Women in Weightlifting: Girl Gains at Baylor is pursuing a mission to promote female weightlifting and help empower women. Bryant, Ark., sophomore Lucille Van Roekel, president of Women in Weightlifting, stated that she began the chapter in march of 2021 and recruited the rest of the executive members over the summer.
Roekel stated, “Our mission is just to empower women and get them in the weight room because sometimes it can be really intimidating with the amount of men that can be in there, We also just like to form a community to encourage women to get into weightlifting … But then we also want to be here for the women that have already been in a weightlifting room and just give them that sense of community.”
Women in Weightlifting is a chapter of Girl Gains, a national collegiate organization that was founded in 2020 at San Diego State University for all fitness levels. The national organization and the Baylor chapter have four core values: knowledge, strength, body positivity and community. Roekel added, “We don’t want you to think of it as like going to the gym to make your body look better, but in a way that you’re going to the gym to love your body, not because you hate it,We believe that every woman deserves to accept and love their body no matter where they are in their fitness journey.”
Women in Weightlifting has biweekly meetings with events that are scheduled for the weeks without meetings scheduled. With no required dues or attendance, the club currently has 40 active members. Roekel said, “Meetings can range from guest speakers or just getting together and socializing and just, like I said, forming that community, Events can be … going to Mamaka Bowls, making protein pancakes, or they can be things like having a women’s weightlifting night.”
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