Why Women Should Lift Heavy Things

I've been wanting to do a post on why women should lift heavy things for a while. For ideas and research, I googled quite a few different phrases to see what would come up. One of the first searches I did, I noticed there was a blog titled 'Why Women Shouldn't Lift Weights' which I obviously clicked right on to see if this was a joke... but in the first few paragraphs it seemed to be serious. It talked about how in the past, women had to keep their feminine figures to appease their men, and how if women lifted, they'd look more masculine, or that when they did any sort of physical exertion, they'd pass out (not realizing having their body squeezed together by a corset might have some role in that), etc... so I kept reading for a while until I realized where this guy was going. Dale Andrew, who wrote this blog, closes with this:

"Some women let fear stop them from taking action. Other women push through the b.s. and drag others along with them. You are free to think that women shouldn’t lift weights. You are free to choose ignorance over education. You are free to choose your own conception of what it means to be a beautiful woman. But if you don’t, history shows that men will decide it for you."

This statement needs to be tattooed on Tracy Anderson's forehead. She is the personal trainer of Gwyneth Paltrow and some other celebrities. She has an eerily plastic looking face, and is described by Ms. Paltrow as 'the exercise genius of all time.' Paltrow also claims that she 'works. freakin. hard' as she is holding on to two band type thingys moving them up and down (video link here). To work on their arms, Ms. Anderson explains to 'take 3 pound weights, ONLY 3 pound weights, a woman should never lift more then 3 pounds.' It seems to me that the plastic in Anderson's face has seeped into her blood stream and made her crazy. Maybe just dumb. Dumb crazy - a deadly combination.
Wait wait wait wait.... get this quote: 'When you're 35, you either starve yourself, or you eat and you do serious cardio (as she dances around a room), but there is no free ride.' Holy crap, I can't stop quoting this video. Anderson 'Its much easier to change your body and change your muscular structure if you train, and get used to training in heat.'

I went to Tracy's website to find out her qualifications. Apparently she has done extensive research, and has 'designed the Hybrid Body Reformer, an apparatus that uses a fusion of aerobic and dance movements, to re-engineer the muscular structure.' Does that mean she's a plastic surgeon? No. She has no schooling or training that I can find.

OK - I'm done with that rant. For now.

On to the other research and words of wisdom I've accumulated since I've started to think about this blog post. There are so many directions you can take relating to why women should lift weights; confidence, bone density, all body image results, general sporting fitness, staying healthy, delaying or avoiding becoming decrepit, confidence and any other reason a lady may chose to or chose not to lift something heavy.
Clarification of my definition of heavy (in the lifting sense), it is something relative to each individual, but will be challenging to move it in the direction intended.

You do not get big in the gym, you get big at the dinner table. Women do not have enough testosterone to feed muscles for them to 'look like a man' or through some sort of Herculean effort. One pound of muscle burns 10-20 calories a day, while one pound of fat burns about 5 calories a day. Having more muscle tissue also increases your overall metabolism, which will then burn more calories at rest, you know, when you're not on the elliptical.

On that note... I've let this post sit in my draft box for some time now. I figure today - the day before I go to a Strongman Clinic to learn how to lift cool heavy things and throw kegs, flip tires and other fun things - would be the perfect day to set this post live.

Please feel free to post other resources as to why women should lift heavy things!

Yikes!

I haven't posted something in a loonngg time! I have about 3 working posts right now, that I hope to crack down on and every day I find something new to blog about... but then time escapes me and it does not get put into words.

My new idea which is non-rugby related: Food in the workplace and why it is making (the) us all fat! My office may be a special example, see photos above taken from my phone (but I'm going to get a camera this weekend and begin to) showing some of the food and crap that is brought into this place. Besides the normal food that sits in our break room, someone brought in 2 boxes of truffles, a 24 pack box of 100 calorie pretzels, thin mints, lollipops, some weird kind of wafer things, some weird other chocolate crap and some other sugary thing that I didn't know what it was (thankfully).

Anyone else have issues with workplace food lurking in your face?? Laffy taffy - BW??!?!

South Baltimore CrossFit Starting Strength Posse

CrossFit Football posted about how strong the guys at SBCF are becoming. Totally weird that they all posed in the same way... check out the size of their shoulders!

*Apologies for the terrible PhotoShop job... I do have to work today...

TWITTER Account

I apologize to anyone who saw the Twitter posts on this blog. They were NOT my posts, and I have no idea how they were put up there. In any case, you can follow the real me @JennNull.

Stupid computer hackers with nothing better to do with their lives!

:-/

CrossFit Level 1

Over Thanksgiving weekend, I flew out to sunny San Diego, only to enjoy San Diego's one and only rainy day! I went to the University of San Diego to get my Level 1 Certification. It was a really good weekend in all, I met some awesome trainers and other athletes - mostly from the West Coast, but a few who also travelled X-country.

The cert was held at the University of San Diego's awesome facility, and by their head S&C coach Stephane Rochet. There was a pretty awesome coaching staff there from CrossFit as well, which included a... response... from Dave Castro to the recent firing of Robb Wolf from CrossFit HQ.

I learned a lot, although I think the training I've had at BWI and SB has put me ahead of most in the early Level 1 world.

Since I'd already been to the CrossFit Football Certification, I knew a little about what to expect, although I think I enjoyed the atmosphere of the football cert more. There was more 1v1 attention, and it was geared to sports athletes, and not 'CrossFit athletes' per say. I'd also met some guys who just recently opened a box in Philadelphia - East Falls to be exact, and have a few teammates who've signed up! Congrats Jay and Micah at CrossFit 215!

Tracking Me

I was invited to publicly track my goals with the boys, so wanted to share it with you all. If you look on the right, you'll see 'Jenn's Workout Log' which will have my progress and what not. Its a fun blog - the guys have been at it for about 4 weeks and are all doing well as they move into the harder loads. Point is to start at about 70% 5RM load and build up to your goals.

http://baltimoregetsbig.wordpress.com/

We're following Mark Rippetoe's "Starting Strength" programming... they're all getting bigger - ie eating a crap-ton of food. I don't need extra size, so I'm keeping my diet the same, if not improving it.

Words of encouragement are always appreciated!! :)

End of the Season - New Goals

Sunday (November 8th) was the last of the matches for the first year of the Women's Premiership League, and crowned a new national champion. NY beat out Berkeley 20-10 in what was one of the fastest paced women's games I've ever seen! You can see all of the final results on the WPL blog.

Keystone also defended our 5th place title to win the bowl championship for the 3rd year in a row, beating DC Furies on Friday 26-5, and the MN Amazons on Sunday 36-10.

The end of the season always brings the time of retirement announcements, and players leaving clubs for whatever reasons they might have, ie work, family commitments, bodies falling apart, etc. Committing to a competitive team is not easy. Personally this season has tested my commitment, and my drive - so next year is all up in the air. I've decided that Spring season will be a fun season for me.

**Pass about a week and a half**

I went into the gym last night to talk to TV and PS from SBCF - as they're both on Starting Strength along with SM. My goals over the winter are going to be to get stronger. I haven't set weight goals yet, but I am going to join these guys in their programming and hopefully be as successful. However... I am not going to do the bulking up part, as I've already got some reserves that can become muscle. :) Click on 'Starting Strength' above to see what the heck they've been eating!!!

I will post more on this as I actually set my goals - I can use this as accountability!

Anyone have experience with starting strength programming?