Opinion | Want some muscles ladies? Never mind the naysayers, just do it

You know summer is here when, at the gym, you see a sudden influx of men hoping to make gains in what little time is left, and women looking to shape their perfect beach bodies, fuelled by social approval for staying fit.

For women, praise turns into criticism when you become too muscular by Hong Kong standards. Never mind that strength training has proven health benefits, and having a poor body image impacts mental health: a recent poll of some 4,500 respondents by the Mental Health Foundation in the UK found one in eight people have thought of killing themselves because they were dissatisfied with how their bodies looked.

Is this what we want for Hong Kong women – tight bodies with a healthy dose of self-loathing?

For a while, when my workouts were confined to the living room floor, friends hailed me as a role model. At my workplace at a TV station, I gained a reputation as the girl who could effortlessly wield a tripod.

At home, I religiously performed high-intensity interval training – with light weights only, of course – to get an ab crack without a chunky core, to grow some booty without growing my thighs. I was fit, not bulky; strong, but not enough to emasculate.

Around four years ago, I outgrew my living room floor. So, I joined a gym, picked up a 20kg barbell, and started strength training with my partner. At first, I grappled with insecurities: would squatting make my legs thicker? Would benching make my arms bigger? Would dead lifts make my neck look shorter?