Talking about moving your body — your one body! — can feel really weird and vulnerable. For many of us, “exercise” has been a site of self-loathing and punishment and deprivation. The fitness community, as it were, has not been historically known for its inclusive or relaxed nature. Add to that the real psychic damage done to some of us in the name of “health,” whether it be when we were kids or teens or postpartum or yesterday. Especially for those of us who have a history of disordered eating, or trauma, or are not in general skinny, white, straight, and able-bodied.
It can be hard to shake off those early humiliations, or to unravel the learned assumption that exercise is something you do to atone for being a person in the world who takes up space. We all know that in the wrong hands (the hands of, say, the American Academy of Pediatrics), the conversation can get really gross really fast, and on the wrong day, it can really f*ck us up. For some, it might feel safest to avoid the subject altogether. This is completely fair and legit.
Sometimes, I feel that way myself. Other times, I see Jessamyn Stanley do a yoga inversion in sparkly rainbow bike shorts, and I think, Hey, maybe there is something for me here.
If you find yourself curious, maybe ready to dip a toe in but afraid of the toxic horrors that await your FYP, I have some good news. There are good people out there who seem to have figured out something crucial: that they can delight in moving their bodies, and learning new skills, and having fun doing it, and it can be nothing about punishment or self-loathing. Oh, how I admire them, those beautiful posters who have managed to thread the needle. They have done the elusive fitness reframe and figured out, in a way that works for them, how to engage with exercise (“joyful movement!”) in a way that feel truly good and liberating and fun.
Here is a list of some of our favorite, father forgive me, “fitfluencers.” Their words and photos and silly little videos make us feel welcome and comfortable and at ease. At least on good days.