Women of iron
I asked him whether he did squats and praised the squat as the king, the queen, the No. 1 builder of strong bodies and big muscles. I leapt from my chair and said, “Now, not like this,” demonstrating a half-squat, “but like this” demonstrating a slow, controlled deep squat.
“Then if you really want a burn, try this,” I said, demonstrating what my old workout pal from 20 years ago used to call oscillations–the movement from the bottom of a deep squat to just above parallel, then back to deep, then just above parallel, etc., until you can’t stand it any more. “Those’ll burn your butt,” said I.
“How do you know about all this?” said he. “I mean, I could understand it if Name Withheld [my male assistant editor, who does not train with weights, who has never trained with weights] came out with it.”
Sigh.
Are there still people, young people, who assume weights are for men? Apparently so. Aren’t there young women, I wonder, who lift in the university facility where our intern trains?
I vividly remember young women worrying about “getting too big” in the weight-training activity course I took in college back in the late ’70s–and in the women’s weight-training class I taught at the YMCA in the mid-’80s.
But sheesh. Don’t young guys and gals know that iron is an equal-opportunity employer, as much for women as for men?
January 28th, 2005 at 3:59 pm
This chick does, even though she hasn’t progressed too far with weights. Perhaps you need to drop a women’s weight training magazine on said intern’s desk. That should raise his awareness a notch or two!
January 28th, 2005 at 10:51 pm
Great idea! Or perhaps the 8″ by 10″ glossy I have of Bev Francis back in the mid-’80s. Muscles on muscles.