What improves Olympic weightlifting perforomance - mass gain or muscle gain?

Summary of an article analyzing interview data from Olympic weightlifters discussing their body composition and weight class.

Who

16 (8 male and 8 female) Olympic weightlifters with at least 3 years of experience in the sport, elite and amateur level lifters included across all weight classes (USA).

Design

In-depth semi-structured 45 to 80 minutes-long interviews.

Outcome measures

Interview’s topics:

athlete’s choice of weight class and body composition over the course of their career
athlete’s decision to change their weight class
the role that coaches and teammates had on athlete’s choice of weight class
how athletes rationalized their body composition

Main results

Two themes emerged:
- ‘mass moves mass’:
  - body fat is accepted as a part of mass gain and potentially improving weightlifting performance
  - a variety of body types can be successful in Olympic weightlifting (fat, skinny, muscular)
  - understanding that fat has a function in weightlifting performance, and being ‘too skinny’ can negatively impact performance
  - this concept was more often applied to the bodies of teammates and other athletes, but not their own bodies
- ‘muscle moves mass’:
  - only muscles contract but not fat, so gaining fat is not considered beneficial for the improvement of weightlifting performance
  - athletes did not believe that they will get stronger if they gain fat
  - athletes focused on cutting weight for every competition, even if their performance suffered

Take home message

For a clinician & coach

Two contradictory ways of thinking exist in Olympic weightlifters: 1) mass moves mass where gaining fat is a viable strategy to improve weightlifting performance - used to think about the bodies of teammates; 2) only muscle contracts, so only gaining muscle mass but not fat is considered as a viable strategy to improve weightlifting performance - used to make decisions on their own body mass and composition.

For a parent

Two contradictory ways of thinking exist in Olympic weightlifters: 1) mass moves mass where gaining fat is a viable strategy to improve weightlifting performance; 2) only muscle contracts, so only gaining muscle mass but not fat is considered as a viable strategy to improve weightlifting performance.

For an athlete

Interview with the author of the original article

Monica Nelson is a weightlifter, researcher and PhD student at the University of Waikato, NZ. In the Evidence Strong Show we discuss how American Olympic weightlifters decide on which weight class to compete in. We also discussed aspects of body composition, leanness and fat.

Original article

Nelson M, Jette S. Muscle moves mass: Deconstructing the culture of weight loss in American Olympic Weightlifting. International Review for the Sociology of Sport. 2022 Aug 15:10126902221120183.

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