The Real Reason Women are Weightlifting
June 17, 2025 | Episode 41
Producer’s Note: The following is an AI-generated transcript of The Wellness Conversation, an OhioHealth Podcast
SPEAKERS: Lindsey Gordon, Marcus Thorpe, Dr. Jason Dapore, Alycia Kingcaid
Marcus Thorpe:
Welcome to the wellness conversation, an Ohio Health podcast. We'd like to encourage you to like favorite, rate and subscribe to help getting our conversation going with you, and to help us get this health and wellness content to those who want it.
Lindsey Gordon:
Today, we're exploring the empowering world of weightlifting for women, debunking myths, highlighting benefits and providing practical advice, and in a little bit, we'll answer some of your questions. So, thanks to those who weighed in on a recent OhioHealth Instagram story. We appreciate it.
Speaking of social media, if you are on any social media platform, you probably see women of every age at the gym, at home, and there always seem to be lifting weights. But is that right for you? Dr. Jason Dapore, sports medicine physician with Ohio Health, as well as a team physician for your Columbus Blue Jackets and Alycia Kingcaid, OhioHealth athletic trainer, it's good to see you both. Thanks for joining us for the wellness conversation.
Jason Dapore:
Thanks for having us.
Alycia Kingcade
Yeah, it's good to be here.
MT:
Alright, Alicia, let's start with you. Let's talk about your journey, your history with weightlifting, what you do for the system, and really why you feel weight lifting particularly is beneficial for women's health overall.
Alycia Kingcade:
Yeah. So, I started my weightlifting journey in high school. I was an athlete, so playing sports, I actually had to take a strength and conditioning class. I took that instead of a gym credit, because I just thought it would be interesting to try it. And I saw an increase with my performance, with my sports. So I saw the benefit of that, and kind of continued that was kind of the foundation of my growth and learning about how to lift properly. And then obviously, going through college being an athletic trainer, we take classes for strength and conditioning, so we understand, we understand that realm. Obviously, we work with strength and conditioning coaches too and so we learn from them and work in conjunction with them. So from there, we learn a little bit about biomechanics and the differences with that, which is more for the injury side of things.
MT:
So I love how, like you getting into the world of weightlifting kind of opened your eyes to saying, Not only is this great for me health wise, but this is kind of a career that I'm interested in doing. And I, I love when people have their own personal journeys that lead to, kind of their passion for life. And it sounds like that's the thing for you too.
LG:
And Dr Dapore, let's turn it over to you too. I mean, sports is your life. It's your life's work, and you get to work with the Columbus Blue Jackets hockey team. I think that is so cool. I grew up playing hockey, and so I kind of always took that weightlifting and training for granted, because it was just part of my day.
JD:
It was built in, you know, as a former athlete, I'm sure Alycia, you can relate to that too. And then you become like a working adult, and then you're like, oh, wait, I have to, like, build this into my day. Now I have to actually think about it and Give It Thought and be intentional with it.
LG:
So, let's talk about what you do in the sports medicine space with Ohio Health, and your experience with like hit training, that's high intensity interval training. Are there misconceptions you see with women in weightlifting?
JP:
Specifically, I've been blessed to work with OhioHealth. I did my residency, 2001 2004 then did my fellowship at The Ohio State University, and then I was able to join a practice right next door at our spine support and Joint Center, where I get to practice 100% musculoskeletal sports medicine. I get to take care of athletes from eight to 108
as well as privileged to work with our Columbus Blue Jackets. So, I learned a great deal from my patients. And being in practice now 20 years, I've got some patients that have been with me, so I see the full spectrum of ages, and I get to, I get to commiserate with our patients. Some of them saw me when they were 40, and now they're 60, and now I'm 50. So, we get, we're kind of on this musculoskeletal journey together. Like you said it was kind of baked into being an athlete. You know, getting stronger improves your performance, makes you more injury resistant. But then the games eventually stop. And then nobody tells us, hey, you need to keep doing that so and then I always say, Nobody, when we graduated high school, nobody gave us an owner's manual for these bodies of ours. But I kind of, my practice has kind of evolved. I got into, you know, CrossFit training in 2013 and I really learned a lot through that programming with regard to strength training, proper movements, and started to incorporate some of the lifestyle messaging. You know, because I was, I was starting to become an older I wouldn't ever call myself an athlete, but I was an older human, and starting to see the changes, starting to see the changes in my patients. And then just diving into the wellness space, the longevity space, you know, strength training is essential for all of us.
MT:
Do you both see misconceptions when it comes to women and weight lifting? You know, back in the day, you know, you would turn on the TV and you would see, like the Arnold Schwarzeneggers and all these really big, strong, muscular men. And now, if you get on social media, my wife is on it. I know Lindsay is on it too, There's a lot of women that are weightlifting. What are some of the misconceptions that you think when it comes to weightlifting in women? For both of you.
AK:
I think one of the biggest things is that is, if you lift weights, are you going to gain weight? Are you? Does that affect you? I think it's seen negatively a lot of the times, when I do hear from women, they're like, I don't want to start lifting weights, because I'm going to gain weight. And which is true, like you will, like you will, you will gain muscle mass, and that weighs more than fat. So when you're gaining muscle, you're losing fat. I think that there is that kind of misconception where it's good, the exchange is worth it at that point.
LG:
Dr. Dapore, what do you see as maybe myths or misconceptions when it comes to women and weightlifting.
JP:
To your point. Marcus, more and more women coming into my practice have engaged in strength training, where the first 10 years of practice, we probably had to encourage it more, but it's becoming widely adapted now. But for those that are reluctant, it's
to Alycia’s point, fear of getting bulky, fear of, you know, putting on weight, and then injury. They're afraid they're going to get hurt doing it. And that's not unfounded, you know. They just need, you know, proper instruction and proper guidance. Those are some common things, but really, it's for everyone, and when done properly, it's essential for longevity and vitality.
LG:
Well, speaking to that, can it impact our long-term health?
JP: If we're if we're committed to it, even just a couple days a week, absolutely, it's essential. You know,
Unknown 7:21
everything older people told you, like, Just wait. Just wait till you're 40, just wait till you're 60, just wait till you're 80. Everything, it's true. Unfortunately, we don't believe them. I know you think, Oh, I'm not going to smoke, I'm going to exercise every day, I'm going to stay healthy, I'm going to eat right. That's just not going to apply to me. It's biology. It's physiology. Our bodies change. So after 35 we start to get a little bit stiffer, less mobile. After 40-50 we start to lose muscle mass. We lost start to lose strength. We can mitigate those losses by and it's essential. So if you and if you want to pick up your grandkids in your 70s and 80s, you better be doing some, kettlebell squats. In your 40s and 50s, you're basically training now for decades down the road, when it's going to be much harder to acquire that strength, to acquire that muscle mass and to prevent injury.
MT: I'm in my late 40s. I mulched one day and I couldn't move for three days!
Is it ever too late to start? To start?
AK:
It's really never too late to start.
Nope, I wouldn't think so. Sooner the better. And how would you start? Right? Like maybe someone's listening, thinking, all right, enough's enough. I've seen this content. It's being shoved down my throat. Of all these things, right? How do I do it? Well, how do I start? Do I go to play against boards and pick up a couple dumbbells. Do I get brave and sign up for a gym membership? And then what do I do when I get to the gym? Like, how does someone start? I think there's multiple ways you can start. I think it is kind of intimidating if you've never learned how to do it, or if you don't have somebody to do it with. So I'd recommend, you know, either finding one of those two options, but you can always go to a gym. I think a lot of the times gyms are really good or like classes, they'll teach you how to do it properly, or they should. And I think being with an appropriate personnel, like a strength coach or even a trainer that is that's an option as well, to help you meet your goals and teach you how to do things properly. But I think starting small is the biggest thing. I think it's really intimidating. It's kind of like, if you are looking at your house and you're you have all these projects to do, you're not going to do it all in one day. You know, it's, I mean, it's not exactly similar, but when you're lifting weights, you have to learn how to do it. You have to do body weight. You know, essentially, first is recommended, and then you start to progress and add weights and grow from there.
MT: I think Alicia, that's a great a great thing is having somebody that can at least start leading you in the right direction. Because, I mean, I can tell you every time I stop working out, but then I get back into it.
LG:
I worry, am I doing this right? Is the proper form? Am I going to hurt myself? And those kind of things. How often do you see somebody in a gym, maybe, as you're working with somebody, and you look across the way and you go, Holy cow, that person is doing it completely wrong, and they could get hurt. Do you see people that you know are probably in their first week that just have no idea how to do proper form?
AK: Yeah, even with Olympic liftings like dead lifting, or even squats. Honestly, there's little things to look for that. It's, you can't just go straight into it. It's, you know, looking at, do I have the right form? And then you add some dumbbells, then you add some barbells, and then I think, yeah, you definitely see some barbell action, and it's just the load is a little too much for the forum.
LG:
I was laughing, not at what you were saying, but I, as you were speaking, Marcus, I was thinking about, there's this Instagram account that sometimes pops up on my algorithm where they'll show people doing ridiculous things with the equipment at the gym. That it's like, clearly, to anybody you know that that's not right. So I just it was playing in my head. That's why I was why I was laughing.
JP: Just like, real bizarre stuff, yeah, and, but, like, I don't know. I mean, you can tell that's probably not right. You're going to get injured. You should probably not do Spider Man training with the cable rows!
LG:
Let's say someone does get hurt, right? We talked about the fear of injury. Maybe you pulled something. Or what should that person know to a, you know, get it taken care of, and then B, not let it discourage them from continuing on.
JP:
I would say, you know, evaluation of the injury. You know what happened. I would strongly encourage patients or clients to get it checked out and not just pull back from the exercise. If you got hurt doing a certain exercise, it's not necessarily that exercise is fault. It might just mean that there is some stability, there was some postural things, some imbalances that led you to that injury that going forward need to get mitigated. Because, you know, I would think probably the shoulder press or the bench press are the, probably the two most common, though you'll tweak your shoulder on. Well, if you're always, I always tell patients, you're always training your body. Your body is always being trained. So if you spend 40 to 60 hours in a desk, if you spent 40 to 60 hours playing tennis, you'd be a pretty good tennis player. 40-60 hours in a desk. Guess what? And you're typing on a laptop. You know, your shoulders aren't quite getting trained to go overhead. So oftentimes, you know, if you've got a lot of desk mileage in your 30s and 40s, you've got to do a lot of, you know, mid back mobility. Do a lot of mid back strengthening, things to mitigate, to help prevent the injury from going forward. But it's worthwhile getting it evaluated so that you can continue and don't pull back from the exercise just because you got hurt once. There's probably something you're doing wrong, and that's where getting with the experts can help keep you exercising and keep you strong. I think it's important to talk about injury like we just did, but how about soreness? Right? As soon as you're starting you are going to experience some level of soreness.
MT: When do you know this is normal? I should be a little sore, and what do I do next? Versus maybe I did tweak something in my shoulder and I need to stop? How do you decide what's what between those two things?
AK:
Yeah, whenever patients ask that, it's an interesting
I would say that soreness would be, you are making some sort of growth, right? So if you are building muscle, and you're, you know, intentionally lifting or something like that, or even you tweak something, soreness is, is not necessarily a bad thing. However, if you're at the point where if it's really painful, you can't continue, you’re losing range of motion. You don't have normal strength, especially if it's like my left arm versus my right arm, and it's weaker than the other. You know, those are things to look for. But I think that soreness is not necessarily a bad thing, but I think if it continues for a long time, it could definitely be an issue.
LG: Should you go right back onto working out the next day. If you're a little sore, should you take a day off? How does that work? From person to person? Do you think, Dr. Dapore.
JP: I would say it's most patients have kind of a keen insight on what's a good sore, what's a bad sore. We're basically talking about it. Am I hurt, or am I injured? With the hurts you can kind of progress. And so I just give them some guidelines. I say, Hey, here's, here's how you deal with, you know, a hurt, or here's how you deal with soreness. You look for progressive pain. Is it getting worse as you're going, that's a no go. Is it suddenly sharp? That's a no go? Is it? Are you significantly having to change how you're doing something I tell my soccer players, angle springs, don't be limping around the soccer field. You'll make us both look silly, all right. So you know, no limping, no change in your form. Then otherwise, if it starts to loosen up, if it starts to feel good, then it's probably okay to progress.
MT:
Yeah, Lindsay's hockey coaches didn't care if you were sore, right? They just throw you right back out. Oh, yeah.
LG: We were skating. Buckets work that sore out. That's what you do. Skating buckets was you skate to you vomit!
LG:
I will say we were really interested in this topic because, like, it's overtaken my social media feed in the last couple of years, and we're going to get to some questions from our listeners in a few minutes that they actually sent to us on social media, but we were talking about this in our planning meetings, and a lot of women shared the same question, is a weighted vest worth it? Is this like a trend? I see women who are buying these weighted vests and they're walking with them, or they're taking a at home class with it on, and I worry that's where I'm like, I'm worried about getting hurt. Is this going to hurt me? I'm also used to carrying, you know, 20 pounds of extra weight when I was pregnant, so I'm like, do I really want to relive that? So what's your take on a weighted vest? Is it a trendy thing? Is it effective? Can it be effective?
JP:
I think it's probably one of those that's here to stay. Literally, just driving over, I saw a woman hiking with a vest on. Yeah, just over on my way here. It's zone two. Cardio is really gaining a lot of popularity, and because of its effectiveness, and then adding a weight to it. Again, it's about building strength, building resilience, something that's easy to do. Walk around with 20 pounds on. It's very easy to do.
Peter Attia in his book Outlive is probably should be required reading for everyone in the health and fitness space, he gives a lot of good insights on strength training. He talks about carrying heavy things. It's what we're meant to do as humans.. So we love our listeners. They have things going on and they want to know from the experts.
LG:
So let's get into some of the questions on Instagram. Our first one is from Brianna B. She said, What's the best way to calculate the right amount of daily protein? There's a lot of conflicting information out there.
JP:
I know some people will say, Oh, I need 100 grams of protein. And some people will say, Well, I'm only getting 20 or 30. Where do we finally get to the actual answer for protein in people, nutrition is kind of like religion. You know, you got to be very careful how you approach it with certain topics. But I'm a big fan of protein. As I see our patients get older, we oftentimes undershoot our daily protein requirements. And I hesitate to talk about, like, lifestyle goals, because it can be daunting to think, Oh, this is the way I'm going to eat for the rest of my life. So I always talk to my patients about, you know, setting quarterly goals, like, this quarter I'm going to try and PR my bench, or this quarter I'm going to start training for a 5k so depending on what you're training for and what your requirements are, your protein requirements will change. Alicia and I were talking before the podcast about, you know, I think it's generally one to two grams of protein for per pound of lean body mass, and you just kind of tweak that based on what you're Are you maintaining your weight at one gram, but not quite making gains and go to 1.5 or do you feel a lot better on two grams? It's a very personal decision based on what your quarterly goals are and what you're training for. Are you trying to build muscle? Err on the side of getting as much protein as possible. It sounds like getting like a biometric screening is really important, maybe at the beginning of your workout journey, so you kind of know where your lean muscle is, you know what you're dealing with.
MT:
Would you recommend that for somebody who's kind of getting started in this journey to understand kind of where they are from a levels perspective?
AK:
Yeah, you certainly could. I think it would be really helpful, especially if you don't have any prior knowledge or around somebody who does, I think that could definitely be really helpful to give you some insight, especially for you personally, yeah, yeah, protein is a big talk, like how that nutrition plays a role in building your strength and building lean muscle, keeping you fuller longer, making like protein the main event of your meals. All these things that I consume daily that I'm starting to take to heart.
LG:
We got another question from an Instagram user about creatine. There they are seeing creatine everywhere. Is it safe? And she asked, Should I take it?
AK: Creatine is, you know, long been, you know, we first probably learned about in our high school circles in the gym space, yeah, you know, it is effective, it is generally safe. And I there is, you know, more and more talk of creatine in the longevity circles for mitochondrial health. You know, muscle function improved brain health. So I've started just recently. You know, patients ask me all the time about supplements. What supplements should I be taking? And so I say, well, foundationally, are you getting enough sleep? Are you getting enough dietary protein? Are your vitamin D levels optimized? And then I have started throwing creatine as a recommendation into the mix. Interesting.
One final question from Instagram. Cindy Kay asks women in perimenopause, are there any special concerns?
AK:
I think that would be dependent on the person. And then if there's anything that that any physicians that they're working with would think I would just kind of go off of any recommendations or any restrictions from there, but from that point, I'd probably just refer to them, yeah. So working with a PCP and an athletic trainer kind of in unison can probably be a really successful thing. So I would ask too, like with that perimenopause, so many people are talking about it now more than ever before, is strength is strength training an important factor in that person's time in their lives, like in a woman's like when that time, when their hormones are changing, things are changing, their metabolism is changing.
LG:
Can strength training be an effective way at sort of not taking control of it, but controlling what we really can't control? You know, that's a silly way to ask that, but I think women feel like we want to have a control over this process that's going to happen to us regardless, and how can we enter it in a healthy way and kind of stay ahead of it so that we're never falling behind in our health and wellness journey.
JP:
Well, strength training is very important. I always one of the more frustrating things I see in my practice are compression fractures in women due to low bone density. It's one of the more frustrating things, because it's a very painful condition. It sneaks up on them, or fragility fractures. So for women especially, I always say, pack your skeleton in as much muscle as possible, be as strong as possible. Obviously, if you had some adult fractures, if you've had some steroid use, anything that predisposes you to low bone density, get with your physician. Figure out where you're at on the bone density spectrum. Get some guidance with strength training. But you should be strength training. You just might have to do things a little bit more cautiously with a little bit more guidance. But start it. It's much harder to pack muscle in your 60s, 70s and 80s than it is in your 30s, 40s and 50s.
MT: Before we wrap up, I think there's a really important thing that Lindsay and I talked about that we really do want to cover, is the kind of the popularity boom on social media when it comes to women and weightlifting and what we're seeing, what do you think is driving the trend that we are seeing so much on social media when it comes to women in the gym and weightlifting and kind of the conversation behind that? What's driving it?
AK: I think just with the access to social media. I think that that's, that's a huge I mean, obviously that's how they're seeing all these trends. But I think that that's kind of the boom, is that it, it's access everywhere you can see all these things, especially with the NIL belay, deals, that is giving those athletes a form to, you know, show their name, what they're doing, and things like that. So I think that they're going to show different routes of their everyday life. And I think that that can increase knowledge of of sports, and especially women in sports in a given week.
MT:
How often do you have somebody come in and say, Hey, I saw this on Tiktok, or I saw this on social Are you hearing that quite a bit when people walk in?
JP:
Yeah, just like the questions today, you know about, you know, yeah, they're asking, they're getting social media exposes you so much more. And so they just want to see, is this valuable? And so it behooves us to stay ahead of the trends.
MT:
Yeah, so interesting. What a great topic. Thank you so much for a great discussion and providing a source of truth, because there's so much information out there, so much content, and it can be hard for people to tell what's legit and what's not. And we do know that people are really taking charge of their wellness, and that includes women who want to lift weights and who are curious about it. So thank you so much for being here today.
LG:
And we want you to check out a previous episode on women's health. You can find services from OhioHealth right there too on .com when it comes to the work that our two guests are doing here for the system? Yeah, if you're also curious about topics like Botox and all things appearance, we have another episode called age doesn't define us, where we sit down with our our subject matter experts, and we navigate all the stuff you see on social media related to that as well. But the information in this episode will also be available on our podcast page, and be sure to subscribe to join the conversation. And a final note before we say goodbye, we are just getting started. Reviews and ratings do help us keep this conversation going with you. It also allows others to find us and join the conversation too. As always, thanks for joining us.