I’ve always hated sport with, like, a burning passion. I can trace it all back to P.E. lessons – namely atheltics. I have so many bad memories associated with the long jump, the high jump, and, worst of all, the long distance running. Netball was a special kind of hell for me. As was hockey. And rugby. And football and rounders and tennis and gymnastics.
One time I even got my leg stuck in a trampoline in the middle of P.E. lesson. Yes, that is possible.
I’ve never been the athletic type, but I can’t have just arrived, fresh out of the womb, like, “I never want to take part in any physical activity. Ever.” In fact, looking back, I’m pretty sure that what was the most off-putting about sports for me – a chubby, self conscious teenager – was that I felt like I was being watched by everyone. For me, and so many other kids with poor body image and a low self esteem, being forced to jog around a field made me feel like every single person, all of them seemingly fitter and thinner and prettier than me, was watching (and judging) me. It’s the same in the gym: full of muscly people who seem to spend all their free time lifting weights, and the beautiful women in perfect gym clothes who can run on the treadmill for a full hour and not seem to break a sweat. Taking part in exercise when you don’t have the perfect body and when you aren’t at the peak of fitness can be totally terrifying. It’s easy to find yourself in a vicious circle: feel bad because unfit, can’t get fit because feel bad.
In the media, it’s rare that you’ll see an image of an overweight person exercising, especially women. Adverts for activewear, for gyms, for weight loss schemes – almost all of them feature women with perfect bodies. Thin, with a little bit of muscle, but not too much muscle – because nobody likes a muscly woman! People whose bodies are outside of the norm are never presented as being active, unless it’s for comedy or voyeurism, and the message that this seems to convey is that exercise is only for those who look the part.
It’s really not surprising that so many women find exercise daunting. We have the societal expectations that our bodies have to meet, and we’re also never allowed to consider exercise as something that’s fun. We’re pushed towards the language of “bettering ourselves” and “detoxing”, exercising not for pleasure but to get that perfect body which we should all definitely want to achieve. Obviously.
But exercise shouldn’t be something that we’re afraid to do because we don’t meet a certain body type. Equally, it shouldn’t be something that we do because we want to force ourselves into conforming to that body type. Shouldn’t we just exercise because it’s fun, and it makes us feel good?
This Girl Can is run by Sport England, encouraging women to get active. “It’s a celebration of active women up and down the country who are doing their thing no matter how well they do it, how they look or even how red their face gets.” It aims to introduce women to alternative ways to get active, to to give women the inspiration to love and appreciate their body for what it can do, no matter what size or shape or colour it is, and it promotes exercise for exercise’s sake: it’s not about shedding pounds and achieving the perfect body or flushing out the toxins. It’s about being active and having fun doing it.
This campaign is valuable to all of us. It’s never too late to change the way you think about sport and exercise, to challenge yourself, and to try something new. You don’t have to be amazing at it, and you don’t have to look amazing while you do it: if it makes you feel good, then that’s all that matters. This week is FXYouCan week on campus, and there are loads of taster sessions going on, from free gym acccess to yoga, badminton to American football, which are available to everyone. This is a great opportunity to push yourself into trying something totally new, maybe putting yourself out of your comfort zone a ‘lil but, but potentially finding something you’ll really enjoy. Check out the programme here!
And if you’re as scarred by P.E. as I am, rest assured that nothing can be as bad as the beep test. Ever.
If you need more inspo, here’s a video campaign from This Girl Can and Sport England: