Woman Up….Bruh!

Women…we are definitely something amazing. We can be kind, loving and warm, but we can bring about wrath with the snap of a finger if the situation requires it. We are smart, strong, and definitely able to do way more things than we are given credit for. Women have been objectified throughout history, as well as very unappreciated, and severely underestimated. Women are expected to act a certain way, and to stay weak and delicate, and look pretty in our red lipstick and high heels. Times are surely changing, and this thought process is definitely improving, but it does still exist.

This way of thinking has limited women severely. We tend to hold ourselves back because we feel there are certain things we just can’t or shouldn’t do. Now, this doesn’t apply to all women, some women grow up with good role models and learn to do just about anything, but limited thinking still exists. The ratio of men to women lifting heavy in the gym is definitely not equal. Women are reaching for the lighter weights while men are going for the heavy ones at the other end of the gym. Not many women work on their own cars, while men thrive on taking on a new car project. The comparisons go on and on.

So, as you may or may not know, I have had many “jobs”. I was a graphic designer, then a research scientist, then retired to be a stay at home mom and took on becoming a Mary Kay beauty consultant. I do still do Mary Kay to some extent, but I completely changed gears when I decided to apprentice with my workout partner and learn something totally different. I am learning to work on transmissions, machine, do body work, and even fix my own car….and many more “manly” things. I went from learning how to keep my hands as soft as possible to getting them dirty and loving it!

Working in the shop isn’t the only thing that is tough on my hands. As you know, because you are here on my website, I also powerlift…so I lift heavy. I have calluses on my hands that I wear like badges of honor! It took time to build those calluses, and I am happy to have earned them, and I don’t mind showcasing them as shown in the photo below.

Now let me tell you about an experience I have had repeatedly. We rebuild transmissions. We get the transmission already removed from the vehicle, rebuild it, and deliver it back to the customer. We usually meet the customer in our vehicle and have to move the transmission from our vehicle to theirs. Now, we have it down, pretty well, the two of us teaming up to move a heavy tranny…but I can tell you, if I had a dollar for every time a guy kind of freaked out that a “girl” was lifting a heavy transmission, and tried to intervene, I wouldn’t need sponsors because I’d have a lot of dollars!

I have also talked about what I do, and I get rather surprising looks from people that I do a job men normally do. I get even more surprising looks when people find out I powerlift! “Aren’t you afraid to get too bulky and look like Arnold?” This is such a huge misconception! I am TRYING to put on muscle, and I have been working out 6 days a week for over 2 years! I tailor my diet to my lifting and I am pretty darn dedicated to lifting heavy….yet I somehow don’t look like Arnold!

It would take a lot more than heavy lifting for a woman to bulk up like Arnold….we won’t go there! So ladies, please, don’t be afraid to lift heavy! Your dumbbells need to weigh more than your purse! There is no such thing as “toning”. You have to lift heavier to build muscle and get the lean, muscular sexy look. Building muscle will also boost your metabolism and help you burn the fat, uncovering the muscle you are building. And if you want that muscular butt that is in right now, that means squatting heavy, and doing hip thrusts, and doing all those hard lifting exercises….cardio won’t get you that! For fun I’m including my favorite workout shirt that my daughter bought me. It does say it all! Click on the shirt to buy it on Amazon.

What do I mean by “Woman Up”? I mean it’s OK to be a women. We can be kind, loving and soft. We can put on the red lipstick and heels, but we also need to realize we can get dirty, we can build calluses from lifting heavy, we can do whatever the heck we want! I will give an example of a strong woman I know. She is the owner of my Gold Sponsor company, Rabbitworks. She is beautiful, and a true woman. She owns her own business, and she wears dresses and heels, but she also built a motorcycle by herself, from the ground up, and she services her own motorcycles. She truly does it all, and has been an inspiration to me from the day I met her. So ladies….WOMAN UP and get busy doing whatever it is you desire, because we can indeed do anything……we are WOMEN!