“I don’t want to get big/bulky” and “Ew, muscles on a girl are gross”

In our western society, we are given roles based upon our gender (which, when born, we have zero control over, just like we have no control over the color of our eyes, our height, our metabolism or whether we’re born in Africa or America and whether we have shitty parents or awesome ones, the list goes on...) and these roles tend to be given to us as soon as we’re born. You’re born a boy? Chances are you’re given the blue onesie and not the pink one. You’re a girl? You probably had to suffer through (enjoy?) wearing dresses at an early age until you were old enough to tell your mother to please stop buying you fucking dresses. Where am I going with this, might you ask?

If I hear another male human creature comment that women aren’t supposed to “look like men” or that “women shouldn't have that much muscle” I will shove a can of dog food down someone’s throat. And not that organic good shit, either. The nasty shit. Like Pedigree (Pedigarbage?).

Let’s get something straight. This idea of “feminine” and “masculine” shit doesn’t really exist. It only exists because we make it exist, just like racism and bigotry and homosexuality are all things that are just the things they are without us putting a label on it, they wouldn’t be anything. But I’ll not rant upon those topics, because that’s not what this blog is about. But, I want to make it clear that training, working out, losing body fat, getting jacked are all things you should do for you and not give two shits what other people think.

If we all lived our lives caring so much about what other people think, our lives would be sad and insignificant. I care about what my family thinks, my future kids, my future boss, my teachers, my partner. Why? Because their thoughts of me directly impact my actions. But they also don’t think I’m something terrible and awful and offensive. See where I’m going with this?

If we, as women, stopped feeding into the frenzy maybe men (and other women) would follow suit. We’re allowed to deadlift a shit ton of weight just like any man can and should do. We’re allowed to eat our protein and our veggies and sweat. We also give the gift of life via pregnancy. If someone wants to call you names or call you out for wanting to be a figure competitor, a powerlifter, or an athlete with muscle on her frame, tell them kiss your ass. You’re not doing this to please them, and most of the time, these comments come from a place of jealousy and low self-esteem.

Christmas Abbott is jacked and can kick an asshole right in the nuts.

Get strong for you. You’re changing your bad habits because you want to see your kids walk down the aisle, you want to be able to walk, you want to be able to go up a flight of stairs, you want to be jacked, you want to win a competition because you know you can, or you generally just want to be more healthy than 95% of people in America. Those 95% are ignorant assholes doing juicing diets, grapefruit diets and slaving over the cardio machines, too scared to even lift a barbell because they’ll “get huge” or “hurt something”. These are not the people you should listen to. Not for a second. And if the voice inside your head is one of those types, retrain that voice to tell you you’re awesome and you can, in fact, do this. And you deserve to do this because, guess what? “You've got your whole life to do something, and that’s not very long” (Ani Difranco, “Willing to Fight”).

Arnold did it. Why can't you?

See you in The DUNGEON