I did a set of 3 HS girls games last week, and I noticed that a very few of them had very well defined arm muscles. It made me wonder if they had been lifting weights, which a lot of boys do.

I'm just asking out of curiosity if girls coaches encourage/require their HS varsity players to lift weights. And if you do not encourage it, is it b/c you feel it's detrimental to their overall health or just b/c you don't feel strength training (I think that's the current terminology) is as important in girls basketball?

I'm asking strictly out of ignorance here. I take weight-lifting as a given for boys ball, so thought I'd ask if it's as prevalent in girls ball and why or why not.

BTW, the one thing that I like better about girls ball than boys ball is that there's more smiling in girls ball. It seems more like fun than boys ball.

No, they don't lift weights. They just naturally have arms like Karl Malone.

Here's your sign. :)

First of all, they might not be lifting weights. They may have a physically demanding summer (or after-school) job.

Second of all, the question for the coaches was whether this was encouraged or required. Not whether some particular girl might be motivated to do it for her own reasons.

Third of all, I love Bill Engvall. When I first saw him do his "Here's Your Sign" stuff, he was talking about stupid warning labels:

"You ever look at a tube of Preperation H? It says right on there 'Do not take orally'. Now, that's sad. 'Cause you just know somebody wrote 'em a letter: Dear Preparation H, I ate this whooooooooooole tube, and I still got these hemerrhoids! My mouth is soooooooooo small, I can't even eat a jelly bean anymore! But I sure can whistle good! Here's your sign!"

Name 5 teenagers that you know that have "physically demanding" jobs. ;)

I can't name one and I have two teenagers at home who have tons of friends. :D

Hey - those french fries can get real heavy!

Chuck,
As you know I'm not a coach, but I do personally know of a high school girls team and they certainly do and are required to lift weights during the summer and some during p.e. classes at school. They do consider it beneficial to 'get in the weightroom'.

I know of at least two teams here in Portland, for which the girls are required to lift weights.

What? They don't ref basketball? :D

All of the girls coaches that I know strongly encourage weight lifting and have off-season conditioning programs that include weights. Same as all the boys coaches that I know.

Z

Well defined muscles (read BIG) are greatly influence by testosterone and related steroids. Girls can weignt train all they, or the coaches, want, and they will not show the muscle definition of boys.

As to your question, the two HS programs in the DC metro area that I know most about have weight training regimens for their girls teams.

Defined muscles does not mean big. It means you can tell the difference between this muscle and that. I have defined muscles and I have never done any form of steroids (or even nutritional supplements).

I lifted weights for University ball - none for high school ball (my high school wasn't too competitive though).

Workouts for Girls
 

I have my girls work out 5 days a week with the weights...two days working the lower part of the body, three days working the upper part. After the workout, they shoot for 30 minutes in the gym.

I have girls from 8 different HS programs on my team - they all lift weights and run in the off season. And a lot of them have little muscle definition, using either "definition" from this thread. One of my girls was clearly very weak before this, her first year of HS. I felt it every time I played against her in practice this spring. Doesn't look big or have the clearly sculpted muscles, but she hits you pretty hard now.

Muscle Definition can also be about body fat percentage, if they have a low body fat percentage then there muscles will be more defined.