Hi!

I’m Julia (@jhooolia.24), a weightlifter here at Big Bend. I’ve been training with Brian (@bigbendstrength) for almost two years, and before that I trained and competed with my high school team for two seasons.

A lot of people ask how I became involved in weightlifting, and it’s pretty simple— I decided to stop cheerleading and pick another athletic outlet, one that didn’t require prior experience (like you’ll find in most high school sports). 

I think when many people consider what kinds of girls go into the sport of weightlifting, they come up with brutish ideas: “she wants to look manly.” Well, that’s never been the reason why I train— and it’s not the reason for other female weightlifters. It’s also not true that you become masculine. So what is the reason then? And why should girls get into weightlifting in high school?

1. It strengthens you for other sports, but it’s also a fun sport in itself. 

Several of the people on our high school weightlifting team are conditioning for other sports while learning how to lift. Volleyball players, track runners and even basketball players all want to build up strength for their upcoming or off seasons. But a handful of the girls on the team have never done anything athletic in their life. They just wanted to start getting fit without having to travel to a gym, pay for memberships or face tryouts for another sport. Weightlifting may be one of the only sports you can join without athletic experience. 

In addition, when you train in high school, that experience can transition into specific disciplines of weightlifting to compete in outside of the season: Olympic weightlifting, Powerlifting or CrossFit. Three of us on the Big Bend weightlifting team began in high school are now full time Olympic weightlifters for sport. 

2. Builds confidence

This may seem obvious, but let’s consider it for a second. A girl who always slouched and made no eye contact now stands up straight and looks up instead of down as she walks. The girl who has always worried about her appearance doesn’t think so harshly about it anymore because she sees her potential strength and design coming to the surface.  The girl who had an eating disorder is learning how to fuel her body with enough food and seeing the importance of a balanced diet so she can train her hardest. Everyone knows that teenage girls have it hard. But give them something to find some purpose in and let motivation do its work. Weight training principles carry over to other parts of life— it teaches perseverance, because weightlifting is awkward to understand at first. It teaches excellence, because being attentive to technique is vital for success. And finally it teaches confidence, because lifers begin seeing tangible growth in their strength.

3. Although individual performance, team spirit

My FAVORITE part of being on the weightlifting team is seeing teammates’ and friends’ work pay off, and seeing them excited about what they can do. There’s just something different about celebrating an individual’s accomplishment than an entire team’s collective accomplishment. Weightlifting has an unusual effect on people— there’s a thrill that I haven’t seen in other sports. Weightrooms are full of cheers for each individual girl reaching goals, no matter what team. Seeing friends that couldn’t lift the bar at first pump it up like it’s nothing is just so AWESOME. If you want to be a part of an uplifting group, the weightlifting team is a good place for you.

Those are just a few reasons why high schoolers should jump on the weightlifting team. It’s been one of the things that has built my character over my high school career.  I can only convince you so far— go check out your school’s team!
-Julia Hudson

If you’re ready to give weightlifting a try, I highly recommend checking out my free WL101: Beginner Guide + 6-Week Program here! It includes demo videos, tutorials, and pictures to help you learn in as many ways as possible, along with a 6-week program to follow to help you master the snatch, clean, and jerk using progressions like the one in this article! 

By the way, I have a free discord group where you can post your lifts for form checks! Click here to join, and post a video in the #form-checks channel!

And if you’re looking for a weightlifting program designed to help you set PRs, improve your technique, and get strong af, then check out a FREE WEEK TRIAL of my 3 & 5-Day OlyStrong Team at the link below!