You're Not A Pink Pilates Princess And That's Okay
In 2024, 51.5% of fitness facility members in the United States were female. This is part of a growing trend of women participating in exercise and overall fitness culture. Two particular trends that have taken prominence are pilates and strength training.
Pilates is a type of mind-body exercise developed in the early 20th century by Joseph Pilates. It emphasizes core stability, strength, and flexibility and is good for strengthening posture muscles, promoting balance, reducing back pain, and a whole host of other physical benefits.
Strength training involves a combination of weight lighting, bodyweight exercises (ex. push ups, pull ups, and squats), isometrics (ex. planks), and polymerics (ex jump squats and box jumps) to improve physical strength. Practicing this consistently can lead to increased muscle, tendon, and ligament strength as well as bone density metabolism.
While both forms of exercise are great but what happens when fitness becomes intertwined with identity formation?
The popularity of pilates gave birth to the "pink pilates princess" archetype. You know her by her uniform (matching pastel set, grip socks, iced matcha) and by her promise: long, lean lines, a body that takes up as little space as possible while looking expensive doing it. This trend has come understand fire by many critics for creating unrealistic expectations and reaffirming age old stereotypes about women needing to be "slim" and "feminine".
In contrast a new trend emerged, the "muscle mommy". She's a strong, strength-training woman who counts protein instead of calories and celebrates what her body can lift rather than what it can lose. Praised for being a refreshing alternative in a society where lifting big is often market to men, focusing on gains can also lead down a spiral of spending hours at the gym and tracking progressive overload and macro-nutrients religiously.
Fitness archetypes can serve as inspiration but when they become a core part of a person's identity they can ruin our relationship with exercise and movement all together.
Instead of trying to fit into a niche, it's important to find a form of movement that you enjoy and that fits your lifestyle.
When determining this take into consideration 3 things:
- What gives me energy?
- What reduces my stress?
- What gives me confidence?
Gradually start to form a habit from there. Over time, a positive relationship with movement can lead to improved physical health, mental clarity, and a greater sense of self-confidence.