When I reached the weight area I noticed the surrounding walls covered in mirrors. Throughout the gym floor, next to water fountains, you can find plastic containers hinged against the wall filled with antibacterial cleaning agents and paper towels. The open space and the high ceilings trapped the sound of the ongoing pop music interrupted by the occasional grunt or the crash of a dumbbell on the matted floors. The metal on metal as weight bars are hoisted back onto their rack. The commotion of treadmills, elliptical, and stationary bikes is the white noise of the gym. Briefly, I analyzed my surroundings observing how the weight area was mostly male dominated with a handful of women, an absolute disparity in comparison to the cardio sections. …show more content…
Small talk was frequent with at weights and at the water fountain. Most were very courteous to one another. My study focused on specific spaces the aerobics room, the weight area, the cardio space as well as the more general uses of “open” gym space. I explored the concerns as well as the satisfaction women had using both traditional and non-traditional gendered gym spaces. Each female member of the gym had different views on the gym lifestyle and reasoning why they are part of it. I found that while women’s movements within the gym and their choice of fitness regimens varied, they all understood the gendered nature of fitness in regard to weight lifting. I became aware of how the women who lift weights in a weight room are viewed differently than those who lift weights during the course of an aerobics class. The women who strength trains in the aerobics room may be doing similar body work, except in a space that was created for women this triggered my observation. I examined a Caucasian female walking into the gym she was maybe around her mid 20’s.
She averted her eyes when fellow exercisers walked by, around or near her as she made her way to the weight area. Her attire was very well coordinated composed of a bright pink shirt and matching shoes contrasting with her black spandexs. As she reached the dumbbells section she seemed to want to see herself, but not be seen; an impossibility with the brightness of her apparel and the open space in which every wall is mirrored. Knowledgeable of what her weight lifting regimen entailed she went about her routine for about thirty minutes resting in intervals of about one to two minutes, casually looking at her phone. She hardly looked beyond her reflection in the mirror. Soon after she re-racked her weights and made her way to the cardio section and climbed up the Stairmaster she rapidly climbed for what seemed to be fifteen minutes, soon after I lost sight of her. Switching my attention to other spaces in the gym, I noticed other women in the weight space who lifted alone. They all lifted with head phones on and never took them out the entire session. They seemed to be in a sort of weight lifting trance. Also each of them had to lift in front of the mirror. Others had a personal trainer accompany them through their routine. I connected this to probably having something to do with the need of directions while working …show more content…
out. Beyond my initial observation of women at the gym, I focused my attention on two specific women in the weight area. Captivated by their workout I began to observe them. Their workouts involved some basic weight training. From the looks of them they appeared to have been working out for a while since they were drenched in sweat. I watched them carefully as they cycled their routine between one another. Both seemed to be in very good shape with toned arms and legs and a slim physique. They laughed and chatted throughout their sets as one of the women explained why the exercise they were partaking in was so effective, the other listened attentively and followed her every move. The men in the area acknowledged their presence with an undisturbed stare, a couple of them stopped to say hello. I began to comprehend that the reason behind that was probably because they were “regulars” at that gym and to the weight area. With this in mind I approached the two women; I looked onto the first who seemed to have been the one giving the instructions.
She told me her name was Sarah Del Cid and that this was her 2nd year working out and tries to “hit” the gym 5-6 times a week. Curiously, I asked her age she answered 43, impressed with her physique I wondered what she did for a living she said “a nanny and a mother of two, a 18 year-old and a 14 year-old”. Sarah was taken back with the interest I showed her; as a result struck a brief conversation with me about why she liked to work out and said “I like to look nice and for my health... just to be healthy”. She continued stating “my fitness routine focuses more on my health, but I competed in professional figure modeling competitions that were very strict” Consequently; I asked her what she thought about women working out with weights since traditionally it has been marked as a masculine endeavor. Sarah laughed asserting “that’s naïve… everyone thinks you become less feminine and grow large muscles like men... that is not the case…muscles are beautiful on women
too” Sarah’s workout partner listened to our exchange while continuing her work out. Sarah introduced her as her friend Anna Jims. She collaborated to the conversation with slightly different responses than that of Sarah in regard to her motives for working out particularly with that of weights. Anna stated “I work out to get fit and look good.” Because of her response my next thought was to ask her if her ultimate fitness goal was aesthetic she determinedly responded “Yes all looks! I work out religiously striving for a perfect body.” Anna continued communicating on her everyday routine pointing out she enjoys the gym in the morning and hasn’t changed her routine in the last three years that she has been a member. I began to ask what she did outside the gym and what her occupation entailed that allowed her to devote so much time to working out she uttered “a housewife with two children.” With a slight pause she continued “I enjoy weights their favorite… I’m sure if more women knew the truth the gym would be more balanced.”
Marcia K. Anderson. ”Women in Athletic Training.” Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance 63.3 (1992): pp. 42. Journal Article.
Similar to a church altar where baptisms take place, the speaker begins by depicting the bench press as an altar of change and transformation. Illustrating the setting in this manner suggests that the speaker begins to wonders what drives the bodybuilder to lift an inanimate object repeatedly w...
When it comes to choice of where to workout it is a complete personal preference. Some people do not like the thought of people staring at them or watching them workout because they are not at the place they wish to be at yet. This is only one other thing that sets people in this discourse community apart from themselves. In some instances, this can become a disadvantage for the person pushing towards a specific goal. Certain goals can be pushed to the side or completely forgotten about because of the discomfort people feel placing themselves in a place like a gym for the first time.
Masculinity’s need for femininity has been a concept that I have witnessed in my own experiences; for example: gender-based spaces. I believe the most prominent example of this in my own life takes place in weight room here at UW-Whitewater. As a particularly male dominated space, it is very easy to feel intimidated. Most of the men present will either make girls who are also there for the same purpose as them feel as if they are in the way, or perhaps worse, they will be very intrusive and assume that their assistance is required. Both of these aspects are a factor in male masculinity’s need for femininity. For one, a feminine, female-identifying person such as myself partaking in the same activities that are often thought of as “manly” takes away the sacredness that such an activity only “belongs” to men. Moreover, my own independence as a woman, especially in a male-dominated z...
The culture of the gym is slowly coming together just after two days of observations. The gym is primarily a male dominant place to do but in our college the only area that is completely dominant is the weight lifting area and that’s only during prime hours. Also on the note of personal space there is noticeably a tendency for both male and female to have a certain amount of space around them like a personal bubble.
According to the Sports Medicine and Arthroscopy Review’s article on the female athlete triad, in the past forty years, American women have become increasingly involved in athletics as a result of laws allowing them to participate in sports. (Lebrun and Rumball) For instance, Cathy Rigby won eight Olympic gold medals in gymnastics during the ‘60’s and 70’s when these laws were just coming into effect. (Brunet) Nevertheless, there is an ugly hidden underbelly to the many benefits of women’s increased participation in sports. Many sports have very high standards for body image, which has led to the increasing prevalence of three “separate… but interrelated conditions” collectively known as the female athlete triad. (Lebrun and Rumball) Despite Cathy Rigby’s aforementioned success, an article by Dr. Michael Brunet reveals that she was severely affected by the most well-known of the female athlete triad: the eating disorder. This eventually caused her to suffer cardiac arrest twice. (Brunet) These effects are not limited to elite athletes, however; high school athletes are also affected by the triad, particularly those participating in sports “in which leanness is perceived to optimize performance” or which use “specific weight categories.” (Lebrun) The three components of the triad, osteoporosis, amenorrhea, and disordered eating, are increasingly becoming an unfortunate effect of distorted body image on sports.
Entertainment has been an established part of the American culture almost since its founding. The types of entertainment that most Americans enjoy in today's world are going to the movies, going out to eat, and exercising. Different forms of exercise vary from running and playing sports to weight lifting. Those who enjoy weight lifting can choose to do so in the privacy of their home, in a community center like the YMCA, or in a health club. At a health club one can expect to find a wide variety of people; however, some of these people add to the downside of working out at a local health club because they can be annoying and obnoxious. Three types of these annoying, obnoxious people found at the weight room of a local health club are the show-off, the know-it-all, and the wanderer; these types can be identified by their physical appearance, their social behavior, and their attitude.
Even though I was not entering a non-traditional sport I was still faced with some of the same issues that women who are entering bodybuilding, power lifting or boxing are. No matter what gender you are or what sport you play there will always be sacrifices and rewards but when one enters a sport that is in many ways considered "off limits" the sacrifices seem greater but in the end so are the rewards. No matter how frustrated I got because I was never given the same opportunities as the boys were I never quit because I loved the game and the game...
...hat the facilities are at best decent and nothing relatively superior, is for the use of a gym that isn’t over crowded, and filled with like-minded individuals of the same age and race. My research methods such as an inductive method including participant-observation allowed me to observe the members and how they interacted amongst each other. Most of what I learned came from the women’s locker room, where many of them felt as ease as they discussed diets, workouts, and health issues. The one aspect that did change after using the facilities was that the price included within the membership was not for high end machines, or for state of the art locker rooms with luxurious amenities. The price is paid to be part of a network of older individuals, with like-minded ideas of staying fit for the sake of being healthy, and to work out in a crowd-free, judgment free area.
Although fitness centers and gyms may appear to be a place to break a sweat and work out with the intention of not being seen without makeup and in grungy clothes, this may not be the case, in particular when it comes to college gyms. Contrary to the findings Tamara L. Black displayed in her dissertation for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology from the University of California in Los Angeles, in which she depicts the situation of the classical fitness center as exercise dominated, after observations made while participating in the Boston College Recreational Complex, fitness centers may be more heavily focused on expressing sexual and social relations than for health related issues. Although she does not elaborate on this view of the gym, she does recognize that “popular media, cultural stereotypes, and some empirical literature depict gyms as places to meet people, where sexualized interactions are likely to take place, where bodies are on display as objects of desire” (pg. 40). This may be the perfect definition of the situation that I found in my observations. Shari L. Dworkin and Faye Linda Wachs, in Body Panic: Gender, Health, and the Selling of Fitness, acknowledge “mainstream media construct men as active and women as inactive. In this view, women are often shown as ‘being visually perfect’ and passive, immobile, and unchanging’” (pg. 40). Perhaps we have media to blame for this hyper-sexualization of a situation that was initially intended for self-fulfillment and health related practices.
What is stereotype? The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines stereotype as “believing unfairly that all people or things with a particular characteristic are the same.” Stereotypes are everywhere. Stereotypes cover racial groups, gender, political groups and even demographic. Stereotypes affect our everyday lives. Sometimes people are judged based on what they wear, how they look, how they act or people they hang out with. Gender and racial stereotypes are very controversial in today’s society and many fall victims. Nevertheless, racial and gender stereotypes have serious consequences in everyday life. It makes individuals have little to no motivation and it also puts a label about how a person should act or live. When one is stereotype they
Personal space, body language, and overall interaction between the participants in the gym was something that I hadn't paid enough attention to in the past, from the distance I could see that their interests. The intimate couples that I noticed in the gym seemed again sought to have created a private space for them by erecting invisible barriers through their private body language directed only at each other, resulting in considerable more space between these couples and other groups of people in the gym. It was a clear and present body language of please do not bother us attitude left a sense of diffused power that would be involved power relationships that operate without covert commands and requests. The dynamics of the couple was something that was very obvious, in that I was able to note the dominant and the submissive person. The person who had a tendency to meet the needs and the one who had the ability to be demanding.
Women should not lift heavy things or else they will get bulky. At least that is what one of the biggest myths of female fitness will tell you. Just 17. 5 percent of American women, and only 20 percent of college-age American women, meet the aerobic and strength training recommendations of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2012). Women who incorporate weight lifting into their workout routine are significantly decreasing their likelihood of living with gender common diseases. The myths surrounding women and weight lifting by far exceed the truth and realistic benefits. The stereotypes that have formed from extreme bodybuilding and body sculpting figures are far from the physiques of the average women. Hiding behind strength training myths is more often an excuse to get out of the hard work it takes to live a healthy and quality lifetime. Strength training is not a task to shy away from, and is something every single woman should be doing. It is time for women to learn the truth and bring on the heavy lifting.
Everyday there are females who do not experience the full benefits of an exercise program because they fail to include a strength training workout as part of their regimen. One reason why females tend to stray away from strength training is the lack of knowledge concerning the benefits they can experience with this type of workout, while others fail to include it because of myths that surround it.
Many women choose not to strength train or lift weights as they fear becoming “too bulky” or “manly looking”. The appearance of female bodybuilders typically causes this fear as they, like male bodybuilders, strive to have muscular, virtually fat-free bodies. However, the hormone profile of natural women prevents them from having the same musculature and strength as men.The male sex hormone, testosterone, has anabolic (muscle/strength increa...