bigger, harder, faster, more

[anotheranon]

Found this over at the delightfully named blog "Granny Gets A Vibrator": Fifty two year old woman gets buff. Opinions differ. Namely, people either find her muscles disgusting or sexy, when for her it's not about looks - it's about being strong. She also quotes from the woman from Stumptuous, who inspired me to lift heavier things, so extra cool points in my book :)

I don't lift anywhere at this woman's level, but I've already heard a few misgivings about the possibility of bulking up. Specifically, when I told my mom I was starting to lift freeweights she expressed a fear that I'd start to look like a woman bodybuilder.

I could understand if her reservations were about my health. The way I understand it (from Stumptuous and elsewhere): female bodybuilders only look that huge during competition, and the extremely muscled ones are possibly taking steroids. Being that ripped all the time would be unhealthy and unattainable for most women, so if that was my aim it would be a valid concern.

But Mom said "look" like a bodybuilder. Not that it would be possible for me to bulk up that much and still be healthy, but would it matter that much if I didn't meet her (or anyone else's) ideal of beauty? It wouldn't be the first time :P

No, what interests me is having a body that is able to do things. I admit I've not been lifting much or regularly of late, partly out of laziness and partly out of time constraints, but I want to make more time for it because even though my upper body strength has improved enormously over what it was, say, two years ago, I still find it woefully inadequate for my purposes. Over and over again my problem is endurance - I start out strong but can't keep it up. This is an impediment in all sorts of activities, from fencing through taking out the garbage and more. When someone says "hit harder!", I want to be able to! (Speaking of which, anyone got any good tips/tricks for improving endurance?)

And the oddest thing about my interest in fitness is that I have it at all: I was the stereotypical "kid picked last for kickball" through my entire kindergarten-high school career and only took jogging in college because it was a requirement, and now I've done a near 180 on my stance about fitness! I never did learn to appreciate team sports, but I can definitely see the benefits of regular physical exercise. Especially for young girls - it's good that they learn that their bodies are capable of doing things other than be looked at.

Comments

[jlsjlsjls.livejournal.com]

Go her! Thanks for the link. :-)

You only risk looking like a bodybuilder if you do weights obsessively, and if you have the right body type. I spent two years on Nautilus machines, steadily increasing the weight I could lift, and still looked soft and cuddly, but able to turn a teenage nephew upside-down without any effort (hey, he DARED me ***grin***) ... the only visible muscle definition I ever had was my delts. :p But I sure could LIFT stuff (and still can, unlike most of my female co-workers).

Improving your upper body endurance? Get a summer job on a farm during haying season, lifting and throwing bales all day ... trust me, a couple of weeks of that will have you capable of anything. :p Actually, seriously ... you have to find excuses to keep yourself lifting stuff regularly throughout the day, rather than just during a short exercise period once a day (a good starting point might be slowly lifting and lowering one end of your desk five or six times, as part of an hourly dekinking from the computer at work; shelving heavy books, file boxes, etc., above your shoulder height. At home, of course, you can repetitiously lift anything without raising anybody else's eyebrows, right?)

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

Do more seems to be the order of the day. At work it's tricky, but around home I can find plenty of things to lift. Hell, if that's what I want the strength for, it makes sense to lift more things more often, no?

Above shoulder height? Now.. that's gonna hurt a bit!

[jlsjlsjls.livejournal.com]

kat1392's advice about pushups has triggered a thought ... if you can't go 'round lifting the furniture at work, what about sneaking in a few quick wall pushup sessions? Y'know, hands against the wall, feet well back, and use arms shoulders to lower yourself to nose-against-the-wall and then push yourself away again. Also gives the backs of your legs a very nice stretch, which is a good thing to do when you've been sitting at a computer anyway. And doing 'em with just your fingertips touching the wall helps strengthen fingers and wrists (when I was in high school, this was recommended exercise during volleyball season).

If you get yourself toughened to above the shoulder lifting, then you can do anything below the shoulder more easily and for a longer period of time. I KNOW you have bookshelves ... if you emptied and refilled two shelves each night (one for each arm), you'd be doing something good for your shoulders (if the shelves are low, sit or kneel on the floor so that you're reaching up). And if you want to feel as if you're accomplishing something domestic, dust the top of each book and the empty shelves while you're at it ... if they're anything like mine, they likely need it, even if they are heavily used. ***GRIN*** This type of book handling also strengthens the fingers, which will help your grip; I should warn you that if you do this, this is one body zone where you WILL bulk ... I wear a size nine ring because of the built-up muscle in my fingers (the average ring size for women is a 6). :p

[kat1392.livejournal.com]

Wall push-ups work too!! Forgot about them.

[kat1392.livejournal.com]

Another way to help build upper body strength, particularly arm, is to do push-ups. When I was doing push-ups regularly, I found I had the arm strength to do a lot and also endurance. When you can do 25 to 30 push-ups in 2 minutes, your strength isn't bad. If you can't do them military style right away, start off with knee push-ups -- knees on the floor, and then stretch out to do a push-up. They also help with leg strength since technically your legs aren't supposed to touch the floor when you do them.

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

Maybe I should push myself for more. I do them, but it's not a focus because most of my energy goes towards keeping my back straight :/ I can do around 20 before I max out, but I have no idea how long it takes!

[kat1392.livejournal.com]

Trying setting reps for yourself. Say start out doing 3 in 30 seconds. Or something like that. Or just time yourself for 2 minutes to see how many you can do in that time. Then for like 2 weeks, do that amount for 2 minutes twice a day (if you have time, if not just once a day). Then the 3rd weeks try and add 2 more to the 2 minutes. Something like that anyway.

[nminusone.livejournal.com]

I've never understood people who worry about getting too bulky, like it can happen by accident. No way in hell. People damn near kill themselves for those results. Even if you did get too bulky, just stop lifting and diet down. Muscle is way easier to lose than fat.

> female bodybuilders only look that huge during competition, and the
> extremely muscled ones are possibly taking steroids.

*Possibly*? Let me tell you a dirty little secret. At the upper levels they're ALL taking drug cocktails that'd turn you green just to hear about. Steroids are just the start, there are at least 3 other major types of drugs in wide use. There is zero danger of looking like a pro without mad drugs.

> Being that ripped all the time would be unhealthy and unattainable for most women,

Again, without drugs. There's a whole set of other chemicals used to rip off body fat. You can chart the evolution of bodybuilder pharmacology by looking at the milestones of freakishness in the pro ranks.

If you want endurance, do training that tests your endurance. It's just that simple. Runners train by running, sprinters by sprinting, lifters by lifting. You can do other types of training to build strength as a base, but if you want to be able to do some activity for a long time, train by doing that activity for a long time. On the supplement front, citrulline malate and carnitine can help.

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

Trust me, I wouldn't surprise me in the slightest that elite bodybuilders (of both sexes) are popping pills! It seems to me that normal people only get a bigger measurably/visibly and then plateau - any further strength and they just get denser.

OK, so if I want more, I need to do more. Further excuse for me to pursue my half-formed plan of fencing more!