- CrossFit athlete Katrin Davidsdottir has trained in both the US and Iceland, where she grew up.
- Davidsdottir told Insider she found fitness culture for women to be very different in both countries.
- In Iceland women are encouraged to be strong, but women in the US are scared to build muscle, she said.
Icelandic CrossFit star and two-time "Fittest Woman on Earth" Katrin Davidsdottir told Insider the biggest difference she's noticed between Icelandic and US fitness culture is that while strong women are celebrated in her country, American women are afraid to build muscle.
Davidsdottir has been competing in CrossFit for 10 years, training both in the US and her native Reykjavik, the Icelandic capital.
The 29-year-old trained with coach Ben Bergeron in Boston for eight years from the age of 20, but in 2021 moved back home to work with a new coach, Jami Tikkanen.
Icelanders exercise more than people from any other European country
The fitness culture is "very different" in Iceland compared to the US, Davidsdottir said, and being an athlete is thought of as "cool and aspirational."
Icelanders exercise more than people from any other European country, with over 60% meeting the World Health Organization's recommendation for exercising 150 minutes per week, compared to 31% on average across the continent, according to 2017 data from Eurostat. In the U.S., only 23.2% of adults do the recommended amount of aerobic and strength training exercise, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
CrossFit athlete Björk Odinsdottir told Vice in the 2014 documentary "The Giants of Iceland," which explores the country's fitness culture: "It's not uncommon to find our gyms here packed out from 6 a.m. through to 8 p.m. People here just love it."
CrossFit is a big sport in Iceland, and everyday people treat their daily workouts like the final of the CrossFit Games, CrossFit coach Karl Steadman previously said.
In the 2021 CrossFit Games, Iceland, which has a population of 340,000 had three women finish in the top 20. The US had nine, but out of a population of 330 million.
Iceland has a lot of strong female athletes, Davidsdottir said — she and fellow Icelandic CrossFitters Sara Sigmundsdottir, and Annie Thorisdottir have been dominating the sport for years.
"Women in Iceland are not afraid to be strong, which I think is so incredibly powerful," Davidsdottir said.
While there are of course plenty of strong women in the US, they aren't celebrated in popular culture in the same way, according to Davidsdottir.
As a young woman, seeing Thorisdottir's CrossFit success encouraged Davidsdottir to get into the sport herself, she said.
"I thought, 'Oh, that's what I want to do,'" Davidsdottir said. "I saw her do it and thought it was so cool."
American women are afraid to be strong — but it's changing
There isn't the same fitness culture for women in the US as there is in Iceland, Davidsdottir said.
"In the US I feel like women are afraid to be strong or afraid they'll gain muscle, but in Iceland it's the norm," Davidsdottir said.
Research suggests women in the U.S. may be reluctant to lift weights for a variety of reasons, including its association with men.
Research from 2006 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggested that only 20% of US women were resistance training two or more times per week, compared to 50% of men.
But Davidsdottir thinks the culture is gradually changing in the States, and it's becoming more normal to be a muscular woman.
The ideal body type among US women is shifting away from "thin," with increasing numbers striving for a "toned" physique, according to 2018 research by the University of Missouri-Kansas City. This can also be seen in the "strong not skinny" movement which has been championed on social media in recent years and has been tagged 9.5 million times on Instagram.
Growing up in Iceland helped Davidsdottir embrace her body, she said
It wasn't until Davidsdottir moved to the US that she encountered the idea some people hold that women "aren't supposed to be this way," she said.
In this regard, growing up in Iceland was a privilege for the athlete, she said.
"I'm really thankful for our culture in Iceland for how open it is, how women are leading the way, and I very much want to be part of continuing that," Davidsdottir said.
Growing up in a country that celebrates strong women not only encouraged Davidsdottir to get into gymnastics and then CrossFit, but also helped her embrace her body along the way.
"I was always the strong one, the girl with the big biceps," Davidsdottir said. "But I've never felt like I want to hide my muscles or be smaller."