"A champion is afraid of losing. Everyone else is afraid of winning."
Billie Jean King

• "Women who lift weights will lose their femininity."
• "Women who lift weights will develop huge, bulging muscles like males."
• "Women can not develop strength like males."
• "Women athletes do not need to strong to excel in athletics."

The above statements are but just a few of the seemingly endless list of superstitions and myths, which have been feared, by many female athletes and why they should not lift weights.

Every athlete should be involved in and emphasize a sound and safe strength training program for what every sport they are involved in. Nothing could be further from the truth than to suggest that women should not be muscularly fit and strong. Female athletes, and females in general, have as much to gain from a properly conducted strength training program, as do their male counterparts…and in many cases even more.

Many of the problems with the "myths" of females lifting weights lies in the mythology of old hand-me down misinformation from grandparents, gender stereotypes, muscle magazines and fears of about losing flexibility, gaining weight and developing masculine features.

These old "myths" are slowly working there way out of the coaching world, but we have long way to go. Weight rooms no longer are only considered a place for males. Females of all ages are becoming more and more involved with programs and activities designed to enable them to be physically fit. More and more high school and college programs are requiring their athletes to attend off-season strength training and conditioning workouts. Many of them are training right along with the "football" team. Woody Hayes is properly turning over in his grave.

Thanks in large part to the passing of Title IX in 1972, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in all curricular and extracurricular activities, women's athletics and health care has experienced a huge growth pattern.

In 1972, only 1 in 27 girls participated in high school varsity sports. In 2002, that figure has grown to 1 in 2.5. Before Title IX, women composed only 2% of college athletes. With athletic scholarships now available, women in 2001 made up 54% of college students and 43% of college athletes. Since 1972, the number of female intercollegiate athletes has increased from 32,000 to 150,000. Women received only 9% of all medial degrees in 1972; by 1997, over 41% were women.

As a result of all this growth and participation in athletics, there is going to be an increase in injury rate and the severity of those injuries. Women coaches and athletes are now hearing and reading about terms like: the "female athlete triad" (a condition that describes the syndrome of disordered eating, menstrual irregularity and osteoporosis), athletic amenorrhea (a absence in the menstrual cycle), and ACL injuries (an injury to the anterior cruciate ligament of the knee), and the "Q-angle" of the knee. (See Table #1).

What is a young female athlete to do?

1. Invest time and effort into a sound, year strength and conditioning program at your school, in your physical education class, YMCA, local recreational center or even in your own home.


2. Make sure you are training all the major muscle groups of the body that are used in your sport. Do not just do exercises like sit-ups, which will make you look good at the pool


3. Perform multi-joint strength training exercises like leg presses, squats, dead lifts, and lunges that develop the major muscle groups of the lower body.


4. Special attention should also be given to the knee joint area. Most research literature points to women having more "lax" muscles and joints of the knee area than males. Which suggests why more females experience ACL injuries than males. By doing single-joint exercises: leg extension, leg curls, calf raises, hip adduction, hip abduction, hip flexion, hip extension this will help to strength and stabilize this injury prone area of the body.


5. Female athletes should also engage in a variety of agility, movement and sport specific drills. Drills should be performed in a good "athletic position" with the ankles, knees and hips bent in proper alignment.


6. Athletes who are involved in jumping and landing sports (basketball, volleyball, cheerleading track and field events, etc.) should practice ploymetric drills to refine and develop the art of jumping and landing. Many female athletes due to poor body mechanics land with their legs or knees bowed inward. This causes an increase in the likelihood of knee and ligament strain and hyperextension. This is a common cause of numerous connective tissue and meniscus injuries to the knee in basketball and volleyball.


7. The shoulder area is a cause of numerous injuries also in swimming, volleyball and softball. Most females have a lower arm that is more pronounced outward angle than in males. It is believed that this inherent anatomical variable can lead to increased incidence of shoulder injuries. A comprehensive shoulder strength training program that involves the anterior, posterior, medial and rotator cuff musculature should be followed. Strength training exercises like side lateral raise, front raise, seated press; shoulder adduction, abduction and rotation should be included in the program along with pulling movements for the back muscles like lat pull-downs, bent over rows and pull-ups.


8. Any female athlete who experiences irregular menstrual cycles (oligomenorrhea), or the cessation of menses (amenorrhea), should seek the expert advise of a gynecologist. Leading these conditions left unattended can lead to stress fractures, musculoskelatal injuries and weak and brittle bones.


9. There is no difference between female muscle tissue and male muscle tissue. Thus, when a female athlete is involved in an aggressive strength training program, she will experience some outstanding results - just like a male would, just not as great. The increased strength will give her a better chance to perform her sport at an optimal level while reducing the risk of injury - which is strength training's most prominent selling point.


10. Should an athlete strength train during and after pregnancy? Based on the limited data available, most experts agree that a proper strength training program would poses little risk to either the mother or the developing fetus. Most fitness enthusiasts believe that a strength training program would be very beneficial for the pregnant women. Strength training would provide the pregnant woman with some much needed muscle strength and endurance. This would help the mother-to-be with everything from walking to delivery.

Research suggests that the following recommendations for strength training and pregnancy are appropriate:

If you have health and medical conditions that can place you or the fetus at risk, you should not participate in strength training during pregnancy.
If you have never participated in a strength training program, you should not begin one during pregnancy.
Do not do any ballistic exercise movements.
Breath as normally as possible during pregnancy. You do not to hold back any oxygen to the fetus.
Any exercise that produces any pain or discomfort to you, stop and do an alternative exercise.
You should immediately consult your physician if any of the following warning signs or complications appear: vaginal bleeding, abdominal pain or cramping, ruptured membranes, elevated blood pressure or heart rate, or lack of fetal movements.

Table 1

	Basketball	Field Hockey	Softball	Soccer	Volleyball
Head/Neck/Spine	4.3	3.1	3.2	4.9	2.9
Face/Scalp	6.7	13.5	8.0	4.8	1.6
Shoulder/Arm	2.4	3.1	16.3	1.9	9.4
Forearm/Wrist/Hand	10.3	12.7	22.9	4.5	11.4
Trunk	6.4	4.9	5.5	4.5	11.4
Hip/Thigh/Leg	16.8	21.8	18.0	25.8	9.6
Knee	15.7	13.7	10.8	19.4	11.1
Ankle	36.4	23.3	14.8	33.5	41.8
Other	1.1	3.3	0.5	0.7	0.4

TRAIING GUIDELINES FOR THE FEMALE ATHLETE

If the athlete improves one repetition a workout, three workouts each week, fifty-two weeks a year, the progress would look like this:

1. Train to momentary muscular failure. A muscle only becomes strong when an "overload" is placed on it. If you do not place a high demand on the muscle and train it harder today than you did yesterday, then you will get less improvement than you are capable of achieving.
2. Always use proper training technique and training form when performing any strength training exercise. Never sacrifice training form to lift more weight.
3. Make slow and gradual progression with the amount of reps and weight used on each exercise. When you successively reach a prescribed rep range for any given exercise, it then time to add a little more weight to the bar or machine. Use the following as a guideline:
   Lower body exercises 10 - 15 reps
   Upper body exercises 6 - 12 reps
4. Give your body plenty of time to recover between strength training workouts. Usually between 48 to 72 hours is needed. A training schedule of 3 days a week is plenty for an athlete (Monday, Wednesday and Friday or Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday). It is also important to eat nutritious foods and drink plenty of water before, during and after training.
5. It is important for any athlete involved in a strength training to develop muscle balance throughout the body. If you work the front of the body, you must also work the antagonist muscle of the back of the body (front of thigh with back of leg, front of arm with the back of arm, etc.). A good rule of thumb is to alternate pushing movements with a pulling movement (leg extension - leg curl, arm curl - arm extension).
6. Use full range of motion with each exercise. Push the weight all the way up and lower it completely to a safe and effective level.
7. Do every exercise at a controlled speed of movement. If you raise and lower a weight slowly (about 2 seconds up and lower about 4 seconds down), your muscles will do more effective work. Plus you are less likely to injure yourself while training. The slower the muscle works, the harder the muscle works, and the harder the muscle works the stronger it will become.
8. It is very important for any female athlete to continue her strength training program during her competitive season. Usually two quality strength training sessions per week is sufficient to maintain your strength level over the course of the season. This will help greatly with injury prevention and reaching a level of peak performance.

MUSCLE, EXERCISE, and SPORT CHART

In conclusion, all females, epically female athletes should take part in an intense, sound and aggressive strength training program. Do not sell yourself short by not doing all that you can to become an injury-free and superior conditioned athlete. Strength training alone is not the only answer, but it will do wonders to help you reach your true athletic potential.

REFERENCES:

· K. Mannie, Strength Training for the Female Athlete, Coach and Athletic Director, December 2000
· T. Lambrinides, Strength Training for the Female, High Intensity Training Newsletter, Vol. 4, 1993
· W. Ebben, R. Jenson, Strength Training for Women: Debunking Myths That Block Opportunity, The Physician and Sports Medicine, Vol. 26, No. 5, May 1998
· J. Powell, K. Barber-Foss, Injury Patterns in Selected High School Sports: A Review of the 1995-1997 Seasons, Journal of Athletic Training, Vol. 34, No. 3, Sept. 1999
· J. Peterson, C. Bryant, S. Peterson, Strength Training for Women, Human Kinetics, 1995
· D. Riley, J. Peterson, Not For Men Only: Strength Training for Women, Leisure Press, 1979