Today is Ryan’s birthday and the sixth one we are celebrating together! YAY!

They are usually plan for binge days. We eat really clean before and really clean after, but don’t hold back on his birthday.

BUT while this is all great, it isn’t what makes Ryan’s birthday so special. It is the fact that on this day, so many years ago, he was born! (I tease him all the time about how old he is…soon I won’t be able to because he will actually be old…just kidding!…but seriously…)

Ryan has spoiled me. He works out with me and has full confidence in my knowledge even though I’m female. He also doesn’t worry when I lift heavy weights that I will become bulky.

He is not threatened by the fact that I may every so often kick his butt in a workout or sport (hey it’s his birthday so I was nice and said, “every so often” :-))

But unfortunately the last two days I’ve realized that not all men are like this.

I know there are still men out there that don’t believe a woman should lift heavy or that a woman could know more about working out then they do, but I just hadn’t encountered any recently so I sort of forgot that they still existed.

But they really honestly do.

It’s sad.

I was subbing a class the other night for another trainer, a male trainer. During the class a male participant decided to argue with me about his plank form. I of course stayed firm because I knew I was right and in the end basically just had to say, “Just do it.”

He did and by the second round of our circuit he couldn’t hold the plank for the full amount of time.

Because guess what!?! By sagging his hips he had made it easier on himself and when he did the correct form, what I told him to do, it was too hard for him to fully maintain.

Hmmm…Looks like I, a female, did know something….

I also got told after that class by a man that my “yelling” was belittling him. I almost laughed because literally I had been yelling at him because I thought he couldn’t hear me since he never responded to my directions! So here I was raising my voice louder because he didn’t respond so I just figured he couldn’t hear me and he was saying I was “belittling” him.

I said exactly that to him and said that next time if he could just let me know he heard, I would be able to keep my voice down.

His response was, “Well my ears close down when a small little female is yelling at me.”

WHAT!?!

AHHHHH! That small little female was your trainer you dope! She was in a loud gym and trying to push and encourage the entire class to work hard! LISTEN NEXT TIME! Maybe you will learn something!!!!!

And to round out this crazy sequence of events, I encountered a potential client yesterday who wanted to “get bigger and stronger.”

I started discussing workouts and rep ranges and made a comment about my powerlifting training.

He then says to me, “So were you way bigger when you did it?”

HUH!?! (This is the look I gave him back)

And he then says, “Like were you super bulky?”

AHHHHHHH!

I stared at him and said, “NO.”

I almost couldn’t speak. When will this belief that women will get bulky if they lift heavy disappear!?!

When will women, especially highly CERTIFIED women, finally be respected in the gym!?!

Anyway, I will be spending today with one of the best men out there…RYAN! And I will be trying to forget again that there are men out there that are_______________. (Trust me you can fill in the blank.)