I wanted to follow up this post with Sara Robles “Too Big to Get a Big Time Endorsement” post.
It’s unfortunate that lifting appreciable weights gets such a bad wrap, especially with female athletes and general pop. Across the board females will benefit with lifting weights, especially since many want a “booty” or want lose body fat and to “tone” up. This all can be accomplished through LIFTING WEIGHTS!
In athletics, it’s clear that increasing your overall strength helps with your performance. Of course it’s a small part to the whole picture but that’s another story.
Bottom line is that weightlifting DOES NOT make you look manly. For every “manly” looking female weightlifter there is another one that looks like a “typical” female or an “In-shape” female.
Lifting Weights Makes You Bulky?
Look at Japanese Olympian Kanae Yagi:
She’s an Olympian and lifts heavy weights, does she look bulky?
And if I mentioned…
http://youtu.be/rfM6BE0bCO0
“Ze Germans”
What’ll pop in your head is probably something like this:
Perception vs Reality:
Julia Rohde is a German Weightlifter:
Does she look manly?
And both of these female Weightlifters, easily train 6-8x week.
Reality:
Lifting appreciable weights does NOT make you bulky or manly. Let’s do a field test, next time you’re at your gym take a look at the members lifting weights, most of them look like this:
Not too many of the guys that are SEEKING to get big and muscular actually obtain their goals. It’s actually very difficult to gain lean muscle, so I’m not sure how people concluded that if a female picks up a weight she’ll suddenly get huge and manly…there’s just no logic to that.
Wrap Up:
As you can tell I’m a bit passionate about this, I’m a big supporter of females lifting weights and being STRONG. Girls Gone Strong is a great resource that is comprised of a group of strong women that support women lifting weights, so make sure to check them out on facebook.
Also, keep an eye out for both of the above Olympians in the London 2012 games.
As always give us a shout with a comment down below or on facebook!
In strength,
Team Fusion