What a great piece, Rachael! The opening paragraph had me hooked, and then your surprising insights and personal anecdotes pulled me through each section.
I had never thought about the connection between body awareness and body image. They are fundamentally different — one healthy and one potentially debilitating — but connected. You’ve made the impressive feat of bringing body awareness into the gym, strengthening your “mind-muscles” in the process.
Congrats on your first unassisted pull-up! I played sports my whole life and tennis in college. In the last couple years, without that structure and routine around exercise, I struggled to find something that worked for me, and I didn’t love the iron jungle of the gym. The last few months, I’ve been doing calisthenics (body-weight exercises), and that’s been a breakthrough. Instead of an indoor gym, I’ll go to an outdoor park. And instead of the reps feeling like labor, they feel like play.
LOVED this piece Rachael! Coming from collegiate sports, this really resonated with me. I think many of us, especially women, are so out of touch with our own bodies. It can be extremely devastating. But when you tap into that mind-muscle connection that you speak about, something changes. And you feel it not just in your workout, but in your everyday life. There are so many different ways to workout, but I agree with you - weight lifting cannot work without a mind-muscle connection, and perhaps that’s why it’s so life-changing! I love this for you and love this journey you’re on. Thank you so much for writing.
This post really spoke to me, Rachael. We NEED to break out of the beauty standards set by the male gaze. Our bodies do so much for us, and we should love it for that simple reason. We can always strive to improve your health, but we must fight the tendency to compare it with other people's bodies. We are all on our own journeys.
I feel like the "Gym Bro" culture really promotes this way of thinking. I wanted to point out this line that really captured the Gym Bro culture - "bulbous bros, fraternizing around the natural habitat of squat racks, grunting while hurling colossal dumbbells overhead.". Very well worded Rachael!
I'm not going to lie, you perfectly captured my fear of the gym here: "You know the type: bulbous bros, fraternizing around the natural habitat of squat racks, grunting while hurling colossal dumbbells overhead. It was an intimidating jungle." but reading about your journey makes me curious to learn more! You also do such a great job looking through the lens of the classic body image issues and finding the differences between how we are taught to treat our bodies versus the good that comes from wanting to be healthy and hit different types of goals. Great piece!
Wow this is good Rachel. I am passing it along, and simultaneously taking it in. In older age it gets harder to maintain the external shape once enjoyed in youth, and I've had hints of this very useful perspective - "I’ve learned how to stop talking at my body and start thinking with it." - and would like to embrace it further. This is all wonderful encouragement, and reminds me there is a community gym a few min walk from my front door.
Rachel, I felt so happy to read this piece! I started lifting seriously with a coach and using progressive overload (I had been dabbling for a few years) this January. I began with the goal to become physically strong and have found that it builds mental strength and mindset just as much as muscle. For me, having performance goals (still working on that unassisted pull up) has also shifted focus.
Congratulations on doing a pull up! I know you were an accomplished college athlete, but it’s interesting to read the understanding achieved by a thoughtful, sensitive person like you to their encounter later in life with strength training.
In addition to transitioning from “seeing” your body through someone else’s perspective (and I would suggest that other women and gay men are both much harsher, and more influential, evaluators of a woman’s physical appearance then straight men) to “feeling” (and being truly grateful for) your body, have you also experienced that sense of confidence and quiet optimism and openness that being physically strong confers?
What a great piece, Rachael! The opening paragraph had me hooked, and then your surprising insights and personal anecdotes pulled me through each section.
I had never thought about the connection between body awareness and body image. They are fundamentally different — one healthy and one potentially debilitating — but connected. You’ve made the impressive feat of bringing body awareness into the gym, strengthening your “mind-muscles” in the process.
Congrats on your first unassisted pull-up! I played sports my whole life and tennis in college. In the last couple years, without that structure and routine around exercise, I struggled to find something that worked for me, and I didn’t love the iron jungle of the gym. The last few months, I’ve been doing calisthenics (body-weight exercises), and that’s been a breakthrough. Instead of an indoor gym, I’ll go to an outdoor park. And instead of the reps feeling like labor, they feel like play.
LOVED this piece Rachael! Coming from collegiate sports, this really resonated with me. I think many of us, especially women, are so out of touch with our own bodies. It can be extremely devastating. But when you tap into that mind-muscle connection that you speak about, something changes. And you feel it not just in your workout, but in your everyday life. There are so many different ways to workout, but I agree with you - weight lifting cannot work without a mind-muscle connection, and perhaps that’s why it’s so life-changing! I love this for you and love this journey you’re on. Thank you so much for writing.
This post really spoke to me, Rachael. We NEED to break out of the beauty standards set by the male gaze. Our bodies do so much for us, and we should love it for that simple reason. We can always strive to improve your health, but we must fight the tendency to compare it with other people's bodies. We are all on our own journeys.
I feel like the "Gym Bro" culture really promotes this way of thinking. I wanted to point out this line that really captured the Gym Bro culture - "bulbous bros, fraternizing around the natural habitat of squat racks, grunting while hurling colossal dumbbells overhead.". Very well worded Rachael!
Your article reminded me of a piece by Haley Brengartner - https://insaneinthemembrane.substack.com/p/raised-by-mirrors. I think you'll enjoy it!
Beautiful essay, Rachael.
"I’ve built the mind muscles, the invisible virtues, that carry me forward in fitness and in life – ambition, resilience, and self-care."
I love this. I don't lift, but I salute you. It sounds very meditative!
also lol @ muscle mommy
I'm not going to lie, you perfectly captured my fear of the gym here: "You know the type: bulbous bros, fraternizing around the natural habitat of squat racks, grunting while hurling colossal dumbbells overhead. It was an intimidating jungle." but reading about your journey makes me curious to learn more! You also do such a great job looking through the lens of the classic body image issues and finding the differences between how we are taught to treat our bodies versus the good that comes from wanting to be healthy and hit different types of goals. Great piece!
Wow this is good Rachel. I am passing it along, and simultaneously taking it in. In older age it gets harder to maintain the external shape once enjoyed in youth, and I've had hints of this very useful perspective - "I’ve learned how to stop talking at my body and start thinking with it." - and would like to embrace it further. This is all wonderful encouragement, and reminds me there is a community gym a few min walk from my front door.
Rachel, I felt so happy to read this piece! I started lifting seriously with a coach and using progressive overload (I had been dabbling for a few years) this January. I began with the goal to become physically strong and have found that it builds mental strength and mindset just as much as muscle. For me, having performance goals (still working on that unassisted pull up) has also shifted focus.
Congratulations on doing a pull up! I know you were an accomplished college athlete, but it’s interesting to read the understanding achieved by a thoughtful, sensitive person like you to their encounter later in life with strength training.
In addition to transitioning from “seeing” your body through someone else’s perspective (and I would suggest that other women and gay men are both much harsher, and more influential, evaluators of a woman’s physical appearance then straight men) to “feeling” (and being truly grateful for) your body, have you also experienced that sense of confidence and quiet optimism and openness that being physically strong confers?