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The Feminine Physique: On Women's Bodybuilding

believermag.com

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Re: The Feminine Physique: On Women's Bodybuilding

#41
Many women choose to do Figure and Bikini competitions over physique.

Lots of women use the competitions as focal point to work on their bodies, fitness and get results.

I know several women that are generally out of shape frumpy looking, but spent time to get into shape for figure completions. They look amazing with model perfect bodies for competition. Then, right after competition, they celebrate by binge eating junk food for days and get fat. Then, the cycle starts over again.

Re: The Feminine Physique: On Women's Bodybuilding

#42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Every display sport has a consensus aesthetic that is being optimized for. If it's not measured in meters or seconds, it's not a real sport.

So Wrestling, Judo, BJJ, MMA, Boxing aren't real sports? Golf isn't a sport? Baseball, Basketball, Football, Volleyball, and Soccer are all won on points not seconds/meters. Power lifting? I can really go on all day. You might not care for the sport but that doesn't make it any less valid as a sport.

Those are all games. Sports are things like running, cycling, rowing, cross country skiing, ski jumping, shot put, etc.

Re: The Feminine Physique: On Women's Bodybuilding

#43
post #3

Slightly off topic but I find that green website frame to be incredibly distracting. Aren’t mobile phone screens small enough with adding extra padding around the inside? And the highlighting that unused space is a just bizarre to me.

"Please don't complain about website formatting, back-button breakage, and similar annoyances. They're too common to be interesting. Exception: when the author is present. Then friendly feedback might be helpful."

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: The Feminine Physique: On Women's Bodybuilding

#44
post #34
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, in case of bodybuilding you need very hefty dose of hormones to even start looking like low level competitors. The bodybuilding physique isn't good for any particular activity. It's neither useful nor healthy. It's all organized so you need to grow yourself like cattle (bodybuilders even take steroids designed for making cattle killed for meat muscular). This is already terrible enough for men but for women it'…

>I think it is a terrible sport. It's not only terrible for the competitors but also for the culture as a whole as normalizing steroid physique hurts normal people. It's not only bodybuilding by the way. Fitness magazines and Hollywood actors take most of the blame to be sure. The world is growing fatter by the year so it does not seem as though people are too stressed about those conceptions of the body being thrown…

>The world is growing fatter by the year so it does not seem as though people are too stressed about those conceptions of the body being thrown around.

You are assuming that seeing an impressive physique would inspire people to attain it. That doesn't follow. Stress, depression, and low-self esteem can encourage overeating or a sedentary lifestyle. If someone believes they cannot compete with others, they may give up entirely.

Re: The Feminine Physique: On Women's Bodybuilding

#45
post #34
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, in case of bodybuilding you need very hefty dose of hormones to even start looking like low level competitors. The bodybuilding physique isn't good for any particular activity. It's neither useful nor healthy. It's all organized so you need to grow yourself like cattle (bodybuilders even take steroids designed for making cattle killed for meat muscular). This is already terrible enough for men but for women it'…

>I think it is a terrible sport. It's not only terrible for the competitors but also for the culture as a whole as normalizing steroid physique hurts normal people. It's not only bodybuilding by the way. Fitness magazines and Hollywood actors take most of the blame to be sure. The world is growing fatter by the year so it does not seem as though people are too stressed about those conceptions of the body being thrown…

While the obesity epidemic is certainly the larger societal problem, we can try and develop a better representation of what's actually healthy. There's a happy medium between single digit body fat percentage (what most bodybuilders are aiming for in competition, and the image people have of them not recognizing it's their competition form not their year-round form) and 25% body fat (lower limit of obese for men, apparently).

Re: The Feminine Physique: On Women's Bodybuilding

#46

Many women choose to do Figure and Bikini competitions over physique. Lots of women use the competitions as focal point to work on their bodies, fitness and get results. I know several women that are generally out of shape frumpy looking, but spent time to get into shape for figure completions. They look amazing with model perfect bodies for competition. Then, right after competition, they celebrate by binge eating j…

The article is mostly about the Bikini category.

Re: The Feminine Physique: On Women's Bodybuilding

#47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think people are quite aware of how prolific steroid usage in bodybuilding is. It's the movie actor physiques that people aren't as aware of.

Movie actors, fitness/underwear models, basically everyone on the cover of Men's Health or on a movie poster. Hell, very significant % of not so impressingly looking guys in your local gym are on steroids. Just Google for stats on steroid usage, estimate how many people go to a gym and think what it means. The mystery of Hollywood diet and training to lose 10kg of fat and to put 5kg of muscle in 60 days starts to mak…

Also age - it's actually possible to lose 10kg of fat and gain 5kg of muscle in 60 days without any testosterone or whatever boosters when you're 22. I have a very, very hard time believing you can do this at age 48-50, like Josh Brolin did to play Thanos.

Re: The Feminine Physique: On Women's Bodybuilding

#48
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I think it is a terrible sport. It's not only terrible for the competitors but also for the culture as a whole as normalizing steroid physique hurts normal people. It's not only bodybuilding by the way. Fitness magazines and Hollywood actors take most of the blame to be sure. The world is growing fatter by the year so it does not seem as though people are too stressed about those conceptions of the body being thrown…

>The world is growing fatter by the year so it does not seem as though people are too stressed about those conceptions of the body being thrown around. You are assuming that seeing an impressive physique would inspire people to attain it. That doesn't follow. Stress, depression, and low-self esteem can encourage overeating or a sedentary lifestyle. If someone believes they cannot compete with others, they may give up…

I wonder if the issue is cultural. We've, mostly, come to understand the impact of the common media representation of (often) hyper thin "perfect" women on women and girls in general, which is a lot of the reason for pushback into various (often ad) campaigns to present more typical female forms. But, like many things, there's a lag in the appreciation that men can experience the same thing and have similar reactions. Perhaps because it occurs in smaller numbers (not sure), or just a different attitude towards how men should be. Admitting that men have similar body image issues and due to similar causes as women is harder for people to consider, let alone accept.

Re: The Feminine Physique: On Women's Bodybuilding

#49
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, in case of bodybuilding you need very hefty dose of hormones to even start looking like low level competitors. The bodybuilding physique isn't good for any particular activity. It's neither useful nor healthy. It's all organized so you need to grow yourself like cattle (bodybuilders even take steroids designed for making cattle killed for meat muscular). This is already terrible enough for men but for women it'…

Truly. I do not think most people are aware of prolific steroid usage is... It mostly boils down to people pumping themselves full of steroids up until a week or so before the competition so they test clean. With almost zero body fat, most drugs are metabolized and removed from the body really quickly. It was pretty depressing to realize that body-building is totally gamed and drug based. Not because I was ever into…

> It mostly boils down to people pumping themselves full of steroids up until a week or so before the competition so they test clean.

This is wrong. None of the pro competitions do drug testing and no one stops using a week out. If they did test there wouldn't be any competitors.

Re: The Feminine Physique: On Women's Bodybuilding

#50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Truly. I do not think most people are aware of prolific steroid usage is... It mostly boils down to people pumping themselves full of steroids up until a week or so before the competition so they test clean. With almost zero body fat, most drugs are metabolized and removed from the body really quickly. It was pretty depressing to realize that body-building is totally gamed and drug based. Not because I was ever into…

I think people are quite aware of how prolific steroid usage in bodybuilding is. It's the movie actor physiques that people aren't as aware of.

Modern actors aren't as willing to sacrifice their health for muscle as their historical counterparts, especially because the lean look is preferred over the muscle-bound appearance of yesteryear. Thus, (with rare exceptions, like Christian Bale between The Machinist and Batman Begins), what you see on screen today is hard-earned through hours a day in the gym, a very regimented diet, and hydration timing.

Generally, to get to the level of single-digits body fat you see on screen, you're looking at 3-6 months of clean eating (or more, depending on the actor's physique when they land the role), meaning among other things, no alcohol, no sweets, and lots of eggs or chicken meals. Someone being paid a few million dollars can afford to pay a nutritionist to custom-design a diet to meet specific appearance goals, a and they have a huge incentive to stick with that diet. For example, Chris Pratt had to give up beer, pizza, and all dietary pleasures for six months to go from being the fat guy on Parks and Rec to the main hero of Guardians of the Galaxy.

On top of the diet, the actor is spending hours on near-daily exercise for several months. Chris Hemsworth eschews cardio for pure muscle-building, but Paul Rudd and Kumail Nujani each spent a year preparing for their Marvel roles, using a blend of cardio and full-body workouts (as, in contrast to Thor, Ant Man and Kingo have lean physiques but neither actor was particularly athletic when cast), while Pratt spent nearly 6 hours a day, 6 days a week, for over 6 months on cardio activities to cut weight for the first Guardians movie (as he already had the muscle for the character underneath his excess bulk and just needed to reveal them).

But the real trick to the "cut" look on screen is dehydration; actors don't drink for several hours before shirtless scenes, which makes them appear thinner and more defined. (In several interviews, Kumail Nujani talks about nearly passing out after several filming several shirtless scenes for The Eternals, which required him to limit water consumption for nearly 12 hours before shooting.) This is something you can actually try yourself at home: take a before pic, spend a few hours on a long cardio activity like running or biking, and then take an after pic before you rehydrate. You will appear thinner and your muscles (if they were visible beforehand) will appear more well-defined, even though they aren't any bigger.

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