I’ve had lots of feedback on why my book doesn’t cover men, and chants for MOW: Men Only Workouts! Give me a break! Nearly every workout ever written in the past 100 years is from a male perspective, even if a few of them use women models.

Let’s take a historical look. As we neared the 1900s, a circus in Ireland became the first venue to allow women to compete in a physical challenge of athletic skill. It  was a 100-yard dash held in August of 1891. Before you congratulate Ireland for its forward thinking, you should know that in 1898, the circus bowed to religious and political pressure and discontinued the race. It wasn’t until after world War II that women’s athletics was allowed in Northern Ireland again: Southern Ireland managed to keep it outlawed until the 1960s.

As for the Olympic games, they remained male-only until 1928 when, in Amsterdam, women were finally admitted as track and field competitors. the longest event was the 800 meters, won by L. Radke of Germany, who broke the finish line with her fellow competitors at her heels. Several of the women were so exhausted from their effort they collapsed after the finish, much like men had done thousands of times before. However, the Olympic officials were horrified and shocked to see these “frail” women fall on their field. Immediately, the all-male Olympic committee removed the 800-meter race, leaving a 100-meter race as the only track event for women.

A small but exceptional group of women paved the road for all women to be accepted as athletes and to begin exercising with the same facilities, equipment and gear men have enjoyed. Mildred “Babe” Didrikson (1932 Olympian), Florence Chadwich (first woman to swim the English Chanel), Maureen Connolly and Billie Jean King (tennis), Dorothy Hamill and Peggy Fleming (figure skating) are among the women who opened the doors for women to become athletes and begin training with weights and other serious equipment, previously deemed for men only.

That’s when I entered the scene, and I can tell you that the first women bodybuilders in the 1970s trained on men’s programs. They trained using men’s philosophies. They also trained using male steroids . . . well, we all know what happened to those dubbed the “ladies of the eighties.” My latest book is damage control for those times and designed to re-introduce the average public to the necessity of strength training for women of all ages.

I feel there is a gap in strength training programs geared for the average woman. Sure, on most athletic fields basic strength training is good for the goose and the gander. WOW: Women Only Workouts is a book and exercise approach written for women who want to look their best, not set athletic records.

In the same way that I see a void for serious strength training workouts for the average and aging woman, I still see a void for an approach to diet that makes sense to men. Come on guys, you must be sick and tired of all these books about salads, grazing, carrot sticks and “thinking thin!” Maybe I’ll get my brother to cover that with me in a future book!

Our strength training literature is not very enlightened. My brother’s Chi Mind Control book is still selling after 35 years because it was the first to bring a mental mindset to weight training. My WOW book brings a woman’s perspective to strength training in a manner a world apart from the bodybuilding attitudes of the 1970s and 1980s.

Trends in physical fitness continue to move toward core training–Pilates and Bosu reign supreme–while progressive resistance training is falling further from the front. We would be a more fit and healthy nation if everyone–men, women–could embrace and practice a regular program of strength training combined with challenging cardiovascular exercise.

Our bodies are low-tech: they do not need high tech solutions. Let’s all get back to the basics of movement and embracing effort! Anyone who has hit a personal best or crossed a finish line knows that kick of exhilaration such physical effort brings on–this is the mindset everyone needs when they approach exercise if they are going to see results.

I say pass on the passive and bring on some effort–what I call the Ugly face–back to exercise! You guys already know this, that’s why we need a WOW: women only exercise approach!

Laura Dayton

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 6th, 2008 at 5:29 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.