getting gains in and out of the gym
+ bag bicep curls, sauna time, and anti-brainrot TikTok
Hello, it’s your trusty gym rat Ilze, reporting from the mat at the women-only gym.
The Cut recently reported an uptick in women in the US taking their dissatisfaction with the state of the world to the squat rack. Same story here in Amsterdam.
I’ve been a gym regular for 7+ years and let me tell you, this January feels different. Women aren’t just working out; they’re getting jacked. And it’s not just in the gym—so many of my girlfriends are voluntarily getting screamed at in dark rooms while pedaling for dear life (a.k.a. Rocycle). “I love doing it in the morning—it makes me feel ready for whatever the day throws at me later,” one told me.
I’ve been going to a women-only gym for a year—not by choice, just convenience. I didn’t expect to love it this much. t’s not some pastel sisterhood where we braid hair between sets. No, nobody even bothers to ask how many sets you have left or if they can work in between. We just respect each other’s time with the equipment, wipe it down, and exchange a knowing smile.
There’s a whole conversation to be had about the neoliberal body - the obsession with self-optimization, and how fit has replaced thin as the new ideal. But I’ll just leave you with this quote from Susan Bordo’s Unbearable Weight book:
"People might not feel in control of their jobs or relationships anymore—but they can control what they eat and how far they run."
🗞️ News:
DeepSeek is an AI chatbot (similar to ChatGPT), open-source, entirely free-to-use, with offline capabilities, Chinese-made, and cost almost 1/5th what it took OpenAI. Its release tanked the US stock tech market overnight - particularly affecting OpenAI (ChatGPT owners) and NVIDIA.
The White Lotus Season 3 trailer is out.
Glenn Martens announced as the new creative director of Maison Margiela.
Oscar nominees announced: Brutalist dominated with 10 nominees, meanwhile also in hot water for the use of AI to elevate the actor’s Hungarian accent.
Milan & Paris FW recap: loads of barrel-shaped pants (Jacquemus and Dior), and plaid patterns (System, Undercover, Comme des Garçons)—just as we predicted back in September.
Our sweet premium money: Spotify donated $150,000 to Donald Trump's presidential campaign. SoundCloud?
¥ØU$UK€ ¥UK1MAT$U’s Tokyo Boiler Room set seems to have grabbed people’s attention.
🧂Trends:
Carrying the weight
They say it’s not what you wear but how you wear it. Spotted at Fashion Weeks on and off the runway—and beyond: people carrying their bags in hand. And it seems, the bigger the bag, the better.
What’s the point of the bag then? Definitely good for the gains.
De-puffing with rubber bands
Seen people casually slipping rubber bands around their ears and wondering… why? Well it’s the latest K-beauty export - an easy way to de-puff your face in 10 mins.
But whether it really works is contested, with people pointing out there are no lymph nodes in the ear to perform any lymphatic drainage.
Saunas
When asked why they choose a particular gym, a common answer among gymbros is that it features a sauna. Whether for post-workout muscle soothing or sweating out the weekend bender, saunas in Amsterdam have become extremely popular, and a recent piece in Vogue shows a similar trend in London.
Add cold plunges to the equation, and the bro thinks he’s invincible.
We hear that for some girls, Dyson hairstyling products are the reason behind choosing a particular gym in Amsterdam.
Snapchat, Future of Short-form Content?
Much to Ashe’s chagrin (just a hater), Snapchat has survived - or thrived - for the past few years. The platform has been heavily investing into flocking content creators onto Snapchat since last year, and it’s slowly coming to fruition.
Paid brand deals, increasing opportunities, a relatively open market, and big names joining the app as creators - we think Snapchat might be a profitable place for influencers who lean into fans desire for parasocial interactions.
Mass Meta Exodus
With Zuckerberg’s newly communicated… stances and new regulations for Meta products, users are vowing to leave as many Meta-owned apps as they can.
Facebook accounts are getting deleted, Instagrams are being wiped of data, and some are even trying to migrate from WhatsApp to Signal if possible.
Tell On Me Trend
Now, some of us are paranoid about falling on our faces and breaking it. Others, they’re doing the “Tell On Me” trend where they stand in precarious positions (often hanging off a door) as they lipsync the chorus to this song.
Over the week, the positions have gotten more and more absurd (and creative). And dangerous.
Yk what, maybe the calisthenics community will get some more warriors.
Wax Candy
Maybe you’ve seen the translucent candies on your FYP, cropping up in candy store stocks, or in the hands of your local Gen Alpha - but wax candies seem to be the internet fad rn. It’s some sort of fruit gel (artificial, of course) coated in food-safe soy or beeswax.
Wax candies aren’t new to the market - but their current popularity is. These candies are sensory toys in a way, where the gel oozes out and you chew onto the wax and spit it out like gum. Like those crystal candies that blew up a few years ago.
But more than that, these candies are for fun content - a very specific cuisine that’s evolved over the years in online spaces. It’s not prop-food or clickbait recipes anymore, it’s ASMR community pioneered influence over people’s growing interest in multi-sensory satisfying food.
Chinese Herbal Healing
Remember the Xiaohongshu boom in West? Well that, combined with the whole increased interest in eating for your hormonal cycle, has introduced thousands of TikTok users to discover Chinese healing recipes (all hail the snow fungus).
A particularly popular one is an herbal tea made of red date jujubes, goji berries, ginger, and some brown sugar for menstrual cramping. Placebo or effective ancient healing practices - they seem to reduce cramping and bloating [Ashe tried and tested].
Cute winter boots
A reality check: People in the US on TikTok are casually chatting about “cute winter boots” while sneakily sharing resistance strategies against Trump’s immigration policies to dodge censorship. What a world we live in!
By the way, your old iPhone might be worth thousands now—if it still has TikTok installed.
TIkTok University
Mass organizing community learning is alive on TikTok, thanks to a sort-of-project started by Dr Barlow for her IRL students. Many Black academics are sharing their knowledge on TikTok with online lecture formats as ‘electives’.
From the original African American studies to Financial Literacy 101, users are treating it as a pseudo university, sharing what courses they’re taking, creating syllabuses, signing up as teachers or staff.
Hopefully this community knowledge sharing continues in popularity.
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