What’s Wrong With Female Fitness?

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I love fitness and I love the fitness industry. Fitness has always been a part of my life.

Photo Credit: Bobby Gallant

Ever since my parents (er, I mean, Santa…wink, wink) got me my first weight training set when I was 13 – you know, one of those benches with the leg extension/leg curl attachment that came with a few bars and about 150 lbs worth of plastic covered cement circles, along with the complimentary black & white poster of some ripped dude performing all the various exercises which served as the “program” to follow.

Remember that? 

Yeah, that one  – I was hooked.

It only made sense that, once I was finished with my baseball career, that I’d gravitate towards a career in fitness. I majored in Health Education and after “surviving” my student teaching experience – it really wasn’t all that bad – I decided that spending my days teaching prepubescent students the food pyramid and the difference between boy-down-there-parts and girl-down-there-parts wasn’t my gig.

That and I didn’t want to have to wear a tie everyday.

So once I was done with my internship at a corporate gym (as part of my concentration in Health/Wellness Promotion) I decided that helping people get more fit, healthier, and stronger was more my bag and I became a personal trainer and strength & conditioning coach.

That was twelve years ago.

In the years since I’ve grown as a coach and as a person. I’ve seen how the fitness industry has changed, evolved, and rolled with the ebbs and flow of coming and going fads.

Ahem, Thigh Masters and Shake Weights anyone?

All in all, however, I recognize that as a whole the fitness industry is saturated with well intentioned people wanting to help people in any way they can to lead healthier and more meaningful lives.  I’m proud to be a part of that.

As with any industry, though, there’s always the outliers that bring the “douchey” to the douchiest power.

Much like how the judiciary system is rife with shady lawyers who give all other lawyers a bad reputation by hanging out in emergency rooms passing out business cards (and bad advice), the fitness industry is equally as much of a culprit.

One of the biggest problems I’ve noticed (and have tried my best to curtail) has been growing bigger and bigger for some time.  And now, it’s gotten so big a lot of people aren’t sure we can actually fix it.

And that problem is pretty obvious: the way women are portrayed, packaged, and marketed when it comes to fitness. And there are finally some people who are ready to push back.

Lemme explain…

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you’ve definitely seen what I’m talking about. If you open any magazine, whether it’s fashion or fitness or anything else, you see women in hyper-sexualized ad campaigns who are photoshopped beyond all recognition. (<— Exhibit A).

And not just “regular” women. I’m talking about women who are models or professional athletes, beautiful women who are being subconsciously told they aren’t good enough as they are, so they need to be digitally enhanced.

As if the false imagery weren’t bad enough, the subliminal (and I’d argue they’re not so subliminal) messages that much (not all) of the mainstream media regurgitates towards women is borderline tragic.

Key words such as “toned” and “sexy” and any other equally as nefarious adjectives used to sell people an often unattainable look are used ad nauseam by the fitness industry.

Worse still is that you have women becoming fitness celebrities because they have a bubblicious derriere (or what I like to call a metric shit-ton of anterior pelvic tilt) and are able to market themselves and build a cult following on Instagram.  And even worse still, they’re seen as health and fitness authorities.

It’s unfortunate, and it sucks.

And it needs to stop.

Many of you may recall this past weekend I shared a “special edition” guest post by my friend, Neghar Fonooni, titled A Woman’s Journey of Strength: How Lifting Changed My Life Forever. It was amazing and received a ton of love on social media.

Neghar is someone who “gets it.”

By that I mean that she isn’t just helping women get into amazing shape; she’s helping them realize that they’re beautiful before they step into the gym, and that while losing weight is great if that’s what you want, it’s not the key to happiness.

This is a really, really important point. Neghar is not one of those “anti-fitness” or “anti-weight loss” fitness professionals who thinks that anyone who wants to change their body is making a mistake.

Instead, she thinks that anyone who wants to change their body should do it the right way, and for the right reasons: because YOU want to, not because you’re trying to conform to some societal standard, or because you think it will make you happy.

Which is why I’m more than happy to introduce everyone to her Lean & Lovely program.

Whether you’re a woman who trains or someone who trains women, this is a fantastic 12-week fat-loss program comprising of three phases lasting four weeks each, with each phase having a slightly different focus in terms of training, nutrition, and mindset.

The overarching concept is based on kettlebell training (which is Neghar’s wheelhouse), but everything from bodyweight exercises to barbell training is included.

The long and short of it is that it’s an amazing program that will help women get fit and gain confidence all while loving their bodies and not hating them!

Unlike a lot of program out there this one does NOT sell sex or use target terms to make a woman feel she’s not sexy enough or has to look a certain way to feel sexier.

Rather, the message of Lean & Lovely is for women to meet their body where it’s at, and to be more mindful of the transformation – both physically and mentally.

Every part of this program is incredible, and every part will help you in some way. Here’s just a few pieces…

• Firstly, as mentioned before, there are 12 full weeks of amazing, fat burning workouts

• Then there’s the comprehensive Nutrition Handbook, which will teach you how to lose fat without dieting

• There are over two dozen bonus “sweat session” workouts to do whenever you like, with minimum time and equipment

• Instructional videos to teach you how to do every exercise in the program.

• A series of MINDSET exercises and strategies to help you be happier, more positive, more productive, and make the program more effective

The L&L program is on sale THIS week only for 50% off, which is a STEAL given the numerous other things offered in the program.

And there’s much, much more.

Also, to sweeten the pot I’m going to offer everyone who purchases the L&L program through this site my 75 minute webinar Training Jane from Joe: Do Women Need to Train Differently Than Men?

I’m actually releasing this as a stand alone product in a few weeks, but am going to hand it to you – FOR FREE – by sending me your L&L receipt.

Just send me an email (make sure to include the receipt!) with the title “L&L Giveaway” to: tgentilcore18@yahoo.com. Okay, that’s it. Click below to see for yourself what I’m talking about.

—-> Lean & Lovely <—-

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