Alright, a slight flamer of a title there, but the pic will make my point all too clearly.
I will add that these are 100% female bodybuilders.
Now I have (some) respect for their life long dedication, and their possibly reckless use of steroids in the pursuit of weird goals. But these are the sorts of images that scare some women. They make them think if they use weights then they are going to "bulk up" - you really wont! (Did you see the thing about life-long dedication and steroids?) These are the sort of images that make people believe in the completely unqualified and Oprah certified Tracy Anderson. Now Fitness Fixation has covered this topic well in her blog here. So I wont flog a dead horse, but the message is really summed up by:
"Only 3-pound weights," Tracy says. "No woman should lift more than 3 pounds."
Really, but then how will I lift my child? My dog? My clogs? My next meal?
This is just stupidity run amok. You can lift a lot more, get stronger, ward of brittle bone disease and then beat the skinny bugger next to you with their own resistance band.*
So just a little bit of irritation on a Wednesday evening. I'd previously read the articles against Tracy but this image in a Sunday Supplement magazine really riled me. Not because it wasn't the art the photographer was meaning it to be - but because all too often when we do get to see women who are fit and have muscles they are too often some extreme. Only the Olympics allows us to see women regularly who are at their peak of physical fitness rather than at their lowest possible safe body weight. Even then it is always made clear how much work and dedication all the athletes put into their sports, so those goals might seem unattainable.
Just a bit more normality would be nice. Women allowed to be fit and strong and maybe even sweat ...
Rant over.
*I'm not knocking the resistance band - they can make you huuurt.
I will add that these are 100% female bodybuilders.Now I have (some) respect for their life long dedication, and their possibly reckless use of steroids in the pursuit of weird goals. But these are the sorts of images that scare some women. They make them think if they use weights then they are going to "bulk up" - you really wont! (Did you see the thing about life-long dedication and steroids?) These are the sort of images that make people believe in the completely unqualified and Oprah certified Tracy Anderson. Now Fitness Fixation has covered this topic well in her blog here. So I wont flog a dead horse, but the message is really summed up by:
"Only 3-pound weights," Tracy says. "No woman should lift more than 3 pounds."
Really, but then how will I lift my child? My dog? My clogs? My next meal?
This is just stupidity run amok. You can lift a lot more, get stronger, ward of brittle bone disease and then beat the skinny bugger next to you with their own resistance band.*
So just a little bit of irritation on a Wednesday evening. I'd previously read the articles against Tracy but this image in a Sunday Supplement magazine really riled me. Not because it wasn't the art the photographer was meaning it to be - but because all too often when we do get to see women who are fit and have muscles they are too often some extreme. Only the Olympics allows us to see women regularly who are at their peak of physical fitness rather than at their lowest possible safe body weight. Even then it is always made clear how much work and dedication all the athletes put into their sports, so those goals might seem unattainable.
Just a bit more normality would be nice. Women allowed to be fit and strong and maybe even sweat ...
Rant over.
*I'm not knocking the resistance band - they can make you huuurt.
1 comment:
This "she-man" look definitely comes from steroids, not weight training.
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