Body image, body weight, and the expectation to be perfect. If you started reading this are thought. WOW yes this is what I am concerned about you may want to keep reading. There is an odd pre-conceived notion that female bodies are meant to be small, fragile, and womanly. Ok that might be the case for a very small portion of the population but what about the rest of us, especially females who lift !
The main concept to understand as a female is that if you are a highly-trained athlete with a specialized lifestyle, the functions you perform will dictate the form that your body takes. There are many misconceptions about fitness, females and weight training. So many people I talk to want to be “lean” or my favorite “toned” but they don’t understand what is done to get there.
Here is the tricky part, your sport determines your shape/ size based on your goals. What are your goals? That is the million dollar question you need to ask yourself. For example, many people tell me they want to lose weight, look good and perform well. Not that you can’t do ALL those things but you have to start placing them in order of importance for yourself.
Below are some examples of sport and the designated outcome of participating in these sports.
-Olympic weightlifting and power lifting- Mass moves mass. This means if your interested in lifting heavier and getting PR’s on your weights, then you need to weigh more to move more. Not something a lot of women want to hear, but this comes down to your own personal goals.
-Bodybuilding/ Weight training- Isolation exercises to shape and mold the body. You need to have a slight caloric surplus to gain mass then reduce body fat by eating less and doing low intensity cardio to maintain size.
-CrossFit- Constantly varied in cardio and weight training. You need both concepts. This means you may not be as lean and muscular as a bodybuilder but you still need to maintain size to move weight.
In determining what your goals are you can then start to direct your training into that type of fitness. Do you have to do just one? NO! Do them all but be smart about it. Use your building / mass phase to lift heavy weights and gain strength, then take a few months to shred down for the summer. This is also preventative in keeping injuries low because you are training through multiple domains of fitness.
Like what you hear? Need a plan on how to get there? Message me for more details on training programs and plans to get you there !