Fitness Doesn't Have to be a Punishment.
Growing up, the only womxn I knew who stuck to a fitness routine were moms who walked. Every morning in our neighborhood, I'd see the Red-Rover-like formation sharing coffee over laps around the block.
“Who’s walking today? Gotta burn off that wine and cheese from last night!” I heard regularly.
Like many others, I gathered exercise existed to make me smaller, nothing more than penance for my food sins.
I played organized sports through my teenage years. You’d think that would've helped combat that narrative, and you’d be wrong: swimming was a guarantee I wouldn’t skip confession. If my team expected me to be there, I’d show up, but not because I didn’t want to let them down; I went largely because if I didn’t, they'd know I wasn’t atoning for my body, which would surely morph into something monstrous and unacceptable if I missed more than a day of practice. I’d be the latest gossip fodder as they did their laps not around the block, but in the pool.
(I learned later engaging in fitness solely for performance reasons helped me focus on a number of a different kind; a different rabbit hole, I was still placing my worth somewhere other than inside myself. May not be true for everyone, and it certainly helped me begin to appreciate my body for more than what it looked like, but, while a pivotal step, swapping one number for another didn't help my relationship with my body, personally, in the long run.)
We convince ourselves of outlandish things when we feel pressure to conform to a standard or a routine we don’t choose for ourselves. We justify, blame, shame. We've swallowed what we've been sold: if our bodies aren’t getting smaller, we're failures (& by extension, so is everyone who isn't shrinking to some undefined, "thin/good enough"). We can go another way.
Fitness doesn’t have to be punishment. It’s not the Visa for rest or binges: no debt collectors will come calling.
You’re allowed to move in a way that makes you feel good, *simply because it makes you feel good.* You can discover your desires, your fears, your passion, your power as you engage in movement, all without changing a thing about your body.
It’s all available to you—no cover charge.
xoxo,
Steph
PS- one of my go-to workouts when I’m feeling ready to come back to myself:
2-4 sets of 8 moderately heavy squats (KB, goblet, dumbbell, barbell — whatever you’ve got!)
Perform vertically (1 set of each, then go back through and do one more of each):
2 sets of 10 dead bugs
2 sets of 10 rows
2 sets of 10 medicine ball slams
EMOM (every minute on the minute) for 10 minutes:
20 KB swings
