What You Look Like Shouldn’t Matter
Feeling good in our bodies is often wrongly conflated with “looking good to other people.” Many people start working out because they want to change how they look, but there is a genetic limit to what we can change about our bodies. Finding something at the gym that makes it fun and rewarding to do the actual work of working out is much more rewarding and often leads to feeling good even if there aren’t big visual changes to the body.
In Defense Of Being On Your Phone At The Gym
Your phone can actually be a useful tool when working out, whether it is playing music, recording your reps, filming your own progress, or playing quick games while you rest between sets. If someone is using equipment you want to use and you feel like they are taking too long, the best thing to do is politely talk to them to see when you’ll be able to jump in.
You Should Buy Fractional Plates
Fractional plates are lightweight plates (typically half pound incraments between 0.5 through 2.0lbs or their kilogram equivalents) that can be added to barbells or dumbbells to allow for a greater range of weight between full plates/dumbells. Fractional plates can be very useful for beginner and experienced lifters alike.
Women In The Weightroom
Assumptions about the differences between men and women, as well as the emphasis for women’s exercise being focused on being attractive to men, have been used as excuses to exclude and alienate women from the weight room. Although weight lifting and strength training has become more popular among women, there is still room to be more inclusive and welcoming.