Women, Confidence, and the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show

What does it mean to truly feel empowered in your own skin, beyond the confines of traditional beauty standards? This episode of "Train for a Great Life" tackles that very question, inspired by a memorable Facebook post from 2012 that challenged perceptions of beauty set by events like the Victoria's Secret fashion show. Join us as we reflect on how these standards have evolved over the last decade. We share personal stories and insights, especially focusing on the transformative power of movements like CrossFit, which have helped countless women embrace their inner strength and capabilities. It's not just about aesthetics; it's about redefining what beauty means by celebrating achievements that go far beyond physical appearances.

Our conversation also highlights the supportive atmosphere at Outlaw, a gym dedicated to fostering self-assurance and strength in women, without relying on exclusive classes or conforming to outdated models of beauty. We explore the importance of nurturing the right culture and values, creating an inclusive space where every woman can thrive. Whether you're a fitness enthusiast or someone new to the idea of empowerment through physical strength, this episode invites you to reconsider societal standards and embrace your unique strengths. Listen in as we honor the journey of empowering women and reshaping beauty ideals in our modern world.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Hello, welcome back to another episode of Train for a Great Life, different one. Today I am going to read you a post that came up in my Facebook memories from 12 years ago, 2012. I think the theme here is empowering women, building confidence and the effect of getting strong. So here's the post, december 4th 2012. Ah, the Victoria's Secret fashion show. Tonight, hundreds of thousands, probably millions of girls will go to bed wishing they were skinnier, wishing they didn't look the way they do, wishing they had a model body and motivated not to eat tomorrow.

Speaker 1: 0:48

I was shocked. We came home from the gym and, for the first time in years, lacey didn't put it on TV. I asked why. She said there's nothing for her there. She wants women to be looked up to for the things they can do and what they stand for, not because their genetics created them tall and skinny, and I couldn't agree. More Time for a paradigm shift. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the post. It got a lot of attention. I love it so much and let me be clear, this was me observing Lacey's shift from one year to the next. She will be the first to tell you that some of the fitness ideology that she subscribed to back in the day was not necessarily the healthiest or aimed at building the most self-esteem.

Speaker 1: 1:34

There were people on the post who missed the point. They took it as me taking a shot at models, which is not what it was. This is going to happen when a post has over 300 likes and dozens of comments, even back in 2012,. If algorithms were a thing, it probably hit them. It takes confidence to get out there on a runway Absolutely. They're probably incredibly nice people. Some could be absolutely miserable. Not relevant to this point, this was 12 years years ago, five months into owning outlaw, probably before I met anybody listening to this podcast, before you started crossfit, maybe even before you heard about it. It was like 18 months after the reebok deal went through, which took a little while to see the the downstream effects, but by 2015 or so hit, you could tell that CrossFit was becoming more mainstream. There was money in it. You saw things like Orange Theory and F45 start popping up.

Speaker 1: 2:31

It reminds me that we were pretty early into this game and I am proud to say that since that post, we have had the pleasure of helping hundreds, if not thousands, of women find their own sense of strength and maybe, just maybe, let go of that thing that tells them that Victoria's, secret or whatever other thing in their head is the only way to be beautiful. If that is you, if you have a model body run with it, it's never not going to be thought of as beautiful. It might not be every single person's preference of beauty, but that's the point. It doesn't have to be. It's to give that post was to give confidence to the other 99.9% of the female population that isn't built that way and can build confidence in other ways, namely what they can do versus just how they look.

Speaker 1: 3:21

There are gyms all over the world that offer women's only, whether it be classes or the entire business model, and that's cool, but it's not the road we've chosen to go down. I've always thought that you wouldn't have to make. You wouldn't have to do that and to make women feel comfortable if you have the right culture and the right values, and maybe this is even some insight into why so many women thrive at Outlaw. We celebrate strong women every single day and I am here for it. See you in the gym.