Almost a year ago to the day, I wrote:
Women, you need to put down those pink dumbbells, throw that Shape Magazine in the trash can and stop with this nonsense. You seem to believe that the modest amount of strain will cause you to wake up looking like a bodybuilder in the morning. Horseshit.
…What you need to do is slap yourself and start training for real.
Fuckarounditis. (#10.)
Truth to be told not a lot has changed since then. It never will, because if you have insight and knowledge of how this machine works, well, you can forget about change within.
What you can do is simple, because I did it too when no one believed in intermittent fasting.
You show them that good things will come to those who dare to break a way from the norm a little bit.
I wrote this post for little more than a month ago once Facebook and people quite liked it. Then I suddenly started added things, making it all seem so obscure and serious, like some sociology paper on women’s fitness, societal norms, Special K and..
Woah there what the hell was that, anyway…
…Well, let’s just say that women need role models, community and sensible get-it-done type rules on lifting.
Now, Isa has been putting up with so much shit from my side about the industry (behind-the-scenes-stuff) that I’m afraid I might have drained her energy for the competition she’s at today, and you need to give her a lift.
I want you to leave her a message, ok?
By the way, I’m really sorry in messsing up this post. Will fix.
Strong Women
I made this album to make yet another point about women and weight training. Isa competes in strongman, took two gold medals in the recent European Powerlifting Championsship, and squats, deadlifts, presses, throws tires and runs around with some heavy shit I don’t even know the name of.
Not an ounce of bulky muscle or a iota of freakishness to her. In spite of doing the complete opposite of what most are told on how to train – in the media, womens mags, by friends, but also within communities that should know better (i.e. physique competitors). The result is a good and healthy look. Leaner than most, and most definitely stronger. No cardio, just heavy weights 3x/week and no soy cracker and tofu style diet.
Decent muscularity for a female with her training background (a year or so), but a far cry for the fantasyland make-believe look of bulky muscles supposed to result from such training. Thats because it’s all horseshit, of course.
Point being, train heavy, eat well and I guarantee that you will get hotter with each 10 lbs extra you put on the bar. As long as you stay away from the roids, because that’s where the myth of freakish muscles on women comes from. The masculinizing effects of steroids on woman are profound and devastating, aestethically (subjective sure, but still) and socially. Be aware of it – and don’t worry about the BS you hear and read about how women should train.
Regrettably, you’re bound to hear BS and opinions about your training almost every damn day, if you’re going against the grain and doing the unexpected – grunting females, lifting heavier weights than most men, are frowned upon by the mediocre and weak majority that makes up both of the genders – in our society.
Throw away the pink dumbbells, stay away from the treadmill, start lifting some real weight. If that means quitting your gym, because people look at you funny (an issue that really holds women back) when you grunt or sweat, do it.
Pro tip, girls.
***bonus***
If hard training means joining a CrossFit class, do it. One thing CrossFit does right is providing the right environment, friendship, encouragement and attitude for girls who want to train hard without being stared at. That is worth far far more than an “optimal” weight training routine in a shitty commercial gym where people are clueless, mediocre and easily intimidated, almost offended, by hard training females.
I’m not a fan of CrossFit the way it’s generally used, the marketing, or its use by people with vague objectives. However, for women specifically, it can really make all the difference.
…Another great thing you can do is encourage Isa to start her blog, so she can get her thumbs out the ass, and start serving as the good role model for weight training women that I think she is (my opinion, not hers).
Her attitude and looks is a statement and a point that needs to be made many times over. It ain’t exactly like it’s raining hot and feminine looking female strongman competitors these days. It’s a sport plagued by an unfortunate stereotype, which unfortunately is true to a large extent. To Hell with that though, because the butch look is a consequence of steroids, girls, and you need not concern yourself with it.
Concern yourself with 250-300 lbs deadlifts and 200-250 lbs squats, avoid starvation diets, and enjoy the ride. You’ll be much happier with the outcome of that, than say crackers and yoghurt, 2 hr daily cardio sessions and those mickey mouse curls you read about in Cosmo.
Eat like a man, train like a man, and look like a goddess. Would be a fairly accurate and true quote, if it wasn’t for the fact that most men train like retards.
Anyway, here’s a few resources that you should read, regardless of gender, but very relevant to the topic:
- Fuckarounditis — LeanGains
- How To Look Awesome Every Day — LeanGains
- Reverse Pyramid Revisited — LeanGains
