Female Athlete

Last quarter in school I wrote an extra credit assignment on what it was like to be a female athlete and I thought I would post some of what I wrote:

I am a female athlete, however I do not play on a team at school. My sport is the sport of fitness, called Crossfit; functional, varied movements done at high intensity. My workouts include max effort lifts, certain tasks to be done in the fastest time possible, or a given amount of time to see how much work can be completed within that time frame. I compete individually and represent my gym, Crossfit Cadence, separate from school. I face pressures at school and at the gym all day long. First, at school I am constantly asked what sport I play, probably because of the way I look or dress: athletic. The thing that bothers me the most, however, is I work at the gym and the clients are often oblivious to the fact that I take eighteen units per quarter at SCU. Clients at the gym respect my dedication to my training, but when I tell them I am a full time student at Santa Clara on top of my training, suddenly their perception of me goes from a gym rat to a determined, hard working individual. I try to separate school and my fitness, however I sometimes go to school straight from workouts, or I take my schoolwork into the gym.

My friends at school are mind blown because I look strong but they have no idea the things I am capable of. Their idea of a female “weight-lifter” (which is not what I would call myself, but it is an easy thing to tell people without getting into a huge discussion) is masculine and buff. However, my friends tell me that “I do not look as strong as I actually am”. Males seem to like the idea of a Crossfit female, and I think that is a huge reward to the sport. Crossfitters have minimal body fat and strong, lean muscles. The athletes are not looking to “bulk up” (muscular), in fact, the athletes seek to be the strongest we possible can be, the fastest we possible can be, and the lightest we possibly can be. With this main goal it is hard to “bulk up”. The fact that females are not only in exceptional shape, but our “uniform” consists attractive clothes (spandex, tight shorts, tight pants, sports bras, etc). I am so thankful that Crossfit has a positive female image. My friends see that guys are attracted to a Crossfit girl, and suddenly my friends ask me when we can work out together.

Liberal feminist theory argues that men and women are created equally and no one should be denied equality of opportunity due to gender. This can totally apply to Crossfit. Most people think only males can do pull-ups, I’ve done 31 in a row. Most people think only men can lift heavy weights, I can prove that wrong. Crossfit is awesome because everything men do, women do. However, we understand that there are biologically differences so a workout will have a men’s and women’s weight. Traditionally women lift seventy percent of what men lift in a work out. For example, a classic work out is thirty clean and jerks for time; men complete this work out at 135 pounds and women complete it at 95 pounds. My time for this work out is 2:43, and I beat many men who choose to complete the work out using the same weight as me. To be honest, if Crossfit had a negative female image, I would probably not compete. But since Crossfit portrays women as extremely strong yet beautiful, I am so glad and lucky to be a part of the community, it has truly changed my life and kept me on the right track.