Can I just say I’m fucking tired of listening to men talk about what they think is important like it’s universal?
I haven’t done a post about an evidence-based podcast episode in a while, and the biggest contributor is that I’ve found myself losing interest. Not in learning the latest research. Not in lifting. Not in finding my way through life’s journey to get stronger and build some badass muscle. Nope, I’ve found my tolerance for men talking to each other about what men think, answering the questions that men ask, and exploring the needs of men just totally . . . boring. Insulting. Eyeroll-inducing.
So, I’ve been downloading a lot fewer episodes of my former favorites: Stronger by Science, Iron Culture, Barbell Medicine, 3D Muscle Journey, and Data Driven Strength.
They’re all men talking about man stuff.
And having women present matters.
When men were the only people allowed to do the work, the discipline of anthropology focused on men and their contributions to the needs of preindustrial humans. They assumed the main sources of food were big game kills and that the evolutionary pressures on human development were primarily those of growing more successful in these endeavors. Only when women became a part of the work did we learn that 70-80% of the calories consumed by modern-day nonindustrial peoples are provided by women, and anthropologists were forced to reconsider how early humans met their needs.
Men in psychology studying stress responses in World War II combat veterans with “shell shock,” identified the “fight or flight” survival reactions in animals. They developed extensive explanations for how our bodies use and can revert to these responses in what is now termed Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. Only when women became involved in the work did other survival strategies become recognized such as “fawn,” the impulse to soothe the aggressor. These insights have helped us have a richer understanding of how people cope with chronic abuse and other stressors.
Safety devices like seatbelts have been designed around a male body archetype and as a result, women are more likely to die in a car crash. Only recent research on these issues by women has brought these failures to light.
And I could go on.
Just to be really honest here, I’m especially annoyed with Stronger by Science and Iron Culture. If you’ve been following these two podcasts since their dawn, as I have, you know there was some kind of major rift this last year between the SBS hosts, Eric Trexler and Greg Nuckols. For several episodes there was only Trex, and then when Greg came back, it was announced that Trex was gone (to Iron Culture) and Greg’s wife, Lindsay came on for a bit. Eventually, Greg brought on two new hosts, Drs. Pak (Dr. Patroklos Androulakis-Korakakis) and Milo (Dr. Milo Wolf). Here was an opportunity to bring in some different voices with different perspectives, and instead we have two more men of approximately the same age and experience. Moreover, it was so quick and easy for Eric Trexler to join the Iron Culture crew, it is obvious that adding a host required little adjustment to their systems, either.
I do not know how Dr. Pak or Milo identify themselves, but the fact that neither has mentioned issues of race or sexuality makes me suspect that they do not identify as belonging to either minority community.1 And we could have had more–more diversity, more ideas from more voices, more exploration of the nuances of more people’s needs and curiosities.
Because my needs are not being met by these discussions, and I suspect I am not alone. What do I want from an evidence-based content provider? What is getting left out?
To start with, a shit-ton of context. For example, when three men talk about “gym culture,” what do they know about anyone else’s experience walking into and interacting with gym culture? Generalizations abound in these conversations about joining a gym, experiencing a gym, making friends at the gym, and they are all based on the experiences of (presumably) straight, White men under the age of forty.
They leave out the context of making things work within the busy lives of people who do not have the privilege to train however and whenever they want to. I hear daily conversations with women who must navigate the needs of their families with their own desires to feel strong and capable. Where is that consideration? It needs to happen every single time in order for folks to apply the knowledge to their lives.
Speaking of needs, they leave out the complicated realities of women who have been socialized to put other people’s needs above their own, and thereby the psychological and practical implications of taking on certain kinds of training goals and commitments. Children, aging parents, disproportionate expectations for work at home, all can lead to a squeezing pressure on the time and energy some of us have to participate in strength sport.
They leave out folks with disabilities and different physical abilities, discussing ideals with little exploration of how to prioritize and make decisions for those of us who cannot do whatever we want whenever we want with a fully functional body.
They leave out the cultural and social differences that influence priorities, expectations, fears, and desires. Not everyone will set the same goals for themselves, not everyone wants the same things. Not everyone got into lifting in their twenties to get swole and get chicks.
They leave out major life experiences like pregnancy, breast-feeding, and perimenopause, each impacting training abilities, goals, and physical challenges. Oh, and PMS can dampen mood and the menstrual cycle can influence what “ideal” training can look like for a week each month.
Subtle, and not so subtle, use of language excludes these experiences from the lifting community as defined by the men who address them. Endless references to “squatting four plates,” like that’s an achievable goal for anyone, and “bodyfat in the single digits” like that’s a life goal (or a healthy one) for any of us, raise up the speaker as if they are an enviable “everyman” while clearly defining who does and doesn’t belong.
I want more women and other folks talking in these communities. I want them creating content. I want them asking questions and pushing for ideas.
I suspect the sexist origins of science plays a role in how few women and queer folk we have in this space. It is less safe for us to speak up. We are taken less seriously.
As an example, I’ve been following Sohee Lee from way back in the Sohee Fit days a decade or more ago. Now she’s married to Ben Carpenter, and I see them creating lots of great content together. And when a video has his name on it, it can have thousands of reactions, and when it’s Sohee alone, it may have a few hundred. They are saying the same sorts of things. They are promoting the same sorts of messaging. And she isn’t validated and celebrated to the same extent.
I’d like Sohee to join one of these podcasts. And Molly Galbraith from Girls Gone Strong. I am thrilled that there is now one woman, Lauren Colenso-Semple, on the MASS team. I want to hear from her more. But I also want to see the men in these spaces bringing up and sharing space with more voices. I want them to acknowledge their roles as gatekeepers, tastemakers, and validators and to lift up diverse experiences.
Let me get specific about how all this relates to the SBS discussion of Powerbuilding. Here are some considerations that I didn’t hear and would have appreciated:
- Powerbuilding can take more time to reach your goals. How do we balance this with time restraints to train, differing physical abilities due to disability or season of life (like breastfeeding)? What if we have more ability to lift part of the year and less another part? How do we balance our longer-term goals with shorter-term challenges to consistency? And if Powerbuilding requires more time training, how realistic is it as a training modality for many of us? If it isn’t realistic, are there other training modalities that deserve more time and energy to discuss? (Maybe we don’t need a 2-hour discussion of a training method that maybe only applies to 5% of recreational lifters?)
- Powerbuilding is “sold” as a great way to interact with both the strength athletes and hypertrophy bros in a gym. How does this play out for women and other folks who may feel less welcome in a gym setting from the beginning? What strategies can we use to help us feel safe when we pursue these goals? How can we create gym settings that engender a safe and welcoming environment for all lifters with all sorts of goals?
- People identified as female at birth build strength and muscle at equivalent rates as people identified as male at birth; however, due to smaller amounts of muscle to begin with, the resulting numbers tend to be smaller. How can a woman or smaller-bodied person navigate the uncertainty of slower results when following a Powerbuilding type of program?
- Physique goals tend to look different for different gender expressions. If someone is interested in focusing on a bigger backside, broader shoulders or another physique attribute, how does someone balance these goals with the desire to build strength with the bigger compound lifts which may not contribute to their growth significantly?
- I would argue the biggest factor in getting results on any program is consistency (not perfection) of effort. Where’s the discussion of helping people develop the skills they need to remain consistent on a Powerbuilding program over long periods of time? What are the training priorities when we need to cut back for a while? Where should we focus our energies when we have more to give?
I really need the men in the strength space to do the work of sharing space with other points of view. It isn’t just because I’m bored. I am so deeply underrepresented, and so many of us are. They aren’t asking the questions I need answered. They aren’t addressing the challenges that I have. The science will be better with more points of view, and I will be more interested in what they have to say about it.
- I acknowledge another possibility is that one or both of them do identify as queer and/or people of color, but perhaps they feel some pressure to fit in and keep these differences to themselves. In which case, they would also be navigating the sexist, racist systems that have perpetuated the fitness industry as a space primarily for white, straight, cis-gendered men. And if that is the case, I am deeply sympathetic AND feel that more women, queer people and people of color in this space would benefit their lives dramatically as well. But truly, patriarchy hurts all of us.
Progressive Strength 