Strong, toned muscles DO help a woman in pregnancy. Weak back and stomach muscles can lead to many acute and chronic problems.

Exactly. My wife has a problem with her tailbone and lower back that probably would be reduced if she exercised more so the muscles could help keep everything in place.

Wallflower has touched on a lot of the issues that have come up eloquently and capably.

I think there really seems to be a disconnect with regards to health and looking good here. It's been mentioned that there are women that exercise only for the goal of looking good. Yes, that's true. But why lump all women into that category? Just because a woman, specifically a trad Catholic woman exercises, does not mean that we're doing it for 'looking good'. The side benefit of being healthy and exercising IS looking the best that God intended.

I have a long family history of obesity, diabetes, heart conditions that can be counter-acted by exercise and living well in what is consumed and expended regarding my health. I choose my expenditure to be exercise to create the well being that is necessary to allow for the life that I live to continue. On of the other side benefits that is not discussed a lot is that exercise in it's release of endorphins is a relief of stress and anxiety. I have a ton of that and exercise is my best remedy. Otherwise I'd have to take medications to alleviate them. Which is not beneficial for me especially knowing I have this outlet.

There is nothing wrong with beauty. Too often people believe that in order to have a spiritual life that they must deny the positive aspects in the physical life. Carrying any idea to the extreme can become an obsession. It is possible to care for the spiritual aspect as well as our physical bodies that God gave us, and we must.

The OP asked if he was sexist, I do not believe he is. He started this thread asking about sports for girls primarily. I do not think some sports are appropriate for girls. All are contact sports. Someone mentioned basketball as not being appropriate for girls, I of course do disagree based on my personal experience. My first post did mention my grandmother who was born in 1925. She and many other girls did sports perhaps because many of the boys/men went off to war. It may have been the reason why she played.  It certainly wasn't feminism that was part of her/their mindset. Now? Yes I see it, females wanting to go to war, be a solider, females wanting to be in wrestling, football. It's truly a disgrace how far and deep the feminist thought has pervaded society.

This is not one of those times. Physical activity of any kind for both genders is essential to offset the video gaming, sedentary lifestyle that many people have, particularly children in the last 20 years. What that physical activity is in the end is up to the parents. Some obviously as the OP shared choose inappropriate activities. For us trad Catholics specifically because we understand modesty and the development of this and other virtues and character building.  


 

Everyone else has more well-founded reasons for approving of women working out, nevertheless I'll share mine. Please feel free to tell me I'm ridiculous. :)

A year or so ago I was listening to some sermons on vices, and how to identify them. They listed little things in everyday life which were indicators that you had virtues to work on. Obviously I had (and have) all of them to work on, but I was surprised by the indicators he listed for Sloth. Do I jump out of bed in the morning, do I make my bed promptly after morning prayer, do I do the dishes right after I dirty them, do I ever lean against walls? Am I prompt and generous in my spiritual exercises and in interior and exterior mortification? He listed others, but these stick out in my memory.

Among other changes, I promised God to work out three times a week, as long as He promised not to make me look better by doing so. Sometimes it's a struggle, but He’s my strength. I have an elliptical in my home which helps me work out in a good conscience. I do spiritual reading or listen to sermons during which, and offer it all in union with Christ sufferings for our brothers and sisters in Purgatory. I hope He is pleased with my actions. I'm sure you all know Him better than me, so in your charity tell me if I'm wrong.

As far as working out in public: eeeek! Maybe you all can do it because you have more balanced personalities and less scruples. Far from being relaxing I find myself plagued with the thought on one soul thinking of something impure because of me. Even wearing terribly ugly clothes is not enough to combat St. John Chysostom's words in my head:

When you have made another sin in his heart how can you be innocent? Tell me, who does this world condemn? Whom do judges in court punish? Those who drink poison or those who prepare it and administer the fatal poison? You have prepared the abominable cup, you have given the death-dealing drink, and you are more criminal than are those who poison the body; you murder not the body but the soul.

I probably have nothing to worry about, but souls are my Achilles heel. I've already stolen too many from Jesus.

"Women don't need to work out"



Please go.

Women don't need to work out, which is why your bones are so brittle and you have very little muscle mass and tons upon tons of fat. No wonder so many of you end up with osteoporosis when you think like that. No physical activities = no muscle. No muscles = you can't even move when you're 70+

A woman isn't going to get "bulky" or "jacked" from working out. It doesn't work that way. You won't gain weight if you don't eat enough anyways. Enough of the broscience, please. Women can and do benefit from physical activities, and she's not going to become a man unless she's trying to (i.e. steroids)

My Dad put me in t-ball one year when I was maybe 6 or 7.  I always liked being in the outfield so I could pick flowers...hahaha.  

As to exercise, modern young women can easily become obsessed with fitness. Media, (especially fitness magazines) contribute to this. For teenage/college age girls, working out often goes beyond being fit and healthy and is pure vanity.  Unfortunately, in western culture, this is what is valued. It is also exploited by feminists because women are allowed to obsess about every detail of their body, but then they decide men are pigs if they make any comment about female appearance, even though they are bombarded by images of it everywhere.  

While I have personally given up being a fitness fanatic, I do still workout, but by myself at home and not for hours a day, which can mess with the body.  I am satisfied that I am able to maintain my pre-pregnancy weight and feel trim. I don't care if I don't have the exact same muscle definition as I did at one time, because sometimes that can look borderline unfeminine.  I don't think it is attractive to purposely try to look athletic if you have a naturally feminine shape.

I do think it is very important for mothers to stay healthy. As it was already mentioned, most women do not have the same amount of physical work to do as they did 100 years ago. This, along with unhealthy diet/processed foods contributes to obesity which can harm a woman's fertility and raise the risk of pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia and gestational diabetes.  I had a very easy labor and delivery with my daughter, and I do think that being fit may have helped me.  My doctor cut me off from vigorous exercise in the second trimester, but I took long walks, did a lot of stretching, and used a resistance band. I think this helped me bounce back quickly after giving birth.  Sometimes now I will do light hand weights, but if you were to follow the advice of say, Shape magazine, you'd be overdoing it with strength training.  

 Additionally, I don't think there is anything wrong with women working out to keep their appearance nice, both to attract a spouse in the first place and then also just to keep looking nice for a husband during the marriage. In the same way that a wife should strive to keep her home beautiful and comfortable for her husband, she should keep herself looking nice too. For some women who don't have much physical housework to do, formal exercise might be a part of this. I don't think that necessarily crosses the line to vanity.

...and women's suffrage was right around the corner.

  :thinking:

That's just it: there is no evidence that organized team sports were commonly played by women in the history of Christendom. The reason is because a woman playing professional sports contradicts what their roles are supposed to be according to the teachings of the Church.

Feminism hasn't been a large movement for centuries, it came along at the turn of the 20th century.

How old do the women in those pictures appear to be?