Just the other day, I was talking to one of my co-workers about working out. She wants to start working out, but when I suggested weight-lifting, she immediately said, "I don't want to do that! I don't want to get huge!" American women are generally under the impression that if they lift weights, they will become huge - grotesquely muscular - and look like a man. This is the image that they see the second anyone suggests a girl weight-lifting.
Yeah...gross! I know because I used to think this way! About ten months ago, my husband took me to the gym and promised me that I would not become huge if I started lifting. He swore I would not start looking like the woman pictured above. Skeptically, I decided to start lifting and doing general crossfit exercises.
I have now come to realize that grotesquely muscular women are only becoming that way because they are taking steroids, binge eating, etc. However, the strongest women in crossfit do not look like that. Yeah, they are definitely ripped and muscular but not in a disgusting way (at least I don't think so).
Meet Samantha Briggs:
She can deadlift 375 pounds.
Back squat 275 pounds.
Clean and jerk 198 pounds.
She just won the women's side of the crossfit games - an international event. She is now labeled as the fittest woman on earth. Yet, she still looks like a woman!
Check out these stats and other female stats here: http://games.crossfit.com/
Since I started lifting, I have become so much stronger and yet have remained feminine.
October: 2 pull-ups, 45 pounds for my 5x5 back squats, 35 pounds for a 1x5 deadlift
August: 11 pull-ups, 165 pounds for my 5x5 back squats, 180 pounds for a 1x5 deadlift
And I am still making progress! I'm working on learning how to do thrusters and power cleans, adding weight each week to my squats and deadlifts, and trying to become more and more fit. My husband has been there to train, encourage, and motivate me each step of the way. We joke that the couple that trains together stays together!
I guess my point is that if I were going to start becoming huge and "man-ish", at ten months in to this new lifestyle, I would have started to develop that look. If that is your fear, I just want to convince you that it is only a perception and definitely not a reality. I still run too and I'm not opposed to doing other stuff on the side, but I have definitely seen the most results overall through doing olympic lifting and crossfit exercises.
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