Very uplifting article I found about female strength training. Belief in yourself and your abilities is so important!!

[christi79]

https://mennohenselmans.com/natural-muscular-potential-women/

^There's the article.

I recommend reading the whole article, because it's awesome, but here are some specific bullet points I want to share with you all:

1. Women build just as much muscle protein after training and after meals as men. In fact, one study found that given the same level of muscle mass, women have a higher rate of muscle protein synthesis than men.
2. Elite, natural female athletes have 85% as much muscle as elite male athletes.
3. People have lower expectations of women, even most women themselves underestimate what they can achieve physically compared to men. In a famous study, simply telling people they were on steroids increased their strength gains by 321%.
4. So what do you think it does to women when you tell them they have 15 times less testosterone?
5. Growth factors like IGF-1 and growth hormone take over the anabolic role that testosterone has in men (so our lower testosterone is not as much of a disadvantage many people think it is).
6. Women are underrepresented in sports and in the gym.
7. We don’t have the same expectations of women. If a man benches a lot, that’s taken as a sign of social dominance. If a woman benches a lot, she’s seen as a freak, people get worried

In short, there is SO much more going on here, both scientifically and on a psychological level than "low testosterone." We have got to believe in our muscle-building capabilities!!

He also mentions that some of his natural female clients sometimes grew too much muscle for a bikini competition and he had to work with them to slim them down, which I thought was funny.

 

[omnifam]

@christi79 Well the reason for many of these things is that historically there has been greater incentive for males to compete more ruthlessly due to bateman's principle, hence men going to war etc. You fail to recognize that men pay for this apparent advantage through shorter lifespans, increased risk of death, being less likely to reproduce than women, etc.

 

[niyi]

@christi79 I know for a fact I'm stronger than most men on this earth. We don't have to fight to even prove it I can just look at them and see it. I had an abusive ex who was about 300 pounds, like five times taller than me, and I literally picked him up and threw him onto the ground bodyslammed him WWE style.

They're not gonna convince me theyre somehow stronger than me and theyre some authority figure over me. They're just not.

I would never submit to someone who is weaker than me. If you want to be an authority figure or leader to me, you must show me your strength and skills and qualifications that I should even see you as a leader.

That's why these men are just not leaders. They are really just creatures that are way too loud that wish they had power over a world that they just do not and is time for them to stop.

They are the only ones that be so tired and lazy anyway that want to be resting and relaxing all the time. So they need to go rest and relax and let women do what the hell we got to do, because we all have a lot to do.

 

[annah]

@niyi Nonsense why u want men to be leader it's just internalogized misogyny

 

[kbulls]

@christi79 Most people look in a woman don't see an athlete they look at somebody who's trying to get a guy and that's it
Doing stuff for yourself is what's important not doing stuff because other people tell you it's important
At the same time you got to realize there's some things that in here you can do that but as practical thing is not going to happen

 

[tehhollowed]

@christi79 I will say that when I was in high school...ahem...in the mid-90s, I was the only girl that took weightlifting class. I was there because I was an athlete and wanted to gain strength. I got some harassment and smirks from the guys there. There were a couple of other girls there that did nothing but sit around and collect their PE credit, lol.

But I've recently started going to the gym again and I LOVE, LOVE seeing so many women doing compound lifts and really working to build their strength.

I still feel out of place there but that's because I'm starting from scratch again and re-learning everything, not because I'm the only woman there!

 

[klara6]

@christi79 Couch Eugene always said that in his experience woman seem to recover twice as quickly as men, likely due to estrogen levels.

 

[dawn16]

@christi79 This is also true of other disciplines, particularly math. Women chronically underestimate themselves.

 

[rychusoo]

@dawn16 Society also systematically underestimate women in STEM; the question whether their subject isn't "too hard" for them is really discouraging. And when you've got your degree, you might find yourself having to take on more of the "soft" tasks at work as well.

 

[yeshuashomri]

@dawn16 I am running SBS and when I was setting up the template, I purposely programmed "too heavy" because I thought I probably underestimate my strength. I am doing mostly fine, so I probably still didn't program heavy enough.

 

[catholicmagus]

@christi79 Based on anthropometry, women have a higher cap pound for pound on strength. Go to openpowerlifting and the top 10 in the world pfp are mostly women. Go women!!

 

[rsdar]

@christi79 I guess it's uplifting if you are still trying to compare your body to men's bodies. I'm not.

What's wrong with lifting because I want to and it's good for my health and IDGAF what the boys are doing?

 

[bevinluvwithjesus]

@rsdar Because there is a pervasive attitude that suggests women shouldn't lift weights as they don't need to as it won't make any difference. In fact it can be well argued that women need to be there more than men.

 

[rsdar]

@bevinluvwithjesus Then, why not cite studies showing the benefits of strength training in women? As opposed to studies going "look, women can get gains almost as good as men"?

I mean, it's cool some guy decided to look that up and give us a pat on the delts, but dudes don't gotta be the default, benchmark, and narrative center for every fuckin thing.

 

[dawn16]

@rsdar

but dudes don't gotta be the default, benchmark, and narrative center for every fuckin thing.

It's almost like that's literally the point of this post, the links provided herein, and the sociological conclusions being made from them - stop comparing women relative to men (and all the baggage that comes with that mentality) and recognize that we're fundamentally capable and ought to see ourselves as such

 

[logeth]

@christi79 Good information.

One thing I noticed is that it takes connective tissue other than muscle longer to get stronger. I'm 57, lifted nonserisously on and off with little progress my whole life. Since 2020 I've been a lot more dedicated, and I noticed for example with dips, my sternal and rib cartilage hurt and felt like it was getting torn past when my muscles got stronger. But over like 1.5 years that got a lot better and now I can work on increasing reps and getting stronger without being held back by that. Same with pullups, I got elbow tendinitis that would get better and worse but finally seems to have totally adapted and gone away.

I don't know if that is being female or older or just having a generally wimpy body. But it may be like that for other people so don't give up because of that, just keep trying.

 

[orthodoxiy]

@logeth Early on in my exercise journey, I saw a doctor for my elbow tendinitis and they explained exactly this to me. I thought that by having 2-3 years of exercise under my belt that I was in tip top shape. But, being new to lifting, my joints were not used to the strain I was putting on them. Apparently joints take much longer to adapt to new stressors than muscles do. To the tune of YEARS longer!

 

[dawn16]

@logeth Oooh I got elbow issues from trying to train pull-ups! Grease the groove just sounds like it'll exacerbate that. What did you do that worked?

 

[logeth]

@dawn16 That's how I started, with GTG. It really works but yes horrible tendinitis. So I went to regular workouts 2 or 3 days per week with bands and negatives, gradually weaker bands, til I could do it. Same with dips but it took longer, those are hard. Now trying to increase reps. I'd like to do a muscle up but that may be may little too ambitious.

What really helped me with both elbow tendinitis and shoulder impingement is Bob and Brad the physical therapists on youtube. They are good. Just search that, "bob and brad physical therapists" plus the body part you need help with.

 

[orisk]

@logeth Bob and Brad have great, thorough advice, and are good for morale in general.