Week 15 - Day 120

The Xena Project
Week 15
Days without sugar: 47

Tip number one: Do not wear tiger print undies to the gym. For most of you, this is probably a given. I doubt any of you even OWN tiger print undies (and if you do, please, I do NOT want to know). This month's bootcamp has an all new curiosity ... a woo girl. What is a woo girl, you ask? A woo girl is a female who often squeals 'WOOOOOO!' in public. Usually this happens in bars or concerts, is increased exponentially in the presence of alcohol and is echoed by her giggling gaggle of woo girlfriends. In the bootcamp context, a woo girl jumps up and down, squealing 'woo!' at the start of each exercise round while the rest of us are silently thinking 'eek!' Yes, the woo girl was also the undie offender.

I don't think that the woo girl is overly enthusiastic. She also giggles at the word 'backside' and when stretches require balance. I'm not sure what was more amusing this morning, her giggles or the trainer's totally bemused but professionally polite responses.

Tip number two: Don't bother researching fitness and gym attendance in modern culture. Again, I doubt any of you would do this, but ... you know, just in case. I figured I could turn to ethnographers and cultural analysts to help me understand this strange new fitness world. Instead, I found myself skipping past articles about the role of the gym in homosexual identity. I glanced through feminist rants about how women are trying to masculinize their bodies by using physical discipline to renegotiate their self esteem.

Ugh! Please!

It's disappointing at best. The body, in our culture, is fraught with complex (hyper)sexuality and negativity. We battle more than the bulge with each cardio minute. We battle with size, strength and discipline. We battle with what's attractive and what achievement should look and feel like.

I wonder if it's possible to do away with all that and just view the body as something simple, neutral and positive!