I am annoyed with the anti-lady-muscle posts.

I said it once, so I'll say it again. This is my call to arms "I want YOU to up your game"

I your outfit! :happy:

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My boyfriend commented on my back muscles while we were busy in bed. While I'm proud in other situations, that one was a bit of a mood killer.

see, that's your problem right there - you should have been on top. that way he'd have something different to comment about. No need to thank me for the advice

What if you are on top and backwards?

prrrrrrrrrfect!

So by your rational if I said your fat makes you look like an elephant that would be ok? Its not your face that makes you look like one, but your fat that does it. So it must be ok right?

And this is why saying "Oh it's just my opinion!" is not a shield from criticism. I'm sure you ladies hate hearing what was said above, you should. But now you know how it feels when you call girls who lift "men" (or manly or masculine or however you're trying to mask it).

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"Women are meant to be soft!"

This one annoys me the most. Why can't we redefine what women are "meant" to look like? Why do we have to appear weak? We can go to college now, have jobs, pay bills, but we can't be strong? We can't open our own jars of pickles, or pick up 50lb 6 year olds, swing 20lb sledge hammers as a seismic source, load full coolers into trucks, or fill out the *kitten* in a pair of work trousers?

I have no clue why, but even after months of lifting I can not open a jar... What lifts can I do to be able to independently open a damn jar? Lol I feel ridiculous because half the time I closed it and I still can't open it!

You'll have to get those rock climber finger/hand trainer things... :P

Or knock a dent into the cap with the dull side of a knife to break the air tight seal. Then you can open it right up. Did that when I had no muscles and no strength all the time. Things are much better now, but I can still open a jar of pickles. One of my strongest assets. :happy:

I also find that if I take that thing that pops a hole in the top of the can (I don't know what it's called, LOL, but it usually also has a bottle opener on the other end) and nudge it under the rim of the lid in a couple of places where it pulls away from the jar a tiny bit, that gives some air inside to allow you to open it.

THIS...is the same mentality I try to instill in the guys that work for me...

Work SMART, not HARD!!

At the gym on the other hand...yeah =D.

Yeah, I told my husband I was upping my weight in my Body Pump class. He said just make sure you don't look like a dude whe you come home. Thanks for the support, darling! JERK!

Aww hun, he wasn't being unsupportive lol, most people...even most men, believe if a woman is lifting heavy, they'll look like a guy in no time.

Stupid, and inaccurate stereotype.

show previous quotes

"Women are meant to be soft!"

This one annoys me the most. Why can't we redefine what women are "meant" to look like? Why do we have to appear weak? We can go to college now, have jobs, pay bills, but we can't be strong? We can't open our own jars of pickles, or pick up 50lb 6 year olds, swing 20lb sledge hammers as a seismic source, load full coolers into trucks, or fill out the *kitten* in a pair of work trousers?

Mmmmm pickles.

I agree that women aren't meant to be anything. Women are meant to be whatever the hell they want to be. But I think it's ok for people to want different things. I think everyone needs to define it for themselves. And fine to say, "not what I'm going for" but I think both sides are guilty of telling others their way is better/right.

Confession: I can dead lift my body weight. Bench press 100 pounds. It's still pretty hard to open the damn pickles.

Confession: I can't dead lift anything and have a hard time swimming a mile, but my husband still hands me jars to open when he can't get them, LOL.

I was just going to say something similar to this minus the husband. But I'm a pianist so I have strong hands.

I have no clue why, but even after months of lifting I can not open a jar... What lifts can I do to be able to independently open a damn jar? Lol I feel ridiculous because half the time I closed it and I still can't open it!

Bet you have small hands. Opening jars has as much to do with how well you can gtrip the lid as anything else. I can open small jars, but I have pretty small hands, and I cannot for the life of me open a larger jar of pickles!

show previous quotes

"Women are meant to be soft!"

This one annoys me the most. Why can't we redefine what women are "meant" to look like? Why do we have to appear weak? We can go to college now, have jobs, pay bills, but we can't be strong? We can't open our own jars of pickles, or pick up 50lb 6 year olds, swing 20lb sledge hammers as a seismic source, load full coolers into trucks, or fill out the *kitten* in a pair of work trousers?

I have no clue why, but even after months of lifting I can not open a jar... What lifts can I do to be able to independently open a damn jar? Lol I feel ridiculous because half the time I closed it and I still can't open it!

You'll have to get those rock climber finger/hand trainer things... :P

Or knock a dent into the cap with the dull side of a knife to break the air tight seal. Then you can open it right up. Did that when I had no muscles and no strength all the time. Things are much better now, but I can still open a jar of pickles. One of my strongest assets. :happy:

I also find that if I take that thing that pops a hole in the top of the can (I don't know what it's called, LOL, but it usually also has a bottle opener on the other end) and nudge it under the rim of the lid in a couple of places where it pulls away from the jar a tiny bit, that gives some air inside to allow you to open it.

THIS...is the same mentality I try to instill in the guys that work for me...

Work SMART, not HARD!!

At the gym on the other hand...yeah =D.

C'mon guys...didn't your grandmas teach ya how to use a spoon to beat the sides of the lid and then just like that it pops open!

I'm at work so I can't spend much time on this apparently controversial thread started by a woman asking that you stop bashing other women, but I want to tell you all that more than the anti-fat and anti-skinny posts that you see here and are also objectionable, the anti-strong woman post has an added thread of misogyny.

In cultures around the world, thin women may be valued, or fat women may be valued. Similarly tan or not tan may be valued. It is generally a matter of what can be obtained by upper class people who don't have to work (so much for a living) (ie the antebellum southern woman went through great effort to avoid skin exposure while the current day southern woman may well spend hours in a tanning bed).

What doesn't happen in misogynist cultures is for women who are strong to be valued. So when you spout that crap here, you are continuing a hateful system. Stop it.

Plus, outside of the quite obvious hotness benefits of lifting for women, the health benefits are too many to be enumerated, and more so and differently than for cardio only. So knock it off with the hate just for the promotion of women's health reasons.

show previous quotes

"Women are meant to be soft!"

This one annoys me the most. Why can't we redefine what women are "meant" to look like? Why do we have to appear weak? We can go to college now, have jobs, pay bills, but we can't be strong? We can't open our own jars of pickles, or pick up 50lb 6 year olds, swing 20lb sledge hammers as a seismic source, load full coolers into trucks, or fill out the *kitten* in a pair of work trousers?

I have no clue why, but even after months of lifting I can not open a jar... What lifts can I do to be able to independently open a damn jar? Lol I feel ridiculous because half the time I closed it and I still can't open it!

You'll have to get those rock climber finger/hand trainer things... :P

Or knock a dent into the cap with the dull side of a knife to break the air tight seal. Then you can open it right up. Did that when I had no muscles and no strength all the time. Things are much better now, but I can still open a jar of pickles. One of my strongest assets. :happy:

I also find that if I take that thing that pops a hole in the top of the can (I don't know what it's called, LOL, but it usually also has a bottle opener on the other end) and nudge it under the rim of the lid in a couple of places where it pulls away from the jar a tiny bit, that gives some air inside to allow you to open it.

THIS...is the same mentality I try to instill in the guys that work for me...

Work SMART, not HARD!!

At the gym on the other hand...yeah =D.

C'mon guys...didn't your grandmas teach ya how to use a spoon to beat the sides of the lid and then just like that it pops open!

Exactly!!

Spoon, butter knife, juice can opener...you don't just have to muscle it off lol.

But women seem to love it when we do...go figure =p.

C'mon guys...didn't your grandmas teach ya how to use a spoon to beat the sides of the lid and then just like that it pops open!

I always slam it into the counter once or twice, knocks it lose. This, even after I had my recent wrist surgery. :bigsmile:

show previous quotes

Yeah, I told my husband I was upping my weight in my Body Pump class. He said just make sure you don't look like a dude whe you come home. Thanks for the support, darling! JERK!

Aww hun, he wasn't being unsupportive lol, most people...even most men, believe if a woman is lifting heavy, they'll look like a guy in no time.

Stupid, and inaccurate stereotype.

My husband used to think that way, but since I've been working out for so long and he can see with his own eyes that I've gotten smaller (and leaner) NOT bigger (and bulkier) he has a lot more appreciation for all the hard work I put into my body. I think he's even beginning to find my little muscles attractive! Lol

And well he should...I damn well would =p.

I'm at work so I can't spend much time on this apparently controversial thread started by a woman asking that you stop bashing other women, but I want to tell you all that more than the anti-fat and anti-skinny posts that you see here and are also objectionable, the anti-strong woman post has an added thread of misogyny.

In cultures around the world, thin women may be valued, or fat women may be valued. Similarly tan or not tan may be valued. It is generally a matter of what can be obtained by upper class people who don't have to work (so much for a living) (ie the antebellum southern woman went through great effort to avoid skin exposure while the current day southern woman may well spend hours in a tanning bed).

What doesn't happen in misogynist cultures is for women who are strong to be valued. So when you spout that crap here, you are continuing a hateful system. Stop it.

Plus, outside of the quite obvious hotness benefits of lifting for women, the health benefits are too many to be enumerated, and more so and differently than for cardio only. So knock it off with the hate just for the promotion of women's health reasons.

I am so proud to have women like this on my friends list. Women who are not just strong physically, but internally as well. Women who lift not because they worry about what the boys are going to say about them, but because they love the way they look and feel about themselves.

Strong women. Nothing hotter.