Weights, weights, don't make me.

To be physically fit, one must endure a degree of discomfort. It's the price we pay to get what we want.
Ms. Jackie, an older middle aged woman, new to physical fitness as it applies to the grunts, groans and sweating of gym workouts, balked at lifting 25 pounds at a bicep curl work station. It was a five pound increase over her new routine, to which she had quickly adjusted and a 10 pound increase over where she had been a few weeks earlier. 

Lifting 15 pounds 10 times, three times a week... after week, after week? It was past time for a slight adjustment. A similar routine, using the least amount of effort was practiced at the other work stations. Nothing wrong with this. Just don't expect much progress. 
The body adjust in time to the work it is given by working more efficiently. Working more efficiently means not working as hard, means not burning as much energy, means not burning as much fat.
About 5'6" and 185 pounds, I knew Ms Jackie could do more. She disagreed. 

Encouraged by her doctor to loose weight, Ms Jackie followed his advice and his recommendation to join a Fit For Life exercise program at a local YMCA.
Fit For Life is a grant funded program designed to encourage a healthy lifestyle through exercise.

Like many FFL participants, Ms Jackie, over weight and borderline hypertensive, was initially a bit self-conscious. 
Stuff humming and clanging. Men and women moving about in various stages of undress. Sistas with they hindnies all up in the air, wiggling and jiggly all over the place.
Sleek looking tigeress, shimmy through workouts. Effortlessly.  

Being self-conscious in a gym setting is a waist of time. Most folks are not paying nearly as much attention to you as you think for the reasons you might think. They are to busy concentrating on personal objectives.

For the most part,  Ms Jackie had adjusted to gym life. Regular attendance. Reasonable enthusiasm. Running into old friends and making new ones. She keeps a journal of her training schedule...10 minute hamster trot (treadmill), 10 minutes on the recumbent cycle. Fifty minutes for Zumba.

Strength training through weights had become a challenge. Ms Jackie, locked in on 20 pounds, had no intension of moving up to 25. She reminded  me that she only wanted to tone up a bit and not get bulky.
I reminded her that 10 repetitions at 20 pounds is not going to produce Arnold size muscles.
Many women spend most of their gym time on cardiovascular exercise and not enough on strength training. In part, some women view weights as not feminine. There is a fear of appearing masculine. There is also a lack of knowledge.
 
Women do not, and cannot, naturally produce as much testosterone (one of the main hormones responsible for increasing muscle size) as men. 
Myths of Women's Weight Training.
http://bodybuilding.about.com/od/womensfitnesstopics/a/womenmyths.htm
Why women should lift weights
http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/women/a/aa051601a.

After all the explaining featured in the above links, after all my sweet talk...
even reminded her of Michelle Obama's celebrated arms...Ms Jackie wasn't getting up off 20. She did however adjust the weights to 25 pounds and strained against it in a failed attempt to lift and thus prove her point.
"Twenty-five pounds is just to much," she sighed. 

This dance was going no where. Time to change the subject.
I asked about her grandchild. 
"How old is she now"? 
"Three," said Ms Jackie. She went on to talk about a recent shopping trip. That she had picked the little darling up to...
"How much does she weigh," I interrupted. 
"About 30 pon..." 
There was this long glare from Ms Jackie as I stuffed a smile.