Read my World Mental Health Day blog post for Springer Nature to find out!

tl;dr: from researching women’s mental health (my PhD looked at women’s experiences of Social Anxiety Disorder and I’ve also had a book published on this topic) and my own experiences with lifting (competing/refereeing/coaching powerlifting) I had a hunch that strength sports might be especially positive for women’s wellbeing.

So, while I reached out to other women lifters to get their thoughts, I also had a look to see what the literature had to say.

What I found:

Many women find that lifting weights builds confidence, self-esteem, and reduces stress.

Going against societal expectations (building physical strength as a woman) promotes a sense of power, agency, and autonomy.

In a world that’s obsessed with women’s appearance, lifting can shift our focus from what our bodies *look like* to what they *can do*.

Participation in strength sports might have benefits over lifting weights in isolation. E.g. the objective measures of success in powerlifting (total, dots-hard numbers) are a means by which we can resist the pressure to adhere to beauty ideals and instead strive towards improving performance and health.

Lifting restores our sense of ownership over our bodies. Women often unfortunately come to watch themselves as one removed, as if they were outside observers. Lifting can help to reintegrate the body with the mind; it puts you back *in* your body and can facilitate what’s been called a ‘flow state’–where you’re so immersed in what you’re doing that nothing else seems to matter. After all, can you really be anywhere but *here* when you’re on the last rep of 10@9 on 3-0-3 tempo squats?!

Thanks to Karen Precious, Maria Garreffa, Emily Troscianko and Catherine Walter for sharing your thoughts.

And if you’re a woman who doesn’t currently lift, give it a try: you might be surprised at what it can do for you.