By Erica
As part of our training, Camila, Eileen & I go to UW-Madison Rec Sports spin classes. UW has this amazing deal where you pay $25 a semester for unlimited group fitness classes. Given that and the fact that we’re part of the UW Tri Team, we probably owe a big debt of gratitude to our UW student statuses. It’s like the University is BEGGING us to do an Ironman as Grad Students.
The Rec Sports spin classes on Tuesday and Thursday mornings are excellent. The instructor has been teaching for years and is a runner & triathlete herself, and so her workouts are perfect for us. One of the differences between those classes and the ones run by the Tri Team on Monday and Wednesday mornings (yes, the getting up at 5:45am on weekdays has already begun) is that the Rec Sports classes are open to all levels. There are a bunch of other people who are training for various events, but there are also people who are new to spinning & exercise. I think this is great. I love seeing people moving and being active.
This week was the first of the semester, and so the instructor spent some time talking about people’s goals. On both mornings, she mentioned that some people’s goals are to “look good in a bikini.” This morning, after asking those of us who were cyclists to raise our hands, and then those who were training for races, she asked the people who wanted to look good in a bikini to raise theirs. I turned to Eileen, pursed my lips, and shook my head. I almost talked to the instructor about it afterwards, but decided it wasn’t appropriate. “I’m going to write about this later,” I told Eileen.
The reason I’m angry about this is that looking good in a bikini is an unbelievably harmful exercise goal. Exercising should be about being healthy and feeling better. Loosing some pounds is a fine goal if you’re at an unhealthy weight, but to say that looking good on the beach is your goal is to say that you’re exercising for other people. You’re exercising so that you can be more attractive to other people. Granted, I understand that looking good on the outside can give you more self-confidence, but this is just because we live in an unfortunate world where so much of a women’s feelings of self-worth are wrapped up in how she looks. It shouldn’t be like that. Encouraging people to exercise to look good in bikini is encouraging women to accept a culture where they are judged for how their bodies look instead of what their bodies do.
Exercise goals shouldn’t be about superficial results. They should be about doing something for yourself. Exercise to have more energy during the day. Exercise to keep your body fit and healthy. Exercise to keep your mind sharp. Exercise to be stronger and faster.
One of the best articles about fitness goals that I’ve read is a piece by Erin Gloria Ryan on Jezebel called “A Call to Arms (And Abs, Quads, Calves, and Shoulders)”. Bookmark this and read it if you ever need some motivation or are feeling bad about your body. She writes, “Your body was made for so much more than being looked at, deprived of food, and enjoyed by others. Your body was made for kicking some ass.” I couldn’t agree more.
I can’t tell my spin instructor to stop supporting superficial fitness goals. That’s her prerogative. But I’ll never be happy about it.
Bonus: If you really want to see someone who looks good in a swimsuit, check out Jenny Thompson, one of my heros.
She has more Olympic medals than any other American female swimmer— TWELVE. Oh, and two of those were won while she was a 31-year-old medical student at Columbia. No big deal.
