Yes, girls are afraid of the weight room!
Here’s why;
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The weight room is intimidating.
Equipment they’ve never used. Loud grunts and groans. Big strong boys. Boys in general. A coach they’ve never met. A wall of mirrors. The ambiance of a weight room is impossible to ignore.
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You can’t have fun in the weight room.
Fun is important to girls’ participation in sports. A weight room is often mandated as, “All Work. No Play.” The discouragement of socialization keeps girls away.
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She feels stupid.
When girls feel incompetent they are less likely to commit to something. Lifting is tedious and the positions can often feel awkward. This newness and lack of confidence leave girls with the feeling that “everyone” is watching them.
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Lifting is stressful.
The unfamiliarity with not only the equipment, but how to do the lifts correctly, causes a lot of anxiety in girls. Athletes are often afraid to ask for help because of how that might make them look.
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She won’t be pretty.
While more athletes are wanting to get in the weight room, the peer pressure to be skinny and pretty makes girls not want to get too big. There are still social and cultural stigmas that surround #girlswholift.
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There are boys in the weight room.
Boys can lift heavier than some girls weigh. That’s demoralizing. Boys can make territorial comments about girls being in there. That’s depreciating. Boys can be cute. That’s distracting.
I understand that a loud weight room filled with meat heads is a stereotype.
However, I wish more coaches, teachers and parents, would actually listen to their athletes’ concerns regarding strength training rather than just dismissing them as excuses. Where a female athlete may not eloquently articulate her concerns, research is clear that a girl’s relationships, body image, competence, and experiences impact her overall involvement in sport.
“I wish more coaches, teachers and parents, would actually listen to their athletes’ concerns regarding strength training rather than just dismissing them as excuses.”
Culturally today, I would agree that we are becoming more comfortable and accepting of the “Strong Girl.” More coaches are incorporating weight lifting expectations, and seeing the benefits of strong and powerful athletes. There has been growth in popularity around the world in fitness programs like CrossFit that highlight the idea of girls as #strongnotskinny.
In my coaching profession, I have worked with, met with, and have male coaching friends that have just as many girls in their weight rooms as boys. Expectations are changing. Biases are dissolving. Change is encouraging.
Yet, we cannot ignore that progress is still necessary.
Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sports found that girls’ participation outside of organized sports is declining. Similarly, “many girls fail to meet minimal standards of physical activity needed to accrue developmental and health benefits, or worse, they are completely sedentary.”
It should be a big deal that girls are afraid of the weight room!
A weight room, a gym, a YMCA is not age exclusive. When a female athlete retires from organized sport, she should still have a good enough relationship with the weight room that she can confidently walk right in and continue to live a healthy and active lifestyle.
Therefore, we must do better at encouraging girls to lift. We must create an emotionally safe environment for girls to lift. We must teach our girls correct technique and to competently train in the weight room.
We must do everything we can to combat the stigma of fear surrounding the weight room for our female athletes.
What has kept you away from the weight room?
Play Now, Play YOU!
XO, Coach D
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