"Quality of Life and Barbell Training for Women" An Alternative Opinion, with Love

[#RaiseTheBar]

Oh, man. I was a bit surprised to see a SS post with ‘Women’ in the title. As a female Coach, I am out there fighting the good fight, trying to get more vaginas in racks. (I said vagina, so now I suppose you’re listening.) I’ve read the books, I’ve read the articles, I listen to the podcasts, I flew to Texas for StrengthCon; hear me when I say, I am NOT a hater. Generally, it’s a tough sell to women; the articles and videos, while brilliant, are geared toward men both in content and language. Women, their stats and considerations, generally appear to be an afterthought. ‘Her’ and ‘she’ are few and far between, unintended or otherwise. It’s difficult, at best, to use much of the material to sell strength to the less male.

Why is this podcast sitting on doilies, I wonder? Where is the SS Intro music? Will the girly violins be replacing the iconic SS intro/outro indefinitely or was that intended to appeal to double X chromosome ears? Did it need to be read by a woman in order to appeal to women? Did someone actually sit down and make that choice whilst simultaneously selecting ever so elegant cursive font for the title on YouTube? Food for thought.

A few minutes in, I honestly had to check myself, “Am I looking to be mad at it?” I wondered. Am I trying to find something wrong here? I run a fitness business, I understand needing to get your message to land and the value in appealing to a given demographic. I also understand the demographic of Inna’s gym. For the group of women that she markets to, implying that strength is necessary for women SO THAT they are able to withstand the challenges of raising a family is probably a strategically intelligent angle. Is this Starting Strength’s position though? Is this your female campaign? Women raise families, men also raise families. Men and women also do a whole host of other shit that requires them to be strong, capable humans.

Everybody needs to train. I know you’re AT LEAST with me on that. Everybody needs to be strong enough for life so that life doesn’t kill them early. So they can effectively participate in this planet as a productive member of society, contribute something, have some experiences, THEN die. God-willing, without their offspring ever having to change their diapers. Men and women both need to train. And while there are training considerations for each of the genders, none of them are actually gender. Hormones: While they differ between men and women, they also differ between age populations, they also change throughout the lifespan of the very same lifter. Genetic makeup: Yes, this matters too; we can’t change anyone’s natural vertical, it varies in EVERYBODY, regardless of which restroom they use. I can play the blanket statements game too; “Generally women can achieve a higher intensity set of 3 squats versus a set of 5 due to… (blah blah blah)”. But I can also show you a whole host of men that will respond better to 3’s for some reason at some point. Don’t get hung up in the details, the point is this; training age, recovery, consistency, kinesthetic awareness, general pain tolerance and barometer, pre-existing conditions and injuries, anthropometry etc. It ALL matters. It all means something to programming. However, outside of giving meaning to the cue “put your dick on the floor” whether or not you have one is irrelevant. I may even argue that where you fall on a scale from 1-to-Vegan bears more significance as a training variable than the presence or absence of said dick… I said “may”.

What am I NOT saying - I am not saying that statements in this article are UNtrue. I am not saying that Inna is wrong, this response really has nothing to do with her. I’m thrilled that she’s out there effectively preaching barbells. I’m not even saying that many of her points are really sitting in opposition to mine. While I would argue that you do sometimes have to “survive” your workout to acquire properly calibrated perception. Claiming that your workout is supposed to “build you up” is framed up as such to appeal to weak, sensitive ladies. Asking if, “we should be teaching our daughters that they should use fitness to abuse themselves” is just preposterous, and a cheap shot at implying that this is what women care about i.e., this is why they should be strong. Men also have daughters they don’t want to teach absurd shit to. Women also have sons. Everybody needs to squat. This approach to women is overly coiffed.

It’s 2018, and everybody is offended all the time. It’s exhausting and a waste of precious energy that could otherwise be used trying to press your bodyweight overhead. I am not offended, but in a world where people choose to be victimized for sport and are looking to discredit everything you say so that they don’t have to level-up and work hard, bold, pink brush strokes are a poor choice. Paired with very short attention spans…is anyone still reading?… I can’t imagine narrow-casting to stupid is the new plan, but if we want the message to land, we have to be willing to play the game. Tossing a heavy, hand-knit blanket over women and strength training is risky as fuck for the Starting Strength brand. So, while ‘the women issue’ does need to be dealt with (more female coaches and clients, greater value placed on strength) propping the girly articles up on doilies to the sweet, sweet sounds of symphony is the primrose path. #raisethebar …and squat it and press it and pull it. Oh, my!

[Mark Rippetoe]

Got it. Too much pink, too many curlicues. Either Inna's taste in video production is inadequate, or I have ground her under my Patriarchal heel by some mechanism that only a person who does not know Inna could imagine. When do we get to see your video?

[Nick Delgadillo]

The music is Chopin's Piano Concerto no. 1 in E minor. I didn't google search "woman music" when I picked it.

Maybe something from Pantera would have been more fitting for a video featuring Inna?

[Eric Schexnayder]

I saw the word “ vagina” and was unable to pay attention to anything else.

Can you explain your concern in one or two sentences?

[Jonathon Sullivan]

I saw the word “ vagina” and was unable to pay attention to anything else.

Can you explain your concern in one or two sentences?

Yeah, I had a hard time teasing out the thesis statement.

[AndrewLewis]

I love death metal. My target market is 30-60 year old women with kids or kids out of the house.

It would not be a good marketing decision to play Dying Fetus' "From Womb To Waste" as an intro to my videos. I mostly play have music that is either 1) extremely inoffensive and bland or 2) appeals to the likes of 30-60 year old women: Bon Jovi, R.E.M., Phil Collins, shit like that.

Do you see how framing the same information in a different way can appeal to different audiences?