Really? Maybe commercial gym chicks are a different breed. The most I have seen a chick DL in my gym is 60kg, and she was a crossfitter. Most are scared of big weights. Just last week when I was deadlifting the chick doing tricep kickbacks next to me actually let out a little whimper as I finished my first rep lol.
This is why I say environment matters. The environment of your peers. This is a common observation of schoolteachers, that they can tell a kid's grades by the kids they hang out with.
An important part of doing well in any area is actually knowing what is possible. Most people are quite simply unaware that it's even possible for someone to pick up 100 or more kg from the floor and stand up with it, and the idea of it getting over their head somehow seems magical, "must be drugs," they say dismissively.
Shrek says that if a person is determined enough, they can achieve their goals anywhere. What he doesn't realise is that most people have no real goals. "I want to get fit, lose weight, tone up."
In theory, the job of trainers and coaches is to take people from A to B, from their capabilities to their goals. Dan John pointed out that there's a problem with this: athletes know B but not A, and most people in gyms know A but not B.
An athlete knows
exactly where they want to be, "On June 1st I will run 100m in 9.98 seconds." But they're
really bad at knowing where they are now, "Yes I need a knee reconstruction... so?"
The typical gym-goer, by contrast, is
acutely aware of where they are now. "This," they say, pinching their upper arm or belly fat, "what's this?" or "My back hurts all day," or "my wife won't touch me," or whatever. But they have absolutely no idea where they want to be. "I want to get fit, lose weight, tone up." What is "fit", to you? How much weight? What is "toned", and how will you know when you are "toned" enough? All these typical gym-goers mix in the typical gym and share their cluelessness. That's why few have workout plans, none of them have journals, none progress the effort systematically. If you don't know where you're going then there's no need to map out the route there, your random wanderings will be enough.
If this typical gym-goer is exposed to some people who've excelled in some way - whether it be rehabbing injuries, running a marathon, deadlifting 200kg or whatever - then they start to get an idea that they themselves may actually be capable of excelling at something. Clear goals start to form in their minds.
Part of my job as a trainer is to let people know what they're capable of, provided they work hard and long enough. I can tell them, but sometimes you have to see it in person. This is why, as I said, I take my clients to competitions. Then it becomes, "Well if she can do it... so can I!" Not everyone's a super-determined beast who can do it all on their own in the garage. But not everyone's a lazy slug, either. Most people are something in between - they just need someone to believe in them and show them what's possible.