A long-time friend and I made a pact 10 weeks ago to start a journey toward better fitness. I'm following the excellent Body for Life program. She is using the True Grit method. So we both spend a lot of time at the YMCA. Here's what I have noticed: Women strive to lose and to get smaller and smaller and smaller. We work toward being the ideal object, or just not wanting to take up too much space. Am I right?
Men strive to gain and to get bigger and bigger. Just wanting to take up more space in the world or or be the subject, the do-er. There's also so much pressure on them. I'm thinking now of John Berger's "Ways of Seeing."
Some people in the gym -- especially the Elders -- seem to find a just mean. But so many people approach their workouts with a kind of terrifying mania.
As for myself, I've managed to burn some blubber and develop new muscle in these 10 weeks, but I often feel like a chubby wimp among the warriors. 
7 comments:
Any exercise is better than none at all and as long as you feel good about it, to heck with what others thinks about it.
Caroline, I don't want to be small. I want to have BIG muscles. I want to stride around and feel powerful. But mostly I want to be topheavy with MUSCLES. I want MUSCLES.
Love,
Olivia N-J
Sorry about that. Bikies was a mistake account and the name embarrasses me. It should be Bikey, which is the name of my bike.
Anyway, that last post read sarcastic but I was serious!
Love again,
Oliva
Hey Dr M
Yes, you are right, but you kind of have to be there to feel it.
Anonymous
Yes! I want muscles too. I want to feel powerful and able.
I, too, try to go to the "Y" on a somewhat regular basis, so I know what you mean. The worst is when the future "Ironman" competitors take over. You wouldn't believe the men's locker room: All these guys talking about their Workouts and Routines as if it's Important. Or, they talk about their Portfolios. I'm just there to try and be healthy (and maybe get a little bit smaller). I swim because it doesn't hurt my knees, loosens up my back, and they don't have a TV in the swimming pool. It's more like meditation when there isn't a TV dominating the experience. Then, I finish (sorry about the pun) up in the sauna (pronounced "SOW-na", as any Finn knows) and try to ignore the Financial Talk and the yahoos with their iPods at full volume. That's the best.
Well said, Geranium. God, I never even considered the reality of the men's locker room. I have enough trouble trying to do bicep curls around them. You know, I really think we are aging gracefully.
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