Calling all girls who lift.

Have you ever been told by friends, strangers and loved ones not to get ‘too muscly’ when they find out that you lift weights? Or asked ‘are you going to end up looking like Arnold Schwarzenegger’? Or even ‘don’t turn into a man’?

Yep, me too. All of the above.

While it drives me mad, I’ve realised that a lot of these comments come from a place of misinformation so I’d like to set the record straight on what it means to be a girl who lifts.

1) There’s a limit as to how much muscle women can grow due to the decreased levels of testosterone (around 15-20 times less) when compared to men. Testosterone induces muscle growth which is why men can grow more muscle - they have more testosterone. Without artificially increasing their levels of testosterone women simply cannot grow the same amount of muscle as men. Therefore, we will not ‘turn into men’ by lifting weights

2) To be ‘toned’ women have to have muscles. If you lose weight without having any muscle then yes, you’ll end up looking thin but chances are you will lose some of the shape or curves that you had before. For all of those people out there who like the women in their lives to have an ass for example, unless she’s been miraculously blessed with perfectly shaped glute muscles, chances are she’s going to have to work on that shape and lifting weights is the perfect way to do that

3) The female bodybuilders you see on stage with bulging muscles and no body fat are not a good representation of the majority of girls who lift. Any woman who is competing in any competition, whether it’s Figure, Bikini, Fitness or Bodybuilding, will be the first to tell you that she will only be in her stage condition for a day or two, no longer. This is because to look their best they will dehydrate themselves, cut their calories drastically right at the end and tan themselves beyond normal colour ranges. It’s not a sustainable body shape and is not what 99% of girls who lift will look like

4) Besides the aesthetic reasons there are plenty of health benefits to lifting weights for women including increased calorie burn during and after a workout, a higher metabolism, stronger bones from doing weight-bearing exercise and major stress relief. Trust me, squat a bar loaded with your body weight and you’ll feel on top of the world

5) Muscles make girls look like badasses. And that’s everyone’s aim in life as well as mine right?

What’s your normal response when someone gives you sh*t about being a girl who lifts?