Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Weight Lifting for blind and VI people (self.Blind)
submitted by divgirlarb
Hey guys,
I'm quite curious to know if anyone here is interested in weight lifting/ resistance training?
if so how did you get into it ?
I feel like sports are generally not accessible for people with sight loss. and weight lifting can be really accessible but yet it isn't.
I'm a visually impaired person myself and got introduced to weight lifting through a random free PT session at my local gym. I had no idea what deadlifts or back squats were. The guy that I trained with casually introduced me to weight lifting by saying "have you tried barbell exercises before?" and when I said no, I honestly did not even know what a barbell was, lol, he said "would you like to try them". and that was it for me. I just got hocked to weightlifting!
I appreciate that this PT did not underestimate me, as most people tend to do.
I also would want more blind and visually impaired people to get into weight lifting. It honestly has changed my life, gave me a passion, improved my mental health and sleep.
I'm quite curious to know if anyone here is interested in weight lifting/ resistance training?
if so how did you get into it ?
I feel like sports are generally not accessible for people with sight loss. and weight lifting can be really accessible but yet it isn't.
I'm a visually impaired person myself and got introduced to weight lifting through a random free PT session at my local gym. I had no idea what deadlifts or back squats were. The guy that I trained with casually introduced me to weight lifting by saying "have you tried barbell exercises before?" and when I said no, I honestly did not even know what a barbell was, lol, he said "would you like to try them". and that was it for me. I just got hocked to weightlifting!
I appreciate that this PT did not underestimate me, as most people tend to do.
I also would want more blind and visually impaired people to get into weight lifting. It honestly has changed my life, gave me a passion, improved my mental health and sleep.
HalfBlindAndCurious 6 points 2y ago
Yes, I was drilled and drilled on stance, posture and movements with light weights before going heavy. I haven't done it in a while but hopefully I can start again once lockdown is over.
Iamheno 3 points 2y ago
I’ve lifted seriously for the last 6 year, off & on since HS. As my vision fades (RP) I’ll continue to lift and do calisthenic. I “see” no reason to slow down!
divgirlarb [OP] 1 points 2y ago
Yess, go for it !! there's abs no reason to slow down :)
[deleted] 2 points 2y ago
[deleted]
divgirlarb [OP] 1 points 2y ago
I'd recommend hiring a personal trainer for few sessions if you can afford to so. otherwise, try to read threads on reedit and maybe upload form checks to get pointers.
Keiracat1337 2 points 2y ago
Honestly I'm getting into weight lifting. It's nice. I can't do a whole lot since I'm autoimmune, but it's still good to do something. My friend and hopefully girl friend (we're poly) is my trainer. She used to be a trainer for a job, but quit cause of some of the people. She's working somewhere else but she always tries her best to keep me safe and happy.
Right now we're just doing basic stuff but even with that, I can almost lift 50 pounds again! She's amazing. She will put my hands where they need to be and explain why. If I get tired, she knows without me saying a word and holds some of the weight while I finish that rep. And after my rep she goes on and on about how strong I'm getting. She's so freaking happy about it. (I am never going to tell her I know she's holding the weight sometimes.)
So yeah. I got into it cause she said she wanted to help me feel better about myself. But the more I do it, I think it's helping her more. She seems happier and so bubbly.
Right now we're just doing basic stuff but even with that, I can almost lift 50 pounds again! She's amazing. She will put my hands where they need to be and explain why. If I get tired, she knows without me saying a word and holds some of the weight while I finish that rep. And after my rep she goes on and on about how strong I'm getting. She's so freaking happy about it. (I am never going to tell her I know she's holding the weight sometimes.)
So yeah. I got into it cause she said she wanted to help me feel better about myself. But the more I do it, I think it's helping her more. She seems happier and so bubbly.
Amonwilde 2 points 2y ago
Just FYI it's a normal thing to take a little weight off if you're failing on a rep. She's not gaslighting you. :) Probably
liamjh27 1 points 2y ago
I completely agree with this!
I’m blind myself and training completely changed my life. To the point I actually qualified and trained as a personal trainer myself. The Pure Gym that I worked at were full of the best people ever and really encouraged me to do something I never thought possible as a blind person. I’ll always be grateful to them.
Take it from me, you absolutely can learn to train by yourself as a blind person.
I’m blind myself and training completely changed my life. To the point I actually qualified and trained as a personal trainer myself. The Pure Gym that I worked at were full of the best people ever and really encouraged me to do something I never thought possible as a blind person. I’ll always be grateful to them.
Take it from me, you absolutely can learn to train by yourself as a blind person.
ukifrit 1 points 2y ago
judo requires you to do these stuff if you wanna compete. I don't like it much but you don't do it for the pleasure so it's allright.
siriuslylupin6 1 points 2y ago
How is weight lifting inaccessible I don’t see it. Not interested myself but see it as a good non visual exercise.
divgirlarb [OP] 1 points 2y ago
unless you're lucky to find someone who will accommodate to a blind's person needs. It's pretty inaccessible. for 1, you don't have visual feedback so looking at the mirror to check your form is not an option. 2, learning the form can be tricky without being able to see what the movement looks like, yes there are articles and stuff, but sometimes it's hard to pick the right form. Hence, why you need a sighted person assistance.
liamjh27 1 points 2y ago
Hey, I’m blind and worked as a personal trainer. It’s absolutely doable.
Even sighted people who can check their own form are a danger to themselves in the gym in most cases! If it’s something you’re interested in I’d be happy to talk :)
Even sighted people who can check their own form are a danger to themselves in the gym in most cases! If it’s something you’re interested in I’d be happy to talk :)
divgirlarb [OP] 1 points 2y ago
Oh, that's interesting. I'm thinking of getting my NASM cert. but I was like it'd be pointless as I wouldn't be able to help anyone being blind myself. I find fitness to be interesting and I spend so much time researching it just for fun. what cert do you have? and how do you go about working with clients?
liamjh27 1 points 2y ago
I’ve just realised you’re the same person I’m talking to on the thread about playing the keyboard! Since you’ve just said something about dollars I’m going to guess you’re in America. I’m not sure what the equivalent cert would be there but I’m a Level 3 qualified PT through Active IQ, a level 4 Sports massage therapist also through them and a Precision Nutrition Level.1 qualified coach.
Working with clients basically just needed me to be a little bit more hands on with them at first. But this actually turned out to benefit the clients as it helped them to quicker understand when they were in proper positions etc. I don’t really do much of the personal training anymore as I left to concentrate more on the sports massage side of things. Feel free to DM me if you’d like me to go into more detail on anything though :) I love talking about fitness so I’m always more than happy.
Working with clients basically just needed me to be a little bit more hands on with them at first. But this actually turned out to benefit the clients as it helped them to quicker understand when they were in proper positions etc. I don’t really do much of the personal training anymore as I left to concentrate more on the sports massage side of things. Feel free to DM me if you’d like me to go into more detail on anything though :) I love talking about fitness so I’m always more than happy.
siriuslylupin6 1 points 2y ago
Sure maybe I initially but maybe that’s just me and sometimes reading is enough sometimes not but I would probably need a talking through like once I wouldn’t call that inaccessible though. But some people need more of it.
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