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Yael’s Variety Hour: Flags, Shoes, Commas and More!

July 6, 2011 By Yael Grauer Leave a Comment

Welcome to the weekly variety hour, where I corral my favorite posts from the week, chop and dice them and then present them to you, my adoring readers! Only I was gone for most of the week for the holiday, so you’re getting a shorter-than-normal version…

Sing it, sister!

  • Why I Love America. Inga Muscio wrote this several years ago…and it’s still beautiful and relevant.

Health and Fitness

  • The New Balance Minimus: The Best Minimalist Training Shoe on the Market. I admit I always make footwear choices based on Eric Cressey’s recommendations…
  • Fuel As Rx: What the Fruc(tose)?!? Why it is to be avoided.
  • Obesity Virus Shows How Little We Know About Ourselves. Just when you thought you knew everything.

Random

  • Going, Going, And Gone?: No, The Oxford Comma Is Safe … For Now. I’m not a fan of this usage of the punctuation mark, but people who love it…really love it!
  • Atheism vs. Creationism. That’s it. I’m moving to Iceland.

Shameless Self-Promotion

  • International WMMA Review. This is my recap of April, May and June in women’s MMA, on CageQueen.
  • I did a very prolonged six-part interview series with Keith Kizer on the use of performance-enhancing drugs in combat sports. Check out parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 if you have a lot of time on your hands. 🙂
  • Lots of other projects in the works…can’t wait to tell you all about them!

Have a great rest of your week, and feel free to post your favorite new links in the comments.

 

 

 

Filed Under: variety hour Tagged With: fitness, mma, variety hour, women

Training Logs: Girls Against Boys Part 2 (Martial Arts Edition)

January 18, 2011 By Yael Grauer Leave a Comment

In yesterday’s post, I began to answer a reader question. She asked: “I have the opportunity to do weight training and martial arts training either with all women or in a co-ed environment, and I’m not sure which I should do. What do you think?” I covered weight training yesterday, and today I’ll delve into martial arts. (You may want to look back at yesterday’s post, too, as a lot of the factors I mentioned [cost, location, equipment, etc.] still apply.) Although I’ve trained primarily in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and no-gi submission grappling, I have also dabbled in boxing, Filipino martial arts (knife and stick) and, of course, did many years of traditional martial arts while growing up. However, since the vast majority of my experience is the ground game my answers will be colored by that. Your mileage, as always, may vary. Having said that, here’s some specific criteria to look at.

Vibe

This is absolutely the most important thing I’d look for in a training environment, and it has nothing at all to do with gender. I’ve trained in good gyms and bad gyms, all of which were either with all guys or with just one or two other women. Do you feel safe and comfortable at your gym? Is it relatively drama-free and devoid of cult-like behavior and people getting overtly upset for no legitimate reason? Do you have freedom to say, read and watch what you want outside of class? Do people take you seriously as a martial artist? Do you trust your coach(es) and training partners? If not, you won’t be able to learn as well and you may have trouble being consistent. (You may have trouble with consistency even if you have an awesome gym, but that’s another article.)

Size

If you are at all planning on competing, or even if you simply want to gauge your skills in class, training with people close to your size every once in a while is important. Again, this isn’t entirely based on gender. I personally would rather train BJJ with a 165-lb. male than a 205-lb. female. It is true that women move differently, though, and since I compete against women ideal training partners for me would include women my weight at various skill levels. But that brings me to the next point.

Excuses

When I’m training primarily with men, I sometimes find myself making excuses about why I am not able to execute a technique. My training partner is stronger or way bigger than me, I’ll tell myself. I recently visited an all-women’s jiu-jitsu class and found myself having the exact same problems against women my size, so perhaps it’s the technique I need to hone after all. Training with people around my size and strength (who usually happen to be women) is a great way to stop myself from making excuses.

On the other hand, there’s another way to stop making excuses–and that’s to realize you’re doing it. I’m aware of the fact that many of the (bigger, stronger) I train with are not going as hard as they could be and many are not using their weight. I also know that everyone feels heavier and stronger than they really are in a tournament anyway. Training with people my size is a good reminder of this, but not absolutely necessary.

Skill

The skill level of your coaches and training partners is important, and becomes even more important as you yourself become more skilled. This has more to do with experience than gender. I’ve rolled with a female wrestler and female judokas who were insanely skilled in their arts, and I’ve rolled with men who had absolutely no martial arts background. And of course working with people in different levels is great to work on both offensive and defensive techniques. Finding people who are both more advanced and less advanced (or will pretend they are less advanced momentarily to allow you to try things) is crucial. I’ve never gotten good enough that I’ve had to worry about the skill level of my coaches and training partners, but I hear this concern often from other women.

Comfort Level

This is the elephant in the room. I’ve heard lots of men discuss how uncomfortable they are working with women because they don’t want to accidentally put their hands in the wrong place, and likewise I’ve talked to women with the same concerns. I don’t know how much this has to do with gender as it does experience levels and it’s personally something that’s crossed my mind with women as well as men (and something I don’t think about anymore) but if it’s a stopping point for you then that’s something to consider.

Your Stuff

We all have our own stuff. It often has nothing to do with the people around you but rather the stories you are telling yourself. These may be colored by your training partners. For example, I always get really self-conscious in male-dominated gyms during warm-ups. I worry that my conditioning isn’t as good as it could be and that I’ll stand out for finishing last in a drill and people will attribute it to my gender, think I’m not as serious or it would otherwise reflect poorly on me. This has nothing at all to do with my training environment, but it feels that way in my own mind. (I’ve never been in an all-female training environment for long enough to know which of my stuff will crop up, but I’m sure something would…probably something similar if it was studly women who I desperately wanted to keep up with.) Anyway, if your stuff is getting in your way too  much you may want to experiment with a different environment while you work through it…especially if you are getting super emotional in the middle of training on a regular basis, which can make things awkward and uncomfortable for everyone else there.

Their Stuff

Definitely there are people with ego who enjoy smashing people who are smaller and weaker, as well as people who will quit because they don’t want to get beaten by a girl. Again, though, this goes back to gym vibe. There are male and female bullies and a good coach won’t tolerate either. Ideally, they’d have a conversation with them to discuss it instead of just smashing them (which usually doesn’t solve the problem).

Their Stuff, Part 2

Some men don’t feel comfortable training hard with a woman. A little bit of this can be a good thing, helping you prevent injury and work on technique. Too much of it is incredibly frustrating and a waste of time (or it’ll just lead you to believe your skills are way better than they are). You’ll want to make sure that the *majority* of time you spend in the gym actually allows you to perform against a realistic level of resistance.

Dance Partners

I was the only woman in a submission grappling seminar once, and although I stood next to the smallest guy I could find I of course did not find a partner. Once you become a part of a gym and people get to know you, this can improve but it sometimes still lingers. Most guys would prefer to work with people around their weight and skill level (just like we do) and if you ARE at their skill level some guys also don’t like that. And it’s hard to tell what’s going through anyone’s head at a given moment so you could either be not noticing it or imagining it completely. *Smile.* In any case, this is something to keep in mind.

Switching Partners

There’s a really annoying thing that can happen in martial arts classes when two women are present, and that’s that many coaches will not allow women to switch partners when it’s time. They’ll say, “Oh, you girls can stay together.” This can be incredibly frustrating, especially when there’s a huge weight difference (probably it’d be better to put the 135 lb. woman with the 155 lb. guy, and the 205 lb. woman with the 195 lb. guy, even for drilling purposes). It also creates a weird dynamic when one of the women is far more skilled than the other. This makes the more skilled woman feel resentful that she can’t work with people closer to her level all class, and is likewise not fair to the less skilled woman who is either getting smashed or maybe even just wants some variety or would like to test techniques out against someone else. Or she could just feel bad for wasting the other person’s time (no matter how gracious her training partner may be). Anyway, just something to be aware of in co-ed classes with just a few women.

Dude(tte) With A ‘tude

One of the worst things that can happen when training in a co-ed gym with just one other woman is that they sometimes hate you for no reason. This isn’t always the case (I’ve had some awesome female training partners in co-ed gyms–Michelle and Kirsten in AZ come to mind), but happens more often than you think. For a while I thought this was just me, but have since talked to two female MMA fighters and several women who train in BJJ, boxing judo, and they’ve all noticed it too: the token female who’s been there longer getting bent out of shape and eyeing you up and down because you are infringing on their alpha female turf, or women who behave strangely and are either hypersensitive or downright hostile. So this is another thing to be aware of.

Save the Drama For Your Mama

I’ve always made it a practice to *not date guys in the gym* and would highly recommend this to both men and women. Although there are some people who can pull it off, people who date multiple training partners and/or instructors and/or students in one or more gyms can create awkward or tense situations which spill over into training as much as everyone tries to ignore it or remain uninvolved. (This isn’t to be heterosexist. The potential for men dating men or women dating women certainly exists but for various reasons is less likely.) Then, of course, there’s people who hit on their training partners which is a whole ‘nother can of worms. (Luckily this never happens to me.)

False Dichotomy

The chances of you having both a co-ed environment and a women-only environment to train in is not that common, so for most people the choice doesn’t even exist. It goes without saying, though, that you can do both. Most places with women-only classes also have co-ed classes you can attend, which can help you test your skills against men (important if you’re training for self-defense). I myself train at a co-ed gym but just recently visited an awesome all-women’s class which I loved. It’s a bit of a drive, but I very much enjoyed dropping in. I absolutely love training with men (in a good environment) but also appreciate working with women, especially when they’re my weight but way more skilled than I am. It’s all good.

***

I think I just about covered everything, but am interested in your thoughts. Whether you’re an instructor or a student and whether you’re male or female, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

Filed Under: combat sports Tagged With: bjj, mma, women, work

Training Logs: Girls Against Boys Part 1 (Choosing Between Fitness Centers)

January 17, 2011 By Yael Grauer Leave a Comment

Note: For those of you who didn’t grow up listening to hardcore indie rock and are about to send me hate mail, you should know that Girls Against Boys is the name of a band. 🙂

A reader (who asked to remain nameless) asks: “I have the opportunity to do weight training and martial arts training either with all women or in a co-ed environment, and I’m not sure which I should do. What do you think?”

This seemingly simple question is actually quite complex, and there are numerous factors that come into play. Let’s look at some of them. Today, I’ll discuss different factors in fitness center-style gyms (such as the YMCA, Gold’s Gym, Bally’s or, say, Curves). Tomorrow, I’ll address martial arts gyms. I’ll also explain how I personally would make the decision.

Fitness Centers

When you’re looking for a gym to lift weights at, or hop on a treadmill at, or attend fitness classes there are many important factors to keep in mind. Many of them do not involve the clientele, but a lot of them do. And some co-ed gyms have women’s only training areas, which also have their pros and cons. Here’s some of the questions you can ask yourself.

Hours and Location

If you are just starting to work out for the first time, or after a long layoff…or even if you’re trying to bring your training program to the next level, one of the most important things is making sure you are consistent. If you don’t have equipment at home or wish to do bodyweight exercises, then you absolutely need to make time to go to the gym. This means reducing any possible inconveniences. And hours and location are too big ones. If you often have to stay at work late and your gym closes early, there goes your workout. If you don’t have the time or energy to drive far away, you may not go. Only you know your patterns and habits and level of commitment, but make sure you are being honest with yourself. Just remember that it doesn’t matter how ideal a gym is if you don’t ever go to it.

Cost

If you’re okay with paying more for a gym that rocks, more power to you! But if money’s tight and you’re looking at two gyms, make sure that the benefits are worth the cost.

If your gym membership is very expensive because of services you do not plan on using, looking at a gym with just the basics may be a good idea. And again, location and hours are key. I once spent extra on a gym that was open 24 hours a day because I knew I wouldn’t go otherwise and would be wasting my money anyway.

Equipment

When I was shopping around for a new gym in Tucson (a very long time ago), I checked out an all-female gym several women had recommended. It was called Curves, and this was long before they popped up on every street corner. Anyway, I liked the fact that it was all women since I did not like the people at my current gym at the time who would have long conversations while “using” my favorite equipment, leave heavy weights on the bars, and try to “save” equipment I wanted to use. I also found people (read: men) trying to talk to me while I was exercising a bit distracting. I liked that Curves was all-women, but I did not want to be limited to thirty-minute circuits on hydraulic resistance equipment. The benefit of what was presented as a better environment was clearly outweighed by the negatives of not being able to do anything I wanted to in said environment.

Likewise, there was an all-women’s weight room in a co-ed box gym I worked out at. Unfortunately, the room only had Swiss balls, dumbbells and circuit machines. I’d definitely use the room while doing warm-ups because the main gym area was cramped and because I didn’t want to worry about people looking at me (as I attracted attention through my unconventional choice of exercises), but if I wanted to deadlift, squat, bench or use a pullup bar I’d go to the other room. (Also, the women’s area was preferable to me because there was nobody in there, not because there weren’t men in there.)

The type of equipment you’re looking for depends on what type of program you’re on or how you like to train. I always make sure the equipment is well-maintained. My last gym had many frayed cables and disasters waiting to happen, not to mention the cardio machines that didn’t turn on. As far as equipment, I have some I specifically look for. This will vary based on your personal preference.

Atmosphere

The best gym I’ve ever worked at was Power Physique Systems. They had a wide selection of equipment, including kettlebells in five pound increments, bumper plates and an Olympic lifting platform. Although the only women I’d ever seen in the gym were working there and I’d been looking for women-only solutions, I found the atmosphere absolutely amazing. Everyone in the gym was a serious lifter. Everyone was there for one reason only: to work out. I didn’t have to deal with weird comments from strangers or listen to groups of guys having conversations while hogging the squat rack. If I wanted pointers on my form or technique, there were knowledgeable people resting between sets who were eager to help. And no matter how bizarre my workout sequence was, nobody ever gave me strange looks for it.

The atmosphere of a gym may seem like it’s about gender, but it probably doesn’t have all that much to do with it.

Crowds

The amount of people who show up at a gym will vary depending on the time of year, time of day, day of the week and various other factors. But if the gym is filled to the brim with people and equipment and you consistently find yourself waiting or going without, that’s a problem.

Staff

I don’t have a lot of interaction with staff, but I like to be able to check in when I come into the gym.

Miscellaneous

Is there enough parking? If I choose to ride my bike, is there a place to lock it up? Is the locker room clean? What classes or amenities are offered? Parents may wish to inquire about childcare and/or children’s programs. Contract terms are also very important.

Conclusion

Going back to the original question, it becomes clear how hard it is to answer. If the equipment, hours, cost and location are exactly the same, the staff is equally knowledgeable, both gyms are not crowded and all other factors are equal, I think what it really comes down to is the atmosphere of each particular gym. If there are other factors at play (as there almost always are), you’ve just got to determine which are most important to you and proceed accordingly.

I hope this helps. Tomorrow I’ll cover choosing between all-women and co-ed martial arts gyms.

Filed Under: physical fitness Tagged With: physical fitness, women

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