I know, I know. Never read the comments.
Still, it’s the Olympics and there are a lot of very strong women in the news and under every video or picture, there are dozens of ignorant, hateful comments about their size.
Part of me just wants to scream that in some cases these are strength competitions–not body building competitions–and it just is the case that larger athletes have an advantage. That’s why there are weight divisions. Strongest and largest just go together.
But why is that?
Strength athletes eat a lot to gain muscle. Yes, they’ll also gain fat. They’re not trying to grow the most muscle with the least fat. There’s no in-sport award for leanness. It’s all about performance.
See The world’s strongest athletes aren’t shredded and for good reason:
“Even though the workouts typically don’t involve much—if any—dedicated cardio time, lifting weights can burn hundreds or even thousands of calories. The body needs a surplus of calories to build muscle, so eating is part of the routine. High-level competitors like World’s Strongest Man champions Brian Shaw or Eddie Hall typically refer to their eating as “force feedings. The result of heavy training and heavier eating is more muscle mass, which competitors use to create more leverage against the bar or whatever other apparatus they may be trying to manipulate.”
While it’s hard to persuade people these days that there is anything at all good about being fat, fat people do tend to be stronger than people who carry less weight. See A Benefit of Being Heavier Is Being Strong from the National Institutes of Health See also The Obesity Paradox: How Fat Can Be Good for You:
“Bigger people tend to be stronger than thin people, according to research, making them better at strength exercises such as weight lifting. That’s because, in addition to having more fat tissue, they have more muscle mass, too. This is true for fat people of all ages, from youth to old age. “
We’ve written about this here on the blog too:
And about representation:
