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Learning to Love Sweaty

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Learning to Love Sweaty

February 22, 2018
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I had a bit of a “moment” at the gym earlier this week.

I was on the stationary bike (the sitting down one as normal bikes are SO UNCOMFORTABLE). It was an attempt to stick to my promise to do more cardio and earn those 500 points on my TomTom watch more often.  I was sweaty and rank and some sweat dropped off my eyebrow into my actual eye, and I realised that I LOVED it.

Not the actual sweat dropping in my eye, that was rank and stung a bit. And not the bike, definitely not the bike, I still hate cardio machines, they are boring. But that feeling. That feeling that I was working hard. Hard enough that I would have to kill anyone who tried to make me engage in conversation and hard enough to make sweat drop into my eyes.

At about the same time I remembered a moment many (many) years before when I was at university. I was in the Gym that I think I belonged to for about a month before I gave up, on a cross trainer or step machine or some such thing, and one of the gym trainers came over and started talking to me, and I was embarrassed because I was out of breath and sweaty.

I was embarrassed to be sweaty. In a GYM.

I’m trying to figure out when it was that I learned to love sweaty. When I started to give no shits about people seeing me in my sweaty lycra and whether they judged me or not.

I think it was more recently than you’d imagine. Not long before I started this blog in 2012 I remember still being embarrassed when little shits kids would shout stuff when they saw me running. After I started this blog I remember going for a run around a park once on a stupidly hot sunny day and being horrified when I saw my red sweaty face when I got into the car. Horrified that people might have seen me in public like that.

It wasn’t that long ago that I pretty much always put my make up on before I went for a run, even if that was literally all I was doing that day. Just in case someone saw me.

This weeks realisation that I LOVED being a sweaty mess felt liberating.

It goes alongside not caring whether I look cute in my workout kit, as long as it makes me feel awesome.

It’s a feeling I wish I could have discovered earlier.

It’s a feeling I really wish I could give to more women who are apparently STILL scared to get sweaty for fear of being seen as unfeminine.

However, I feel like there is a change in the air.

The Womens Roller Derby World Cup was shown on the BBC Sports app this month. The Women’s Football World Cup was shown on TV in 2017 and the Women’s Six Nations Rugby can be watched on TV too (But only if you have Sky Sports, booo!).

Recently I read the news about a study that had found the “ideal” female physique was now to be muscular and toned (Lets not get started on that word though, maybe another day!), rather than just skinny. It’s sad that women’s appearance is still the main concern, and we still want skinny, apparently we always want skinny, but still, it feels like a step in the right direction.

I find it really exciting to think that maybe, just maybe, a new generation of women won’t have to wait till they’re in their 30s to discover that getting fit doesn’t just involve doing workout DVDs in the privacy of their own home. That there can be a joy in learning new things, a joy just in the activity itself, and a liberating joy in being sweaty.

 ♣ Shock Absorber Kit c/o JD Williams ♣

 

 

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8 Comments

  1. Perditas Pursuits says:
    February 22, 2018 at 2:06 pm

    I’m sweaty anyway lol.
    Another serious note is this problem we are presented with having a red face. I go red when I am active – loads of people think I’m not OK, usually because other women see their limit as before they look red. Apparently it is a ‘thing’ – men can go beetroot pink, women it’s seen as too much.
    Don’t get me started on the gym make up in Primark, presumably invented so no one will be offended by said red faces…!

    • Lady Lipstick says:
      February 22, 2018 at 5:09 pm

      Oh yes, if you’ve gone red and sweaty you must be nearly dead!
      Yeah, I saw gym make up in Sports Direct. I do wear make up to the gym and to play derby, so I’m not averse to the idea of a product that doesn’t leave me looking like a panda, but I also don’t like the inherent implication that we *should* be wearing make up to exercise!

  2. rjsmum says:
    February 22, 2018 at 10:41 pm

    Strings not skinny

  3. zinngavignesh says:
    February 24, 2018 at 5:14 am

    Great outfit for workout and perfect sneakers Ms. Gemma .

  4. Marisa says:
    March 5, 2018 at 3:21 pm

    I loved this look, especially the pants. What model is she?

  5. Emileigh says:
    March 6, 2018 at 7:39 pm

    SO TRUE! I used to be self conscious when running or in the gym and felt weird about wearing makeup. I was worried I was doing things wrong and people around me would know it. Now I don’t care at all! I get in the midst of a crowd of men and lift weights with no makeup and drip sweat and don’t feel weird. It really does feel liberating!

  6. Ellie says:
    March 7, 2018 at 10:46 am

    This is excellent and has motivated me to go back to the gym. Not because I mind being sweaty, just because it’s made me feel empowered and motivated! Weirdly, despite having incredibly low self esteem, I’ve never had an issue with looking like I’ve worked bloody hard when exercising. Luckily, I’ve always seen it as something to be proud of. LOOK HOW HARD IM WORKING! SEE ME SWEAT!

  7. Hempworx CBD Oils says:
    March 31, 2018 at 1:59 pm

    Thanks for sharing this article. This really motivates me to hit the gym once again as I have been off lately due to busy schedule. Want to sweat again now. thanks again

About Me

Gemma
Incurable cancer, cocktails & fitness. Size Inclusive Personal Trainer, red lipstick wearer, cocktail drinker. Multiple Myeloma June 2021. Norwich, UK
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