Hey Ladies, Embrace The Barbell and Focus on Your Training

4 Rounds:
400m Run
1 min Rest
80 Yard Prowler Push 90/50
1 min Rest
200m Sled Drag 135/90
1 min Rest


This video was posted on the CrossFit Community page as well as the CrossFit Journal.  If you haven't seen the Community page, check it out.  There are tons of success stories and just plain awesome things that go on throughout the CrossFit community. 

There is a great message here.  So many women have perceptions about CrossFit and strength training in general and what it means to their physique.  They are afraid to get "bulky" or too lean.  The bottom line here is that if you train to look a certain way, you will never be happy with the results.  As a long time professional trainer who has worked with over 1000 different womem, I will tell you that this is 100% true.  On the other hand when your training goals become performance oriented and you learn to embrace training hard, you will be very pleased with the results.

The media portrays women to look a certain way, but it isn't true beauty.  It's a made up/computer enhaced stereo type.  It's the image of somebody who is dying from malnutirtion and is painted from head to toe in make-up and has special lights shining all over them.  Not only is this image completely unhealthy, but it does not exist in reality.  Women were not intended to look like supermodels or actresses, they were intended to look like athletes.  Humans in general were well designed to do work and lots of it. 

Men who say they don't like women with abs or traps or whatever are just a bunch insecure weenies who are intimidated by truly hot women.  It can be emasculating (is that even a word?) for a man to face a woman who is obviously more fit than they are. 

True beauty lies within the woman who forsakes what the media promotes and dedicated themselves to becoming a physically capable specimen.  CrossFit women exemplify the true genetic potential of the female physique more so than any other group of athletes or fitness enthusiasts out there.  What could be more beautiful than the pinnacle of gene expressoin, the pinnacle of what nature intended?  Certainly not the skinny fat and sickly figures type that you see in magazines or on TV.

Send this out to all your frineds who participate in the lastest trendy bootcamp who follow the routiens from Shape Magazine or are doing cardio to death trying to fit into the media's mold.  It's time to educate the world and get them off bosu balls and TRX strapy things and doing pointless hours of "cardio."  This post probably won't change their minds, they are deeply brainwashed at this point, but maybe they will be a little bit more aware of what real fitness results look like.  I know one thing, they will at very least be jealous even if they can't admit it.  If they say they don't want to look like that then they are just plain old full of shit.

Comments

[brother mike]

If it weren't for the typos I would think Blake was doing a guest appearance blog post.

[Jessica Hall]

Great blog post and love your analysis...especially the part about men who say they don't like women with abs or traps or whatever being, "just a bunch insecure weenies who are intimidated by truly hot women." Good stuff.

[Blake]

Im everywhere all the time, bro.

And Justin, that's impressive... 1000 different women?

[brother mike]

Okay, as with all the longer posts, it takes a few times for me to read through it.

One of the things I have noticed about working out with women is that it is that the confidence created by being able to do some of the things we do that is really the attractive part. Well that and lifting heavy shit is just plain sexy.

[Matt P]

Justin is the Wilt Chamberlain of personal training.

[Jennifer R.]

Nicely said, Justin. And yes. Not only is "emaculating" a word, you have employed it properly.

[Donna]

When I did my first on-ramp class in April 2011, I remember just standing there watching all of the bad-ass women in the other classes doing things that I hadn't even thought about doing since I was a little girl on the playground. What?! Doing pull-ups? Jumping on boxes? Lifting weights? And the thing that sealed the deal for me: Climbing a rope?! A frickin' rope! Really? Seriously? I don't think I could've even done that as a kid. I was hooked and locked in.

The funny thing is that I completely EXPECTED that I was going to end up bulky and burly (even though Brooke kept on telling me that I wouldn't . . . I was like, come on, I put on muscle like, sooooo fast!!) And, even thinking that, I did not care. Not one bit. I was totally obsessed from that moment of being able to get my body to the point that it would be able to climb that frickin' rope and run and jump and swing on the bars again -- like a kid. A bulky, burly kid, but a kick-ass kid, nonetheless.

Well, I'm still not sure what the whole science is behind exercise, and whenever anyone tries to explain it to me my eyes glaze over despite my best efforts to comprehend it all, just like they did when I was younger and wanted to do the whole "skinny" thing through all of the dumb diets and ab crunches and infomercial devices.

But what I CAN understand is that if I get stronger or I can improve my cardio or my flexibility or just put in more reps doing a certain movement, then I'll be able to someday get that muscle up or that body-weight snatch or run (ugh!) that mile without wanting to quit every step of the way (ok, ok. I admit that this one is a pipe dream!).

Working towards these goals is what keeps me coming into the gym and sustains me when I'm not there. Heck, I'm even starting to have dreams where I'm running to save someone or to chase some bad person down (and I catch them!). It has permeated every area of my life and has given me the confidence to take risks and make strides that I never would have even thought about B.CF (before Crossfit!)

Crossfit is so much more than about trying to make your body LOOK a certain way . . . I see it as a way of helping my body realize its full potential, as it was designed to be.

So, am I happy that I look more like an athletic woman than a bulky, burly kid swinging on the bars? Well, yes. :) But let's not confuse what part of that picture I'm most stoked about . . . I'm imagining myself doing bar muscle ups and maybe event giants, someday! Hee hee hee!!!

See you all on the playground!! :)

[Leah B.]

Well said by both Justin and Donna. CrossFit is so much more than achieving a certain size. It truly is about reaching your bodies potential! We are all capable of so much more than we give ourselves credit for. It's truly awesome and inspiring to be in CFES when one of our members has this sort of "aha" moment. When they accomplish something they never thought possible or something that they have put hours of work into.
I'll admit I have my moments where I'm frustrated when my pair of "skinny" jeans is snug on my quads/hams or a cute girly top is getting eaten by shoulders and back;)... but at the end of the day my quads/hams, shoulders etc are parts of the machine that are allowing me to accomplish my personal goals and that is more important than what size jeans I wear.
CFES is full of beautiful, strong, smart and successful women! Kudos to you all-YOU ARE INSPIRING!!

[Rae]

I went to the dentist yesterday. A nice lady, as she was setting up the x-ray machine, chatted "So, you work out with Alice, huh? What's your biggest lift?" I awkwardly explained the deadlift, "you pick it up and then put it down" and told her my PR. She was so amazed she told me to get out of the dentist chair so she could look at me standing. "But you're not bulky at all!" We talked about nutrition and lifting, and how CrossFit might help her tennis playing.

This is familiar to me--wherever I go, whether a haircut or work, I talk to a lot of people about fitness. (Mainly because I'm awkward and don't have many other things to talk about). They are hungering for something that works and is sustainable, but they don't know what it's like to train for performance with goal-setting, beyond "run a 5k" by running a moderate pace 3 miles a day every other day. I used to do that because I didn't know what other athletic outlets I could pursue. The societal image of weak-as-girly-as-attractive is pervasive. Being just bigger than the next girl can be damaging to the self-esteem. Leah's right, there are some clothes that I'm shut out of, but I wouldn't trade being able to pull a shit ton for a button down from J Crew (although it is monogrammed, and I wish I could still wear it), but I guess Lululemon will suffice.

I used to run so I could eat, but now I eat to lift, but every day there's a cheat food, another 15 minutes I could have been sleeping, or a work stressor that trips me up. It's a constant focus on your performance goals that breaks through these societal and self-imposed barriers. Remember, your focus, your goals, your bodies aren't a destination ("Oh, one day I'll be hella yoked!") but really a conscious choice to work on expanding your capacity every day.

[Jennifer R.]

Ok. So Justin can properly use "emasculating," but apparently I can't spell it.

I don't have much to add to the heart-felt posts that Donna and Leah have made. Both of them have noted the essential point: potential.

When I was a kid, I couldn't even do any of the stuff that many wish they could still do. Swinging on bars? Hmmm. Only if falling constitudes swinging. Ditto climbing and jumping rope.

CrossFit has taught me to amend the sentence "I can't______________," to "I can't ____________ YET!"

[CP]

As a kid I grew up in the mountains, the youngest of 8 children. We lived in a super small town of 300 people. I had four older brothers and played with almost exclusively boys. Ever since I could remember I could do pull-ups and climb the rope with no feet. I would do whatever "da brothers" were doing and I had to keep up with the neighborhood boys. Was I super strong as a kid? No. Did I train to accomplish these feats? No. Mostly, no one told me I couldn't and we had no real access to media so I had no idea what girls were "suppose" to be doing. As I became older and realized I was a bit of an anomaly I was not quick to show off my pull-ups or rope climbing ability. It was not "feminine" and I wanted to fit in.

Enter CF much later in life. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. A place where pull-ups and rope climbing is celebrated. Hallelujah! More than that though, when I look around the gym, I see an amazing generation of women who will be teaching their daughters and grand daughters pull-ups are sexy. You better believe my daughter will know strong is beautiful and rope climbing is mandatory. Thank you for making the next generation of women (my daughters generation) stronger and proud of their bodies!

[Steve]

Well-written post Justin! I happily forwarded this blog (and video) to a bunch of my non-CrossFit attending family / friends. I'm sure they'll thank me for it!!! It was great reading all the girls stories. You guys are spectacular athletes with an awesome amount of self-confidence, and I'm certain you've inspired many women to change their lives in positive ways through your own fitness examples. Keep up the great work!

[EricH]

"The bottom line here is that if you train to look a certain way, you will never be happy with the results" ...
Great post, Justin.

[Rena]

Thank you for this post. Really! I was actually thinking about taking some time off CF because of the # of lbs I have gained over the past months and that none of my jeans fit me very well anymore. Yes, I am now ashamed of even thinking about quitting because of these reasons. I'm not stupid and know that muscle weighs more than fat but I let it get to me. I now feel like I just need to put more effort in. I truly admire the women of CFES. Many have shown me that anything is possible as long as you put your heart into it. I love the feeling of being strong.
Thank you for this post!! It came just in time for me to not make a huge mistake by quitting.