Heroes ... and Superheroes!

It goes almost without saying that training goals are useful things. Aiming high is great but sometimes it pays to be more realistic and so increase your chances of success. There are times when process goals are the way forward ... and times when only the ridiculous will do!

For now, I'm firmly on the ridiculous bandwagon :) Here's a little hint at what I'm up to:

If I consider a marathon next year as a long term training goal, that's all well and good but there's no real urgency there. I know what I'm like - if there's no immediacy, it ain't getting done! Combine that with the fact that we're firmly entrenched in the long school holidays so any training I can do is fairly haphazard and squeezed in wherever I can make it fit and what we have is me hitting the training doldrums. That's a big no no for me.

So I needed a new goal and a new training plan. The goal had to be something that was reachable with mostly short, intense training sessions. It also had to be something that would inspire me and I needed the end result to be within the realms of possibility but not too easy to reach.

I also needed it to be a different kind of goal from ones I've used in the past, just to get the excitement flowing. Running for x number of miles wouldn't do it and while increasing my deadlift would be nice but it doesn't strike me as an end goal. I've already done the six-pack challenge and while I liked the way my abs looked, I didn't particularly like what happened to the rest of my body. So I started to think about what I think is attractive body-wise and my mind kept coming back to the images that I liked as a child. Images like this:

What I like about them is that they look both undeniably strong and feminine. I particularly like the way their lower bodies look: small waist, curved hips, a nice round strong ass and serious quads. I love strong looking legs!

So I set my mind to working out a plan that would get me into superhero shape. Up till this point I haven't delved too deeply into the world of body sculpture so I've been doing my research. I'm lucky that I've got a good base to start from - my body is the right shape, it just needs exaggerated (though I will be giving the gigantor boobs a miss - haven't got the budget or the desire to equip myself with those!)

I will be taking progress pics but might wait till the end of the challenge to post those. More details on training and, very importantly, eating to follow.

In the mean time, I leave you with this little lady:

No discussion of hot superhero bods would be complete without a mention of Catwoman - total hottie!

And finally, just a word of thanks to a certain Batman (you know who you are) for encouraging me in this endeavour :)

Strong women?

Someone directed me to this article on The Frailty Myth: http://www.colettedowling.com/work1.htm
There are some interesting points in there but it only touches on something that I've been thinking a lot about lately. I am not that concerned about what men think of me but I am increasingly bothered by female opinions.

People are entitled to have their bodies however the heck they want. If you are a parent, I would argue that you have a requirement to keep yourself in fairly decent health so you can look after your offspring but beyond that, it's up to the individual. Want to be obese? Go for it - if it makes you feel good. If you prefer the aesthetics of being underweight, again fine - if it makes you happy. What makes me feel good and happy is being fit and strong. The only negative thing about it is that people seem to feel free to pass comment on my body. Granted, I do live in the heart attack capital of Europe (perhaps even the world) so I do look noticeably different from the average joe walking down the streets. Being different does not, however, make me public property.

I have mentioned my Zumba class before and how much I enjoy it. I nearly didn't go back after my first time. I enjoyed the class and was on a high as I made my way out. As I got to the door, I heard a woman behind me say "Christ, would you look at the muscles on that!" in a tone that definitely didn't suggest admiration. Way to rain on my parade lady!

I was grabbed on the arm around mile 9 of a half marathon by a couple (a man and a woman). The woman wanted to know how I got my legs so 'horribly muscley'. Really? We are running a race - why are you surprised that I have leg muscles? You do too, they are just less visible. Furthermore, why do you feel the need to discuss this? My body is not your business.

My last boyfriend proclaimed that he loved my strength but did so in a way that made me feel about two inches tall: "Most men would hate it, but I think your muscles are great" Said that way, I'm not even going to hear the second half of that sentence.

Acquiring the mental strength to ignore all this has been far more difficult than making physical strength gains! For the record, at the moment I am not seriously ripped. I look athletic but that's about it. Unless I'm in my bikini you will likely not be aware that there is some serious weight training going on. I still look very much like a woman so the fact that I look different enough for comments to be made is a source of discomfort. Or rather, I should say, the fact that people make comments is a source of discomfort.

It's more than just an aesthetic issue. There's an undercurrent of strength being a masculine trait and thus not suitable/desirable for a female. More worryingly, much of the opposition and disapproval I come up against comes from women. It's a horribly pervasive view and, I think, deeply unhelpful when it comes to training. Muscle mass naturally declines as we age and ten million reps with an itty bitty pink dumbbell and some cardio will not help to prevent that. Lift some decent weight and you can maintain a more shapely figure for longer. I know which option I prefer. Still the fear of "bulking up" persists. It's bonkers.

So, what do we think peeps? Have you come up against any prejudice with your training or have people been supportive?

Wonky donkey

I tend to train with free weights. Occasionally, I'll use a machine but that's really only for a warm up. I would rather give them a miss since I know my stronger side (which has always been my right side) takes more than it's fair share of the strain. It's something I've been aware of during my pull ups challenge as well - when I get into the higher reps, my dominant side is definitely pulling harder. I guess I was hoping it wouldn't make much difference - wrong!

I've been noticing lately that my right side is failing quicker than my left - biceps curls? Left arm keeps going. Dumbbell press? Right arm cops out. Bench press - who's that sagging over there? Why, it's Mr Right Side! This is odd ... because I am right-handed, very much so.

When I first started running, I quickly became aware of my imbalances because they led to injury. I focussed more on single leg exercises (e.g. pistols) till there was a bit more parity in my leg strength and I've (touch wood) had little bother since. Obviously, I applied the same principle to my upper body to get my left side in line with my right. I suspect that I overdid it, suspicions that were confirmed last night.

Despite my general reluctance to be in front of a camera, I have committed to taking regular Progress Pics. Make no mistake, it's not an easy thing to do on your own! It requires a camera with a timer and the ability to pop a perfect lat spread in a two second time frame. Anyway, much cursing and swearing later, I had my photos and there's a definite difference. My left arm is now bigger than my right! And my lats on the right side are bigger than on the left. I think that's where my pulling strength is coming from on the pull ups. I'm now going to have to think beyond "Whee! I can do pull ups" and work out how to balance things up again. I'm a bit peeved to be honest. If I'm ever going to compete, it won't be for a good few years yet (and I will have to buy a big bucket of confidence from somewhere) but even so, I would like ot have good body symmetry. But on the plus side, I'm most definitely making strength gains again. I'm easing up slowly - managed another 10 lbs on my bench press for a couple of sets of decent reps. I feel like I could have gone heavier but I was on my own. I like to have one of my main men with me to spot when I go heavier for the first time. They may be cheeky boys but they have their uses and in amongst all the ridiculous bum jokes, they do actually have some useful advice to give.

Marathon maybe?

When I was a kid, I was completely and utterly obsessed with (among other things such as Carl Lewis and Spiderman), the ancient Greeks and Romans. Perhaps the original Clash of the Titans had some bearing on this (mechanical owls? Hell yes! Harry Hamlin's hair? Hmm, not so much). In any case, I loved to read about all the myths and legends and the actual history as well. This is partly what led me to study Latin at high school instead of something more useful like, you know, a language that people actually speak.

It may also have some bearing on why I feel the urge to run a modern marathon. Now, I'm no Pheidippides - my name's easier to spell for a start - but I think I have it in me to run the 26+ miles at some point. I had always said that I would do it before I turned 40. I may have said this because 40 seemed quite far away! It's still a few years off but I think I might be taking the plunge sooner than planned.

Manchester is staging a marathon next year :) Manchester and I have unfinished business. After I finished university, I moved down to Manchester to work for Granada Television. I had a whale of a time - it's a great city for the young. Always something happening, places to go, new music to listen to. I had a truly fantastic time there. Admittedly, at that age I think I would have managed to have pretty good time wherever I'd ended up but it was also where I met the man who was to become the father of my child so it was very important for me in lots of ways. I think I'll always have a bit of a soft spot for dear old Manc ... which is why I'm giving serious thought to making my marathon debut there.

The idea is frankly terrifying. I have done a half marathon and the thought of doing that distance and then immediately doing it all over again does boggle the mind. I'm sorely tempted though ...

Tetris

Ever done one of those quizzes where they ask what sort of animal you see yourself as? I don't know what I currently am but it would appear that I have spent rather a lot of time being a beaver (oy, stop sniggering at the back there!), building my little dams and trying to coerce the flow of life into going where I want it to. As a short term coping strategy, this is just dandy but long term it's more problematic. You reach the stage where everything becomes static and stagnant and you feel hemmed in.

That's very much how I feel right now and I need to get things moving again. Too often I have focused on my fitness - it's my way of convincing myself that I'm making progress - while very obviously ignoring other things that I would be better attending to. Well, the body is pretty much in order so it's time for me now to focus on the other stuff instead. It's frankly a bit scary. I would far rather face the discomfort of infinite hack squats than examine my emotional issues but I know that's not a useful approach ;) If I am going to be an Action Babe then I need to stop being such a scaredy cat!

Stage 1: declutter! This process has already begun. I do not throw anything away, ever. Also, I like to buy stuff. This means that I have a very messy house indeed. It means that my house never feels like a restful place to be because no matter where I look, I see things that need attending to - laundry to be folded, books to be squeezed back onto the over-stuffed shelves, piles of paperwork that needs filed. That's surface clutter which it won't pain me too much to attend to. The stuff that really bothers me is all lurking in the bedroom; clothes of various sizes that I never wear, things which were gifts from ex-partners, frankly more clothes (oops)

All the things that need cleared out of my bedroom pull big emotive triggers. I feel guilty casting aside gifts from an ex. Why? If I saw him in the street, I wouldn't feel inclined to go up and say hi, so why do I want to hang onto things given to me by someone who now means little to me? I have a horrible feeling that I keep them as a reminder to myself that I am capable of forming romantic attachments. I have no idea what to do with these things - burning love letters etc just seems so callous.

Clothes are obviously the other big issue. I have some truly fabulous frocks from my time at university. It appears that I went to a lot of balls :) I don't particularly want to part with them (mostly because I'm just really impressed that they still fit!) but I simply don't have the space for them and I never get the opportunity to wear them these days. The other clothes that need to go are the ones from when I was too thin. Not long after I started strength training, I made myself a promise that I would never again let myself get smaller than a size 8 (US size 4). That's the smallest my body naturally goes without extreme effort and diligence and the slimmest I can be without looking too skinny. I'm just over 5ft 7 so I think that's reasonable. Today I (re)discovered a large bag of clothes, nothing bigger than a size 6 and a lot of them much, much smaller than that. Looking at them, I couldn't at first imagine how they ever fitted me ... and then I remembered how boney I used to be and that kind of answered my question. I don't think I could even get a leg in any of them now! I had a brief moment of feeling bad about how I look now and it's churned up a lot of emotions. Nonetheless, all those clothes are now bagged up and outside my door waiting for the recycling man to come and collect them in the morning. It might have taken me years but those were the last vestiges of my struggles with disordered eating and I am finally letting them go. 

Stage 1, just about done.