SOCIAL STIGMAS
Building Up Strength, For some, weightlifting builds muscle. For others, it builds confidence. By Kendall Moon
S
ydney Martichuski has always been interested in the physicality of the human body. She comes from a sports background, studies kinesiology, and she can regularly be found lifting weights at the gym. But still, the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (UMN) sophomore can’t completely
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escape the judgment she and many other women receive for weightlifting. “What you want to look like is up to you,” Martichuski said. “For me, personally, I like being muscular and defined.” This could be the reason Martichuski has several female friends who beg her for help at the gym. She always agrees
to help them out, but her friends never get very far before the fatal, inevitable comments: “I just want to tone up, though. I don’t want to get too muscular,” or, “I don’t want to lift legs because I don’t want my legs to get too big. I don’t want to get too beefy.” She said she isn’t offended by her friends’ naivety — they simply don’t understand that gaining muscle is part of toning the body just as much as shedding fat. Personal trainer at Anytime Fitness David Ross agreed with Martichuski. He said there is a perception that if a woman picks up a dumbbell or barbell, they are immediately going to develop a big, bulky frame, but that’s not the case. Still, some might wonder, “What about the bulked-up, muscular women in competitions?” “That represents such a small percentage of the female lifters; it’s literally hundredths of a percent of the population. Women just don’t have enough testosterone in their bodies to really achieve those kinds of results,” Ross said, adding that females who bulk up to that level are typically taking some sort of extragenic drugs, or steroids. But steroids or no steroids, Martichuski said female bodybuilders deserve recognition for their work. “I can respect those females because I know how hard it is, especially for a female to put on muscle,” she said. Martichuski has received several text messages from different guys who were, on the surface, attracted to her enthusiasm for lifting. “They would say things like, ‘That’s awesome, but don’t get too shredded,’” Martichuski said. UMN psychology professor Traci Mann said those comments could be compared to size or weight stigma, which