Author Archives: fatchicksings

A Different Sort of Tennis Star

You’d think since being rated the top Junior player in the United States, tennis phenom Taylor Townsend would be best known for her prowess on the court. However, aside from Townsend’s legendary on-court tennis battles, are plenty of battles of a different sort. Two years ago, the United States Tennis Association (USTA) asked Taylor to sit out of the 2012 Open Junior Tournament due to concerns about her “conditioning”. And by conditioning, they meant body shape. And by body shape they meant how Townsend looked in a dress. According to Tom Perotta of the Wall St. Journal:

Her coaches declined to pay her travel expenses to attend the Open and told her this summer that they wouldn’t finance any tournament appearances until she makes sufficient progress in one area: slimming down and getting into better shape.

“Our concern is her long-term health, number one, and her long-term development as a player,” said Patrick McEnroe, the general manager of the USTA’s player development program. “We have one goal in mind: For her to be playing in [Arthur Ashe Stadium] in the main draw and competing for major titles when it’s time. That’s how we make every decision, based on that.”

But it doesn’t just stop at funding. According to Perrotta, the USTA actually requested that Townsend skip the U.S. Open, denying both her petitions for wild cards into either the U.S. Open main draw or the qualifying tournament. In the end, Townsend’s family decided to pay out of their own pockets for Taylor to compete in the U.S. Open Junior Tournament. She was ultimately defeated in the quarterfinals by Anett Kontaveit of Estonia.

It’s clear that Taylor knows on which side her baguette is buttered. In 2012 Townsend said: “I’ve gotten a lot of great opportunities, great fitness, great coaching,” she said. “I’m doing everything that they ask me to do and being professional about everything.”

Nevertheless, Townsend has to be feeling more than a little gratified over Tuesday’s French Open results. The match had some moments that seemed straight out of a movie script. In the first set of her first match, Taylor got behind 1-5. She then won12 of the following 13 games to win over her U.S. opponent Vania King 7-5, 6-1. Today (Wednesday, May 28) Townsend (ranked 205th) is scheduled to battle top-ranked Frenchwoman Alize Cornet (ranked 21st) at the 10,000-seat Suzanne Lenglen Court. So surely at this point we’re focusing on her playing prowess, right? Right?

Well, today’s New York Times article on Townsend is titled “Questioned About Body, Townsend Rises and Inspires”. Now the article goes on to say that Taylor is playing amazing tennis, and that Wednesday’s matchup promises to be very exciting. The article contains quotes from Taylor’s new coach (Zina Garrison) talking about how Townsend is “fine”, and how she doesn’t wish her young tennis protege to suffer over criticism or worry about her weight. So I’ll offer some slight props to the Times for inserting some body positivity into the article. But let’s not forget that the first three words of the headline are not “Powerful Tennis Star” or “Young Tennis Phenom”. The first three words of this headline are “Questioned About Body”.

I guess it’s not surprising. As I’ve reported before, even winning Wimbledon does not protect you from the need to be attractive to men. The top title in tennis does not forgive you for being less than supermodel gorgeous.

I hope that Taylor kicks some serious butt on the court tomorrow. I hope she plays really well and ultimately triumphs. I have to admit that I don’t hold out a lot of hope however, that Taylor Townsend will ever win victory over a public that is most interested in how she looks in her little tennis skirt.

Le sigh.

Love,

Jeanette (AKA The Fat Chick)

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When the Fat Chick Sings…

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Sad, but oh so true.

One thing that a lot of people don’t know about me is that I have a master’s degree in Opera Performance. Yup, at one time, I was a budding opera singer. But after I failed to land one of the 5 paid positions in America for opera performers but did land venture capital for a software company, I decided to put aside my operatic aspirations. Nevertheless, I feel compelled to jump in on the current kerfluffle regarding reviewers commenting on women who dare to sing while fat.

This all came to a head recently as a pile of reviews from a gang of privileged old white guys surfaced in London. The reviewers skewered Irish mezzo Tara Erraught’s performance as Octavian in the Strauss opera Der Rosenkavalier at the Glyndebourne Festival not because of her performing or even her singing, but rather how she looked in a dress–and pants (Octavian is a pants role after all). Any of us who have had any kind of presence online ever might recognize some of this “troll tripe”:

“It’s hard to imagine this Octavian as this willowy woman’s plausible lover.” The Guardian, Andrew Clements

“Unbelievable, and unappealing.” The Times of London, Richard Morrison

“a chubby bundle of puppy fat…” Financial Times, Andrew Clark

These are not troll fodder screen captured in the comments section. These are quotes taken from “professional music reviewers” in arguably respectable publications. While one of the reviews mentions in passing that the role is “gloriously sung” most of them focus exclusively on this performer’s looks. There is a lot of outrage over these reviews, which I share. There is also a fair amount of surprise that this sort of language is being used to describe singers in one of the most glorious art forms on the planet. Unfortunately surprise is something I cannot feel about that.

Irish mezzo soprano, Tara Erraught

As a chubby, budding coloratura soprano, I was told at both the undergraduate and graduate level that I would never have an opera career unless I lost weight. Professors shared their tips for which Weight Watchers meetings I should attend along with my vocal and theater training. Because even twenty years ago, when I was in college, we in the biz knew that fat female opera singers were enduring caricatures but not successful performers. Some of us back then called it Kathleen Battle syndrome. She wasn’t much of a singer. She wasn’t bad, but she certainly was far from the best. Working with her was an absolute nightmare. But she made huge bank back then for two reasons–she knew how to build her fame by building scandal and keeping her name in the press and she looked great in a dress.

No matter how great your singing voice, fail to look great in a dress and you might get the axe. I certainly remember singing sensation Deborah Voight’s triumphant review in the New York Times for her role in Ariadne auf Naxos by Richard Strauss. I also remember her getting fired by London’s Covent Garden because she “was not appropriate because of the costume that Ariadne was meant to wear in this production.” In other words, Deborah did not look good in the dress that was selected for the role, therefore Covent Garden would need to select another singer. Voight has since had weight loss surgery and is often heard “singing the praises” of this procedure. Naturally since her weight loss, many believe she looks better in a dress. And actually the whole issue of her weight loss has helped to stay in the press–helping her meet both requirements of “Kathleen Battle syndrome”. Naturally, her bookings have skyrocketed.

And the desire for our divas to be thin is hardly new. Histrionic diva Maria Callas is well known for being stick thin. And rumor has it that she resorted to many drastic measures–including swallowing tapeworms to maintain her tiny waist. Gone are the days when a truly great soprano might hope to have a great dessert (Dame Nellie Melba) or a pasta dish (Luisa Tetrazzini) named after her.

Luisa Tetrazzini was the only soprano that Caruso felt could match him in tone and volume. Too bad she’d be fired today for failing to look desirable in a dress.

I think one of the things I find most appalling about the whole thing is the argument by some of these critics that fat, female opera singers just aren’t believable. They imply that somehow we can get audiences to suspend their disbelief to the point that they accept:

A husband won’t recognize his wife at a party if she’s wearing a tiny mask over her eyes. He can hold her hand, flirt with her for hours but not recognize her at all.

Men return from war, disguise themselves with hats and very fake mustaches, call themselves “Albanians” and their girlfriends have no clue it’s them. In fact the girls fall for each other’s boyfriends and nobody is the wiser until the finale.

An angry dwarf steals a ring and the world ends. Ends!

A man turns into a swan.

A man falls in love (for reals) with a mechanical doll.

We can accept all of this? And we can accept that while these folks are doing these things they burst into song SOMETIMES FOR HOURS. But somehow we can’t accept that a plus-sized gal can love or be loved or be sexy? Or…

Are we dealing with an increasingly elitist art form that enforces male privilege and classism? Are we creating spectacle purely to allow rich people to wear designer gowns and reenforce their position as arbiters of culture? Are we proving yet again that even a woman who can sing for four hours in French and belt out high F’s night after night while wearing a corset and dancing in stiletto heels has no value unless she is also considered appropriately F#%$-able by aging frat boys?

I am deeply grateful that I had an opportunity to study and perform opera. I still love singing very much. And I still do, publicly, every week. But thankfully, I no longer have to diet, wear a corset or worry about not being able to pay my heating bill because of how I look in a dress. I am The Fat Chick. And I have sung. Therefore this blog post has come to an end. See you at the curtain call.

Love,

Jeanette DePatie

AKA The Fat Chick

An announcement plus Stuff that Weighs More than Me: World’s Biggest Chess Piece

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Okay, so we have a few things to talk about today. One is to share with you my latest entry to stuff that weighs more than me. In the above photo, I am posing next to the world’s largest chess piece. I encountered it completely by chance in the Central West End of St. Louis today. I stopped for lunch and there it was, in all it’s geeky glory–a really, really giant chess piece. I looked at my husband and he grinned as he said, “Do you want a photo for your blog?” “Heck yeah,” I replied. “I’m quite sure THAT weighs more than me.”

Indeed it does. As the above photo indicates, the chess piece is as tall as a giraffe. And were it used in an actual game of chess, it would require a chess board measuring over 70 feet per side–large enough to park 12 school buses. Here’s the stats:

Height: 14ft. 7in.

Width: 6 ft. at the base

Material: 3/4″ plywood

Weight: 2,280 pounds

Conclusion: whether king or pawn, the world’s largest chess piece weighs more than me.

And now for the big announcement! I’m thrilled to report that this blog was selected as one of the 2014 Top Positive Body Image Blogs and sites by Body Bliss Central! W00t! With special thanks to Ragen Chastain for the nomination!

Looking forward to heading for home and sleeping in my very own bed soon!

Love,

Jeanette DePatie

AKA The Fat Chick

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Taking a Vacation from a Common Equation: Calories in, Calories Out

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Myrtle, Esther and Bessie take a little trip outside of their comfort zone…

For the past few days, I’ve been back in Missouri. First we went to Rolla where my husband was presented with an honorary degree for his ongoing work in computer science. (Seriously, how cool is that?) And now we’re in St. Louis catching up with some of our friends that we haven’t seen in a few years. So I thought this morning I would talk about being on vacation and how it might apply to my work in size acceptance.

One thing that being on vacation can do is give you a broader perspective on how people live in other parts of the world. One thing that I ran across this week (as I was “on vacation” from doing more productive work on my computer) was this article containing 23 photos of people next to how much food they eat per day.

Marble Moahi, Mother Living with HIV/AIDS, Botswana – 900 Calories

What struck me so much about these pictures, besides the fascinating variety of different types of food consumed was the drastic differences in calorie consumption among these people. The Botswana woman above is pictured with the meager meals she eats each day totaling just 900 calories. Compare that with the picture of the man below.

Willie Ishulutak, Soapstone Carver, Canada – 4,700 Calories

This fellow is pictured with over 4,700 calories which he eats each day. Notice anything interesting here? How about this. Willie Ishulutak eats over 5 times as many calories as Marble Moahi. Now there is little question that some of Willie’s calories are, um, liquid. But he clearly consumes a lot more calories than she does. And while Marble is somewhat thinner than Willie, neither of them appear to be particularly fat. This goes against the grain of what many of us have been taught about bodies and nutrition right? If we use the old adage of calories in calories out, Willie should appear a whole lot fatter than Marble. But lo and behold, it just ain’t so.

I would like to invite you to explore this article and these photos with me. And I would like you to join me on a vacation over the notion that if fat people just ate less and exercised more they would be thin people. These people could be lying about what they eat. I’d love for you to take just a little time off from the adage “calories in, calories out”.

Now to be fair, this photo essay hardly constitutes a formal study on the notion of calories in, calories out. The photo subjects could be lying about what they eat. The photographer could have selected an atypical day’s worth of food for the photo shoot. But we’re on vacation right? So what if we took just a little time off from assuming that fat people lie about what they eat or that thin people exaggerate how much or how little they eat? What if we just took a little time to assume that both Marble and Willie are telling the truth?

The next logical step might be to assume that Willie burns 5 times as many calories as Marble. While this is certainly possible, it seems unlikely in the extreme. If we assume that Willie is a 150 pound man (which is a very rough estimate), he would burn approximately 430 calories per hour walked at a brisk pace. Willie consumes 3800 calories more per day than Marble. Taking brisk walking as a calorie burning exercise, he would need to walk 8.8 hours more per day than Marble in order to burn all of those extra calories. I suppose it’s possible. But let’s just take a little trip past the notion that Willie walks a marathon or two every day in order to “keep his figure”.

Look, I am not suggesting that there is no relationship whatsoever between calories consumed and body size. It seems logical to assume that some relationship is there. But I wonder if we could agree, at least temporarily that it is not that simple. So many of us have had “calories in, calories out” thrown at us from so many directions. Sometimes it seems that everybody from our online haters to the surgeon general of our nation is eager to suggest that if we ate just a little less, and exercised just a little more we would be thin. But I’d like to invite you to punch the time clock and walk away from this notion for just a little while.

I am far from expecting that I will change the world or even change your mind with my little blog over here. But I do hope that from time to time I am able to “give you pause”. I hope I can help you step outside of our culturally held beliefs about weight, food, exercise, health and more. Because sometimes just a little time away is all we need to reenforce the idea that the world is quite a bit more complicated than the advice offered around the water cooler. Sometimes life doesn’t fit into neat and tidy axioms–no matter how much money is spent trying to make them. And while we might not be ready to give up some of these simplistic ideas completely, maybe you could try a little time off and see how it feels. Who knows, after a few weeks you might be ready to adopt some of these new ideas full-time.

Love,

Jeanette (AKA The Fat Chick)

P.S. I would love to invite you to take another Virtual Vacation with me on the Fit Fatties Forum! We’re moving our bodies as we explore the world. And tomorrow is the last day for super early bird pricing! CLICK HERE to learn more.

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Does Eating Margarine Cause Divorce? Correlation is not Causation.

Is Godzilla Yo-Yo Dieting?

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Japanese fans are up in arms about the new Americanized Godzilla’s hefty size–citing poor diet as cause for the unwelcome change.

The trailers for the newest Godzilla film have hit American shores and has spawned some significant controversy. It appears that Godzilla has come “under fire” not for his acting (which has been notably wooden in the past) but for his BMI. No we are not talking about the Bad Monster Index–where Godzilla holds the undisputed title of King of the Monsters. We are talking about the Body Mass Index. Many are currently arguing that Godzilla is just sporting too much weight on his 350-foot high frame. Using the current BMI, Godzilla could weigh about 750,000 pounds before he hit the dreaded “Obese” category. Godzilla has not been forthcoming about his weight, but many Japanese fans have calculated that the hapless lizard may have stomped out of the “ideal weight” category.

“He’s so fat I laughed,” was one particularly cutting remark found on Japanese forum 2chan. Others have referred to him as “metabozilla”, “marshmallow Godzilla” and even “pudgy and cute”. Some have speculated that Godzilla’s size is due in part to his American diet and sedentary lifestyle. “That’s what happens when all you do is eat Snickers bars,” said one commenter.

Much of this has led to speculation about Godzilla’s diet. He has never been shown on screen eating (although he has ingested a nuclear reactor and seemed to absorb energy from that). He has been seen in comic books eating raw seafood. Most people guess that he lives largely on radiation and sushi.

It seems pretty likely that Godzilla has to eat quite a bit to sustain is 350 foot high body. An African elephant weighs in at about 7,000 pounds and needs to eat about 500 lbs. of plant matter per day to sustain itself. Using that same ratio, Godzilla would need to eat about 50,000 pounds of plant per day. Now the King of Monsters might be able to absorb some of his energy via nuclear radiation. And naturally protein sources like fish are more dense in calories than say, trees. But I ask you, do we really want a creature that needs to eat 10,000 pounds or more of food per day to turn to a protein diet? So far as we know, Godzilla does not eat people, yet. But I don’t know if I want to encourage him.

But Godzilla hasn’t always been svelte. A quick look at his film debut publicity photos in 1954 show a relatively “fluffy” monster with more of a pear-shaped figure.

There is no question that Godzilla has gotten bigger over the years. Traditionally, the giant lizard has grown larger in proportion to the buildings he stomps around. The Godzilla of 1954 was a mere 50 meters tall. The newest Godzilla is over 100 meters tall and noticeably beefier:

But if you look carefully at the creature’s shape, you might notice something very interesting and somewhat familiar. It’s even clearer if you look at this picture here:

Clearly the great monster’s shape has cycled too. He appeared to have shed some pounds in the the MusoGogi period (1964) beefed up considerably in the BioGogi period (1989-91) gone through some sort of radical weight loss program in the Shodaijira period (1998) and bulked back up for his current appearances. Seem familiar to you? Seemed that way to me too. In fact, I think Godzilla is experiencing the most common outcome of trying to stay slim. I think the King of Monsters is weight cycling–probably from yo-yo dieting.

Now there is no way to know for sure. As my good friend Ragen Chastain says, the only thing you can know about a fat person (or monster) by looking at them is your own prejudices about fat people (or giant lizards). But if our good friend Godzilla is experiencing weight cycling, he would certainly be experiencing the same thing that most people who try to lose weight experience. Most people are able to keep some weight off for a while, but the vast majority of folks (90 percent or more) regain the weight they’ve lost and often a little more.

So this leads us to the question of what should be done about Tokyo’s most famous building-stomper. I think if we are seriously going to spill digital ink regarding the size of a fictitious reptile who bangs buses together for fun, we should use this as a truly teachable moment. Let’s talk about what really works in making creatures of all shapes and sizes happier and healthier. I think the first thing we should do, is to stop trying to shame the poor creature. There is ample evidence after all, that shame doesn’t help anybody lose weight. I’m sure the producers at The Biggest Loser are planning epic monster battles between Godzilla and their “Monster Trainers” as we speak. And even though the King of Monsters’ agent is probably taking calls right now from diet companies seeking his endorsement for the new “Monster Weight Loss Formula”, we should probably discourage him from falling into his old habits of dieting and weight cycling.

I recommend the same thing for Godzilla that I recommend for everybody else. He should eat a varied diet including foods that he loves (but not including people). He should engage in joyful and pleasurable physical activities (not too close to major cities). In fact, I think he should try my DVD. He should sleep well. And he should manage his stress (again, hopefully not too close to major metropolitan areas). At 60 years old, Godzilla is showing no signs of slowing. If he follows these simple recommendations, he’s likely to stay happy and healthy for many years to come. Which is good. Because I freakin’ LOVE this guy.

Love,

Jeanette DePatie (AKA The Fat Chick)

CEO: Every BODY Can Exercise.com

On Golf, Waffle House and Becoming a Professional Hater

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Recently, Bubba Watson won what is arguably the most important title in professional Golf–The Masters. He didn’t go to Disney World to celebrate. Nope, Watson celebrated his 1.6 Million dollar winnings by taking his family for a celebratory feast at a Waffle House restaurant. He tweeted the event to his 1 Million plus followers and the tweet went viral. The photo shows Bubba sitting next to his wife and best friend (Judah Smith, a pastor from Seattle). By and large the coverage was positive. Not only had Bubba managed to win the Masters for a second time, he had brought attention to an event that had primarily received coverage for the fact that Tiger Woods would NOT be attending. He managed to make a sport that is often seen as the exclusive playground of the rich seem more fun and less stuffy.

But not everyone was complimentary about Bubba’s trip to Waffle House for Grilled Cheese and Hash Browns. Apparently, self-appointed food policewoman, Katherine Tallmadge recently appeared on Neil Cavuto’s show on Fox recently–bashing Bubba for being a “poor example” of how athletes should eat–at least in public. Tallmadge fumed:

“Well, it would be great if celebrities and sports figures set a better example for our obese nation,” Katherine Tallmadge huffed to Fox TV host Neil Cavuto.

“There’s nothing wrong with the Waffle House if it’s an occasional splurge, but these gazillionaires love to show Americans that they’re one of you. And so, to win a popularity contest, they go to Waffle Houses, diners, steak places, when in reality, to be a great athlete or a celebrity in good shape, they don’t really eat like that.”

Okay, let’s break this apart, shall we? This guy won one of the highest titles in the land for one is arguably one of the most nerve-wracking sports on the planet but gets publicly scourged on a national level for eating some hash browns at Waffle House? Would it be better if he ate hash browns in secret where nobody could see. Is he failing to sport the fashionable eating disorder that should accompany any person receiving this much public attention.

And apparently, along with basic information about nutrition, registered dieticians receive training in clairvoyance and divination. Because although Tallmadge really doesn’t know Bubba or anything about his personal life, she feels she can safely comment on:

1. What Bubba eats on a regular basis.

2. Why Bubba took his family to Waffle House.

3. What all real sports stars eat on a regular basis.

4. Bubba’s general health status and physical condition.

Were Tallmadge ACTUALLY able to discern all of this about someone she’s probably never even met, she might warrant some of the media attention she’s recently received. Because, wow–MAGIC. Unfortunately, all Tallmadge is really able to do here is receive media attention by making self-righteous and unfounded assumptions about famous people that are just controversial enough to earn her some air time. Naturally Tallmadge has appeared often on television shilling her “nondiet eating plan for losing weight”. Forgive me if I don’t name her program or give it much credence. When people start talking about losing weight by eating right and not dieting, I tend to have trust issues.

Tallmadge’s web site is full of references to her multitudinous media appearances. And it all tends to remind me of another woman who appears a lot in the media–MeMe Roth. Ms. Roth has a degree in Journalism and had built a career working for top Public Relations companies. She also received a Health Counseling Certification from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition in 2008. The institute’s teachings and requirements have been called into question. But none of that stopped Roth from appearing in the media over and over again as an “Obesity Expert” (airquotes evident) who felt perfectly justified in telling fat people that they are ugly and useless and a scourge on society. Roth has made a media career out of being a professional hater. I’ve personally gone up against her brand of nastiness on the Dr. Drew show and have watched her scream and stomp and spit her way through many interviews since. She gets booked because she is a spectacle. She’s the train wreck that pulls the viewer over the commercial break. And her work on television would be laughable if it weren’t for the terrible damage she does to people of all sizes. She damages large people because she convinces them that they are ugly and worthless and unfit to join society at their current size. She damages smaller people by confirming for them that staying small is without question the most important thing they can do with their lives. While Tallmadge certainly sports somewhat better credentials–she seems to be headed along the same trajectory. She’s garnering massive media attention by serving as a professional food nanny–whether we’ve ordered one up or not.

I am often reminded of this clip from “Ratatouille”–one of my favorite movies ever. In this clip, the famous food critic waxes philosophical about his role as a critic and how it stacks up against the role of creator in his industry:

“In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face is that, in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is more meaningful than our criticism designating it so..”

In that same way, I wonder about the work of a professional hater. They risk very little and create very little other than wagging their finger in a mildly entertaining way at the rest of us. Those of us who are writing books and inspiring others and winning international golf titles. I wonder if those of us who are winners and creators in the world might find a way to simply ignore these haters–like the unwelcome and uninvited house fly buzzing around our banquets. I wonder if we do this, if future employment opportunities for professional haters might be a little less rosy. But for now, if you’ll excuse me I’m headed out to eat some waffles.

Love,

Jeanette DePatie, AKA The Fat Chick

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See Fatty Run, Can Fat People Run Safely?

Fat Chick Rages: Don’t Teach Exercisers to Ignore Body Signals!

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My dear friend Ragen Chastain mentioned on Facebook that she had gone to an enjoyable Zumba class the night before, but was dismayed the next day when she checked out the Zumba studio’s facebook page. Apparently they posted an image stating: “Are You Feeling Dizzy, Sweating, Tired, Breathless? … Good, Great Workout!!!” I’ve posted my modified version below:

Not even going to take a chance this will get reposted without a little alteration on my part…

Okay, so let’s get started on how wrong this is. Not a little bit wrong. Not even a medium amount of wrong. A Carl Sagan, galaxy-filled COSMOS of wrong. This is not inspiring. This is not cool. This is irresponsible and dangerous.

This sign to me represents a culture where we learn to ignore the signals our bodies send as we work out. This is about a culture of masochism, where the more pain and agony you endure during a workout, the closer you bring your body to the edge of absolute destruction during a workout, the better. And as an exercise teacher this makes me absolutely crazy. Because, the messages you receive from your body are the most important line of defense, the most important tool you could possibly use to keep yourself safe as you work out.

I don’t want to scare you. Most people work out safely most of the time. But there ARE risks associated with exercise. If you have an underlying heart condition, you are more likely to face a heart attack while working out than you are in your bed. If you have issues with low blood sugar, they are more likely to surface when you are strenuously exercising. If you are at risk for stroke, this is more likely to be an issue when you are taking an exercise class than when you are reading a book. Again, the vast majority of the time, the vast majority of people exercise safely. But when things do go wrong, they are often preceded by warning signs like excess sweating and severe exhaustion and shortness of breath and dizziness. These are not indicators of a great workout. These are indicators of a problem. Exercisers ignore these symptoms at their own peril.

As a fitness instructor, I remind my students over and over and over again that they must learn to listen to their own bodies. I do everything I can to watch for visible warning signs and symptoms among my students. But the first and most important line of defense is for them to recognize warning signs in themselves. They will probably feel dizzy long before I sense that they look dizzy. Therefore, it’s my job to create an environment where they feel safe caring for themselves. Every time a new person comes to my class we have a ritual. I ask my long standing students to help me. I shout out, “What happens if you get the choreography wrong?” My students reply, “Nothing! It doesn’t matter!” I shout out, “What if it hurts when I do this?” They answer, “Stop doing it!” I ask, “Who’s class is this?” My students answer, “MY Class!”

I then remind the students that it is okay for them to modify any move that isn’t working for them and to ask for help if they need it. I give them a “safety move” like gently marching in place they should feel free to do when they get stuck. And I remind them that they can feel free to use any of the sturdy chairs located throughout the room to do a movement or even just rest in a chair whenever they feel they need to. I work VERY hard to create an exercise space where my students feel emotionally safe doing whatever they need to do to take care of themselves.

Although creating this emotionally safe space helps my students feel good about themselves, I don’t do it for that reason alone. I do it to keep them physically safe as well. A class culture based on “no pain no gain”, where students are discouraged to tough it out and not take care of themselves is risky and can be downright dangerous. Teaching students to ignore the messages their bodies are sending is the absolute LAST thing we should do.

I want students in my class to look different from one another. A class where students are modifying moves and resting from time to time and approaching the movement in different ways is good and healthy. It means the class is challenging enough for the more advanced students to get something out of it while being a safe place for less advanced students to increase strength, stamina and agility–gently and gradually. It means everybody is working at their own pace and having a good time. Which is as it should be. When students come to me and tell me that they are in pain, that is a signal for me to make some changes to my class. How can I teach that move differently? How can I make sure everybody is working at their own pace? How can I remind the students about body alignment and positioning to make them less likely to get hurt? How can I make my class better?

As I have stated before, this is why it is often best to just watch the first time you encounter a new class. Don’t wait until after you are in the middle of a testosterone-fueled judgement festival to determine that a class might not be for you. Don’t put yourself in a situation where you might let embarrassment push you into hurting yourself–perhaps permanently. Watch and learn. If your gut tells you that this is a judgement zone that is not emotionally safe–then walk away. If the class isn’t emotionally safe for you, it’s not safe. Period.

We tell people that exercise should hurt and feel awful. We tell them that listening to their own bodies is wrong and that they should push it until they puke. We tell them that getting injured is a sign of their own weakness and that real exercisers don’t let sprains or stress fractures stop them. THEN we wonder why half the world doesn’t exercise.

Fugeddabout it!

Find a way that your body loves to move and do that. When it stops feeling good, and it starts to hurt, then stop. Forever and ever, Amen.

Love,

Jeanette DePatie (AKA The Fat Chick)