Dooley Noted: 12/8/2013
Yesterday, I attended day one of the StrongFirst Bodyweight certification.
Out of 26 attendees, 8 were females.
All 8 females did pull-ups. I teared up. I had never seen such a beautiful sign of female unified bodyweight strength.
But it got me wondering: Why in the world are so few females able to execute pull-ups?
Are we the weaker sex? We are designed to pass a child!
After spending the first nearly three seminar hours on plank variations, I realized how important abdominal tension is for strength transfer.
I also realized how girls are taught to do the opposite of this in life.
While ladies are taught to suck in the gut and get couture, they lose their ability to generate full body tension. In fact, we aren’t promoted to show any tension at all.
We are the caregivers. We must be silently, softly strong, right?
Well, excuse me – but what bull.
Instead of promoting our ladies to be strong, we are telling them not to be too tense. After all, it might hurt the baby, right? But she better be ultimately strong out of nowhere on the day of her labor!
I always thought it was idiotic that my father would ask me to punch him in the gut. It wasn’t idiocy. He was showing me strength!
Now, I don’t want us to go around punching each other in the gut. But I don’t want us sucking it in, either.
I’ll personally guarantee you this fact, ladies:
If you are strong, it shows in your confident gaze. It shines from you like a beacon of light. No one looks at that gut you’re not sucking in.
I will make it a personal mission to teach as many women – and men -as possible how to generate various levels of tension.
This carries over into picking up groceries and children.
This carries over into running and boxing.
This carries over into rehab of a herniated disc.
This carries over into pull-ups, push-ups, squats, deadlifts – all lifts.
This carries over into childbirth.
Ladies, you can’t do the pull-up because you have not yet been taught how to generate tension.
Once you learn, you’ll never have to suck in your gut to feel confident.
But as always, it’s your call.
– Dr. Kathy Dooley