Can You Be Skinny and Strong?

“Some people want to be skinny, but here’s to the people that want to be strong”, I often see quotes similar to this in my feed and I don’t think it’s ok.

Let’s talk body positivity for a sec. I’m happy that people are finding happiness with their bodies but let’s not talk down to shapes that are not your own. It doesn’t matter the shape or size of your body, we can all be strong. If you want validation you are going about it the wrong way.

Skinny people can be strong! Strength isn’t about size. When you train specifically for strength you train lower rep ranges that train your nervous system so that your muscles work better together. That’s not to say that there aren’t changes in muscle, there are but that is secondary. That’s why endurance athletes train strength. You can train for strength and not get “bulky”, in fact you’d have to focus your nutrition, training and recovery to pack on muscle like a body builder.

When we are talking about athletes like power lifters you will see some heavier athletes. There are advantages to that for absolute strength (the total amount of weight you can lift), but not if we are talking relative strength there isn’t (the amount of weight you can lift compared to your body weight). Lighter athletes will be more inclined to have success with body weight exercises like push ups and chin ups.

Let’s change the language to, “I want to be strong”. Now we aren’t talking down to the “skinny” population that want to be strong as well.