At our gym, we celebrate strength and fitness; it's right there in our motto. Even though we are a women's strength training gym, the impact of our society's expectations of women is never completely absent. Some of us might struggle with the idea that exercise is meant to help us lose weight, be smaller, or achieve some level of desirability from others.
What if we forgot about our appearance, and focused on what our bodies can DO for us? This is the central idea of body neutrality: attempting to come to a mindset that neither praises nor denigrates our body's appearance. We can simply accept our body for what it is. Is it beautiful? Maybe. Is it ugly? Maybe. Is all of that completely subjective?
Absolutely yes.
Can we reject those ideas and focus on what our body can do for us?
This is a shift from the body positivity movement, which is indeed a good thing; that movement embraces all body types as beautiful. Fine. Great. Love it.
But what if we also just simply accepted our bodies as they are? We don't have to be positive or negative about our body's appearance. We can just be neutral about its appearance. We could focus on the fact that our bodies can:
get to the floor and back up
carry all the groceries in one go
move furniture
give great hugs
birth children
not birth children
experience pleasure
endure pain
heal
run
breathe
We hope you consider what your body can do for you, and what service it can bring to you and others. Along with that, please know how grateful we are for you, and that we are honored to have the opportunity to serve you by helping your body be as strong as possible.
