Fitness is for everyone, everyone except women of color, I guess.

I was glancing through a 2019 special edition of Shape, a magazine dedicated to women in fitness, hoping to learn new movements or a new recipe. But I was too distracted by the lack of diversity between the models because they all fit the same mold. White, skinny and tall. 

I’m a South Asian female who is 5’3” and have been doing sports my entire life. I have the legs of a fencer, the arms of a martial artist and the core of a swimmer. So why is it that I don’t see anyone who looks like me in that magazine? 

But it isn’t just Shape – it’s the advertisements for Lululemon workout clothes, it’s the billboards for gyms, and it’s the online videos featuring rows of white girls on yoga mats that read “namaslay.” Women of color are pushed to the side and undesirable in these marketers’ eyes. Will we ever be attractive enough for the fitness industry and were we ever to begin with? 

These negative undertones seep into the lifestyles of women of color, like me, who want to start their own fitness journey or join a gym and it stops them in their tracks. That is what made me think my thighs were too big to be shown during swim practice. Have you ever felt uncomfortable because you are stuck in your own skin? 

If I’m insecure about my brown skin at a gym, how do Black or Muslim women feel in spaces that aren’t inclusive to them?

Sara Harb, an Arab-American Muslim and a senior at UNC Chapel Hill, says she has never felt represented at the gyms on and off campus. She believes that ads and gyms all equate thin bodies to being fit, and they are obsessed with it.  

“To be honest, I sometimes feel self-conscious about going to the gym since I am not very fit compared to the other people I see there,” Harb says. “I also have rarely seen any women of color or women that wear a hijab in the gyms.” Harb believes that since men and white women have always been seen as the ones who work out or lift weights, they have set a problematic beauty standard. 

Maybe this was why I was always the last one to be chosen by the team captain in my physical education classes in middle school. I just didn’t look strong enough.

Cassia Sari, a Latina sophomore at UNC Chapel Hill, who has been an athlete her whole life, says that confidence plays a huge role in how women work out. Solidarity and visible representation are crucial to have when working out because gyms are already dominated by white men and women who fit a certain mold.

Sari has been playing soccer since she was five years old, and has the stamina and toned thighs to prove it. Even though she is not intimidated by walking into a gym with just men, she is aware that women with darker skin may not feel the same way. 

“I know that me being there, as a white-passing female, is going to make [other girls] comfortable,” Sari says. “Confidence plays such a big role in working out. If you are not confident you can do something, you’re going to stop doing it.” This is why it is important to see more women workout because it causes group solidarity. 

This lack of representation may be centered around local gyms, but it doesn’t just stop there. Workout routines, workout clothes and fitness magazines are some of the few things that keep women of color out of the spotlight. 

Angelyn Smith, a community development specialist for Microsoft in Raleigh, has gone through her own fitness journey without the help of trainers. Yet it took her many years to begin her journey because she was too intimidated to join a gym and was afraid she would be judged for her body type.

“Fitness advertisements account for why I avoided gyms in the past,” Smith says. “They showcase their ideal patrons and send a message that women of color don’t value fitness the same way as their white counterparts.”

For Smith, after losing forty pounds a few years ago, fitness not only made her more active and energetic, but also motivated her to strive for more. As a tall, Black female, people assumed that she was an athlete and had been playing sports her whole life, she says. But this presumption stopped her from reaching her full potential.

“I shed my pounds by throwing myself into intense cardio workouts, but wasted quite a few gym memberships because of those feelings of discomfort,” she says. “This was a disadvantage because I could have benefited from working with a trainer to build muscle while burning the fat.” 

There is a dearth of Black trainers and gym owners of color, and that is intentional. Black females, especially ones with darker complexions, are purposefully left off of magazine covers or uninvited to fitness retreats because they are not categorized as “fit.” Though they have both the education and expertise, they are not given a podium, which in turn hurts Black women like Smith. 

I’ve never seen another South Asian female deadlift, so I never thought it was applicable to myself. The bars scared me, the overly buff white men scared me, and the idea of doing anything wrong scared me.

Kirin Yadav, a high school senior in California, has noticed how South Asian females are never seen in fitness advertisements and are doubted for their capabilities based on their physical appearances. 

“People are constantly surprised when I show them a martial art move that lands them on their backs,” Yadav says beaming with pride. “It’s commonly due to my body type and the fact that I look like a stereotypical nerdy Indian kid who isn’t athletic. It definitely makes it feel like I need to prove myself.”  

It is tiring because it is a never-ending loop that makes women of color insecure about their bodies which then causes them to mentally doubt themselves. The action of becoming fit is the willingness to take on the challenge and believe that you can do it. 

And some women of color, like my mom, are willing to break these barriers.

Peloton, a fitness platform with live and on-demand classes, has recently been using its podium to elevate minority voices and took a stand with the #BlackLivesMatter movement in 2020. Their diversite instructors not only allowed them to soar above other companies, but also encouraged women of color, my mom and I included, to partake in these classes.  

My mom has lost 50 pounds in the last year because of the confidence and knowledge she has gained. The power she felt when she first picked up weights was indescribable and seeing the female instructors of color ride out of the saddle gracefully encouraged her to do the same. 

Seeing her deadlift 20-pound weights encouraged me to gain more confidence and allowed me to eventually push the women of color around me to do the same. I can now run a half marathon, barbell squat over 100 pounds and plank for close to five minutes. 

Women of color exist in the fitness industry; you just have to be willing to give us a chance.