AT MY high school, the weightlifting club had three women in it, out of about twenty members, and when they campaigned to have pictures of female weightlifters and athletes put up in the weight room, they were shot down almost immediately. Lewis & Clark’s Women’s Weight Training class reflects starkly different values — women are not a minority here, in the gym or on campus as a whole, and fostering an inclusive environment is something Head Strength & Conditioning Coach Angela Dendas-Pleasant is very committed to.
In 2010, Dendas-Pleasant started to teach a relatively unique class: Weight Training for Women. It is one of the only, if not the only, class with a prerequisite of identifying with a specific gender. But the aim of the class is not to divide.
“The goal of my class is to get people comfortable in a weight room setting, in a public gym setting, and to use the free weights, not just the machines and cardio,” said Dendas-Pleasant.
Athletics is incredibly important to the LC community — as a Division III school, balancing academics and athletics is often very important to students. This class exemplifies these values, containing a mix of education and practice. Dendas-Pleasant comes from a background of college athletics, exercise science and sports medicine, so her approach is often focused on safety and long-term health. Students learn safe techniques through her coaching, and get enough time in the class to build individual routines that they hopefully carry into life past education.
At LC, more than half of students identify themselves as female. That number has only increased since 2010, when the class first began, from 60% to around 66%, according to both CollegeFactual and LC’s own enrollment statistics. There are disproportionately more female teachers as well at 59%. LC clearly has a responsibility for its community of female students, and a duty to help combat issues their students find in the outside world, where that demographic changes.
The class is designed to address concerns, misconceptions and fears that women or nonbinary people may have about the pursuit of weightlifting. Going to the gym is often intimidating , given that diet culture often pushes the idea of the gym as a picture-perfect, mirror-filled arena of athletes. It is easy to think that the people who go to the gym are going there because they are strong already, that they already have a community, that it is embarrassing to ask questions or advertise your “newness” in places like the gym. It is especially hard for women to feel they “belong” in commercial gyms when that demographic primarily leans towards men. Dendas-Pleasant’s class works to bridge that gap.
“We’re just using resistance training as the vehicle to create confidence in individuals,” she said. “Because once you can become familiar with something, it doesn’t seem as intimidating, right?”
That confidence leads to a community, and a very popular community at that: the class has been increasing in popularity since its inception 13 years ago.
“I’ve only seen the enrollment grow to where I’ve had to add enrollment because the interest has been so high,” Dendas-Pleasant said.
That large and caring community creates confidence, and the confidence extends far beyond the bounds of LC.
“I’ve had students who’ve taken the class … and then they come back to me by the time they’re a senior and they tell me about them going to the gym in the summer at home, and how they probably wouldn’t have if they hadn’t taken that class,” Dendas-Pleasant said.
Dendas-Pleasant said real impact of this class is that those who have a desire to improve their strength or to feel more comfortable in the gym can find a structured, helpful way to begin their journey.
“To me, that’s kind of the things that really put it into perspective of, like, the why we’re doing it are those stories. Hearing those stories when students return, that’s really great,” she said.
Dendas-Pleasant offers this advice to people who feel intimidated by starting at the gym.
“Well, obviously, if you’re here, take the class! But if you’re just in life, doing whatever, try to find that supportive community, amongst your friends, amongst your family. You just kind of need, like, one person to go with you to get over the initial fear and skepticism of lifting weights,” she said.
Weight Training for Women is offered every semester on Mondays and Wednesdays from 10:20 – 11:20 a.m. The class is an accessible first step for those in search of an entry point into the world of strength training, and it comes with an incredible culture of support.
About the Author
