For all those people who decided their New Year’s resolution would be to get a gym membership and get into shape, I have bad news for you. According to TIME Magazine, you have all been found guilty of pushing the narrative of white supremacy!
TIME Magazine recently released an article titled “The White Supremacist Origins of Exercise, and 6 Other Surprising Facts About the History of U.S. Physical Fitness.” The author argues that the societal push for exercise and people to be stronger is rooted in a desire for white women to produce more white babies.
TIME Magazine is notorious for publishing outlandish articles that clearly push woke ideology for years. It is increasingly common to see a clickbait headlines that says “the racist origin of (fill in the blank).” But now it’s exercise that’s being attacked for so-called racism. The magazine is featuring small clips from the book “Fit Nation: The Gains and Pains of Americas Exercise Obsession.” Author Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, a self-proclaimed “intellectual historian and certified trainer, wrote the following on her website to promote her new book:
“For Petrzela, fitness is a social justice issue. She argues that the fight for a more equitable exercise culture will be won only by revolutionizing fitness culture at its core, making it truly inclusive for all bodies in a way it has never been.”
Natalia Petrzela’s Biography on her Website
I have to disagree completely with Petrzela’s assessment of fitness culture. There is no such thing in the fitness world as an inclusive community for “all bodies.” Her intentions are to argue that all body sizes and lifestyles are okay. But the entire purpose of going to the gym and exercising is to leave better than you were before. It is about improvement, not affirmation. The purpose of physical fitness it is to develop strength, build and tone muscles growth, and to maintain physique and top physical form.
As an Olympian, this is very insulting to all the athletes that put in hours of work with no guarantee at being able to even participate at a competitive level. In the Olympic Games, we push our bodies to the brink just for the opportunity to have a chance at victory. Many competitive athletes at this level dedicate their entire life to achieving success. The lifestyle of fitness has a look and it has a dynamic that cannot change; in fitness you learn so many life lesson of pushing past pain, superseding your own expectations as well as lessons in discipline, dedication and commitment. Now people want to do the one thing that will kill any fitness journey: “cutting corners” and making excuses.
Modern body positive may be noble in its intentions, but does more harm than good when it tells people that everyone should be content with their body no matter how obese you are. It is becoming a growing movement to see obese models being used to celebrate body positivity. But this is not motivation, and does not help people progress in their fitness journey. Look at the major gym chain Planet Fitness as an example. The company is well known for its cheap memberships, but is criticized for it’s notoriously strict “inclusive policies.” Such rules include a 3 plate maximum on barbells, no loud noises while lifting, no gallon water bottles, no revealing muscle shirts for men, and no dropping of weights. Any violators of these and other rules have the infamous “lunk alarm” pulled on them to loudly signal someone has violated policy or is making someone uncomfortable. The intention to be “inclusive” is hindering an individual’s progress to become more healthy and in-shape.
But what is most disturbing about this new book is Petrzela’s claim that exercise has been deep-rooted in white supremacy and that the whole purpose of its evolution was to produce more white babies!
“They said we should get rid of corsets, corsets are an assault on women’s form, and that women should be lifting weights and gaining strength. At first, you feel like this is so progressive.
Then you keep reading, and they’re saying white women should start building up their strength because we need more white babies. They’re writing during an incredible amount of immigration, soon after enslaved people have been emancipated. This is totally part of a white supremacy project.”
Natalia Mehlman Petrzela: Fit Nation: The Gains and Pains of America’s Exercise Obsession
I said it before and will gladly say it again: as a Black Olympian, I never began my fitness journey to push a narrative of white supremacy. That is obvious. I became an athlete to help strengthen and prepare myself for the world, and any competition I was a part of. I also learned it’s not just about strengthening your body, it’s about strengthening your mind. How are people in the gym supposed to have a strong mental mindset for exercise when they are told they are engaging in something rooted in white supremacy?
This “body positivity” and “rooted in white supremacy” rhetoric being pushed is creating a wave of weak people who won’t ever be able to defend themselves or speak up for themselves. It should be ignored completely by those who have a genuine desire to be healthy and become more physically fit.
