Women’s Fitness. Why do we need to specify “for women”?

On February 14, 2012 by Juliet

I didn’t sleep a wink last night.

It was so bad, I almost gave up trying and wanted to start writing this at 3:30AM but decided against it.  It is going to be one of those days where I wished I had my pot of coffee with me at work instead of a gallon jug. *sigh* At least I got my Valentine’s Day dinner prepped last night and ready to throw in the oven after work today.

[Pork tenderloin stuffed with a mixture of apples, honey, cinnamon, and lemon zest. Shall be topped with a homemade almond butter sauce (ala Paleo Comfort Foods) and served w/ a side of sauteed kale with onion, garlic, and apple chunks with a splash of apple cider vinegar (ala my friend, Katie). That's a lot of apple.]

As mouthwateringly beautiful as my menu tonight is, it isn’t what I want to address this morning.

THIS is. Go read it now, I’ll wait.
Done? Good.
Now go read THIS – a follow up post by TG’s girlfriend (who happens to be my new hero). I read Tony’s original article when it was up on FigureAthlete.com. It was one of the first things I read by him, why I started following his blog, and is still at the top of my bookmark list despite the fact that the site has been shut down.

I’m not going to lie, I think I’ve been a little sheltered or desensitized to the concept of “Women’s Fitness”.  In recent months, I’ve stopped even looking at women’s fitnessy magazines, I don’t read their websites, and most of my female friends politely nod their heads to my banter without arguing the truth of it.
I don’t weigh myself anymore.
I eat full fat foods and heaping piles of dead animal.
I lift heavy things off the floor or try to push them over my head a few times a week and I revel in it.

Rereading 4 Things Your Girlfriend Should Know, some of the backlash in the comments, and Lisa’s response to the backlash reminded me of what I’ve been hiding from. My feelings on the subject?

I was genuinely saddened. Women are taught to be weak. Telling them to do cardio, zumba, body pump, or whatever, is teaching weakness. (NOTE: I realize those classes serve a purpose if they motivate you and keep you accountable when you otherwise would be sitting on the couch.)

They do not teach women how to achieve the bodies they want.
They do not teach women how to move better.
They do not teach women how to build the basic strength to go about their daily lives without getting injured.
They DO teach that women need something separate from men… as if we’re all that different?

Some might argue that there are women who look too muscular for their preference (I disagree, but that is a matter of taste) but the fact is, building strength will not automatically turn you into a she-hulk. For one, strength and size are not proportional. For two, it takes years and years of dedicated weight training in the right rep ranges to build considerable musculature on a woman. For three, it has a mental benefit I would argue that outweighs all the rest.

While my strength is still poop compared to where it was a few months ago, I’m still proud of the things my body does. My physical accomplishments give me purpose every day and have enhanced my life regularly even outside the gym. I have no problem pulling myself up out of a pool, picking up heavy things to help move, carrying groceries, fighting with my dog, or any of the other things I may encounter.

To those that are intimidated by the weight floor, do not be. It is your friend. Additionally, there is no way you could look more stupid on the weight floor than you would doing this:

I’ve said this many a time but I’ll say it again. 99% of the men you see do not know what they’re doing (having a weenie doesn’t give you a free ticket to weightlifting knowledge) and those that do have a profound respect for the women trying. My experience at the gym last night was a perfect example of this.

The floor was a little crowded so I ended up sharing a platform with not one but two big, tattooed up competitive powerlifters. (OKAY I only shared it with one and chatted with the other as we picked up our stuff so he could set up) Pretty much, the type of characters most women wouldn’t want to try weightlifting, perhaps out of fear?  Funny thing is, I ended up having more fun training than I have had in a long time. They were SUPER nice!

They helped push me when I got stuck. One let me borrow one of his bands to try. We talked about random stuff from powerlifting meets to roller skating. It was great and absolutely nothing to be afraid of.  They respected my efforts (which were *sad* compared to where I want to be LOL) and I, theirs.

To finish, if you need some inspiration, go check out Ben Bruno’s videos from this week. And the other 68 versions of it. There are a ton of men and women in those clips that not only accomplish some incredible feats, but also I would wager look pretty damn good nekked.

I apologize for the slight rambling, discordant nature of this post… I’m pretty much a zombie at the moment.

Category :
Motivation
  • www.Roctherun.com

    great post! Really necessary conversation…. We are still stuck in the 80s sometimes it seems.

    • http://heyjoob.com Juliet

      As long as we’re not all stuck in neon leggings………..
      ;) Thanks!

  • http://www.ilovefetacheese.com Christina

    I love this. I think that its an expansion of the original article which, even though I like it and agree with it, needs so more development. I just think these issues are so complicated and we try to make it cut and dry. I understand now why women are afraid of the weight room…With the pressures put on by our society, its inevitable. But they’re “to blame” for being afraid of going in. I just think its a lot more complicated than that.

    • http://heyjoob.com Juliet

      I think that a lot of people took his article for more than what it was intended to be. He does preface the rewrite with the fact that it IS a bit dated (he mostly just copied and pasted from archives on his computer). It’s directed at men, not women, which is where people got ticked off I think.

      But I agree with you (he probz would too). I really like the point you make about how we kind of set women up for failure then blame them for being afraid to enter, I had not considered that. it IS more complicated than that.

  • Jess @ almostovernow.com

    I think it’s physically impossible to look more ridiculous doing anything than you would doing Zumba. Even the instructors look like they’re being given 60,000 volts the entire time.

    I agree with most of this post, but I have to say that I wouldn’t put Body Pump in the same category as Zumba and reading magazines on the elliptical. I know it’s not ‘proper’ lifting, but I personally do find it quite empowering and there are some very ripped ladies that go to the same classes as me. They (and sometimes I) lift heavier than the men, and it’s great to compete with them. Yes, some people do lift teeny weights when they could clearly do more and it’s quite ‘gimmicky’, but I have seen great results from it (not on me, on others, but my overeating’s to blame for that) in terms of muscle definition and strength.

    xxx

    • http://heyjoob.com Juliet

      I laughed out loud (literally) to the zumba comment BAHA.

      I think if you genuinely enjoy doing body pump, then keep on keepin’! That’s GREAT. I also think it’s great that you’ve seen progress from it! Congrats. Body pump is, IMO, one of the lesser evils when compared to some of the other classes and might even serve as a great ‘intro to weightlifting’ to baby step on to the weight floor even for some

  • Almost Athletic Ali

    I’ll be the first to admit that I freakin’ love my weekly Zumba class. It’s the one time when I can dance without being being the most uncoordinated person in the room, and it gets me off my tush on a Friday evening when I’d otherwise be indulging in pre-drinks. If it’s the only source of exercise someone’s getting, then there’s an issue, but I find it to be a great way to ‘shake out’ my tough Thursday workouts.

    I think gyms have a lot to answer for in the division of men’s/women’s exercise. In my gym, the free weights are polarised – up to the 10kg dumbbells and stereotypically ‘girly’ equipment is on one side of the room, then it’s the cardio machines, then weight machines, then it’s the pull up bars, heavier weights and ‘manly’ equipment. This is not a small gym, either – there’s about 70 meters between the two zones. In the 6 months I’ve been going to this gym, I’ve only seen one other girl enter the ‘manly’ side, and she was watching her boyfriend train.

    It really pisses me off that they can’t put them all together – maybe I’m reading way too much into it, but it feels as if they want the women to be limited in their training, especially if they’re just starting out. It’s all well and good if someone is used to training and knows what their body can handle, but when you’re testing the waters and trying to progress, walking all the way across to the man’s section and then only managing 4 or 5 reps with an 11kg dumbbell, then having to trek back to the ‘light’ section, must be so daunting!

    • http://heyjoob.com Juliet

      Zumba > pre-drinks. (unless pre-drinks are tequila and/or amaretto) As I said above, I am absolutely gung-ho for any physical activity that you genuinely enjoy doing. F*ck it. Moving is better than sitting on the couch….as I’m doing now….

      The fact that your gym does that pisses ME off and I’m across an ocean. Christina made a great point in the comment above that I think directly applies to what’s going with you: we set women up for failure and then “blame” them for being afraid. Obviously, the system is jacked up.

  • http://kelsfit.com/ Kelsey@livethefitlife

    I could talk about this for DAYYZZZZ. I am not anti- group fitess classes or cardio at all if thats what people enjoy. At teh end of the day, physical activity is important regardless of what it is. Different types certinaly serve different purposes and will result in different adaptations aesthetically and in terms of performance… Not everyone enjoys strength training, and Im okay with that. What I’m NOT okay with, is womens fitness magazines giving women the idea that if they do some bicep curls with pink 5lb dumbbells that they’ll end up with the “toned” arms of their dreams. Its almost like people think women aren’t willing to work hard in the gym anyways, s these misconceptions keep getting thrown around because magazines think its what women want to hear, ya know? Theres a HUGE need for education on what types of training elicit what types of responses…. People are so clueless about that.

    • http://heyjoob.com Juliet

      Kels, I saw the pretty green 2.5 dbells on the floor of your car. Don’t be hating on the pink 5′s because you aren’t there yet – one day you might even get to those 5ers on top a bosu in a squat rack whilst curling.

      Joking a side, you’re absolutely right. What makes me sad is that this isn’t something as intricately difficult as solving obesity issues or any of that. It’s pretty cut and dry and yet the wrong information is still being disseminated.

  • http://pbanddeadlifts.wordpress.com/ Sarah

    AGREED. Thank you for writing this post, it’s very good! Women’s fitness is toned down for sure because most women wouldn’t want to be caught dead in the weightroom and mostly out of fear. I know when I first started lifting I was intimidated but it wasn’t long before I was comfortable because everyone in there is so welcoming! Fake it til’ ya make it I guess. I love combat class but I would never give up heavy lifting for 5lb DB’s.

    The whole view of women’s fitness is just messed up and mostly by magazines/social media…. it’s awful! Women need to get out there and do the same things men do, because all in all our bodies are meant for the same things.

  • Mel

    Excellent post. I totally agree with you. While I do enjoy my weekly BodyAttack class, my main love is lifting. The other day I was in the gym in the ‘boys’ section and noticed that the whole time I was there, there was not another single girl around me. And the gym was packed. Then I went over to the ‘stretching’ section and there were all the girls, doing tricep kickbacks and biceps curls with 3kg weights. Makes me sad. Especially when they are capable of so much more! I’m a tiny 5ft girl weighing in at 48 kg who squats 85 kgs (watch this space for 100kg!). A lot of the guys in my gym are really supportive and encouraging. The last thing a girl said to me was, wasn’t I afraid my legs were going to get too bulky. Made me super sad that girls think this way still. So thank you for your blog. I only just found it through ilovefetacheese.com, but I have to say it is awesome that someone like you is getting the information out there and educating people. Whether or not your readers agree or disagree, at least the discussion is being had!

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  • http://heyjoob.com Juliet

    Oh it TOTALLY is out there for people who want it. I think, though, you have to realize that the bulk of what you’re being fed is not what you should be doing? As in, how do you know you need to go find it if you don’t know what’s wrong/right?

  • http://heyjoob.com Juliet

    MAN this comment got shoved into my pending approval box and I had no idea. I hate it when that happens. Anna, I love your insight and I also loved LOVED your response blog post. I don’t think every woman needs/should try to look like an athlete, but at the same time, I don’t think they should try to look like skeletons either.

    What I REALLY think is that we should try to be the healthiest we can be, whatever size/shape that might be at.