.