Getting Fit to Fight Fascism

I was never a sports kid. The only trophy I ever won was for reading the most books in the entire school. When we played dodgeball, I would ask someone on the other team to tag me out with the ball. (Dodgeball hurt!) I did like to dance, but in middle school my dance teacher told me I was too fat to be a ballerina, so I quit.

After being a self-proclaimed Not-Sporty Spice for my entire life, getting into fitness this past year has been one of the most surprising things that has happened to me. But it’s not by accident. The day after Trump was elected (again), I committed to being physically strong. I remember walking on the treadmill at the gym, texting my sister about how unbelievably angry and sad I was, and committing to turning those feelings into action.

You might think, ok, but what does being strong have to do with fighting fascism?

1. We need mental resistance, but we also need physical resistance. We need to be able to outrun ICE agents and we need to be able to carry food for our neighbors.

   

2. I didn’t want to hear this, but physical health impacts mental health. My therapist has been telling me to exercise for years. Did I listen? No. I was sad and convinced that laying in bed and being sad felt better than exercising. I hate to admit that I was wrong, but I was wrong. Side note: Did you know that Joseph Pilates was a POW? If literal prisoners of war can exercise, I can too.

3. I know this sounds so, so bleak, but in an emergency situation, I want to be able to carry my husband to safety. I’m not kidding. I’ll probably never be able to bench his weight, but that doesn’t mean I can’t put his giant body on my back or drag him. One of my goals was to be able to leg press his weight and I did it.

4. Being strong as a woman is resistance. There’s a reason skinny is becoming fashionable again. When people are hungry and weak, they’re easier to control. When they spend all their time thinking about their body and the never-ending pursuit of thinness, they can’t think about anything else. (I have been there and it’s miserable.) Thinness is a means of control. “Fascism thrives on uniformity and control, and its relationship with body politics is no exception.”

   

5. The future is unknown. We have to take care of ourselves and each other. Healthcare in this country is a mess and I don’t have much hope that it will be resolved in my lifetime. I don’t know if I’ll eventually get a terrible debilitating disease, but I have to do the best I can to prevent it. I also would like to live long enough to see a better world.