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Can strength training lead to weight gain?
I've had a client quit on us twice by claiming that strength training makes her gain weight. She only runs now. And her body weight remains unchanged. Her body composition is probably worse since running or walking are entirely inadequate stimulus for muscle to be maintained or grow appreciably in most major muscle groups.
So why does the misconception of bulking up with weights exist?
Muscle exists for one reason: to produce force. And on a very simplistic level, we understand that muscles grow when we make them exert force repeatedly till they reach a point of exhaustion i.e. incapable of producing as much force.
That means repeatedly and systematically exerting a muscle to the point where it can no longer contract sufficiently.
In my experience, most trainees do not train at anywhere close to the intensity required to cause muscles to grow to a degree where hypertrophy or muscle gain causes noticeable weight gain.
What happens far more often is increased activity leads to increased hunger that leads to people eating more food. More importantly this intake leads to increased energy intake. More than is required by the body. And this surplus energy is stored as fat in the body.
When you add a new stressor to your daily activity diet, you need to understand how much more energy you are spending on the new activity.
And a realistic sense of awareness of how hard are you training? What can you expect in terms of training outcomes? Can you expect your weight to drop given your food intake? Can you expect your arms to grow given the training volume and intensity? Or are you increasing strength but not training in a manner to see your muscle mass increase as appreciably as your strength increases?
The lack of self awareness, education and understanding of training outcomes derails many a training journey. And I need to work really hard at getting better at communicating this.