Lifting A Weight Off My Shoulders

Abstract

It’s a familiar scene for anyone who’s entered the Jaeger Center. You walk past the entrance desk, past the rock wall, the blue mats with some students stretching; there, the cardio machines, some soccer players cycling on the bikes, some girls on the elliptical machines and scattered on the treadmills, a guy on the stairmaster, a teacher jogging. Finally, you reach the end, the huge space filled with free weights, barbells, a leg press machine, and some pull up bars. You pay attention less to the selection of weights then who occupies this space: men, lots of them. At any time of day or night, you can find several male students working out here. What’s much less common, one might even say rare, is to see women in this space. Certainly, there are some of us, particularly in groups or entering with a sports team. But the ratio is uneven, to say the least. [excerpt