So...

[commodorified]

What if I were a 46 year old woman who is both active (bikes, swimming, hiking, snowshoeing) AND somewhat disabled/in chronic pain (scoliosis and a dodgy shoulder at the top of my back and hyperflexibility/sciatica/bursitis at the bottom) AND I'd tried doing weights (machines, largely, due to a horrid fear of breaking myself through incompetence if I tried free weights except for curls) and then got bored and stopped doing it ...

And I suddenly decided that I wanted to be able to pick up my own weight (190, +/-) and hold it over my head and put it down again?

Where would I start? Should I start? Is there some other goal I should consider first or instead? What kind of time/money/energy commitment am I looking at here?

My local community centre has a good weight room and my favourite trainer in the world works there and I can afford to buy some time with her. So there's that.

Comments

[rachelmanija]

FWIW, I've had that basic problem in the past (multiple physical issues that could be exacerbated with lifting) minus access to a trainer, and have previously managed to increase my strength substantially just by taking it slow and if something causes the bad sort of pain, not doing it again. I haven't ever been able to lift my own body weight over my head, but I probably could get there if I didn't keep getting interrupted by injury/illness/life stuff/failure to work out consistently.

[commodorified]

*nodnod* I mean, maybe I won't get there. But it turns out that if I don't have a specific, describeable goal, I'm less good at sticking to things.