When extra pounds are worth their weight in gold. Our Olympic lessons.

Reading time: 5 min | Author: Silvia

“Have you gained weight?” Ouch… that question hurts. Very few of us would proudly answer yes to that question. Not so Lindsey Vonn: the “Speed Queen,” whose Olympic dream was shattered after only 13 seconds of skiing due to an accident (SRF), deliberately gained weight for the Olympics. And she spoke openly about the strategy behind it.

Inhalt ausblenden
1 Extra weight: your friend, not your enemy.
2 Are you on your period?
3 Muscles protect our bodies.
4 «A nice booty never goes out of style».

Gaining weight. A difficult topic for us women. On the one hand, because we mistakenly associate weight gain with fat gain, and on the other hand, because trends such as Skinnytok and Size XS are unfortunately flooding social media again. But when we women gain muscle instead of fat (spoiler: that’s a good thing!), we’re afraid of looking bulky and masculine. We need a change of perspective here.

Extra weight: your friend, not your enemy.

Now that the Winter Olympics have come to an end, I noticed that female athletes spoke more openly about their physical challenges before and during the games than in previous editions. Lindsey Vonn was one of them. Unfortunately, she was unable to achieve her goal of winning Olympic gold due to a serious fall. Her accident could have been even more serious if she hadn’t been so strong, in the truest sense of the word…but we’ll come back to the connection between muscles and accident prevention later.

Back to the kilos: Before the Winter Olympics began, Vonn revealed that she had gained 5.5 kilograms for the races in northern Italy. Voluntarily. Consciously. On purpose.

Why? Anyone who skis or snowboards might have an idea. The force that pulls us down the mountain is gravity: “The heavier I am, the faster I go,” explains Lindsey Vonn. One thing is clear: the extra weight is not fat, but muscle mass. While pure fat makes you sluggish, additional muscle mass strengthens the body. Does Vonn look bulky or masculine because of her muscles? Not at all!

Aware of her role model status, the eight-time world champion explains that she believes we should be “proud of our bodies” and what they can do for us.

Speaking of physical performance: Italian biathlon icon Dorothea Wierer revealed after missing out on a medal that she felt “not bad, but […] sluggish” during the individual race. The reason for this was not a night of heavy drinking after skiing, but her cycle:

Are you on your period?

Wierer had her period (Bild.de). To anyone rolling their eyes and thinking that this is an excuse for poor performance, let me say: NO! Cross-country skiing is physically and mentally demanding. Add to that period pains in the form of cramps or headaches – grazie mille! Wierer speaks for all of us women when she says: 

«Unfortunately, once a month, we women simply have to endure this discomfort.». 

I don’t want to compare myself to a professional cross-country skier, but I had a shocking experience while cross-country skiing this winter: the abdominal pain I usually experience just before my period started suddenly became so severe that I had to stop in the middle of the trail, bury my head deep in my two ski poles, and breathe deeply in and out for several minutes. I felt so sick that I wanted to lie down in the cool snow.

It’s impossible to imagine what professional athletes have to endure, who can’t just bury their heads in their ski poles while doing their job, but are expected to perform—under the watchful eyes of coaches, fans, and the global public.

For my part, I celebrate both women: they stand confidently and talk about their bodies and how they function in top-level sport and in life. A body that is slowly beginning to change very slightly. Wierer is 35 and Vonn is 41. At 37, I am somewhere in between and can understand very well (even without being a professional athlete) what it means to feel your cycle, to notice the first changes in your body, or to be stuck in the supposed ambivalence between muscle wow and muscle horror.

Although… no, actually not. Because while many things change in our bodies over time, one thing remains the same:

Muscles protect our bodies.

Unfortunately, many people still don’t know this. Or don’t want to know it. Perhaps because for most of us, building muscle is associated with “work,” i.e., exercise, or more specifically, regular and targeted strength training. Lindsey Vonn’s accident at the Olympic Games was tragic. Not only because she was already injured going into the race with a torn cruciate ligament, but also because she was unable to fulfill her dream of a perfect comeback. The accident-related operations are also not something to be taken lightly.

However, sports accidents are unfortunately part of the occupational risk for professional athletes. This makes it all the more important to build up muscle beforehand. Muscles stabilize joints, absorb shocks, and prevent incorrect loading. The meta-study by Lauersen et al. proves that muscles can even protect against sports injuries: In their meta-study, they compared 25 studies in which a total of 26,610 people with 3,464 different accident patterns were analyzed. The results are highly significant and prove that “strength training reduced sports injuries to less than 1/3, and injuries due to overuse were almost halved” (p. 1).

Those who are already injured may think: What am I supposed to do with this information?! But here too, the same applies: muscles protect our body. Without muscles, the accident might have been even more serious. Our musculoskeletal system is what enables us to move in the first place. If these muscles are also strong, they can protect our skeletal system like a kind of airbag.

Are you out of your mind?! I’m talking about your muscles, of course. Have you ever really paid attention to them? Do you even know what they can do? How vital they are to you? And that, besides being good for your physical health, having a strong body also looks much better? Lindsey Vonn found the perfect words to describe her “extra pounds” in the form of increased muscle mass:

«A nice booty never goes out of style».  

Neither does a strong body with strong muscles.

Haven’t been to the gym yet this week? Off to the gym! 😉

Yours, Silvia

Sources:

  • Lauersen, J., Bertelsen, D. & Andersen, L.: The effectiveness of exercise interventions to prevent sport injuries: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. In: Lauersen, JB, et al.: Br J Sports Med. (2014)