Category Archives: Uncategorized
Some days you just don’t have it
There are just some days that no matter how hard you try, your workout just isn’t up to par. You can’t lift the weight you lifted last week; you can’t row that 500m as fast as you did the other day.
And that just sucks.
And it frustrates you. And you get down on yourself. And then you carry that bad attitude throughout the rest of the workout, which prevents you from really getting the most out of your workout.
But don’t let it! Stop those negative thoughts in their tracks!
Everyone has workouts that aren’t as good as they would like them to be. You can’t make progress every single workout, which sucks but is true. You are going to hit plateaus or have days where you are just worn out and your muscles don’t want to work.
But you can still get a lot out of those bad workouts. You just have to change the way you think about them. Instead of seeing them as not a good workout, think positively about the fact that you even worked out at all. Most of the time when I’ve had a bad workout, I didn’t want to workout that day anyway. I was either super tired that day or stressed or even worn out from the workout the day before.
So instead of getting down on myself about the workout, I think about the fact that I managed to push through an intense exercise session even though I would rather be eating ice cream on the futon in front of my TV.
Don't give in to the laziness!
I like to think that I’ve only had a bad workout if I didn’t give it everything I had that day. And the only time I seem to slack off is when I have a negative attitude.
So drop the attitude and just enjoy the workout! If you give every workout your all, you should never be disappointed!
This post was inspired by Judy Fleming. Thank you Judy for the post suggestion!
My Man Bicep Sister
So Candy has her blog up and running. Check out SoontobeManBicep! I must admit I’m flattered and in love with her first post. 🙂 Thank you Candy!
Also, I must repeat…Candy’s biceps are definitely TRUE MAN BICEPS!
12 hour Spin-a-thon
Corsets, Foot binding and…Cellulite?
You are probably looking at the three words in the title and thinking one of these things is not like the others…But are they really so different?
Corsets and foot binding were used to control women. They made women have to buy different clothing products; they made women have to pursue an unrealistic body. Those two things made women feminine and not manly. Those two things made females the delicate sex and unable to pursue occupations and such in a man’s world (those two things definitely kept women from reaching their genetic potential).
Cellulite was a term first used in the 1920 (hmm about the time that women started wearing more freeing clothing and began to try to become more independent). In the 1960s, the term appeared in English language publications, first appearing in Vogue. Vogue huh? Not exactly a mecca for medical information. More a mecca for advertising and women’s fashions. Vogue is more of a place where women are presented with an unrealistic body image which is supposed to be beautiful and attainable (which it is if you starve yourself).
So why would Vogue use the word cellulite? Because cellulite is supposedly a condition that only women suffered from with no easy cure. It is supposed to a “lumpy deposits of body fat especially on women’s thighs etc.” It is a word that could make them lots of money – a word that would keep women coming back for cures and keep women reading for the next way to lose fat.
It didn’t allow women to think about manly pursuits…such as weight training. It kept women thinking they are different from men – a fairer sex with a “disease” that only they can have. Their fat couldn’t be cured the way men cured theirs.
Ok so maybe now you are starting to see the connection – control of the market over women. Women thinking they are different – a fairer sex with problems different from men’s. Yes, corsets and foot binding are way more extreme, but each of these things in their time and place serve to control women – they serve to make women pursue a female form that just simply isn’t realistic instead of a female form that they can attain.
I mean if women really want the best body that they can realistically have, why wouldn’t a magazine tell women to lift weights like men do? Lifting weights helps men reach a beautiful body…wouldn’t it do the same for women?
Right now you are thinking about the doctrine of women magazines…magazines that want to sell women something (exercise equipment FOR WOMEN; diets FOR WOMEN). You are thinking that lifting weights would make a woman big and bulky NOT beautiful. But really…answer me how this will happen? How will women get huge when they don’t have the testosterone that men have? How will they get big? Steroids? haha well that isn’t NATURAL…those to me are on the same level as corsets!
So right now you are thinking about all those articles in women’s health and fitness magazines and HOPEFULLY you are starting to realize that all they are trying to do is sell something. They are trying to create a market for women’s fitness products. A market that wouldn’t be there if women started working out like the other part of our species.
I mean this is how women who work out like men look…women who don’t buy special products or pursue unrealistic body images…
Girls that lift like men!
And another one…
No weights but simple agility athletic training.
These women look pretty great to me and they didn’t have to spend lots of money finding out about the latest craze or buying the newest women’s product. They didn’t worry about getting big and bulky. They have developed beautiful, healthy bodies.
Even if you don’t agree with anything I’ve written above, I hope at least you start questioning things you read about women’s health and fitness. I hope you start thinking about the motives behind why things are written and reported.
As long as it is healthy, it is beautiful…What BS!
I just can’t believe this video. This is exactly what I’m battling against. This video is exactly why women are afraid to do weights! And Cameron Diaz isn’t big. She only has muscle definition because she freaking has no body fat like whatsoever! GRRRRRRRR ABC!! GRRRR!
And what was worse was where I found this video…on Fitcorp’s (a gym in Boston) Facebook page. A gym that posts a video about the fact that some people think women can be too toned!?! Uhm not a good move in my opinion!
I mean I guess they were trying to get people involved in their page…but still! Why even make women more aware of the fact that muscles may not be considered attractive to some people? That only makes trainers jobs harder – it is already hard to convince female clients to lift weights and now they have a video posted by their own company which will convince some women not to lift because they may become “too toned.”
Isn’t part of our job in the fitness industry to make people healthier? Isn’t lifting weights to gain strength, increase metabolism and bone density part of becoming healthier?
At least there was one bright spot in all of this…the poll attached to the video…”Cameron Diaz had recently been criticized for being “too buff.” We want to know … what do you think about women being toned & muscular?”
And the response so far….
5 people – “As long as it is healthy, it is beautiful” (Ok not bad but this is the same excuse overweight people use to not change their lifestyle.)
3 people – “Not for me, but nothing wrong with it” (Ok this bothered me especially since one of Fitcorp’s staff said this. Why isn’t it for you?…Probably because you don’t really think it is attractive but hey you are liberal and someone else can do what they want. These people definitely don’t support weight training.)
0 people – “It doesn’t seem natural” (PHEW!)
1 person – “I wish I looked like them” (COME TRAIN WITH ME!!!!)
1 person – “I’m a muscular woman and proud of it” (Uhm this one person was me…)
0 people – “I’m a man who loves muscular women” (Very disappointed that no man said yes. Women won’t fully want to gain muscle until they hear men saying it is beautiful.)
1 person – “Eh…who cares…leave them alone” (WHAT THE HECK DOES THIS EVEN MEAN!?!)
Ok so some bright spots…no one said it is unnatural and most women seem to think that it is ok…BUT the downside is that most women seem to think it is ok for any woman besides themselves. Very sad. I can think of numerous women who would look WAY better if they had some muscle AND most of those women would answer that it’s “not for me, but nothing wrong with it.”
Come on people.
Experimentation
Everyone wants a quick fix. The diet miracle that will make them trim and beautiful – a magic exercise pill that will do all the work for them. Shoot I would love a quick fix that gave me superman strength and six-pack abs! I mean, who wouldn’t!
But unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. We have to struggle and battle. It costs us sweat and even tears to achieve the bodies we desire – which honestly is why most people fall short. It is easier to give up on finding a solution; it is easier to not stick with a plan than to battle day in and day out.
But is it really easier to give up? Are we really happen when we don’t achieve our goals? I’m not!
Always trying to find a better, EASIER way to achieve my goals has led me over the last few years to experiment with both my diet and exercise regime.
I’ve tried P90x. I’ve tried Insanity. I’ve done power lifting and bodybuilding workouts. I’ve tried those routines in women’s magazines.
I’ve tried low-fat diets. I’ve tried eating whatever I want (which was fun until my pants started to not fit because I’d gained 10lbs). I’ve tried portion control and eating everything in moderation.
I’ve experimented to find out what works best for ME. Because let’s face it…Everything I’ve listed above works for someone…yes even the eating whatever they want works for some lucky SOB.
Only by trying out lots of different things have I found one solution, one plan that I feel I can stick to for the rest of my life.
For me that one eating plan is my own take on Primal and enforcing the 80/20 rule. 80-90% of the time I maintain a Primal diet – a healthy diet. But then there is that 10-20% of the time when I just freaking want a huge slice of pizza – and I eat it! For me, giving in and cheating every once in a while is fun and worth it. I’ve found a good balance of eating healthy and cheating that allows me to easily maintain my diet. I’ve also found that for me Primal works. It is a LIFESTYLE I can maintain for the long run. It isn’t some crash diet.
The exercise plan that works best for me is VARIETY. You may think that isn’t a plan, but it is. I like to vary up what I do. I always do some form of heavy lifting each week (I have a hard time gaining muscle and keeping it on), but I also love to do crossfit style workouts, spinning and yoga (when I find the time to). Ok so maybe even more than variety I like a challenge and lifting heavy, heavy weights….like the guy on the Planet Fitness commercial that “Picks things up and puts them down!” haha
Anyway, to sum up my ramblings…The message of my blog is about more than lifting heavy weights…it is about experimenting to find what works for you. It is about not fearing something new and different. It is about taking risks. And for most women, the fitness “risk” they should be taking is trying out lifting. Most women fear it will make them huge so they never give lifting a chance. Just try lifting for 60 days. Let me know what you think then….
This is where fear stems from
Women like this make women not want to lift weights. I mean who wants to have overdeveloped pecs like this!?! BUT lifting weights didn’t give this woman 6 boobs – steroids and boob implants did.
I saw this on Tosh.0 the other night and understood why everyone was laughing and making fun of her even while I cringed. Her body isn’t what most women want to look like or what most men want women to look like. BUT her body is what most Americans associate with women who lift heavy weights.
The idea that she was what women thought they would look like if they lifted weights made me cringe. YOU WON’T LOOK LIKE HER IF YOU LIFT HEAVY WEIGHTS!!!
If you are lucky, you will look as lean and muscled as Jamie Eason.
Getting more muscle than her is very unlikely. If you read any article about her or any other fitness competitor, you will realize how much they micro-manage their diet to gain even as much muscle as she has.
The idea that lifting weights will make me look like Jamie Eason is motivation enough for me!
Entering Beast Mode!
Welcome to Man Bicep!
Man Bicep!?! Beast Mode!?! You are probably thinking to yourself, “What the heck is this site about!”
This site is about taking back the weight room floor – about not fearing lifting heavy weights – about setting the facts straight!
So if you aren’t ready to listen to advice that will get you into the best and healthiest shape of your life, I would recommend you leave this site 🙂
We’ll show you that you can lift really really heavy weights without getting Man Biceps!
Man Bicep 
