A lot of CrossFitters are hooked on that wrecked feeling you get after finishing Fran or Murph.  Heart throbbing, breath gasping, muscles aching.  5 minutes of 40 minutes you know you just worked out.  People love it.  That’s why most affiliates program these types of WODs daily.

I just want to lose weight, I don’t care about bulking up.

Weightlifting days are not as popular.  Lift a weight, stand around and chat for a few minutes.  It feels lazy.  I’m not sore, I’m not exhausted.  Did I even workout?

But remember one third of the code for fitness is Constantly Varied.  Whether YOU like it or not, your body NEEDS some of these days.

But what if I don’t want to get strong, I just want to lose weight?

Then you are in luck because today is your day!

First, I don’t think you really care about the weight, I think that you want to get lean.  You want to be toned.  You want to look good naked.  And guess what?  The surest way to accomplish that is to get strong.  Build lean mass that will eat up those fat stores.

But I don’t want to be bulky!  Not to worry.  For significant hypertrophy (muscle growth) to occur, you will require 2 things:

1) lots of testosterone
2) high volume sets (think 5 sets of 8-12 reps)

Not taking exogenous hormones?  Lifting in sets of 1-5?  You will not bulk up.  But you will lean out!

Today we are training for strength and strength leads to lean.  Reprogram your brain to that formula and you will come to love lifting days.  Remember intensity drives physiological adaptation and there are few things more intense than a single rep max lift!

(Remember Intensity = Power = Force x Distance/Time – Murph is a tough WOD but compared to a deadlift 1 rep max, it is not intense!)

One last objection: Why are female weightlifters so bulky then?

If you are talking about Olympic Lifters then my first response is: Not all of them are.  Many are very lean and graceful looking.  I just finished watching the Pan Am Games and many of those women were more gazelle than gorilla.

But there are husky lifters.  For two reasons:

1) They practice all the supplementary lifts training every day in high volumes to support their sport.
2) Weightlifting naturally favours a shorter, stockier athlete so at the elite level you will see more of that body type.  They succeed in the sport because they are built that way, they did not get built that way by participating in that sport.

And of course there may be a third reason: exogenous HGH & testosterone use.

So stop being afraid of lifting.  If you are looking for positive changes in body composition, lifting is your friend!

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