Women and Weightlifting: I'm Getting My Sexy Fitness On

Hey everyone! Things have calmed down at work so I’m finally getting to post this entry on my regularly scheduled day, as per my agreement with Melissa. Plus, I’m deathly afraid of Melissa; so I know if I don’t post something, I’ll suffer the ramifications of her wrath.

One extremely important but random update for today? It is hot as balls in my office. It’s feeling like spring outside at a nice, warm 85 degrees; however, facilities refuse to turn on the AC in the building because they are afraid it may get cold again. My coworkers and I look like we just popped mollies and we sweatin!! I was really tempted to take a half day and stand in front of my freezer but alas, Whole Foods has a sale on boxes of mangoes for $7.99 each! So, I’m trekking outside to covet these goodies. I’m a happy girl J Update: I just went to Whole Foods and the mangoes were gone. Motherfucker.

Anyways, I wanted to approach the topic of exercise and gender roles at the gym. It’s been on my mind but an incident last week pushed me to finally write about it. It seems trouble is always looking for me…especially in the form of douchebags. I was at the gym one morning, getting my sexy fitness on with the squat rack when a guy approached me and said something along the lines of “you should lift some lighter dumbbells; the squats you’re doing are too heavy.” I thought about releasing my inner bitch but decided against it since it was so early in the morning. I opted to say, “I’m okay here at the squat rack. You can lift the dumbbells if you want but I’m fine where I’m at.” *Bitch stare* My sister knows what my bitch stare looks like and is probably laughing her ass off now. 

I mean what kind of bullshit is that?! When it comes to the gym, it is apparent how segregated it is and how gender roles impact physical fitness for both men and women. You have men who dominate the weight room, grunting and screaming, like a scene out of a horror film. You have women who take over the cardio machines, torturing themselves for hours (surprisingly, their makeup is still on. That’s suspect.) There is no intermingling between the two in the weight room. 

As an Asian American woman, I not only have to struggle with these gender roles but with people’s preconceived notions of me as an ethnic minority. I’m Asian so therefore, I have to be petite and skinny right? What am I doing with these heavy weights? I thought about what the guy had mentioned to me, and it just goes to show how prevalent these gender roles are, even in our everyday routines. That being said, I’m a huge proponent of strength training, especially HEAVY strength training. I think that women shouldn’t be afraid to confidently walk into the free weight area and push themselves. We’re not going to get big and buff like men because we do NOT have testosterone (and those who are freakishly ripped are probably on steroids by the way). Women can lift just like men and be strong and sexy.

Case in point:

 

I don’t want to bore you to death so I’ll leave it at that for today. In connection to this entry, I’m going to discuss my experience as an Asian American woman struggling with body image next week. Stay tuned!

-Diane