Bodybuilding v. Physique

Female bodybuilding has long been an issue of contention within the bodybuilding community.  Public opinion has varied throughout the years, but in general, it's kind of a niche market.  Female bodybuilding peaked in popularity in the late 80's, and since then, division after division has been introduced in an effort to get us to tone it down and try something else.  So far, none of these new additions have worked.  At all.  Female bodybuilders are bigger, harder, and more determined than ever--but that shit doesn't put asses in the seats now does it?  The recent introduction of the Physique division is the latest attempt to shoehorn muscle girls into something smaller and more "appropriate."  Here's a breakdown of the two divisions and the drama that surrounds them.

Summer Pitfalls

Watch out for these!

1.  The Couple's Slide

You've been training almost every day for an hour or more for the past few months, and not only are you finally seeing some improvement, you met someone too!  Of course you want to spend all your free time with them, and what's one missed workout anyways?  You guys are going out to dinner together all the time too, mostly because you don't live together and it's fun.  Suddenly you're 6 months into the relationship and your boyfriend is starting to comment on your muffin top.  What happened?  It's called the couple's slide, and it is the most prevalent form of "growing together."  It's a form of laziness and affection--but don't be fooled!  It takes a lot of work and thickening of the skin to become training partners, but even just going to the gym together to train separately is better than sitting on the couch cuddling.  Why?  Because you can do that later when the gym is closed!

2.  Complacency

You're a few weeks into your summer diet and it's going really well.  So well in fact, that you're considering easing up on yourself a little.  A few weeks later you haven't made any progress, but at least you're holding steady, right?  Wrong.  Keep going!  Know why there are so few ripped people wandering around the beach?  Because it's a fucking pain in the ass to do, that's why.  This goes for intensity level too.  Don't forget that intensity level should always be re-evaluated--like all values.  

3.  Grading on a Curve

Never compare your progress to others'.  Not only does constant self-evaluation lead to inaccurate perceptions of reality, it also causes a relaxing of standards.  It's not enough to look good "compared to the average person," because let's face it, the average person is a physical train wreck.  Why not be an example of human perfection instead?  Besides, you know that B+ was only a B+ because even the smart kids got their face pwned. 

4.  Peer Pressure

It may sound cheesy, but how many of you haven't had junk food pushed on you by friends or coworkers?  We've all heard it: "Oh come one, you're not going to get fat from just a little bit!" or "Are you sure you can't have any?" or "Wow, you're really neurotic about your food, aren't you?"  Being comfortable with non-participation is important in many aspects of social interaction, but when it comes to diet, training, and other lifestyle choices, it's imperative.  Sticking to your guns isn't hard once you and everyone around you gets used to you refusing the food they offer: they know it's not personal, and most of the time, they will respect you for it.  But really, who cares either way?  There is no one more valuable to you than you!  

One of the dumbest things ever

This woman...

sharing her prize money with this woman.

WTF

And just FYI, the prizes for male bodybuilding are not split between the different categories: the male bodybuilding winner takes home the full $200K.

Big is NOT Beautiful

This post might make you think I have a superiority complex about being in good shape.  I do.  I hella do.

The culture of acceptance being created around obesity absolutely disgusts me.  I can't believe that we are, as a civilization, supporting people being fat.  In the real world, these people would never survive.  The choice would be to get healthy or get buried--literally.  Fatties would get hunted down by predators because they are too slow; they would be more likely to die from disease and illness because their immune systems are suppressed; they would be ostracized from their communities for taking more than their share of the hunt and not contributing enough to the welfare of the group.  I'm sick of hearing "big is beautiful, or "I'm a real woman,"  or "it's what's on the inside that counts."  Well, whatever's on the inside has a serious flaw too if you think that being a walking diabetes brochure is acceptable behavior.  Why are people so polite to fatties? My health insurance premiums are being affected by the burden of life-extending care for these lazy a-holes (who should be allowed to choke themselves with their neck fat in peace).  I should at least get to heckle them with rotten fruit and lettuce.  Bring back the stocks!

Mastery +50

So in WoW, mastery can be a totally awesome stat, or a really bad one, depending on what and how you play.  For example, an Arms warrior specializing in Player versus Player would def want to have a bunch of mastery on their gear.  That same warrior specializing in Player versus Environment (player versus computer basically) would not want any.  But IRL, mastery is always awesome.  I had an epiphany about it today...