How to Help Your Gym Become More Inclusive
5 Steps to help you make the gym you train in become more inclusive.
Gyms can be a very intimidating place for many people. It takes a lot of strength and courage to enter different environments, especially gyms.
Unfortunately many gyms, in the way they are currently structured, are not inclusive.
They can exclude people based on body type, gender, race, age, socioeconomic status, and many other aspects.
This could be unintentional. It could be something that the business owner is unaware of.
Thankfully there are plenty of resources to assist gym owners in creating more inclusive spaces. Just like how there are courses to learn how to coach the squat better, there are also courses to help create safe and inclusive gym spaces.
But what can you do as a gym-goer to assist in the process of promoting inclusiveness in gyms?
Here are 5 steps you can make as a gym member to help make gyms inclusive for all.
Ask questions. Maybe you will bring up something that the gym owner or staff member has never considered.
Does your gym have gendered washrooms? Have you ever asked why?
Does your gym have gendered workouts or gendered exercise prescriptions? Have you ever asked why?
Does your gym run weight-loss challenges? Have you ever asked why weight loss is a necessary challenge?
Does your gym have diversity in its staff? If not, have you ever asked why?
Be less tolerant. Exclusion can be the norm if we tolerate it. It doesn't need to be that way.
Hear someone speaking in a way that promotes dangerous diet culture? Ex. talking about burning off calories, shedding fat, earning “cheat” meals. Flip the narrative, mention why you are in the gym (self- improvement, mental health, socialization, etc). Provide alternative and more positive reasons for being in the gym.
Hear someone speaking negatively about others? Ex. They are so slow, so fat, etc. Say something positive about their target right away. End their judgement.
Hear someone speaking in gendered terms? Ask them why. Maybe they are unaware of the way they are speaking.
Speak positively about yourself. You deserve kindness. Let that spread.
A comment directed at yourself like “I am so weak” can be challenging for someone else who has aspirations of getting where you are in the training process. And that negativity doesn’t help you either.
Branch out. Meet new people.
If you are in a group fitness program do you always work out with people who look like you or have similar fitness abilities? Gyms don’t need cliques, this isn’t high school. Branch out, meet new people.
Support others. Offer support, not unsolicited advice. Keep your opinions to yourself.
This is just about being a good person. It’s a fair assumption that everyone is in the gym trying to improve themselves in some way or another. Offer words of encouragement, not judgement.
Being supportive does not require you to comment on physical appearance. You do not need to comment on anyone's physical appearance. Even if it may seem like a positive comment towards that person, to a bystander who does not look like them, it can be damaging and exclusive.
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Banners And Flags
Why pride flags are important in gyms.
How many gyms have banners of their favourite equipment companies?
Maybe it’s Rogue Fitness. Maybe it's Tydax. Maybe it’s Eleiko.
But they haven’t or even won’t put up a pride flag.
Putting up that banner took time and effort. It was a choice to put it there.
And it has little to no influence on the client or member.
I doubt someone will walk into a gym and say “Oh they must use Rogue equipment, this gym is for me”.
Put up a pride flag. And understand what it means and why you put it there. Make it about the client or member. Make it a welcoming and inclusive space.
@safegymtraining
Are You Privileged?
How you can quantify your privilege.
Using public restrooms without fear of verbal abuse, physical intimidation or arrest.
Being able to walk through the world and generally blend in, not being constantly stared at because of your gender expression.
Using public facilities such as gym locker rooms and store changing rooms without stares, fear or anxiety.
Being able to receive medical care, including emergency medical care, without worrying that your gender will keep you from receiving the appropriate treatment.
Being able to feel like an affirmed and included member of the LGBTQ+ community.
Having multiple positive celebrity and/or TV role models who you personally identify with.
Being able to go shopping for clothes without hesitation or fear of being mocked, questioned, or made uncomfortable.
Raising children without worrying about state intervention.
Being able to feel unthreatened in your interactions with authority figures and police officers.
Having your gender identity recognized and validated by your family and extended family.
Having your gender identity recognized and validated by neighbours, colleagues, and new friends.
Being able to travel without worrying about your safety due to your gender expression, identity or sexuality.
Kissing/hugging/being affectionate in public without discomfort, threat, or punishment.
Freely being able to discuss your relationship(s) with others.
Having medical procedures that you deem essential covered by your insurance.
Having others legitimize your relationship(s) and comfort you when a relationship ends.
Being employed as a school teacher without people assuming you will "corrupt" their children.
Being able to go to a doctor visit and have the doctor understand your sexual orientation/gender identity and respond appropriately to questions regarding your sexual health.
Having new people assume and use your pronouns correctly.
Having legal documents that accurately represent who you are and how you identify.
Being comfortable around coworkers/friends/family to discuss relationships.
How privileged are you?
A privilege is a right or immunity granted as a peculiar benefit, advantage, or favour.
To the right, you will see 21 statements. This information is taken and adapted from a group exercise from @safegymtraining education on inclusion in the fitness space.
Based on your lived experience, read through those 21 statements. How many would you say are true for you? Comment below.
For me 20 of those 21 statements are true. I am very privileged.
I believe privilege can be useful when we acknowledge its existence and use it for good. To change the policies and systems that were designed to our benefit so that they can instead benefit everyone. With this hopefully, more people can say that more of those 21 statements are true to them.
Gendered Workouts. Why?
Why are there gendered workouts?
Does your gym or training program have gendered workouts?
Does your gym or training program say that they are for everyone?
To me those two things, if both true, are at odds.
Some will use gendered workouts to assign a prescribed weight or volume to an athlete. It is said that if you cannot yet do that weight or volume that you can scale or modify to meet your ability based on gender. For some this could be motivating and give them direction for progression.
Not everyone fits into the mould of being male or female. As such gendered workouts are not for everyone. They are for those that identify as those genders.
We need more inclusive gyms.
When we assign genders to exercise, we exclude those that don’t fit a bias.
Sure progression is important. But that is the role of coaching. Progression isn’t writing a weight for a gender and saying this is what you can eventually get to based on your gender.
Progress based on goals, not gender.
How can you indicate the difficulty or intensity of something without using genders?
I use RPE or Rate of Perceived Exertion. It’s completely individual because everyone perceives events or tasks differently. It’s how difficult something feels to you on a scale of 1-10.
There are other ways to do this. It could be % of a previous lift. It could be a pace based on a previous measured task. It could be based on heart rate or breathing.
It just doesn’t need to be based on gender.
If we are going to say we are for everyone, let’s make sure we aren’t excluding anyone.
Sissy Squats?
Sissy squats. Is this an appropriate name?
First off. I have made the mistake of using this name for this movement.
Occasionally I will get people asking me why certain movements are named the way they are. This is one of those movements.
I have heard two reasons for this naming.
The first is that it was named after Greek legend, King Sisyphus. He was punished for cheating death twice by being forced to roll an immense boulder up a hill only for it to roll down every time it neared the top, repeating this action for eternity.
The second is from bodybuilder Monte Wolford. While warming up for a competition he was performing these squats. A competitor said “what is that Sissy exercise you are doing”. He challenged the competitor to do 3 sets of 10. After completing them the competitor fell off the stage due to muscle fatigue.
Now, who knows which reason came first. But here’s the thing: the word “sissy” is not our word to use.
From @safegymtraining
The words “sissy” or “fairy” were often used in reference to a feminine man, in appearance or mannerisms. This term is now being reclaimed by Drag Queens who emphasize the feminine aspects of their performance, an example is “sissy that walk”.
So let’s stop using the word in the fitness space. Or as a derogatory term for that matter.
Let’s call it what it is: A knees over toes squat. Because that's what you do.
By letting knees go over toes in this fashion while assisted or assisted (harder), we can train our toe strength, our knees tolerance to loading and our quads.
CrossFit: Let’s Do Better
CrossFit and its need for improvement.
CrossFit, we can do a lot better.
Recently I went through the process of preparing for and passing the Certified CrossFit Trainer (CCFT) test. Also referred to as the Level 3 test by many. I went through this process for many reasons. The main one being to make me a better coach, which I believe it did.
It is a very thorough test. While I do not agree with all of the content, there is still a ton of great information that can be beneficial to coaches and athletes.
Now the last year has taught me many things. One is that the fitness industry has a lot of work to do to be more inclusive and diverse.
This includes CrossFit.
From CrossFit's website:
"The Certified CrossFit Trainer (CCFT) credential is for an experienced individual who wants to demonstrate a higher level of CrossFit coaching knowledge and ability. The purpose of the CCFT is to ensure that an individual possesses the knowledge and competency required to train clients safely and effectively.
To attain this credential individuals must meet all eligibility requirements, pass the CCFT examination, and commit to a long-term standard of professional accountability"
This is the overview of the CCFT. As such, I believe CrossFit should also be held to very high standards of professional accountability.
In my studying of the content on the suggested reading materials list (I read or listened to everything except for the CrossFit Kids and Masters Training Guides), I noticed some items that I believe to be harmful. This includes misogyny and stigmatization of mental illness.
These are images of two articles included in the study material.
"Benchmark Workouts" - CrossFit Journal Issue 13 - September 2003 - Greg Glassman. Page 5
"Fooling around with Fran" - CrossFit Journal Issue 31 - March 2005 - Greg Glassman. Page 4
These are screenshots of the articles themselves. They are not edited as I have seen done by some web pages.
Now it's possible that you aren't sure of why I may have some objections to that content.
That logic for naming those workouts does not read well to me. That logic for naming storms doesn't read well either. It doesn't say to me "I see you, and I see you as an equal". It has a strong tone of misogyny.
Anorexia is an eating disorder and mental illness. What is the purpose of associating an eating disorder with scaling a workout? To me as a coach (and human), that sort of association is disrespectful and stigmatizes both individuals who scale workouts and individuals who have eating disorders.
This content and the CCFT test itself brought up a lot of questions for me. So I asked CrossFit's new DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) Council about that content specifically. I also inquired about the complete lack of diversity (in race and body types) represented in videos shown on the CCFT test. Some responses included:
"I will ensure these concerns are expressed internally."
"We agree that these articles are not inclusive and do not reflect the views of the new leadership team. From our team to our content, we are focused on ensuring that CrossFit is inclusive going forward."
"As you might imagine, it will take some time to review the wealth of content we currently have and make updates or total replacements where needed. And, yet, we are committed to this work and will build addressing dated materials into our project plans. "
I think it's great that CrossFit now has a DEI team. And I can imagine they are busy and have multiple projects on the go.
However, at this time the next group of coaches preparing to take the CCFT exam are currently studying this material. That problematic content has been out since 2010. And I know I am not the first person to bring up concerns.
I have seen new "Girls" workouts be added instead of addressing the logic of those names being used in the first place. Amongst the wealth of content in the reference material, there is not one article about a coach’s role in fostering diversity, equity and inclusion, aside from a statement that the "aim of CrossFit has been to forge a broad, general, and inclusive fitness".
I hope they do have some great project plans. I want CrossFit to be successful because I believe in the community and the results people have achieved through CrossFit. I am very grateful for CrossFit and the opportunities I have within it. With my gratefulness comes criticism because I want it to succeed and for it to succeed I believe the fitness industry needs to be better.
Actions lead to progress. For progress to happen we need to address the future but also the past. If we continue to study problematic and harmful information we will continue to contribute towards the same problems.
