The Rant Table : Women in Fitness - Creeps and Boomer uncles with Unsolicited advice

EVOLUTION IRON

In this episode we join hands with Bharathi and Jaiganesh to rant about boomer uncles and unsolicited advice people (especially, women) get in the gym or when they get into fitness . We also touch on toxic masculinity and other relevant things prevailing in the fitness industry .

Topics discussed (in order) :

Common misconceptions

• Lifting weight make you bulky .

• Should not lift weight when you are pregnant.

• Should not lift heavy .

Generally how intimidated women feel when they are trying to learn any new skill?

Stigma around women doing anything other than the gender roles they have been doing

How men make women feel they are weaker and dumb than men.

Patronizing women and unsolicited advice.

Who has to be blamed for women not pushing hard enough in the gym?

How trainers or fellow men in the gym take advantage?

• Filming women without their knowledge.

• Staring at the women

Beauty standards set by men on how women should look

How insecure men get when women gets stronger than them.

Toxic masculinity in fitness community (online/offline)

How woke body positivity people shame women who work towards big booty or any arbitrary goals.

Things we can do in the gym to make women feel safe and not intimidated.

Clarification given by Bharathi --

The statement that I made about trainers in commercial gyms may have come across as belittling and obnoxious. I would like to clarify that that wasn’t my intention. It was a commentary about how the fitness industry like many other industries has been affected by capitalism. A lot of trainers in commercial gyms, regardless of their competency and qualifications, are pretty much forced to focus on one thing and that is hitting certain targets to make any kind of money. And this gets in the way of them helping others in the gym and not just their clients to their full potential. Not all of us are privileged to work in an environment where we don’t have to worry about hitting targets in terms of client PT sign ups, client retention etc. Anyway, this topic requires a lot more nuanced discussion than a few lines. Hopefully there’ll be a podcast down the line discussing about the role capitalism plays in the fitness industry .