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Women and Fitness: An Open Letter

11/19/2014

As a reader of this blog, you're most likely aware that I've written a book about women and fitness. (Click here if you aren't!:) What you may not know is that this book is a unique take on the world of "American fitness" that draws on my life, and at times feels like a really scary personal and professional risk. I am slowly letting go of the anxiety that surrounds publicly sharing my life in and between these two spheres of fitness and academia. This open letter is a part of that process.

And my letting go is slow since I drafted this blog post two months ago....

The reason we write books is to be read. We want to share our message, insights, and research with both an academic audience and a mainstream one. Since I do not have a marketing team behind me, I am relying on my own energy and the generosity of others to help me reach more potential readers and to keep moving this conversation. Many of you have already helped me do this. If you can help me get the word out on Women and Fitness in American Culture, I will return the favor or pay it forward.

Here's what I have been doing and where we might connect:

~I created a website last summer where I share all of my work, connect to resources, and maintain a blog.

~I am writing about my book on my website and through my blog. I have even decided to give the world of Twitter a try. @sarah_hentges

~I created a Facebook page for Women and Fitness in American Culture. Perhaps you will "like" it!

~I have also started an Author page on Amazon and would appreciate reviews that you might do there or on Good Reads or other similar sites.

~I have been working to get people to review my book in academic journals and other forums. If you're interested in this my publisher might send you a book!

~ I will be doing guest blogs like these: Love Average guest blog and Fit is a Feminist Issue guest blog and will be reaching out to a variety of print and online sources to share some of the ideas that this book takes up. If you know of such a forum, please share it with me! Here's a recent piece I wrote about CrossFit for The Conversation.

~When I get my tech needs sorted, I will be making a short promo video to share.

~This fall I am currently teaching my American Fitness (AME/WGS 306) class hybrid and online, and we will be making connections to our local communities through a variety of projects. I will be sharing some of my students' work through my blog. Here's the first post: a lovely piece about walking in three different modes.

~I'm developing curricular tools for teaching fitness through American studies or women's, gender, and sexuality studies, or interdisciplinary studies more generally. I'm happy to share these!

The world of social media is rather new to me, so I am happy to receive any feedback that might make my work here more effective.

Finally,
~Over the next couple of years I also plan to offer mind and body workshops, both in academia and in fitness and community centers. I have a lot of ideas that range from an hour or two to a weekend or overnight retreat, and some versions that fit better in academia as well as some that work better in community fitness spaces. I outline a few possible fitness workshops on my website (click here for Move and Be Moved: Fitness Workshops for the Mind and Body) and will be adding to these descriptions as I develop more workshops. If you think that your campus or your fitness or community center would be interested in something like this, please contact me and we can work out the details.

~And, of course, the book would make a nice gift for the fitness enthusiast (or novice) in your life. That gift-giving season is upon us! And, yes, I would humbly sign and personalize a copy for such purposes.

Women and Fitness in American Culture is something I was compelled to write despite a lack of time and resources. It comes from my experience in a variety of overlapping fitness communities, of which many of you are already an important part. I want to thank you all for your continuing role in pushing the boundaries of mainstream fitness. This work--mine and ours--is work that I am passionate about and work that I think can be transformative. But I struggle with the idea of "self-promotion" as well as asking for help from others, as much as I am reminded that I am simply doing what I love and sharing my work.

And this is the reason why I do this work in the first place. To Move and Be Moved.

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Three Walks: Sisters, Dogs and Solitude

11/19/2014

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In my "American Fitness: Culture, Community, and Transformation" class this semester, my students do a variety of assignments and projects, including Observation/Analysis Blogs. Over the course of the semester, students do six blogs and choose from a variety of approaches and topics including: website/resource critique; social media critique/participation; product critique; pop culture critique; interview with a fitness professional; tour of a local facility; reflection on a fitness activity.

Over the next few weeks I plan on featuring some of my favorite student blogs here on my Culture and Movement blog. The first is by Christina Williams. Not only does she reflect upon the fitness activity of walking, she also gives us a comparison of the benefits of walking alone, with others, and with a dog.

Of course, I can immediately identify with the act of walking with a dog. So my dog is pictured here, giving the look that means it's time to go....

Three Walks: Sisters, Dogs and Solitude, by Christina Williams

I was recently thinking about some of the different types of company that one can choose to walk with. One can walk with people for company (therefore most likely chatting while walking), one can walk with a dog or other animal and one can walk alone. My sister was visiting a few weeks ago and I decided to try all three forms to see how they differed from one another. After trying all three I found that they were all pleasurable, but differed in terms of how mentally/emotionally and physically satisfied I felt afterwards.

My first walk was with my sister and her two children (both under the age of 3). We got a lot of exercise and were able to have a pleasant conversation, but were slowed down by the fact that we had two little ones with us, as well as by the fact that the physical exertion of carrying a child inhibited our pace quite a bit. After completing our walk, I found that I felt well exercised and had, had a nice time, but was unsatisfied mentally. Something was missing, but I wasn't sure what.

On another day, I went for a walk alone and found it to be not very relaxing. First of all, I had trouble finding the motivation to get out the door since I had so many things to do and there was no one to "kick" me out the door. When I finally got out the door and had started my walk, my mind began working and continued to work the entire time, trying to solve problems and thinking about homework assignments with due dates that were getting uncomfortably close. As I was thinking about these things (as well as others) my pace would slow until I would find that I was walking at a snail's pace. When I got home, even though I had enjoyed being out of doors, I didn't feel satisfied physically or mentally because I hadn't gotten enough exercise or mental relaxation.

Later that week, I took my sister's dog, Tighe, for a walk. Now, Tighe is a Border Collie. Border Collies need a lot of exercise, attention and mental stimulation, so I thought that I would change into running clothes "just in case I felt the urge to let him get a run". This thought was disguised under the fact that Tighe needed exercise, it was not until later that I realized that it was really something that I wanted. I had no trouble getting out the door because my motivation was that Tighe needed a walk. We headed down to a dirt road near my house which runs along the Kennebec River. I spent the entire mile down the road thinking about nothing in particular, occasionally speaking to Tighe and concentrating on keeping pace with him. When we turned around and headed back towards my car, I decided that Tighe and I would run the mile back. I know that if it had just been me, alone, I would never have run the entire mile, but instead of focusing on myself, I spent the entire time encouraging Tighe (who, of course, didn't need my encouragement) and after the first few minutes, I was able to just "sit back and relax" watching my legs moving rhythmically underneath me and began to, once again, think about nothing in particular. I came back from that walk, feeling physically and mentally satisfied. I was relaxed, happy and ready for anything!

As I said earlier, I enjoyed and found pleasure in all three of these walks, but I found that if I want to be 100% satisfied with my walk, then I should take a dog along. With a dog for company I can go at whatever pace I wish, I have company, but don't have to talk unless I wish to and I can give encouragement, which in turn, encourages me through the happy look on his face.

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Sarah Hentges

I am a professor and a fitness instructor. I work too much, eat too much, and love too much. To borrow from Octavia Butler, I am "an oil and water combination of ambition, laziness, insecurity, certainty, and drive." Because my work is eclectic, so are the topics I write about.

I will be focusing on a Feminist Yoga for Every Mind/Body blog series this winter/spring. I will also be blogging about my sabbatical and my forthcoming book, Girls on Fire: Transformative Heroines in Young Adult Dystopian Literature.

Women and Fitness: An Open Letter

Three Walks: Sisters, Dogs and Solitude

Sarah Hentges

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