you have the right to be strong

A friend pointed me at this great post about women and training titled: A Lion in Iron: Women—Be More, Not Less (by Alexander Cortes).

While the post is written from a weightlifting/strength training perspective, it offers great advice and could equally apply to martial arts.

My favourite quote from the post:
"For women, though, it’s the opposite. Their whole perspective is based around what they want to get rid of. They want their bodies to be less than what they currently are, not more. The whole female side of the fitness industry has historically been built upon “getting rid” of everything about their bodies that makes them unhappy, which is generally everything.

This has to fucking STOP. I’m tired of it. I’m tired of women thinking they are supposed to be weak. I don’t know who taught them this. I don’t know if it was their mothers, the media, and/or their friends. I don’t know how this started or who started it, but I do know that it needs to end. Whatever it was, whoever it was, it needs to be killed. You are not supposed to be weak. You have the right to be strong."

Yeah. Too right.