Lifting weights will make you less athletic

Question

Some training experts swear by weights. Others believe in plain old practice.

Comments

The fallacy put forth that lifting weights affects athletic ability is blasphemous. First we would have to dive into what is considered athletic ability. I have lifted weights consistently while playing a club sport and from personal experience I feel like the combination of playing a sport and lifting weights helped my athletic ability and I was able to tell a difference. So the new york times article you listed must have some bias as it didn't include much information on the stance. This article from healthline states that there is no downside to lifting weights and playing sports and it actually helps you get bigger, faster, and stronger. https://www.healthline.com/health/fitness/benefits-of-strength-training. The article was reviewed by Jared Meacham who has his PhD and is a valid individual to support the article as he has dealt with athletes and has seen it first hand.

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This fact check needs more information. The source given is outdated and the information could be incorrect. This fact check is also misleading. If someone lifts weights that doesn’t automatically make them unathletic. Some sports require having lot of muscle, and muscle that you sometimes can’t get from just exercising. But if all someone does is lift weights, they become unbalanced in a way. So, if some does like to lift weights they also need to include other exercises, like cardio, so they aren’t just building muscle with nowhere to put it to use.

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I agree with your statement. I my self have been playing a sport for a while and mixed both weight lifting and practice. After not doing weight lifting as often I did notice a difference in my athletic ability. I like how you explain how there might be some bias in the source and how you also gave a source that goes into more detail on your claim. This was a good fact check.

Answer 1

The claim that lifting weights makes you less athletic is very two sided. It all depends on how you are lifting. If the only exercise you are doing is lifting then yes, you will become less athletic because your body will recognize that it just needs to get stronger. If you are doing other exercises as well, typically something involving cardio, then your body will build up muscle without hindering your athletic capabilities. The New York Times article talks about both sides of this argument. I think it can go either way, it just depends on how you're training and what you're end goal is.

https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/28/health/nutrition/28BEST.html

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26838985/

https://breathestrongcf.org/strength-training-vs-training-for-athletics/

Answer 2

This claim is misleading. This article included in the claim included various athletes who have done strength training and in the article, some athletes believed that strength training was beneficial and some believed it wasn't. It showed a balanced view of strength training and never explicitly described and claimed that strength training will make you less athletic.  In various articles and studies, from Mayo Clinic and Harvard School of Public Health, they both state that strength training has many health benefits. In the NYT article, it is important to note that it emphasized and mentioned "proper" technique. If strength training is not done properly or correctly, it could potentially have more negative effects than positive, but the claim that lifting weights will make you less athletic is misleading and untrue. 

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/strength-training/art-20046670

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/strength-training/art-20046670