Barbell vs. SandBell: One Woman's Point of View

For a few years now, I've been the Director of Education with Hyper Wear, which gives me the privalege of traveling around the country speaking to strength coaches, sport coaches, and physical educators from coast to coast. During one of my power points that I go off of, I speak about the major problems faced by teachers when it comes to weight training in the secondary school system. One of these issues faced is a female's perception of weight training and what it entails.

Now, as any good presenter would do, I sporadically throw in personal stories on a subject to help tie in the audience, both entertaining them with a laugh and giving them a real-life story that they can relate to.

So with 11 years of personal training and strength coaching under my belt, I've just recently come across my single best "story" to tell when presenting on this particular subject of females and weight training.

Since moving to Norfolk, Virginia, I've been blessed with the opportunity to work at a local fitness center and meet some great new people, and one of these clients of mine, let's call her "D", gave me this absolute "presenting gem" of a statement last week (and in doing so has IMMEDIATELY gone into my power point)......

Bill: Ok D, let's work on our front squats. The first few sets I'll have you hold a SandBell at chest level with arms crossed to hold it in place, and then we'll switch it out with a barbell to hold in the same position.

D: Ok, let's give it a shot.

.....so 3 sets of 12 later, here's her comment......

Bill: Alright here's the bar again, let's get one more set...

D: Do we have to use the bar instead of the SandBell? After last week's session I was telling my husband that I feel so, hmmm what's the right word here.......Russian. Yeah that's it Bill, I feel really ya know, Russian (simultaneously saying this word with giving the typical double arm bicep flex with a grunting look on her face).

Bill: No worries D, we'll go back to the SandBell........

So in theory, the shift that seems to be happening with training females for strength development is not that they are scared of lifting "heavy" weights, it's more about what they look like and how comfortable they are.

*Editor's Note: Yes, the SandBell was actually heavier than the barbell. Food for thought.

Bill