These are the Fitspo Bloggers and fitspo professional athletes I love and feel inspired by! There is such an abundance of fitspo Instagram models that create the illusion that fitness and athleticism is unattainable, except for a certain body type. They either promote the idea that by doing xyz with absolute discipline you too can attain their body type, or that sport for women is merely for the purpose of achieving a certain aesthetic. Those accounts are highly, highly editorialized and they promote something entirely different from what these accounts I’m showing you value. My favorite fitspo bloggers are vulnerable and honest and they remind me that a female athlete can come in any shape and size, and that sport is something you do because you are passionate about it, and you enjoy it, not because you are battling your body into the conformity of a certain aesthetic. It’s about loving the journey and acknowledging the struggles along the way. You can be an excellent and respected athlete, and still struggle with your own body image and not fitting into societies expectations of what femininity in sport is. There is a difference between discipline in perfecting a sport you love, and discipline in battling your body into some unattainable shape or size.
Society values female aesthetics differently from half a decade to half decade and it’s simply impossible to chase that and conform yourself to the taste of the month when that is not your bodies natural state. We are in a time right now where muscular, long and lean, but delicate and pretty is what’s valued most. Physical evidence of dedication and control. Femininity on someone else’s terms. Skinny but with huge butts and boobs, stylized faces and bodies. I’m so tired of the promotion of women’s sports with photoshopped bodies or promoting a certain age as being sexy while erasing and blurring all signs of aging. It’s exploitative and confusing! This is why I love these women that are swimming against the current and simply doing what they love, without apology.
These are the types of women I want activewear brands to take note of! This is who I want to see modeling the products. Women that inspire me to train hard, get aggressive when I need to, be feminine when I want to and exist in the clothes in whatever body type I am.
Please let me know of the female athletes that inspire you! I’m always looking for inspiring Instagram accounts to follow.
Meg Squats
I love Meg Squats. She is a terrific youtuber and a competing powerlifter. She’s body positive and talks a lot about training, off-season eating, body image, and all sorts of interesting content such as dealing with negative comments about her FUPA in her lifting belt. I love that she shares a lot of other athletes on her channel that include a 5-year-old powerlifter, male powerlifters, other female powerlifters and she occasionally dabbles with Olympic weightlifting. She’s not afraid to show herself fail at fitness endeavors and to challenge herself to try a different sport she’s not naturally good at such as sprinting. She does fitness videos, she does satire, she recreates popular fitspo Instagram photos. I just love her attitude.
Gabstrengh
I can’t remember when I started following Gabstrength but it was years ago. She’s done a number of really great posts on her journey with PCOS which is what I have as well (polycystic ovarian syndrome, which makes it impossible to lose weight amongs other things). She promotes body positivity and is passionate about powerlifting. What I love most about her is her thought-provoking blog posts on training mindset. Here is just one of her many great posts that she’s written – Is There A ‘Right’ Way To Have A Body?
Lydia Valentin
Lydia is an Olympian and world champion in weightlifting and she’s from Spain just like me. When I started Olympic weightlifting I immediately gravitated to her as she has a similar body type to mine, petite-curvy and a lot of naturally bulky muscle. I love her style and how she displays femininity in a traditionally masculine sport – and she’s unapologetic about it. She will show biceps, or mini skirts and manolo blahnics and she often competes wearing her pearl earings. Like my coach says, she’s a sweetheart and a total babe!
Serena Williams
The queen! I don’t think I have to explain her importance. She’s the greatest. I love her even more since she’s become a mother.
Fitness By Jana
Jana is a local well known crossfit coach and boxer in Vancouver and I got to take a class of hers last summer. The class was a body weight CrossFit gauntlet that seemed really simple, but man, it kicked my ass so hard. Jana recently became a Lululemon ambassador and I feel they are so lucky to have her. She’s incredibly cool and well respected in the Vancouver fitness community. I love following her Instagram feed and am always interested in what fitness projects she’s got going on. She’s a rising star!
8 comments
Great post, gotta add these ladies to my feed. I really like Soheefit too. She is very knowledgeable and always discusses the science behind each exercise. Check her out too 🙂
I absolutely will! Thanks so much for the recommendation.
Good post 🙂
I LOVE this post! One of my favorite quotes is “Become the strongest version of yourself.” In a culture that chases youth and physical perfection, it’s important to be able to push it aside and be comfortable in your own skin. Confidence looks good at every age.
One of my personal inspirations is Ernestine Shepard. She didn’t start weight training until she was in her mid fifties and is still going strong in her eighties. I love that she empowers women of all ages.
Oops.. I misspelled her last name. It’s “Shepherd”.
Found her and love her! She’s absolutely inspiring and exactly the type of content I want on my feed. Thanks!
This post is the best!!!! I love all of these ladies!
check out Brookericksonfitness too and not on the fitness side but the mental health side of “diet culture/social media culture” I love @drcolleenreichmann