NO.

Then why are so many freaking women so afraid of lifting weights?

Because we aren’t logical when it comes to how we look?

Possibly. I know Ryan would probably say that most of the time my emotions more than my brain dictate how I feel I look.

But so then what keeps convincing us that we will get bulky, if that belief isn’t at all logical?

What makes women shy away from lifting heavy even when they KNOW logically that they don’t have the hormones/eat enough calories/lift enough weight to become big and bulky?

I honestly believe it may be our definition of femininity. It is this standard that irrationally makes us fear anything that might take us away from this traditional belief.

I mean really think about it….What words do you associate with feminine? Or even masculinity for that matter.

Feminine – gentle, sensitive, thin, empathetic, caring, compassionate

Masculine – strong, competitive, virility

I know these are generic, but let’s face it….They are to some great extent what most people truly believe.

We like things in black and white – female or male.

We fear the “grey areas.”

And to be a woman who lifts weights…well that area is still grey.

It’s still emotionally  a struggle because it goes against things we’ve been indoctrinated with since we were very young.

I mean shoot, you say to a woman, “Wow your arms are jacked.” Or “Wow your arms are toned.” And I guarantee she will  go home and stare in the mirror and wonder if she is bulky. She may even be so offended by those comments that she cries or turns to friends to tell her she isn’t bulky. (Trust me…I’ve had friends do this).

Even I’ve had moments of being illogical. I’m sure every woman has.

It is hard operating in a “grey area.”

But we can’t give in to that ILLOGICAL fear that we will become bulky.

We can’t give in to all of those freaking people who seem to keep spewing the “Women who lift heavy look like men” phrase.

Because the simple truth is we don’t.

And we never will.

Because even though we may lift like men, we don’t look like them.

(Of course there is still something wrong with the fact that lifting is defined as masculine, but that is a topic for a different day.)