Category Archives: Body Image
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
What is beautiful?
So not my definition of beauty but HEY...to each her own!
Seriously is there really one universal definition?
I DON’T THINK SO!
Working in a gym, where you constantly hear people commenting on other people’s bodies, you begin to realize that everyone really does have a different definition of what is beautiful. (Especially men and women.)
It seems that every male trainer at the gym loves women with big butts, yet most women are working out to try to firm, tone and shrink their rears.
Even women differ in their opinions of what is feminine beauty. Just think about what female movie stars you think are the MOST attractive. I guarantee not everyone agrees with you!
I mean part of the reason I was so motivated to start this blog was because women are afraid to lift weights because they don’t want to look bulky or overly muscled! Many women don’t find muscle attractive!
The numerous articles about famous actresses, singers and such with muscle who are ridiculed are proof of the fact that women (and men) don’t find muscled women attractive…like the articles about Cameron Diaz. Personally, I don’t think she is too muscled (maybe on the skinny side…but not too muscled).
Anyway, the point is no one has the exact same view of what is beautiful.
So what are we really all striving toward?
Shouldn’t we all just be seeking to make our bodies the best that they can be naturally while still being able to enjoy our life?
I mean…aren’t we women much harsher in our criticisms of our own bodies than anyone else is? We seem to obsess over every little flaw – every eyebrow hair that is out-of-place (ok maybe the eyebrow hair thing is just me…)
But what are we obsessing for?
No one is perfect. And there will also be people who find you beautiful as is or that think you need a bigger/smaller waist/butt/arm…anything.
Beauty is such a fluid thing with so many definitions…so why can’t we just be happy and content with the fact that we do everything we can while still living our lives to the fullest?!
Why can’t we all just be happy with the bodies we have and know that they are each beautiful in their own ways!?!
Top 6 Motivational Women – Soon to be Top 10!
Yesterday while I was standing in the check out line at Whole Foods with an array of delicious food in front of me (pork shoulder, pork belly, macadamia nuts, salami) I gave in to an impulse buy – Oxygen Magazine.
I can rarely ever resist buying Oxygen Magazine or Fitness Rx or Muscle and Fitness HERS for that matter. There is something about those beautiful muscular women on the cover that I just can’t resist even though most of the time I’m disappointed with the nutritional information that the magazines provide.
BUT the articles don’t bother me. I didn’t buy them for their nutrition or fitness tips.
I bought them for the motivation those awesome fitness models provide. They are beautiful, muscled and strong. They are everything I work everyday to be!
I know this sounds strange…most of the women I know hate looking at pictures of models because those perfect women make them feel inferior. But the pictures have the opposite effect on me. Seeing those beautiful women means that my goals are possible. They motivate me to keep working hard so that I can be as fit as them!
I’ve even hung pictures of fitness models on my refrigerator to remind me of my goals (Jamie Eason specifically!!!). Of course I’ve stopped doing this since I’ve realized that house guests find it a little strange….
Two years ago one of Ryan’s roommates from college came to visit Boston and stayed with us. He saw the pictures of skimpily clad fitness models up on the refrigerator and asked Ryan if he put those up there. He had seemed confused by the pictures of half-naked girls.
Ryan said no that I had put them up. I almost think that confused Ryan’s old roommate more…
Anyway, I loved seeing those girls every time I went to the refrigerator…They definitely kept me from grabbing bad food out of the fridge! 😉
But anyway, I haven’t put them back up since. BUT here is a list of the Top 6 Women that motivate me to lift heavy and eat clean!!! (They aren’t in any particular order) 🙂
1. Jamie Eason – She was the first fitness model that really motivated me to get super involved in heavy lifting and I have a huge girl crush on her (sorry Ryan). She is strong and beautiful.
2. Annie Thorisdottir – She is the fittest woman on the planet at the moment. DUH she’s motivational!
3. Angie Pye – She looks amazing and she’s one of the fittest women on the planet. What isn’t motivating about that!?!
4. Lindsey Smith – She’s a top crossfit competitor and a super sexy mother. Another bad-ass, motivational woman! (AND Candy’s favorite!)
5. Margaret Diubaldo – A fitness competitor who has been on like a bazillion fitness magazine covers. Obviously muscular and beautiful!
Plus I love the short haircut! 🙂
6. Natasha Peay – A fitness competitor and boxer, she is one super sexy strong woman who isn’t afraid to kick a little ass!
These 6 women don’t include the most motivational woman of all – the Man Bicep Mom. She inspired me to lift heavy and has always supported me (not to mention she is one super sexy muscular woman herself!!!)
What women motivate you?
The Perfect Body
What do you consider to be the perfect body? One with six-pack abs? A bubble butt? Being so strong you can lift a car? Maybe all of the above?
The perfect body means so many different things. Some people want to look shredded – lean muscles and six-pack abs. Some people don’t care what they look like but want to be able to lift 3 times their body weight. Some people just want to have a body that can run and play with their grandkids.
I really started thinking about what it means to have “the perfect body” when I was looking through ESPN the Magazine’s Body Issue. I looked through it once with Ryan and then with Candy. Both times we looked at each of the athletes and discussed which bodies we liked or wanted. We all had slightly different opinions about which bodies were our favorites.
But that got me to thinking…All of these bodies are, in fact, perfect. All of the athletes’ bodies in the magazine are perfect in that they made each of them highly successful in their sport. It reminded me that “perfection” can mean so many different things.
It also reminded me of a situation in college. It was my freshman year, and I was introduced to lifting by a new strength and conditioning coach at Boston University. The girls on my team had been used to getting away with murder and slacking on their weights. But this new coach wasn’t going to have it.
She pushed us to lift heavy. We did heavy front squats and heavy bench. We worked on hang cleans, deadlifts and pull ups.
And the girls didn’t like it.
They were afraid they were going to look manly. Or have huge traps. They were afraid they wouldn’t look feminine. (Really they were afraid of working hard!!)
Of course this was a load of bull crap and our trainer told us so (our trainer was actually a very pretty blond who lifted heavy weights and still looked very feminine). But the girls wouldn’t listen. They were more worried about their bodies looking “perfect” by society’s standards than their bodies being “perfect” for their sport.
This I didn’t understand. First off…I felt that my body would look perfect if I lifted. Secondly…if you really want to be a twig with no muscle, you have the rest of your life to accomplish this. Right now you are on scholarship to play TENNIS; therefore, your body should be made PERFECT FOR TENNIS!
But they didn’t see it that way. Their body wasn’t perfect if it didn’t look a certain way, which in my opinion kept them from reaching their full potential in tennis.
Which raises a question for me…do I have conflicting images of what I want my perfect body to be? On the one hand, I want to develop six-pack abs while on the other hand I want to be able to lift enough to win a powerlifting competition…Usually the two don’t go hand in hand. I’ve actually even been told numerous times by Brian that I can’t worry about gaining weight while we are training. But at the same time…I don’t want to gain unnecessary fat.
Can I really accomplish both? Can I not gain fat while gaining strength? Can I even lower my body fat percentage while adding strength and muscle? There are people out there who say, “no you can’t” while there are others out there who claim to have done just that.
We will see who is right!
Man Bicep 