This is what is wrong with the fitness industry

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  • ElliottTN
    ElliottTN Posts: 1,614 Member
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    bah, nevermind
  • pavrg
    pavrg Posts: 277 Member
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    Am I reading this wrong, or do those pink plates have only 20lbs printed on them?

    They are called 'bumper plates.' They are used for overhead type power lifts as shown so that you pick them up from the same spot as a bar with a full 45 lb plate and put them down without damaging the floor or the weights. Also useful for doing deadlifts or snatches.

    They make them in all sorts of different colors so you can easily tell the difference between them. My gym has blue, green, red and black ones.
  • just_Jennie1
    just_Jennie1 Posts: 1,233
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    If a woman is more likely to use a pink one because it matches her nail polish, I have no problem with that. If an out of shape woman sees a skinny woman on the kettlebell box and wants to be more like the skinny woman, I'm ok with that as well.

    Are we trying to kid ourselves into thinking these things don't matter to most woman? The fitness industry is trying to sell products - when women start painting their nails "dumbbell gray" instead of pink and start buying magazines with muscled woman on the cover instead of anorexics, I'm sure the advertisers will respond accordingly.

    I don't wear nail polish so pink weights wouldn't match anything. :flowerforyou:

    I just like the color pink not because I want to match my nail polish and pearly lipstick to everything but because it's my favorite color.
  • The_Enginerd
    The_Enginerd Posts: 3,982 Member
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    IDk.

    If they made an entire line of pink kettle balls that went heavy (and I was into kettle balls) I'd probably buy them because I like the color pink.

    I agree I like pink...I would buy pink plates for lifting, I want pink gloves with orange lacy bits and pink and orange shoes...

    so what it's pink.

    ETA I don't want to live in a gender neutral society ...I am not a feminist either, I am just a woman who likes pink, I like purple and blue too..and when I had my son...he never wore pink as a baby..if he wants to now fine...he preferred trucks to dolls didn't have much to do with me.
    Like so?

    tumblr_m6a9nkpMTI1qfg4g6o1_500.jpg

    Am I reading this wrong, or do those pink plates have only 20lbs printed on them?
    20 kg, standard 45 lb plates.
  • IPAkiller
    IPAkiller Posts: 711 Member
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    It cracks me up when people blame certain industries, manufacturers and marketing/advertising for the availability or lack of availability of certain products. Pissed off that there aren't enough pink weights that are above 10lbs? Then start getting large numbers of women in the gym who lift some serious weight. There is no conspiracy to "hold women back" in the fitness industry. There aren't manufactures out there saying "what can we make that people don't want?". Advertising teams aren't saying, "Hmmm, let's create an ad that will humiliate and infuriate our target market.". It's simple, the majority of women out there are buying the lightweight cutesy pink crap, gimmick gear and apparel that is wrapped in a packaging that displays some unrealistic woman having an absolute blast with her pink 2lb kettle bell, matching sport bra in some swanky home gym. If it bothers you, there are two options. One, start your own company producing what YOU think the people want, packaging it with YOU on the box working your buns off and advertise with YOUR own commercial. Hey, maybe you’ll make a million, maybe you’ll go bankrupt in a week. Option two is start slapping the fools who buy this crap and educate them. </rant>
  • feltlikesound
    feltlikesound Posts: 326 Member
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    IDk.

    If they made an entire line of pink kettle balls that went heavy (and I was into kettle balls) I'd probably buy them because I like the color pink.

    I have a pink vinyl-dipped kettlebell (25), and am also a pink addict. I don't buy ridiculous impractical things, but if I have the choice of pink for something I would buy anyway? YES YES YES.
  • DrMAvDPhD
    DrMAvDPhD Posts: 2,097 Member
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    Option two is start slapping the fools who buy this crap and educate them. </rant>

    I'm just gonna stick with this option. Less hassle. Step 1: Post pictures of the ridiculousness on the internet and start a discussion about it.... :wink:
  • DrMAvDPhD
    DrMAvDPhD Posts: 2,097 Member
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    I have a pink vinyl-dipped kettlebell (25), and am also a pink addict. I don't buy ridiculous impractical things, but if I have the choice of pink for something I would buy anyway? YES YES YES.

    I play on a coed hockey team. I'm the one with the pink laces in my skates lol.
  • thatonegirlwiththestuff
    thatonegirlwiththestuff Posts: 1,171 Member
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    The material each kettle ball is constructed of may be another attractive feature for women. The ''man'' kettleball is metal, while the ''female'' kettleball has a rubber handle. For the sake of avoiding callouses, I'd go with the pink one.
    The model to me seems fine. Muscle mass is NOT indicative of someone's abilities to lift weights. I have a slender build, but I'm strong as sh^t.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
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    IDk.

    If they made an entire line of pink kettle balls that went heavy (and I was into kettle balls) I'd probably buy them because I like the color pink.

    I have a pink vinyl-dipped kettlebell (25), and am also a pink addict. I don't buy ridiculous impractical things, but if I have the choice of pink for something I would buy anyway? YES YES YES.
    I have a green one that size. I WISH it was pink.
  • michelle32720
    michelle32720 Posts: 10 Member
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    The problem the OP is trying to point out is that the fitness industry is forever telling women that if you lift anything "too heavy" you'll get "bulky" and "look like a man" and we all know that it isn't true. If you have ever looked inside a women's fitness magazine, you get pictures of fitness models holding tiny pink 2 lb dumbbells accompanying articles about how to get "toned" without "getting bulky".

    i guess you can blame the articles for influencing the consumers, but they are only going to put out the products that sell.

    But, if its really the case that magazines are pushing that sort of workout (haven't picked one up since highschool) then they are not very good sources of information.

    I guess you can say the industry is evil, but the truth is they are only as evil as people are stupid

    Not disagreeing with you at all. Just pointing out what my take on OP's beef was. I agree that if there is going to be a change, it needs to be driven by the women who are financially supporting the industry. And those women's fitness magazines make my brain hurt with all the broscience and spot-reduction misinformation.
  • NRSPAM
    NRSPAM Posts: 961 Member
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    IDk.

    If they made an entire line of pink kettle balls that went heavy (and I was into kettle balls) I'd probably buy them because I like the color pink.

    I agree I like pink...I would buy pink plates for lifting, I want pink gloves with orange lacy bits and pink and orange shoes...

    so what it's pink.

    ETA I don't want to live in a gender neutral society ...I am not a feminist either, I am just a woman who likes pink, I like purple and blue too..and when I had my son...he never wore pink as a baby..if he wants to now fine...he preferred trucks to dolls didn't have much to do with me.
    Like so?

    tumblr_m6a9nkpMTI1qfg4g6o1_500.jpg

    OMG!!! LOVE THIS!!!! I want!!! :D
  • IPAkiller
    IPAkiller Posts: 711 Member
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    Option two is start slapping the fools who buy this crap and educate them. </rant>

    I'm just gonna stick with this option. Less hassle. Step 1: Post pictures of the ridiculousness on the internet and start a discussion about it.... :wink:
    pimp-hand-strong.gif
  • RllyGudTweetr
    RllyGudTweetr Posts: 2,019 Member
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    So the problem with the fitness industry is that part of their marketing strategy is based on marketing to different genders. Got it.
  • MrsG31
    MrsG31 Posts: 364 Member
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    As for the kiddie ads, check out GoldieBlox.com! I wish they had those when I was a child, so much more fun than a Barbie doll!

    Just looked up the Goldieblox stuff...ummm, awesome!!! Why did I not know about this last month? I would have got one of those sets and a t-shirt for Christmas instead of some of the other CRAP we ended up with!
  • in_the_stars
    in_the_stars Posts: 1,395 Member
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    Yes, on average women are a bit weaker but not THAT much...
    Men's raw bench press world record: 710 pounds
    Women's raw bench press world record: 430 pounds
    So...yes...men are in fact that much stronger.
    Not to mention the need to factor weight into those kinds of numbers...
    Factoring out weight is only a legitimate data manipulation if men and women average out to similar weights/sizes.

    Which they don't.

    So it's not a legitimate numeric manipulation.
    However, if we are comparing untrained males to untrained females in exercises that aren't challenging the absolute limit that an individual can lift, I would have to seriously doubt that the strongest female novice is weaker than the weakest male novice.
    A typical male novice can do "a few" pushups. A typical female novice can do none.

    Typical male is much stronger than a typical female, not just at the extremes, but at all levels of equivalent fitness.

    All this aside, I'm still baffled by a thread *****ing about the fitness industry trying sell weightlifting equipment to women. Somehow I had the strange idea that was actually a *good* thing...silly me...

    It IS a good thing.
  • CallMeCupcakeDammit
    CallMeCupcakeDammit Posts: 9,377 Member
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    The fitness industry has long known that females will spend more money than males on personal self improvement. This is actually how the word "TONED" came about. Rather than saying "weight lifting" (which was associated with building huge muscles with males) "toning" sounded much softer and more feminine and didn't reek of muscularity. This help to create many "toning" programs out there catering to females and yes it's made the fitness industry BILLIONS.
    Unfortunately lots of females out there are under the impression that female muscles can grow at the same rate as male muscles and that's why there is so much confusion on how to train. Good thing is that sites like this help to dispell the myths of muscle gain (especially on a calorie deficit) and how hard it actually is to put on pounds of muscle with moderate training.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    When I met with the trainer at my gym last week, he wanted to know what I had done previously. After I explained what NROLFW was, he said he didn't know women were supposed to train differently from men. I like that guy! He never used the word "tone", either.
  • lmhbuss
    lmhbuss Posts: 282 Member
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    IDk.

    If they made an entire line of pink kettle balls that went heavy (and I was into kettle balls) I'd probably buy them because I like the color pink.

    I agree I like pink...I would buy pink plates for lifting, I want pink gloves with orange lacy bits and pink and orange shoes...

    so what it's pink.

    ETA I don't want to live in a gender neutral society ...I am not a feminist either, I am just a woman who likes pink, I like purple and blue too..and when I had my son...he never wore pink as a baby..if he wants to now fine...he preferred trucks to dolls didn't have much to do with me.
    Feminists don't have anything against pink as a general rule, nor do they want a gender neutral society. :happy: They want a society where people are free to be as they choose and marketers don't shove the idea down my daughters throat that in order to be ok, she has to be pretty and sweet and soft and want to dress like a princess...or force a boy to feel that unless he's built like the hulk and squashes his feelings he's not manly. It's cool that your son digs toy cars and trucks, it just so happens that my daughter does too. As a feminist, I'm totally cool with that. I'm also totally cool with it if he decided he wanted an easy bake oven and to decorate cakes like the guy on "Cake Boss." Or maybe he could do both? No skin off my nose either way. My daughter likes trucks, and tools and blocks...and her miniature kitchen apron and oven mitts. So, no worries. While you are not a feminist, it doesn't sound like you and I are actually all that different in our views towards gender and child rearing.
    ( I hope this didn't sound like I was attacking you. My intent was more to defend feminism and point out that the average feminists agenda really isn't terribly radical.)
  • jstout365
    jstout365 Posts: 1,686 Member
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    I am taking a co-ed boxing class and got these:

    everlast-pro-style-pinktraining-boxing-gloves.jpg

    I want the guys to think I'm just a soft girl before I smack them in the head with a hook.
  • DebbieLyn63
    DebbieLyn63 Posts: 2,650 Member
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    Am I reading this wrong, or do those pink plates have only 20lbs printed on them?

    They are called 'bumper plates.' They are used for overhead type power lifts as shown so that you pick them up from the same spot as a bar with a full 45 lb plate and put them down without damaging the floor or the weights. Also useful for doing deadlifts or snatches.

    They make them in all sorts of different colors so you can easily tell the difference between them. My gym has blue, green, red and black ones.

    Ah, ok, thanks. It has been 20 yrs since I have been in a gym. They didn't have those back then. Thought maybe they were 20kg, as they looked the same size as 45s.

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