Exercise “for Women” Is Bullshit
As a woman involved in sports, it’s strange for me to constantly come across recommendations about the best exercises “for women”. Lists are always full of weightless exercises like bird dogs and light weight exercises like overhead presses with cute tiny dumbbells. Meanwhile, when I’m exercising, I just… lift something? Maybe run or ride a bike? Am I doing femininity wrong? I mean maybe, but that’s another story.
Men, women and people of all genders have access to the same set of exercises and fitness techniques. Imagine the girliest girl and the hottest dude. Both can make a bird dog. Both can lift the bar. They may have different backgrounds or comfort levels; in our example, a woman is more likely than a man to see a barbell for the first time. But exercises that will benefit every person are equal.
After seeing my latest article on the best exercises for women, I decided to google “the best exercises for men”. Here’s what the internet tells me what men should do:
- Deadlift
- Squats
- Bench press
- Bicep Curl
- Pull-ups
- Push ups
- Farmer’s walks
- swing weights
And here are some of the common items on the lists of the best exercises for women:
- Boards
- jumping nest
- Squats (shown without additional weight)
- Gets up off his knees
- Push-ups (the only thing consistently on both lists)
- Clamshells
- Deadlift on one leg (with small dumbbells)
- Glute bridges
- HIIT intervals
From the very beginning, women are cheated. The men’s list is a workout; the women’s list is what I do to warm up.
In almost every list of “female” exercises I’ve found, the movements are performed with no weight or with the smallest dumbbells. I was initially excited when I found a list that included what they called “military presses” but my face dropped when I saw their video demonstration of a woman repeatedly raising her arms above her head without any weight in them . What then is she pushing?
Weight bearing is important
Not only do I complain that heavy weights are fun, but I prefer them. Honestly, if you enjoy gymnastics, you can build a ton of strength, muscle, stability, and health this way. You can work on pull-ups, push-ups, pistol squats, handstands, and more. But this is not what we see in the list of “female” exercises. We see things that are drastically underused .
For a beginner, this is normal. If you’re not ready to work with weights yet, you can learn the empty-hand military press movement and then try it out with dumbbells before moving on to the barbell. But this is not a women’s workout, it’s a beginner ‘s workout. The lists for men don’t do that – they just show you the movement with weights and give you some tips on how to start doing it with lighter weights if you need to.
There’s a difference between doing entry-level stuff with the understanding that you’ll be moving on soon, and doing entry-level stuff with the understanding that it’s something that’s good for you forever. Even Jane Fonda did a better job , initially recommending 3-pound weights, but then immediately telling you that after you’ve been working with the tape for a while, you’ll need 10-pound weights. After all, strength requires appropriate complex exercises .
Moreover, strength is important for health . If you train for strength all your life, you will enter old age with much more muscle mass, making it more likely that you will be able to continue doing more things for yourself as you get older. Assigning absurd jobs to women and recommending weight training to men is again a pay gap, but with muscles instead of money.