Last week Sherrie and I took a trip down south to spend some time with my family. After a day or two we decided to take some time for ourselves and go train over at the neighborhood Y (that just happens to have taken over the facility where I had my first job in fitness some 15 years ago incidentally).

We set up near the power racks. Beautiful facility. Sherrie’s workout has a circuit with some pullups, dumbbell clean & jerks and a heavy deadlift in it. Mine was similarly structured. Just another day at the gym. At some point Sherrie finds her way down to the far end of the gym floor.

“I don’t know if you should go down there. It might just piss you off.” So, of course, I have to walk down there and take a peak. I get to the other end, and there it is, a separate, quiet sectioned off area with a giant banner hanging above it.  “The Lighter Side: A Workout Area Structured Just for Women!” proclaimed the signage. I have to say, beyond being pissed, I was offended. Not because the women have a separate workout space, but because of what the Y decided to put in that space. Dumbbells from 1# to 8#, BOSU, medicine balls up to about 8#, rubber bands, physio balls  and stretch mats. No barbells, no pullup stations and nothing over 10# in weight at all. 10#! That’s it!!

So we’ve got a space based on 2 things. 1: The Y wants to cater to female clientele. That’s fantastic! Great stuff. 2: Women should not train heavy. What actually gets my goat so much is that so much of fitness reasoning still holds these two things next to each other. If you want to cater to women, give them all the little plastic coated toy weights and don’t make them lift heavy. When do we get to move past the outdated, closed minded and ultimately harmful belief that women shouldn’t train heavy? If a woman is only going to train with weights that are 10# and lighter…how long after a woman gives birth does it take for her child to weigh 10# or more? Hell, I’ve known many women with purses heavier than that. We (men and women) run into things all day every day that impose more demand on our bodies than a pink 10# dumbbell. It just doesn’t make sense.

If we continue to preach that women shouldn’t lift heavy and we”re not teaching equality in fitness and training, I will be the first to stand up and say that we’re discriminating against, cheating and ultimately setting up half the world’s population for a diminished quality of life in their later years, needless chronic back pain and increased risk of osteoporosis. We’re lowering the bar of what can or should be expected of female athletes. We’re telling the little women they should just go over there and play with the other girls while the men do the real work. How 1950s is that?

It’s time we finally nip this one in the bud people.