Should women in fitness competitions be allowed to choose heavier weights?

[KindSnake]

Curious to hear people’s thoughts on this from the fitness/strength sports world.

In comps like CrossFit Games, HYROX, Deadly Dozen etc, men and women have different prescribed weights, which obviously makes sense based on general averages.

But should women who want to attempt the heavier prescribed weights be allowed to?

I work in fitness and know plenty of women who are fully capable of handling the heavier loads in certain events, yet they’re often not allowed unless competing in a mixed pair with a man. It can feel a bit like there’s a ceiling placed on female athletes regardless of individual ability.

Not saying standards should be removed — more wondering whether there should be optional heavier/open-weight categories for athletes who want the challenge.

Interested to hear perspectives from people who compete/train in these spaces.

I think no, on balance.

It gives every woman the same playing field, because if one woman was doing heavier, then (I assume) she'd get some form of point or time reward for it, which then means she's on a different level. It's like someone heavier competing in a lighter weight class or something, beyond the normal range of female ability in any given class.

There are comps where weights can be chosen, and these women (who I admire greatly and know several) will be able to show their skills brilliantly.

How would it work? Would there be two female categories? Lightweight and heavier weight?
If the numbers of contestants were big enough it might work, but might end up a case of a category with just one or two contestants in.

I think you've missed the point of fitness competitions. They are not about who can lift the heaviest weight. They are about the fitness and skill each competitor can demonstrate with a standard set weight. All competitors within the same category use the same weight so that they are judged on a level playing field. If you want to demonstrate your prowess at lifting heavier and heavier weights you need a different kind of competition altogether.

Surely some men will be able to do heavier weights than those prescribed for them, too. In a sense everyone is capped.

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Yes, that’s true, any standard is a cap, and some athletes will always exceed it.
The question I’m raising is whether sex should be the only factor that determines those caps, or whether there could be more flexibility for athletes to choose loading based on ability within the same competition structure.

You can choose the women’s pro category in Hyrox which is the same as the men’s open weights. I just did pro in Berlin it was brutal but I did not die 😅 I think Gym race also has a “heavy” category and a few others are starting to do similar. It should be a separate category though I think, not mixed in with women’s open or men’s waves , as the times are not comparable.

I understand the point about standardized weights creating a level playing field within categories.
My question is more about athlete choice within those standards. For well-trained athletes who find the prescribed weights too easy or limiting, should there be an option to compete at a heavier level within the same division structure?
And equally, there may be men who prefer or need to lift lighter for certain events or training stages, so the idea is simply allowing athletes to choose the loading that matches their ability and goals, rather than having it fixed solely by sex.
It’s less about removing standards, and more about adding flexibility for athlete capability.

This is exactly how it works in Hyrox. Open and pro categories. Pro category for women often quite small esp for older age groups. Actually surprised the OP doesn’t know this about Hyrox if they work in fitness.

That’s pretty much what I’m thinking.
I noticed Hyrox have a pro catergory, allowing women to compete with the same weights as men if they want, while still keeping fair divisions.
I’m just wondering whether more competitions could build on that idea and offer loading options through structured categories, rather than having it fixed only by sex.

If you look e.g. at the urban rave there is an elite category for men and women which matches the pro category in Hyrox. I don’t really see how you could do it by any other means than gender though as if for example you said ok, men can do women’s lighter weights, their running would potentially be stronger so it’s not a level playing field. If a man can’t do the open weights in Hyrox then probably he shouldn’t be doing Hyrox 🤨

I understand the point about standardised weights creating fairness in competitions.
I’m just questioning whether sex should be the only factor that determines those standards. Some athletes, women and men, may find prescribed weights either too light or too heavy depending on their ability, so should there be more flexibility built into the structure?
It’s not about removing standards, just expanding them to better reflect athlete capability.

How would you go about women wanting to push themselves and go to the next level if they're finding the weights too easy?
It wouldn't take anything away from the men in the competition.

If women want to push themselves to the next level then they do pro, against other pro women. They can’t compete fairly against men. Or if they want to push themselves then they try to do it faster at open level. You can’t have mixed sex categories in a competitive context. If some 44 year old guy can’t handle men’s open weights and wants to compete with me in women’s open category he’s gonna win most likely because he’ll be faster. There is nothing wrong with the way Hyrox are doing it currently, and a lot of smaller /copycat events are doing the same .

Running already does something similar.
Men and women are both allowed to run the same 10K or marathon races, but results are still separated by sex for fairness and meaningful comparison. Which could be the same in weight based competitions.

So athletes can choose an option and have results seperated by sex.

Just makes everything more inclusive, including men lifting lighter. They may not be fit enough for Hyrox, but deadly dozen pride themselves on being beginner friendly and completely inclusive.

Completely agree, unfortunately Deadly Dozen don't have pro for women. It would be good to develop in the future. Or everyone competes and results seperated by sex.

It is the same though? Men’s and women’s results are graded separately in HYROX as well. And HYROX is intended to be inclusive in terms of there being no cut off time. I think what you think needs to exist basically already does exist in the majority of hybrid competitions. And if women are finding it “too easy” with their weights then the challenge is to complete it faster.

Ready dozen is time based though isn’t it? So the winners are the ones who compete the exercises the fastest. That’s the challenge for the elite women. I think DD probably will introduce a pro category soon though.