Why I Love & Hate Pinterest
Welcome to part 5 of the Why I Love & Hate Pinterest series, in which I’ll spend some
time pondering some pins I’ve seen lately that either enraged, encouraged, or
exasperated me. This week, I’ll start off the problem with a lack of ACTUAL
information.
Unlike the usual way I do these posts, with the first point in the first post and then 2 more in the following, I'm doing 2 in one post here. The final point of this heading is quite long, so it can carry a post on it's own.
Enjoy!
Unlike the usual way I do these posts, with the first point in the first post and then 2 more in the following, I'm doing 2 in one post here. The final point of this heading is quite long, so it can carry a post on it's own.
Enjoy!
“20 Moves to Lose Thunder Thighs!”
Just before I get really stuck into this, let me say this: I
do not disagree with educating people on their exercise selection
possibilities. What doesn’t sit right with me is when people throw out a load
of exercise options, including some slightly suspect ones, with no input into
how to create a programme with them or utilise them to achieve training goals.
Once again, the issue here is not what is being said, but a lack of substantial information on the part of the pinner.
Once again, the issue here is not what is being said, but a lack of substantial information on the part of the pinner.
The article itself has some good information, there’s lots
(20, obviously) of options for training legs on there, and that’s always useful
for busting through training-plan boredom.
What the article doesn’t do, which I find quite irresponsible, is take any time at all to explain how to work these exercises into a training plan. It doesn’t even make a quick note like “by the way, don’t just do all of these exercises in one day, this article is not a training session, just a list of exercise options”. I would have loved to have seen that.
Now the site (Pinterest) itself feels like the sort of place an untrained individual would go to for some basic information to get the ball rolling, so how would they know that this isn’t a session? What would tell them that they can’t just do these exercises one after another for a random amount of time/reps?
Nothing. There’s no information there.
Giving people options is great, but not telling them how to use the options is irresponsible, and could easily lead to people getting injured.
It would be like teaching an angry red-headed child (I can say that, I was one) a load of martial arts, but never telling him the appropriate time to use those kick-ass skills. Someone’s going to get hurt.
I’ll wrap this up by saying this: If you find an article with a load of cool exercises on it, find a friend/professional/website that can help you programme them appropriately (hell, e-mail me and I’ll help you).
On to the next one…
What the article doesn’t do, which I find quite irresponsible, is take any time at all to explain how to work these exercises into a training plan. It doesn’t even make a quick note like “by the way, don’t just do all of these exercises in one day, this article is not a training session, just a list of exercise options”. I would have loved to have seen that.
Now the site (Pinterest) itself feels like the sort of place an untrained individual would go to for some basic information to get the ball rolling, so how would they know that this isn’t a session? What would tell them that they can’t just do these exercises one after another for a random amount of time/reps?
Nothing. There’s no information there.
Giving people options is great, but not telling them how to use the options is irresponsible, and could easily lead to people getting injured.
It would be like teaching an angry red-headed child (I can say that, I was one) a load of martial arts, but never telling him the appropriate time to use those kick-ass skills. Someone’s going to get hurt.
I’ll wrap this up by saying this: If you find an article with a load of cool exercises on it, find a friend/professional/website that can help you programme them appropriately (hell, e-mail me and I’ll help you).
On to the next one…
“22 Men’s Exercises Women Should Do”
If that doesn’t make you say “eh?” then you need to re-read
it and consider the implications.
What the hell is a ‘man’s exercise’? Why is there a belief on the part of the author that any exercise is gendered?
Unless en exercise literally requires a penis for you to attach a weight to, or whatever, then why on earth would it be a men’s exercise?
And look what the exercise they chose to use as the pin’s image was…
What the hell is a ‘man’s exercise’? Why is there a belief on the part of the author that any exercise is gendered?
Unless en exercise literally requires a penis for you to attach a weight to, or whatever, then why on earth would it be a men’s exercise?
And look what the exercise they chose to use as the pin’s image was…
Is that kettlebell attached to a penis? Don’t think so!
That’s a renegade row. What’s ‘male’ about that? Is it the
push-up position? I have no idea.
This is such a frustrating thing that I regularly see on Pinterest, and I regularly hear in the gym -
“Oh, I couldn’t do that, it’s just for men who want to get big, and I don’t want to get too bulky”.
Quick note: You can’t.
You can do any exercise you damn-well please and I can tell you with all honesty there is no chance of you getting as big as a male on the same plan, doing the same exercises. Women do not have enough testosterone to support that kind of muscle growth (here’s a really short and easy-to-read article on that subject as I don’t want to take the time necessary to explain it here).
This is such a frustrating thing that I regularly see on Pinterest, and I regularly hear in the gym -
“Oh, I couldn’t do that, it’s just for men who want to get big, and I don’t want to get too bulky”.
Quick note: You can’t.
You can do any exercise you damn-well please and I can tell you with all honesty there is no chance of you getting as big as a male on the same plan, doing the same exercises. Women do not have enough testosterone to support that kind of muscle growth (here’s a really short and easy-to-read article on that subject as I don’t want to take the time necessary to explain it here).
Now I understand the thinking behind the pin, there are some women out there
who think stuff like deadlifting, squatting, bench pressing, etc., are the kind
of exercises they shouldn’t be doing, for whatever reason. The author probably
thought “time to get ladies doing these awesome exercises!”
Now that’s admirable, but the way they have gone about it has, unfortunately, reinforced these ideas that some exercises are masculine, and others feminine.
Here’s some of the exercises they see as ‘male’:
Now that’s admirable, but the way they have gone about it has, unfortunately, reinforced these ideas that some exercises are masculine, and others feminine.
Here’s some of the exercises they see as ‘male’:
- 1. Deadlift
- 2. Squat
- 3. Clean & Press
- 4. Battle Ropes
- 5. Bench Press
- 6. Pull-Ups
Look, men and women have the same muscles in their bodies, and they work the same way. If a man and a woman both use squats and deadlifts in their programmes they will both be engaging their quads, hamstrings, erector spinae, etc. Individual exercises won’t change what muscles they hit based on your gender, they will just work the muscles they work. A barbell doesn’t know if it’s being picked up by a man or a woman, in the same way your rectus femoris doesn’t know whether it’s attached to a man or a woman, it just does its job. I’d love it if this idea that certain exercises are for men, and others for women, would just die a death. It’s inaccurate, it’s annoying, and it’s stopping women seeing the results they want. So don’t let this kind of nonsense impact how you see exercise, do what you need to and enjoy doing it.
So that's it for this week, next time we'll be moving on to the final part of this series!
I hope you've enjoyed it so far, stay tuned for the final part of this series, and I'll discuss what I'm going to be moving on to in the future.
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