For once I arrived early for my kickboxing class and what did I see in the studio: men’s boot camp. MEN’S Boot Camp. At first I thought: why do men need their own boot camp? You can’t keep women out of boot camp if they want to go. Discrimination! I can do anything men can do, and in many cases more…And then I glanced at the class schedule, conveniently posted by the door, classes such as yoga, interval training, step, pilates, butts and guts… zumba (and let’s be honest, zumba is suburban white women trying to dance in a sexy way). 99% of these classes will be attended by no men, and if there is a man in the class, it’s a man, singular. Why are men so afraid of classes choreographed to music? Why do women love them so much? The truth is men should nut up, be a real man, and show up to these classes. But since they don’t. Perhaps that men fear anything considered girly isn’t the gym’s problem to solve. But allowing people of both sexes to be healthy and challenge themselves is. This is after all, a gym that opens for six hours on Thanksgiving morning to serve it’s mission. So go on, have your Men’s Boot Camp, fill it to the max as this class was.
But I will revel in the fact that the teacher of Men’s Boot Camp is a fiesty, little, woman.