I'm tickled that you included a link to Twiggy photos. I clearly remember the body shape since that was my idol and what I wanted for myself. And I love looking at the clothes again. But I had totally forgotten the makeup. What a trip!
After four years of going to the gym every week, I'm in better shape, have more stamina and am much stronger than I've ever been. Am I jacked? Nope. I will be the little old lady who unexpectedly punches the bad guy in the nose so the sweet young wraith of a girl can get away. If I'm so lucky.
Jaysus. There is no healthy practice that can't be perverted and extreme-ified to drive home to women that whatever they are, they're not good enough. I will keep up my fitness practice forever, one way or another, as long as I'm alive. But as you point out, extremes kill people. If only we had longer cultural memories.
🔥YES. Your voice slices through the noise with the clarity of someone who has lived it, not just posted about it. Thank you for naming how trends—no matter how “empowered” they appear—so often end up being repackaged demands on women’s bodies.
We’ve gone from heroin chic to body positivity to “strong is the new skinny”—but the pressure is the same: shrink, sculpt, control. The form changes, but the fixation remains. Your take is a necessary reality check in a culture that keeps policing women’s bodies under the guise of “health.”
This line hit me hard: “You cannot win.” That’s the ache so many of us carry, and you’ve named it with power and care.
You’ve earned every word of this perspective. The longevity of your relationship to your body, the gym, and your own strength radiates through the page. I’ll be coming back for those links—this one deserves a slow read and a long sit.
Grateful for your fire and wisdom. "Extremes kill..." Sad to see so many that take it too far—the push grind. "Once famous, all bets are off."
Bravo! I am fit and strong and lift things to keep my bones strong. But this? Unfortunately it is not just women doing this. My grandsons have bought into it and though they look jacked i have more stamina doing farm work then they do.
that is the difference between looking strong and functional fitness. I know a hella lotta people who look fat and they can move mountains. Visual standards often tell us nothing about actual strength. The boys have bought in across the board, Barb, and it's a sad sales pitch.
Excellent article, thank you! I’ve gone back to weight training at 70 to strengthen my bones and I’m enjoying the flexibility that I’m gaining too. Swole, ha! I’m happy just to see the batwings tightening up!
Thanks, Julia. I’m an all-rounder, not a gym rat - which means the weight work really pinpoints where I have weaknesses to address. I don’t think my shoulder deformities will ever allow me to do full pushups, and I don’t care - as long as I can push, pull, lift and carry everything necessary. Right now I’m going to get a PT assessment on my L shoulder, because it’s my FISHING shoulder! lol
There's a new book out by an influencer who's been doing this for all of three years. Suddenly she's an expert.....chances are you've been doing it a good bit longer, and when you come from coaching (I've been a trainer too), you can see from the get-go what's attainable and what's not. While that might in part be driven by how driven they are, their body type, size, age, height all go into what someone's going to ultimately be able to do. To your point. I appreciate it when someone speaks truth- here's what you are guaranteed to get: stronger, more body agency, more confidence. and depending on how you eat and the rest, better health outcomes. You will not end up looking like a fitness model, whose entire world is fitness. It's lovely to have aspirational examples, but that, as you well know, backfires so often. My fave story around that was a dear friend of sixty, HUGE waistline, decided to do a program from the Eighties promising terrific results. He's sixty, right, and he gets a photo of some 25-yo professional bodybuilder and shows everyone with the statement that this is what he's going to look like in three months. Okay sure, Sparky. He did indeed lose fifty pounds which is no small thing. But he would never ever look like that guy, gave up and ended up gaining it all back and then some. That story broke my heart. An average woman can do wonders. And she is able to transform so many of her options. But in our world of shrink-wrapped, airbrushed, AI perfection, they wanna be THAT. After fifty-two years of punching weights, SD, and I don't mind admitting it, it frustrates me when we simply can't be grateful for the incredible gains that lifting does indeed give us, and forever want something that was never, ever available. Thanks SD.
Thank you for writing this. I'm a former powerlifter who fucked up my body taking it to extremes and this was *before* influencer culture. Getting strong changed my life and it makes me sick thinking of that ability being twisted into more reasons for us to never be enough.
Rachel McLish was my role model in mid 80s gym work. She's age 70 now. I learned gow to lift out of books with the occasional nice guy at the gym who corrected my form.
I think that’s semantics, but I would certainly agree. If we have pretty bodies and they can only pose, honestly what’s the point? One time I was doing the steps at Red Rocks in Denver. I was going down behind this behemoth body builder whose calves were so big that they caused him to stumble every time he tried to take a step. It was ridiculous, and very sad. Great on stage. But the guy could barely walk. Not a life.
That *is* sad. I started weight training (with a private trainer) after spinal stenosis surgery three years ago. I had lost all ‘normal’ muscle tone and felt like a sack, albeit a sack that could walk again. My body has changed more than I thought it could; I get a lot of compliments, but I just like being strong. I turn 60 in a couple months and my training regime is here to stay: not for my figure, but so I can stay in motion and have a life.
All true. As a chubby girl, heading into my fat early teenage years, Twiggy was my ideal. I could not see the ill-health, so obvious now.
By the end of highschool, I lost 50 pounds, then ran into back problems at 20. I was lucky enough to have free access to a good pool and began swimming. I could barely make it to one end of the pool. I doubt I would have kept it up, but it was the one place I got relief from the constant pain.
Eventually I began running, and 25 years ago I joined a gym. Exercise has always soothed my brain, thereby soothing the pain. I shortly will turn 71, work as a deckhand on ferry boats, and am in the best shape of my life. Exercise and strength are the key!
Whenever I see somebody who's "jacked", I know that I, with my skinny frame, am going to be faster, more agile, and have greater endurance. Bodybuilding is a cosmetic activity that has little or nothing to do with fitness or athleticism.
I learned to lift 21 years ago when I was 40 and never stopped. Hope I never have to. I love being capable and being able to rely on my body not to get hurt doing yard work, etc.
Why do you compelled to put a photo of a half naked woman to attract attention to your post? Can’t you find something less let’s say intellectual or anything not so undignified to a woman? Try harder….. There have been so many Substack post from women that are soft porn to draw attention to their posts.
I'm tickled that you included a link to Twiggy photos. I clearly remember the body shape since that was my idol and what I wanted for myself. And I love looking at the clothes again. But I had totally forgotten the makeup. What a trip!
After four years of going to the gym every week, I'm in better shape, have more stamina and am much stronger than I've ever been. Am I jacked? Nope. I will be the little old lady who unexpectedly punches the bad guy in the nose so the sweet young wraith of a girl can get away. If I'm so lucky.
I forgot the makeup too.
there's a story I left out of this article about that very thing.....
Jaysus. There is no healthy practice that can't be perverted and extreme-ified to drive home to women that whatever they are, they're not good enough. I will keep up my fitness practice forever, one way or another, as long as I'm alive. But as you point out, extremes kill people. If only we had longer cultural memories.
Hi Julia,
🔥YES. Your voice slices through the noise with the clarity of someone who has lived it, not just posted about it. Thank you for naming how trends—no matter how “empowered” they appear—so often end up being repackaged demands on women’s bodies.
We’ve gone from heroin chic to body positivity to “strong is the new skinny”—but the pressure is the same: shrink, sculpt, control. The form changes, but the fixation remains. Your take is a necessary reality check in a culture that keeps policing women’s bodies under the guise of “health.”
This line hit me hard: “You cannot win.” That’s the ache so many of us carry, and you’ve named it with power and care.
You’ve earned every word of this perspective. The longevity of your relationship to your body, the gym, and your own strength radiates through the page. I’ll be coming back for those links—this one deserves a slow read and a long sit.
Grateful for your fire and wisdom. "Extremes kill..." Sad to see so many that take it too far—the push grind. "Once famous, all bets are off."
I'm a fan of yours.
🖤💪
Prajna
Spot on Prajna. We are always being policed, now more than ever.
Bravo! I am fit and strong and lift things to keep my bones strong. But this? Unfortunately it is not just women doing this. My grandsons have bought into it and though they look jacked i have more stamina doing farm work then they do.
that is the difference between looking strong and functional fitness. I know a hella lotta people who look fat and they can move mountains. Visual standards often tell us nothing about actual strength. The boys have bought in across the board, Barb, and it's a sad sales pitch.
Excellent article, thank you! I’ve gone back to weight training at 70 to strengthen my bones and I’m enjoying the flexibility that I’m gaining too. Swole, ha! I’m happy just to see the batwings tightening up!
Honestly, if we knew how much more clothing we would wear for just that reason alone...Thank you!
Thanks, Julia. I’m an all-rounder, not a gym rat - which means the weight work really pinpoints where I have weaknesses to address. I don’t think my shoulder deformities will ever allow me to do full pushups, and I don’t care - as long as I can push, pull, lift and carry everything necessary. Right now I’m going to get a PT assessment on my L shoulder, because it’s my FISHING shoulder! lol
Yeah us. My right shoulder is barking at me right now because of bursitis, but dammit, working out anyway!
Some lady cop just died during cosmetic surgery to make her butt bigger!
I think the point is that it's unattainable for your average women - how otherwise would they sell product?
And I say that as a woman who's been lifting for longer than I care to admit and makes a living from making other women strong.
There's a new book out by an influencer who's been doing this for all of three years. Suddenly she's an expert.....chances are you've been doing it a good bit longer, and when you come from coaching (I've been a trainer too), you can see from the get-go what's attainable and what's not. While that might in part be driven by how driven they are, their body type, size, age, height all go into what someone's going to ultimately be able to do. To your point. I appreciate it when someone speaks truth- here's what you are guaranteed to get: stronger, more body agency, more confidence. and depending on how you eat and the rest, better health outcomes. You will not end up looking like a fitness model, whose entire world is fitness. It's lovely to have aspirational examples, but that, as you well know, backfires so often. My fave story around that was a dear friend of sixty, HUGE waistline, decided to do a program from the Eighties promising terrific results. He's sixty, right, and he gets a photo of some 25-yo professional bodybuilder and shows everyone with the statement that this is what he's going to look like in three months. Okay sure, Sparky. He did indeed lose fifty pounds which is no small thing. But he would never ever look like that guy, gave up and ended up gaining it all back and then some. That story broke my heart. An average woman can do wonders. And she is able to transform so many of her options. But in our world of shrink-wrapped, airbrushed, AI perfection, they wanna be THAT. After fifty-two years of punching weights, SD, and I don't mind admitting it, it frustrates me when we simply can't be grateful for the incredible gains that lifting does indeed give us, and forever want something that was never, ever available. Thanks SD.
Thank you for writing this. I'm a former powerlifter who fucked up my body taking it to extremes and this was *before* influencer culture. Getting strong changed my life and it makes me sick thinking of that ability being twisted into more reasons for us to never be enough.
thanks Dana. I was a compulsive exerciser, too, and nearly went down that path although never with drugs. The things we do to ourselves....
Rachel McLish was my role model in mid 80s gym work. She's age 70 now. I learned gow to lift out of books with the occasional nice guy at the gym who corrected my form.
She was a hero of mine as well. I appreciated that she was both cut and feminine, while at the same time very strong.
Functional fitness is not a lifestyle, it‘s a life.
I think that’s semantics, but I would certainly agree. If we have pretty bodies and they can only pose, honestly what’s the point? One time I was doing the steps at Red Rocks in Denver. I was going down behind this behemoth body builder whose calves were so big that they caused him to stumble every time he tried to take a step. It was ridiculous, and very sad. Great on stage. But the guy could barely walk. Not a life.
That *is* sad. I started weight training (with a private trainer) after spinal stenosis surgery three years ago. I had lost all ‘normal’ muscle tone and felt like a sack, albeit a sack that could walk again. My body has changed more than I thought it could; I get a lot of compliments, but I just like being strong. I turn 60 in a couple months and my training regime is here to stay: not for my figure, but so I can stay in motion and have a life.
All true. As a chubby girl, heading into my fat early teenage years, Twiggy was my ideal. I could not see the ill-health, so obvious now.
By the end of highschool, I lost 50 pounds, then ran into back problems at 20. I was lucky enough to have free access to a good pool and began swimming. I could barely make it to one end of the pool. I doubt I would have kept it up, but it was the one place I got relief from the constant pain.
Eventually I began running, and 25 years ago I joined a gym. Exercise has always soothed my brain, thereby soothing the pain. I shortly will turn 71, work as a deckhand on ferry boats, and am in the best shape of my life. Exercise and strength are the key!
Agree completely! Thank you!
Awesome!
Whenever I see somebody who's "jacked", I know that I, with my skinny frame, am going to be faster, more agile, and have greater endurance. Bodybuilding is a cosmetic activity that has little or nothing to do with fitness or athleticism.
I learned to lift 21 years ago when I was 40 and never stopped. Hope I never have to. I love being capable and being able to rely on my body not to get hurt doing yard work, etc.
Why do you compelled to put a photo of a half naked woman to attract attention to your post? Can’t you find something less let’s say intellectual or anything not so undignified to a woman? Try harder….. There have been so many Substack post from women that are soft porn to draw attention to their posts.