Lifting Will NOT Make You Bulky
ATTENTION FEMALE YOUTH ATHLETES!
I asked a few fellow female coaches, and a sports nutritionist to help explain why adding weight lifting to your training will not make you “bulky.”
Before I share their answers, let’s go over what bulky means:
Lifting will not turn you into a “piece of luggage.” Nor will it make you an “overcoat-clad figure.”
Whether you remain “small” and “compact” is subjective. As an athlete, you don’t want the other team to “manage.” you
And no, you will not become heavily built, stocky, or thickset. Sturdy is another subjective one, and this can be a good thing in your sport. One thing you will definitely be is well built.
Image taken from @thebettercoach
Now that that is out of the way, please stop saying you are afraid lifting is going to turn you into something resembling a piece of luggage. You can be afraid that lifting will slow you down, or change your body composition. Those worries are more valid, yet they are not completely true. Lifting is just one piece of the performance puzzle. Let me further explain with a little help from my friends…
"All exercise is actually a process of breaking down, including weight training! It's only in the recovery period with proper nutrition that you build back up, repair those muscles with protein and ensure your workout translates into you getting stronger and fitter! Your recovery nutrition is key! But this doesn't mean that lifting or eating protein makes you "bulky". The truth is, female athletes are at a disadvantage of building muscle due to lower levels of testosterone and, during certain times of the month, high progesterone ... so gaining muscle is extremely difficult! I encourage all female athletes to put in as much effort into their strength training and recovery nutrition as possible since we have a few things working against us already."
-Lindsey Cortes. Sports RD.
Works with NCAA, pro, high school, and adult female athletes. Taught me the importance of carbohydrates.
www.riseupnutritionrun.com
@female.athlete.nutrition
“Still to this day, even elite female athletes aren’t weight training; or are afraid to lift heavy with the belief they will become “bulky” and their performance will be jeopardized.
What if I told you, male or female; stronger muscles mean more power, speed, and better protection from injuries on the field, court, pitch etc. Strength training isn’t just about building muscle so let’s put an end to this stigma, let’s see it for what it is, a free performance enhancement agent that ALL female athletes should be doing.
Strength training is one piece of the puzzle, it is a powerful tool for female athletes to assist their performance goals.”
-Jazz Speight
@femalesinsport_
Strength and conditioning coach
AFLW Rehabilitation Coach
AND soon to be exercise physiologist. In other words, she’s doing it all. Check @femalesinsport_ to see her athletes lifting heavy AND doing the important correctives. They are also doing it all.
“A quick answer to “will lifting weights make me bulky?” is no! It’s actually harder for women to build muscle than it is for men because we generally have lower levels of testosterone. Testosterone is a hormone that facilitates muscle growth among other things.
The science behind lifting weights also helps us find the answer to this age old question.
Combining science and weight lifting guides us to build muscle that performs for us as we need it to. For a distance runner that is endurance muscle that can last for hours at a time. For a soccer player it is muscle that can be explosive and agile.
If a female was trying to bulk up, say for a body building competition, they would need to be very focused on lifting for hypertrophy, big muscle growth, AND eating a very specific diet. Given all that, natural (no steroids) female body builders are still not bulky like their male counterparts.
Train and eat for performance. 💜
-Katie McCaffery
Sports Performance Trainer
@female.elite
Check out @female.elite to see her athletes lifting heavy af. They will lift you up, too (mentally. Although they probably can physically, too).
Thank you Katie, Jazz, and Lindsey for helping me squash this myth! And thank you ladies for all you are doing to help our youth female athletes.
If you are located in Central NJ and ready to start strength training, please use the form to email me below.
If you are not located in Central NJ and still ready to start strength training, use the form below to ask me about my remote options.
