Weightlifting Is Not Just A Man’s Hobby

We all know the stigma behind the gym. It is a man’s world. Women can weight-lift too.

In fact, you right now, yes you, are reading an article written by a young woman who personally

weight lifts. Yes, I have heard it all before: “You are going to get bulky”; “The gym is a man’s

world”; “You should stick to cardio”. All of these are wrong. In fact, I and many other women

experience not only the joy of weight-lifting but the benefits. You read that right, women benefit

from weight-lifting.

You are probably wondering, how do women benefit from weight-lifting?

Everyone wants to be confident in who they are and their bodies. It is no surprise that

weightlifting helps people to lose fat, but did you know that ​weightlifting burns more calories

than cardio? ​ In fact, cardio only burns calories during the workout, whereas weight-lifting will

burn calories up t​o 24 hours after your workout​. This is because after you are done

weight-lifting, your body needs to repair the damaged muscles. As a reader, you might be asking,

well does this have to be done at a certain weight? The answer is simple, no. As long as you are

working out with enough weight to create a strain on the muscles and create micro-tears, the

body will need to repair itself. This will take energy from the body to do so, whereas cardio your

body goes back to normal after the sweat session is done.

One​ thing​ that everyone thinks about is preventing injury, specifically athletes. It is pretty

obvious that weight-lifting strengthens your muscles, but did you know that stronger muscles

help joint issues​ and knee issues. Now, I am a collegiate runner, so I understand the struggles of

IT band injuries​ — a tendon attached to the knee, that becomes inflamed—​ and yes, this can be

prevented. In fact, when my IT band started to bother me, the first ​thing ​that the trainer told me
to do was to strengthen my glute muscles, which was causing the tendon to flap against my knee

therefore becoming inflamed. Women have a tendency to be built differently from men, which

can lead to reoccurring injuries in women.

To continue off of injury prevention from weight-lifting; our bones become brittle as we

age. It is a well-known fact that women are typically more fragile than men. Osteoporosis

happens as people age, “​but women are four times more likely than men to develop

osteoporosis” (McLean, n.d., para. 10)​, by weight-lifting women can decrease the risk of

osteoporosis. Lifting weights helps to increase spinal bone mineral density, which decreases as

we age. A study published in the ​American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation,

proves that women who are postmenopausal have the greatest benefits on bone mineral density

due to weight lifting.​ Now, the problem with this study is that the researchers do not know the

amount of weightlifting that was done before the study. As stated in the study, “consequently,

they may have had greater daily loading placed on the lumbar spine and femur vs. the radius

before participation in the studies” (George A. Kelley, 2001, pg.74). This can cause some people

to be skeptical, does weightlifting really help women retain bone mineral density, or is there too

many uncontrollable variables?

Heart health is not something you necessarily think of when you think of weightlifting.

Typically, people think of heart health being associated with cardio, but in fact Fetters found that

an ​ “Appalachian State University study, people who performed 45 minutes of

moderate-intensity resistance exercise lowered their blood pressure by 20 percent” (Shape,

2019). In the long run, this will help with heart disease; weightlifting can still raise a person’s

heart rate, but women are missing out on the benefits of this.
 For all the women that think they are going to get bulky, I am here to tell you this is not

true. Unless you are specifically training to become big and bulky; this will not happen. The

main reason as to why women will not get bulky from weightlifting is because women do not

have as ​much testosterone as men.​ In fact women have “about 15-20% less concentration of

testosterone in their body than men do” (Paquin, n.d., para. 6). So for all the ladies out there

thinking the are going to get bulky, unless you magically have 15% more testosterone than the

average female, I am here to say you will not get bulky without specific training. The type of

bulk that most of us see on social media is from sports enhancing drugs.
 Overview of Rhetorical Situation

Exigence: ​As a woman, I feel that other women need to understand that they can weightlift too.

The benefits of weightlifting for women are endless. They should not be scared just because the

gym is dominated by men.

Writer: ​I as the writer of this Op-Ed am a big weightlifter and love the benefits that

weightlifting provides.

Primary Audience: ​My primary audience is women of all ages, but I really want to reach the

women who do not go to the gym because of the stigma behind it.

Secondary Audience: ​My secondary audience would be doctors; they can help to persuade

women that the benefits of weightlifting are endless and can help with health problems in the

future.

Goal: ​My goal is to persuade women to start weightlifting and to ensure they understand the

benefits they can gain from weightlifting.

Venue: ​I would like to see this in ​Women’s Health.​ This would be a great magazine for this to

be in because it will show women the health benefits of weightlifting and reach many women of

different ages.

Context: ​Weightlifting is a big part of my life, but I always get the comments; “Oh, you are

going to look like a guy”, or “That is not ladylike”. I want to provide other women with

information that shows weightlifting can benefit everyone, not just men. In fact, weightlifting

might benefit women more in the long run.

References

Fetters, Aleisha. “11 Major Health and Fitness Benefits of Lifting Weights”. ​Shape. ​4, Oct. 2019.

Web ​https://www.shape.com/fitness/tips/benefits-lifting-weights-strength-training

McLean, Marc. “Why Women Should Weight Train: A Reason You Haven’t Heard”.

MindBodyGreen. ​N.D. Web

https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-28092/why-women-should-weight-train-a-reason-you-haven

t-heard.html

Paquin, Beverly. “Ladies, Lifting Heavy Won’t Make You Bulk Up”. ​International Sports

Sciences Association. ​Web

https://www.issaonline.com/blog/index.cfm/2016/ladies-lifting-heavy-wont-make-you-bulk-up

“For Women Weight Lifting is Essential, Here’s Why”. ​International Sports Sciences

​ .D. Web
Association. N

https://www.issaonline.com/blog/index.cfm/2019/for-women-weight-lifting-is-essential-heres-wh

Kelley, George. Kelley, Kristi. Tran, Zung. “Resistance Training and Bone Mineral Density in

Women”. ​Research Gate. ​Feb. 2001. Web.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/12190180_Resistance_Training_and_Bone_Mineral_D

ensity_in_Women
 Move #1: The first move I made was to make the introduction catchy. I wanted to the

reader to feel as if I know them personally. I also wanted the introduction to have questions, so

that people, when they read it, are curious and want to continue to read.

Move #2: I chose to put the fat loss as second because I feel that women really care about

how they look. I felt that this would keep me reading and that as a reader I would care more

about the fat loss, than the bone strength.

Move #3: I wanted to keep this as young women also would be intrigued by it, that is

why I chose to include the injury prevention for athletes. I want this Op:Ed to appeal to all ages,

not just older women or younger women.

Move #4: I chose to include that I myself weightlift and am a collegiate runner because I

felt that it gave me more credibility. It also may give the reader some kind of connection to me as

a writer. I felt that this was very important, I am more likely to believe someone if they have

gained the benefits of something.

Move #5: My final move was to include the study. I felt that the study was important

because it added credibility to that paragraph. It showed the reader that I am not just saying this

is true if you weight lift, but I am proving it to them.