You find it too heavy? The M1 Garand is about half pound heaveier then the SMLE no. 1 Mk 4.
Here's where I play my certified geezer card.
In tenth grade when we were 14 or 15 years old our JROTC cadets were issued M1s sans firing pins. As scrawny as most of were we didn't have much trouble carrying them while drilling in manual of arms for an hour.
One or two class clowns even had to drill at high port for acting out. Before we fell in or after school we even practiced the Queens Manual of Arms hoping fo a spot on the drill team. The QMA involves a lot of tossing, swinging and spinning and butt stomping. Trail arms involved grasping the forearm high, lifting the butt a few inches off the ground, twisting the wrist such that rifle was about fifteen degress from vericle, and then holding them M1 stock still and steady while marching. Tends to strengthen you somewhat. And then from that position going into the fun stuff,
Our class mascot a funny little butterball of akid was about 5'3" and he managed to do it all without a whimper even while looking like a khaki butterbean.
The Garand is way too heavy. In both cases, I believe they used more wood (weight) than necessary.