Like my girl Beyonce says, if you want it then you shoulda put a ring on it.
No wait, that’s the other classic.
Who rules the world? Girls.
Well they should, it would be a better place.
The sad fact is the reverse is probably still true.
Men dominate in wages, representation in workplaces and sport, and in the perception of STRENGTH.
I feel this has lead to a negative influence on female strength training. Something we are a massive advocate of. Not because we think big muscles are great. In terms of pain, injury, health and wellness, strength is golden.
MUSCLES AND STRENGTH ARE DIFFERENT THINGS.
You can be strong, insanely strong, and not look like you’ve been inflated with a tyre pump.
Big muscles are great if that’s your bag, but they aren’t essential.
Males are setup to get bigger muscles, but that doesn’t mean they have sole rights to them.
If a female has muscles on muscles, who cares?
The pressure on females to not have muscles has lead to them neglecting their strength.
There is a well documented drop off of participation in sport and exercise amongst adolescent females, with correlation to poorer capacity and health in later life.
This is a complex issue, but is a modern representation of an ancient thought process.
Still, you hear it everywhere.
Girls shouldn’t sweat, swear, be muscly, fight or – LIFT WEIGHTS
There are massive barriers for females strength training.
Which sucks because there are more benefits for females strength training.
One of the barriers is the belief they will turn into muscle bound Amazons. This body image is not one that resonates with the majority. Is this because they don’t like it, or because they think they shouldn’t look like that? Would some of them like being an Amazon if other people didn’t comment as much? Maybe
The other big barrier is meathead men in the gym.
Intimidating, commenting, leering, whatever. It’s all not on and needs to stop.
And guess what fellas, the reason you dickheads behave this way is insecurity. You have unresolved feelings about yourself and try and make yourselves feel tough.
Sort your shit out and stop being douchebags.
Right, rant over, where was I?
Thankfully there are more and more training facilities focusing on community, culture and creating a positive environment for females to train. Hard. These are the places that create strong, durable women who then influence their family, work and other environments for the better. Plus they are strong AF, like seriously impressive humans.
So ladies, please, if you want to lift weights, are curious about it, would like to be stronger, sick of doing boring stuff, please find somewhere you are comfortable and go hard. Please.
Your brain, body, family, children and the planet will thank you.
If you don’t know where to start or want to know the best way for what you are looking to achieve, get in touch and we will point you in the right direction. One that suits you.
You can get strong without getting bulky. If you want to get bulky do it. Strong women make the world a better place.
This is a big societal issue and i’m not pretending things can change quickly. This is more to get people to think about their own part in it.
If a female tells you how much she trains don’t say “should you be doing that” or “be careful”. Say “That’s awesome”.
If your daughter wants to play contact sport or lift weights or box, for the love of Jebus, LET HER!! She might get hurt, yes, but her risk of injury goes DOWN with hard exercise. The value of hard exercise is immeasurable. Please.
Do it with her!!!!
Being an oblivious male I never realised how profound this difference was until 2 things occurred.
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Running into these barriers when planning the rehab of female clients
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The birth of my daughter
I found a big difference in the language used by people around my kids. Even the instinct of what we buy them, tell them. I have 2 boys and a girl. The boys always got “look how big and strong you are, you’re going to be a rugby player, lock up your daughters!!”. My daughter always gets “how beautiful are you, look at that lovely dress, dad is going to have to lock you up when you’re older”.
These are all completely innocent intentions, but i’ve always found it interesting. Even my own preprogramming on what is “boy” and what is “girl”. Particularly as my daughter is the best wrestler, climber and likes eating dirt.
I wonder what role this has is creating the things we see down the track. If girls were told they were strong and capable from a young age, would it then be easier for them to be physical and durable as adults? If we stopped calling young girls princesses, would we find it easier to handle muscled and athletic women?
After years of nagging from me my lovely wife is getting stuck into the deadlifts. I love this for many reasons. I know how good it is for her, I see her confidence in her physical ability increase.
Most of all, I know, though my daughter will probably never listen to anything she says, she will do what her mother does.
I will not need to keep boys (or girls) away from my daughter. If she chooses, she will be able to do that all on her own.
Build weapons, not princesses.
Be the weapon yourself.
For Lola, the worlds first kickboxing astrophysicist.
Until next time
Dave
