Girl Pushups are for GIRLS
Push Ups and Pull Ups are great and you gals can all learn to do them too!
Well, my response to these beloved sources of inspiration?
Screw it, No We Can't!
---Cranky Fitness
It’s the year 2008 and even Arnold Schwarzenegger says that human muscle is human muscle, whether you are a man or a woman, and it responds to one thing and one thing only…hard work.
Well shucks now that it’s the year 2008, women hitting it up with the dudes is almost common place with the advent of Crossfit and the addition of Women’s Wrestling in the Olympics. Now I see girls repping out pullups on Youtube who aren’t even super Romanian Weightlifters like the stereotype of the 90’s said they would have to be. Now we’re seeing more and more girls hop on men’s football teams in high school and movies are being made idolizing girls who hit it up with the boys.
This is a good thing right? Equality of the sexes. Finally! After so long as being viewed as “the weaker sex,” we can finally do anything a man can do AND have children. Hah! Just when you thought being a girl had its drawbacks.
So why are some girls complaining about how “the bar has been raised?” Now girls aren’t just doing pullups and pushups, they’re expected to do pullups and pushups. There’s no more “girl-pushups.” No more “modified-pullups.” That’s so last decade. If women want equality, well hop damn they’re going to have to work for it just like the men do. Guys have to work out at the age of 13 when their growth pallets are still forming just to be accepted by society, so what makes women think that we should be any different if we want the same treatment?
“Oh but we don’t want to have to work hard like the men do,” yeah we just want the preferential treatment no strings attached. This is why men hate girl’s on guys teams, they think they won’t want to do the same work they will, and hence they try to isolate us into our own environments. Every men’s sports team trains harder than the women’s sports team, even in college. I trained with the guys swim team and it was hell compared to the girls practice, I gained like an inch on my arms after one workout.
Here’s the deal, we all campaigned and complained for our civil rights for over a century and now that we’re getting them, let’s not screw it up. If you can’t do a pullup, don’t worry, just practice, start by hanging and doing negatives. But if you’re too fat to do a pullup, stop eating. If you’re too weak to do a pushup, hit the bench. The “oh I can’t do it because I’m a girl” excuse isn’t going to fly anymore. You wanted girl power, you got it.
Now earn it or shut the hell up. (And yes that’s me in the vid doing one arm pushups).
posted by Raven Calisterat 11:38 AM
3 Comments:
Our civil rights as women should depend on us "earning them" by doing pull ups and push ups?
Women who are too heavy to do them should "stop eating"?
I actually think women who can do pull ups are awesome, but I do think that arbitrary fitness goals can be used for Evil as well as Good. There are lots of heavy women out there who are on their way to better fitness who don't need to feel crappy about themselves.
And for those who take a quick look at this post and think I'm saying generally "girls can't do push-ups or pullups" might want to read the rest of the post and get the quote in context.
But, um... thanks for the link?
Nikki - love to have you here because you always stir the pot!!!
Your video is impressive - hell, I wish I could do that...but I'd rather work both my pecks and just do it with two...
I suppose if you are in a competitive sport situation and there are requirements, then that's all there is to it - and I agree that you just have to suck it up and go along with what is required - even if it now makes us more "on the same playing field" as the guys.
The deals I do have with your post, to kind of piggy-back off of Crabby, is that
1) I've seen your pics. You're young and lean like a tiger. This is a walk in the park for you. I dig what you're saying that we asked for "equality" and now we have to deal with certain things, but some of us don't have your physiology, and pull ups are a bitch. I've been lifting weights since I was 15 and I still can't do them. My body won't let me.
2) "If you're too weak to do a pushup, hit the bench." - I agree. I think all women need to lift weights because it will help when you get to be old bastards like us in our 30's and we realize we need healthy bones. However to say "If you're too fat to do a pull up, lose some weight." - I think that is a misinformed and fucked up statement. There have been times in my 20's when I was in top athletic condition, actually at the perfect if not underweight, and I STILL couldn't do a push-up. And I have the broad muscular shoulders to do a lot of upper body stuff.
To say "if you're fat, lose weight," in this context is...a bit harsh, I think. Crab is right - it's a slap in the face to all the chicks who actually are at a good weight (and I mean healthy weight with a healthy lifestyle) who couldn't do one - and who are told every day when they open a magazine that they are too fat - when their doctor says that if they lose any weight they will be too thin.
I appreciate your candor and the ability as a woman to chastise many women for thinking that equality should be handed to them on a silver platter if they bitch about what's on the platter. Your stories about rowing and fighting fires are always a delight. But I worry that you think more women are like whimpering whiners than there are. There are a lot of women who are tough as nails and they don't need to do a one-armed push-up to prove it.
The push-up, though, is really fucking impressive. I wish I could do that - just one, so I could say I did. LOL
xo
d
Hats off to you...I need to get my butt out hiking in the mountains.
That said, like Billy mentioned, you have to take us older folks into consideration...(I'm about 30 years older than you, and still try to stay in shape). If given the opportunity, I might try the girl pushup, mainly because of my other physical issues...not because I'm a chick.
CAD
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