If you scan nearly any fitness magazine aimed at women, you’ll see words like lose, fat loss, tight, drop a size, tiny, hot, and lean splashed across the pages. It’s a problem. Women are often told from a young age that to be attractive and worthy, you must be smaller. I say: enough of that.
I’m a firm advocate for women who lift. Time and again I see bodies and mindsets transform when they ditch endless cardio in favor of picking up barbells. There is nothing wrong with choosing to be bigger.
I’m excited to support The Bigness Project from Kourtney Thomas and Jen Sinkler. It’s exactly the kind of guidance I champion for women seeking the right information. Here’s the guest post Kourtney wrote.
Maybe less isn’t more
I used to be one of those women who tried to take as little space as possible. I’d grab the first middle seat on a Southwest flight and declare, “I’m just a little girl.” I strove to keep my already small body as tiny as possible, because I’d absorbed the idea that less is more for women.
Over time I learned there’s another path. Even with a petite frame, how I carry myself can send a different message.
When I first got into fitness, I mostly did cardio. I loved group cycling and endurance running, sweating through high-energy cycling classes, and running out into the quiet of nature. Looking back, I realize those activities tended to reinforce the idea that less is more: endurance runners have to be rail-thin to be fast, group classes promise huge calorie burns, and the implicit message was to stay small.
Eventually I tried weight training. I started with methods I thought wouldn’t make me too big or bulky, chasing more calories burned, because I still believed less was more. Then I encountered the idea of lifting for growth. Who is this Jen Sinkler? And what’s Lift Weights Faster? I discovered Girls Gone Strong, and I realized that women were using a barbell.
I was terrified to touch the weight room at first, but I smiled at myself, trusted the process, and walked in. It wasn’t as bad as I feared. I began with strength training, and I’ve never looked back. I’ve seen my strength grow—and with it, changes in my body shape.
I started getting bigger. Bigger everywhere. And I liked it. I even drafted a note to my first coach: gain some size, as much hypertrophy as possible. That was a shift from decades of chasing shrinkage—the idea that I should be smaller. I wanted to grow, to gain, to bulk up, and to train for that outcome.
It took time to shed the conditioning that told me to stay slender and quiet. But refocusing my training on hypertrophy helped me discover the most enjoyable kind of training and, more importantly, helped me embrace my body.
I stopped hating my “linebacker shoulders” and big arms and started loving them. I used to cringe at my outer thighs and cover them up; now I want to leg press until I can see muscle showing through my clothes.
Letting go of less is more was freeing. It was empowering. It opened my eyes to other mainstream myths. I’ve always tended to question the norm, and when I finally chose to pursue what I wanted for my body, everything changed.
Building bigger arms and meeting the 10,000 bicep curls a day brought more to my life: better relationships, more fun, more energy for work, and more love. Because I chose to reject the “less is more” idea and train to be bigger, I got a physique I’m proud of—and a life that feels bigger too.
Sometimes, more really is more.
Are you ready for the big time?
The Bigness Project is a new hypertrophy training program designed to help you build. Created by Kourtney Thomas, a strength and conditioning coach devoted to empowering women through hypertrophy, the program is about building bigger arms and a bigger life.
It includes tried-and-true muscle-building methods and guides you through 14 weeks of training to improve overall strength, deepen mind–muscle connection, and create a look that shows you lift weights.
The Bigness Project is for lifters of all levels, and it includes:
– A comprehensive User Manual that explains the philosophy and walks you through every aspect of Bigness training and lifestyle.
– A 14-week hypertrophy plan.
– A complete exercise glossary with 95 demonstrations in writing and photos.
– A video library with 20 in-depth explanations of key movements and components.
Now on sale to celebrate its launch. Get your copy here and join us in the gym this week!
About Kourtney Thomas
Kourtney is a personal trainer and a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist who loves empowering women through hypertrophy training. She coaches virtually at Kourtney Thomas Fitness. When she isn’t in the gym doing curls, she rides her Harley, visits national parks, devours science fiction and fantasy, and bakes elaborate cakes and cookies—because gains need fuel. Her motto is “Big Arms, Big Life.”
This isn’t to say cardio machines, treadmills, yoga, or group exercise classes should be avoided. They have their time and place. However, for many women, the key body-type goal is purposeful strength training. Strength training should be the appetizer, main course, and dessert—the rest is like mint you sneak from the host’s podium on your way out the door.
