Running through the snow and rain, doing track intervals, doing hill repeats, enduring the pain of an 800m race are all more difficult tasks than just lifting weights at the gym. So why are gym bros considered masculine but not runners?
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Pretty obvious that the grit exhibited by runners (esp. distance) is overshadowed by their often gaunt, weakly appearance.
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In animal species it's the biggest, strongest male that can defeat his rivals in a fight that gets his pick of females. Macho isn't about being able to do fast intervals, it's about winning fights.
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One-hundred meter dash, 6'1" to 800m, 5'11", the medalists are robust and are close to fight club size. Fifteen-hundred meters, 5'9" to Marathon, 5'5", the men get small.
The above are the average heights of medalists from 1896 to 2008 or 2012 Olympic medalists. I suppose J Ingebrigsten has slightly increased the average height for 1500m & 5000m medalists.
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Muscle Runner wrote:
Running through the snow and rain, doing track intervals, doing hill repeats, enduring the pain of an 800m race are all more difficult tasks than just lifting weights at the gym. So why are gym bros considered masculine but not runners?
Coz a man stands and and faces the truth instead of running away jiggling their buttocks and moobs effeminately.
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I don't mind not being associated with this culture of masculinity that often promotes violence and misogyny.
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Muscle Runner wrote:
Running through the snow and rain, doing track intervals, doing hill repeats, enduring the pain of an 800m race are all more difficult tasks than just lifting weights at the gym. So why are gym bros considered masculine but not runners?
Because runners have low testosterone?
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Because it's populated by people who are concerned with whether or not they seem masculine. (A sure sign that they are not)
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Muscle Runner wrote:
Running through the snow and rain, doing track intervals, doing hill repeats, enduring the pain of an 800m race are all more difficult tasks than just lifting weights at the gym. So why are gym bros considered masculine but not runners?
Because females do it too?
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Ladies doin' it wrote:
Muscle Runner wrote:
Running through the snow and rain, doing track intervals, doing hill repeats, enduring the pain of an 800m race are all more difficult tasks than just lifting weights at the gym. So why are gym bros considered masculine but not runners?
Because females do it too?
And females today don't go to the gym to lift weights/do bodybuilding?
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Muscle Runner wrote:
Running through the snow and rain, doing track intervals, doing hill repeats, enduring the pain of an 800m race are all more difficult tasks than just lifting weights at the gym. So why are gym bros considered masculine but not runners?
I've never heard it isn't a masculine sport. Literally never heard it characterized as feminine or non-masculine. The gym bros don't do it because it doesn't achieve a particular physique.
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Muscle Runner wrote:
Running through the snow and rain, doing track intervals, doing hill repeats, enduring the pain of an 800m race are all more difficult tasks than just lifting weights at the gym. So why are gym bros considered masculine but not runners?
In some ways running is far too hard (or too masculine?) and the level of physical and cardiovascular conditioning is far too high to be accepted by the general population. Even the world's best female distance runners today would completely destroy a professional male soccer player in pretty much any race from 800m upwards. And soccer is a sport which is essentially running and kicking a ball. Gym bros would struggle to run beyond 400m at female WR 5000m pace.
Basically running is just too far right of the bell curve to be considered worthy by the general sports population.
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equality today wrote:
Ladies doin' it wrote:
Because females do it too?
And females today don't go to the gym to lift weights/do bodybuilding?
Correct, the vast majority of women are just on the treadmill, elliptical, stationary bikes. The number of women who are doing serious bodybuilding where they start looking un-fem is very, very low.
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It is seen as masculine, just not toxic masculine (sexism, gym culture, wife beaters, can of stella and needle of steroids etc).
There's a big difference.
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Hypothesis: Distance running represents a more primordial form of masculinity. It harkens back to the days before civilization, when some ancient humans (and a tiny number of modern descendants) practiced persistence hunting - running down prey that was stronger and faster over shorter bursts because they didn't have the tools and/or numbers to reliably ambush prey.
Other sports - and even sprinting, to some extent - represent a more modern form of masculinity, in which we have the needed tools and resources to build up, and then expend excess energy on short, explosive bursts. Not for food, primarily, but for activity that would have been considered frivolous in a pre-civilization world.
So if you're a distance runner and looking to salvage some image when someone calls it a non-masculine sport, try that line, lol. It might work if the person you're responding to isn't thinking too hard about it.
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Muscle Runner wrote:
Running through the snow and rain, doing track intervals, doing hill repeats, enduring the pain of an 800m race are all more difficult tasks than just lifting weights at the gym. So why are gym bros considered masculine but not runners?
Most of the country doesn't get snow and runners will often workout indoors those days. Running through a light rain is pleasant. No one consistently runs through heavy thunderstorms.
Swimming is basically most of that (hard intervals, repeats, painful short races) plus the fact that you need a really strong upper body (aka muscles) and you need good technique. So which one is more masculine?
This post was edited 51 seconds after it was posted.36 -
Muscle Runner wrote:
Running through the snow and rain, doing track intervals, doing hill repeats, enduring the pain of an 800m race are all more difficult tasks than just lifting weights at the gym. So why are gym bros considered masculine but not runners?
Too many liberals.
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gym bros start to like running around age 30. they come to local races and act like they're at the gym.
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ELTON\'S PORTABLE JOHN wrote:
Muscle Runner wrote:
Running through the snow and rain, doing track intervals, doing hill repeats, enduring the pain of an 800m race are all more difficult tasks than just lifting weights at the gym. So why are gym bros considered masculine but not runners?
Most of the country doesn't get snow and runners will often workout indoors those days. Running through a light rain is pleasant. No one consistently runs through heavy thunderstorms.
Indeed, coz places with heavy thunderstorms every day are hard to find.
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