The Divine Unfeminine: Redefining Femininity Through Physical, Mental, and Social Growth in Weightlifting

I’ll never forget my first experience coaching female youth hockey athletes in the weight room through the University of Guelph. As we introduced them to basic strength movements, bench press, goblet squats, and other lifts, some of the girls would come up to me during the session and ask, “Is this going to make me look muscle-y?” I couldn’t help but laugh, because I had always been the ‘stronger one’ as an Olympic weightlifter myself, and I thought of my strength and ‘bulkiness’ as something that was just part of who I am, not something to try and avert. It’s comments like these that stick with me. From such a young age, many girls are conditioned to see strength training as something unfeminine or threatening to their appearance, rather than as a tool for athletic development, confidence, empowerment, and something I so desperately wish I could have started at their age. Weightlifting offers these young women a chance to challenge the narrative and redefine what femininity can mean.

Weightlifting, in this context, includes both foundational movements, like squats, presses, and hinges, as well as the more technical Olympic lifts such as the snatch and clean & jerk (plus their derivatives). While the foundational lifts teach stability and strength, Olympic lifts demand precise technique, timing, and coordination, while also developing maximum power. When taught progressively and performed correctly, these movements are not only safe for young female athletes, but they are also transformative. Beyond physical development, they enhance and build motor control, teach the athletes how to handle technical challenges, and lay the foundation for long-term athletic growth.

This is where weightlifting becomes more than just a training tool. As both a coach and Olympic weightlifter, I’ve seen how mastering these skills changes young girls’ outlook on what they can do with their bodies. The physical challenge combined with the technical learning process shifts their focus from appearance to capability, fostering qualities that carry into sport performance, everyday life, and beyond. Weightlifting empowers young girls in three interconnected ways: physically, mentally, and socially; while simultaneously reshaping how they, and those around them, view femininity.

For young female athletes, weightlifting develops more than just muscle, it lays the groundwork for athleticism across all sports. Foundational lifts build strength and stability to support healthy movement patterns in the field of play. As athletes progress into Olympic-style lifting, they add layers of coordination, power, and technical skill; areas where female athletes are often given less encouragement or opportunity to develop. These physical qualities directly enhance performance across sports, from sprinting and jumping in track and volleyball, to explosive changes of direction in basketball and hockey.

Research consistently shows that Olympic lifts and their derivatives enhance physical outputs directly tied to sport. Much research is available to support that both Olympic lifts and traditional power lifts improved vertical jump performance (Channel & Barfield, 2008). It was found that vertical jump performance depends on strength, power, and efficient use of the stretch-shortening cycle, all of which are trained through Olympic-style lifts (Channel & Barfield, 2008). Interestingly, biomechanical similarities between the squat, power clean, and vertical jump likely explain the transfer of training effects (Channel & Barfield, 2008). While hypertrophy and energy system changes contribute to the adaptations as well, studies emphasize that neural mechanisms also played a key role in observed gains, showing that even prepubescent athletes improved jump height, balance, and rate for force development through Olympic lifting, all without increasing injury risk (Channel & Barfield, 2008). Collectively, many studies demonstrate that Olympic lifts build more than raw strength; they develop speed, agility, and whole-body coordination in ways that transfer directly into sport (Chaouachi et al, 2014; Ayers et al, 2016; Neff, 2025). But for young female athletes, these benefits take on a deeper meaning. Too often, girls are discouraged from strength training out of fear it will make them “bulky” or less feminine. By mastering Olympic lifts, female athletes claim a space that has historically been coded as masculine and redefine it on their own terms. The strength, speed, and explosiveness gained in the weight room become part of what it means to be a confident, athletic young woman, an identity proudly rooted in ability rather than age old stereotypes.

Just as weightlifting strengthens the body, it also builds the mindset to embrace challenge, overcome failure, and grow from it, setting the stage for its powerful mental benefits especially for young female athletes. Weightlifting provides repeated opportunities for mastery experiences, small but meaningful moments where athletes succeed at a new lift, refine their technique, or feel strength develop over time. Studies prove that these experiences foster self-efficacy and long-term adherence to sport by reinforcing an athlete’s belief in her own abilities (Pierce et al., 2022). This is particularly crucial for girls who often face cultural narratives that discourage them from associating strength with femininity. By proving to themselves that they CAN move a barbell with precision and power, they begin to rewrite their internal dialogue. The technical nature of Olympic lifts further amplifies these psychological benefits. Since progress in the snatch or clean and jerk comes from patient skill development rather than instant success, young athletes learn persistence, focus, and resilience.

I’ve experienced this transformation firsthand. When I first began training as a competitive weightlifter, it was all too easy for me to doubt myself. My mindset was ‘I don’t think I can do this’, but over time, through persistent practice and overcoming the repeated challenges I would face during each training session, my mindset evolved to one of resolve – ‘Well, you’re going to have to do this’. What started as a struggle with self-belief gradually became a recognition that the only person whose confidence truly mattered was my own. That shift, from hesitation to determination, is exactly the kind of mental growth weightlifting fosters in young female athletes, teaching them that resilience and confidence are built through persistence, not innate ability.

Other studies emphasize that such training not only enhances motor skills but also cultivates attentional control and cognitive discipline, skills that extend far beyond the gym (Granacher et al., 2016). Each failed attempt becomes a learning opportunity rather than a setback, thus reframing mistakes as steps toward mastery. For girls who often experience sport drop out linked to confidence issues, this shift is invaluable. Documented research shows that resistance training intervention significantly improves youth athletes’ self-perception, physical self-worth, and global self-worth, proving that structured strength training positively impacts mental and emotional development in young athletes (Collins et al., 2019). For female athletes, these gains help counteract societal pressures regarding body image and traditional gender norms. Drawing from Self-Determination Theory, the authors highlight that athletes who view competition as an opportunity for mastery rather than external validation demonstrate higher intrinsic motivation (Frederick-Recascino & Schuster-Smith 2003). Weightlifting naturally lends itself to this framing: the barbell offers a personal challenge rather than a comparison against others. When young female athletes pursue progress, whether adding a kilo to the bar or perfecting technique, they strengthen intrinsic motivation, which in turn sustains long-term engagement in sport.

Ultimately, the mental benefits of weightlifting are inseparable from its role in redefining femininity. When girls internalize strength, persistence, and confidence as part of who they are, they resist narrow stereotypes of being ‘too muscular’ or ‘unfeminine’. By mastering Olympic lifts, they cultivate an identity based on capability and resilience, and in doing so, they show themselves and others that femininity can include physical and mental strength.

Weightlifting doesn’t just build strong bodies and resilient minds; it has the great power to foster social growth and a sense of belonging, which is especially important for this demographic. Incorporating weightlifting into sport-specific strength and conditioning programs provides young female athletes with a structured environment to develop strength, power and technical skill. Starting with a dowel and progressing to a weighted barbell, while fostering teamwork, peer support, and the confidence that comes from mastering challenging movements alongside role models who demonstrate that strength is both attainable and validating. Sharing the journey of learning complex lifts, celebrating incremental progress, and encouraging one another reinforces social bonds while normalizing female strength. Some of my fondest memories as both a weightlifter and coach come from these moments of ‘bro-ness’ and camaraderie. Whether it’s the team gathering to cheer, or scream at a teammate attempting a heavy lift, or my own coach grabbing dowels and shouting at me to ‘Get it straight to the hip’, the intensity, energy, and shared emotion of these moments have created bonds that made me want to come back for more. Though these types of interactions may seem a bit abrasive to outsiders, they cultivate trust, motivation, and a sense of belonging that is central to social development in the weight room.

Research on youth sport programs emphasizes that developmentally appropriate sport environments, combined with supportive adult mentorship, foster positive outcomes including competence, confidence, character, and connections (Fraser-Thomas et al., 2005). Applied to a youth female weightlifting context, this highlights that creating structured, encouraging, and socially engaging sessions helps girls internalize their abilities, build leadership skills, and form supportive relationships with peers and coaches. These experiences not only improve adherence and enjoyment of training but also counteract societal pressures that may discourage girls from pursuing strength-based sports.

Ultimately, the social dimension of weightlifting helps redefine femininity collectively. When peers, coaches, and family members witness girls’ achievements in the weight room, the cultural narrative shifts. Strength, skill, and athleticism become part of a shared identity rather than a deviation from being female. By combining physical, mental, and social development, weightlifting creates a community-centered platform for empowerment, resilience, and self-definition, showing young female athletes that femininity can include strength, skill, and confidence.

Weightlifting empowers young girls in three interconnected ways: physically, mentally, and socially, while simultaneously reshaping how they, and those around them, view femininity. Physically, mastering lifts builds strength, power, coordination, and athletic capability, providing a foundation for sport performance that extends across disciplines. Mentally, navigating technical challenges fosters confidence, resilience, and a growth mindset, teaching girls that improvement comes through effort and persistence rather than conforming to expectations, which are lessons applicable across the field of play. Socially, the weight room becomes a supportive space to connect, celebrate progress, challenge stereotypes, cultivates leadership and community.

As Olympic bronze medalist and USA women’s rugby member Ilona Maher says, “Take up space, pitch it faster, run harder, put another plate on the bar, and never tone it down”. This sentiment, to me, encapsulates what weightlifting offers to young female athletes, the permission to be bold, capable, and unapologetically strong, both in sport and in life. By embracing weightlifting for benefit in their sport, girls are not only developing athletic skills and power, but also redefining what it means to be feminine, confident, and empowered.

Ayers, J., DeBeliso, M., Sevene, T., & Adams, K. (2016). Hang cleans and hang snatches produce similar improvements in female collegiate athletes. Biology of Sport, 33(3), 251–256. https://doi.org/10.5604/20831862.1201814

Channell, B. T., & Barfield, J. P. (2008). Effect of Olympic and traditional resistance training on vertical jump improvement in high school boys. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 22(5), 1522–1527. https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0b013e318181a3d0

Chaouachi, A., Hammami, R., Kaabi, S., Chamari, K., Drinkwater, E. J., & Behm, D. G. (2014). Olympic Weightlifting and Plyometric Training With Children Provides Similar or Greater Performance Improvements Than Traditional Resistance Training. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 28(6), 1483–1496. https://doi.org/10.1519/jsc.0000000000000305

Collins, H., Booth, J. N., Duncan, A., Fawkner, S., & Niven, A. (2019). The Effect of Resistance Training Interventions on “The Self” in Youth: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Sports Medicine – Open, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40798-019-0205-0

Fraser-Thomas, J. L., Côté, J., & Deakin, J. (2005). Youth sport programs: an avenue to foster positive youth development. Physical Education & Sport Pedagogy, 10(1), 19–40.

Frederick-Recascino, C. M., & Schuster-Smith, H. (2003). Competition and intrinsic motivation in physical activity: A comparison of tw. Journal of Sport Behaviour, 26(3). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265485177_Competition_and_intrinsic_motivation_in_physical_activity_A_comparison_of_tw

Granacher, U., Lesinski, M., Büsch, D., Muehlbauer, T., Prieske, O., Puta, C., Gollhofer, A., & Behm, D. G. (2016). Effects of Resistance Training in Youth Athletes on Muscular Fitness and Athletic Performance: A Conceptual Model for Long-Term Athlete Development. Frontiers in Physiology, 7(164). https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2016.00164

Neff, E. (2025). Effect of Olympic Weightlifting Training on Power Output and Landing Forces in Adolescent Female Athletes: A Quasi-Experimental Study (Thesis, Concordia University, St. Paul). Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.csp.edu/kinesiology_doctorate/35

Pierce, K. C., Hornsby, W. G., & Stone, M. H. (2022). Weightlifting for Children and Adolescents: A Narrative Review. Sports Health, 14(1), 45–56. https://doi.org/10.1177/19417381211056094