Breaking the gender stereotypes in fitness
Samira Sayed became one of the finalists at the qualifying round of BD Powerlifting Championship 2020 and secured fourth position at the finals under the 63 kilograms category
Women do yoga, men lift weights – this has been the fitness stereotype for decades.
In fact, having muscles was not considered feminine for a long time. Women's fitness mostly revolved around aerobics, dance classes or morning walks.
But this has since changed and more women are now joining gyms for strength training.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
Fitness enthusiast and fashion model Samira Sayed has been powerlifting for two years. She believes it is never too late to start your fitness journey.
In 2018, Samira started going to the gym just to keep fit.
In 2019, while training for a powerlifting championship, she deadlifted 80 kilos and that inspired her to concentrate more on strength training.
She became one of the finalists at the qualifying round of BD Powerlifting Championship 2020 and secured fourth position at the finals under the 63 kilograms category.
She is especially thankful to her coach Zico Zaman, owner of Oxygym in Dhaka, for seeing her potential and training her.
"Simply put, powerlifting is playing with strength," she said, adding, "It is also about emotional and psychological connection with your body. It is a lifestyle."
Samira's first day at the gym was not that difficult because she was mentally prepared for what she was about to face. "Muscle soreness is a common issue for new gym-goers. You cannot stop working out because of it, rather you should push through," she said.
Samira follows a high carbohydrate, high protein, and low sugar diet. She strictly avoids restaurant food, but once in a while treats herself.
"I usually do not eat dessert but I do eat a bit of cheese or yoghurt. I love to cook so that is a bonus," she said.
She absolutely loves leg workouts and deadlifts. "I do not like upper body workouts but I have to do them anyway!" she shared.
She suggested exercises like body weight squats, planks, and lunges for those wishing to start working out at home. "Invest in some basic dumbbells and resistance belts so that you can do full body workouts at home," she said.
When Tasneem, a Masters student at Brac, wanted to lift weights, she was taken aback by negative comments from people around her.
The first resistance was from her parents, who had a hard time understanding why their daughter wanted to do something so 'masculine'.
When we asked Samira about it, she explained that when someone starts working out, naturally their body's shape would start to change and that there is nothing masculine about weight lifting.
"Male or female, everyone has different bodies and different goals and even different trainers. Anyone can lift weights if they want, but the ideal combination to lose weight is doing cardio and strength training together," she added.
If you want to see Samira's workouts, you can check them out on her Facebook page 'Burn it with Samira S'.
A report titled 'Global trends in insufficient physical activity among adolescents: A pooled analysis of 298 population-based surveys with 1.6 million participants' revealed that 69.6% adolescent girls in Bangladesh are not sufficiently physically active.
Even globally, 85% of school-going girls do not meet the WHO recommendation of at least one hour of physical activity every day.
Menopause and ageing can lead to loss of muscle and bone health and exercising regularly can help in building muscles and getting your body back on track.
When it comes to testing physical strength, one ought to test it by herself, before someone or the society, holds her back from doing so.
In 2019 Mabia Akter won gold in women's weightlifting at South Asian Games, the same year when 19-year old Awhona Rahman became champion of Bangladesh's first bodybuilding competition for women.
Star achievers like Mabia, Awhona and Samira make us realise more that fitness is a choice and gender is certainly not a factor in making that choice.
