Someone recently asked me why I thought women might shy away from lifting heavy weights on a regular basis. I thought about it for a little while and although truly there could be any number of reasons, I came to the conclusion that one major reason is that they haven’t been given permission. Only relatively recently has women’s strength, athletics, and fitness begun to change.
I’m not going to lead you on that I’m some sort of history buff but UConn Women’s Basketball didn’t win their second NCAA Championship and ultimately begin their epic dynasty until the ’99-’00 season.
CrossFit to my knowledge didn’t begin until the year ’00 and the first annual CrossFit Games was held in ’07.
Women’s MMA didn’t truly become popularized until the UFC finally added a Women’s weight division in ’13 (see Ronda Rousey).
In my own experience I’ve witnessed Women’s Highland Games go from having less than 10 competitors at a competition 6 or 7 years ago to the present day where it’s common to see more than 20 women’s athletes.
In the grand scheme of things, this is all still relatively new. Luckily more and more women have begun to discover their power in the weight room and express it however they please. Albeit slowly, the lies about women and training that have been perpetuated for years about starvation diets, sculpting muscles, and potential dangers of being freakishly strong are being proven as just that, lies.
I truly enjoy working with women. I hope to offer anyone a place that they can feel comfortable and be given the permission to be as bad ass as they want to be, whatever that might mean to them. Ladies, now is the time!
- Mike Baltren