The Feminine Physique: On Women's Bodybuilding • Hacker News Board

Re: The Feminine Physique: On Women's Bodybuilding

#81

Post by kofejnik » Sun, Feb 07, 2021, 9:41 PM UTC

ardit33 wrote: post #78

actuator wrote: post #71

Except for winning competitions, is there any natural advantage of bodybuilding for both men and women? For both, for advantage in most sports and attractiveness the typical calisthenics physique, sort of gymnast/football(soccer) one seems like the ideal one to me, yet a lot of people seem to be obsessed with getting overly buff.

By bodybuilding, you probably mean steroid-fueled muscle building. Most natural body-building will never reach that level. On the other way, there is plenty of good health reasons to train with weights, and build a good/solid muscle mass. It also improves a lot of other aspects in your life (social). So, weight-training, bodybuilding - lite is great. Steroid ladden/extreme body building one is probably not healthy.

> Steroid ladden/extreme body building one is probably not healthy.

Steroids are not necessarily always bad, tho taking your body to the extremes of competitive bodybuilding probably is.

Re: The Feminine Physique: On Women's Bodybuilding

#82

Post by rmah » Sun, Feb 07, 2021, 9:42 PM UTC

I usually don't read articles like this, but it was so well written that I was sort of sucked into it.

What was most interesting to me was not the various controversies about body aesthetics or even health consequences. What stood out to me was the author's description in the early parts of the article of how much she seemed to crave the approval of strangers, especially men. It was thought provoking and I'm still processing it. I find this way of thinking completely foreign. I know intellectually that many people need external affirmation... but from total strangers whom you barely interact with? I can't help but feel a bit sad that so many go through their lives this way.

Re: The Feminine Physique: On Women's Bodybuilding

#83

Post by autarch » Sun, Feb 07, 2021, 9:43 PM UTC

On a related topic, I recently watched an excellent documentary on disordered eating among rock climbers, especially professional climbers - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thtDQJGrO5s

Re: The Feminine Physique: On Women's Bodybuilding

#84

Post by User23 » Sun, Feb 07, 2021, 9:46 PM UTC

sterlind wrote: post #62

User23 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trenbolone is legal to possess in the USA. It's only illegal when you start putting it in yourself instead of cattle.

Trenbolone is Schedule III. It's illegal to possess unless you have a prescription, you can't legally order some without a vet prescribing it for your cow.

The actual drug trenbolone is scheduled, but a number of trenbolone preparations are (or at least were) exempted from the CSA because of their agricultural importance[1]. As I said, it instantly becomes a CSA violation the second a nonveterinary use occurs, but simple possession of unaltered Finaplix-H, for example, is or at least was just fine.

[1] https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-1997-10-03/html/97-25...

Re: The Feminine Physique: On Women's Bodybuilding

#85

Post by matwood » Sun, Feb 07, 2021, 9:49 PM UTC

jaegerpicker wrote: post #29

CydeWeys wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will say that strongman is interesting. It eliminates the cutting weight aspect of bodybuilding at least, though admittedly retains the steroid abuse aspect. I think it fundamentally answers an interesting question though in a way that bodybuilding maybe doesn't, namely: What is the absolute limit of strength that the human body is capable of?

While I understand that A LOT of strongman competitors are using steroids, it is entirely possible to compete without them. I know this because I've done it. Not at the international level but at a state level and placed very well. I've never taken a PED in my life. I was also a successful power lifter without PED's (550lbs bench press, 680lbs deadlift, and 725lbs squat at my peak). Those who don't compete don't unde…

Those are great numbers. If you don't mind me asking, what did you weigh when doing those?

I agree with you, that people can get far stronger than they realize. I'm not genetically gifted, started quite skinny, and still got a 325 bp, 405 squat and 525 DL at 195 back when I was younger. All I ever took was creatine and whey. I'm fairly tall, which seemed to help the lever action with my DL, but always caused my squat to lag.

Re: The Feminine Physique: On Women's Bodybuilding

#86

Post by ip26 » Sun, Feb 07, 2021, 9:49 PM UTC

rmah wrote: post #82

I usually don't read articles like this, but it was so well written that I was sort of sucked into it. What was most interesting to me was not the various controversies about body aesthetics or even health consequences. What stood out to me was the author's description in the early parts of the article of how much she seemed to crave the approval of strangers, especially men. It was thought provoking and I'm still pr…

Total strangers are the most honest signal of whether you are generally attractive.

Re: The Feminine Physique: On Women's Bodybuilding

#87

Post by joshspankit » Sun, Feb 07, 2021, 9:50 PM UTC

danbolt wrote: post #75

watwut wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That does not give much idea of what her bikiny look was like. I was curious about that too, it is very focus of article, but it is described be words only and hard to imagine.

I feel like what exactly she looked like wasn't the takeaway from the discussion for me, to be honest.

Same here

Re: The Feminine Physique: On Women's Bodybuilding

#88

Post by DoreenMichele » Sun, Feb 07, 2021, 9:52 PM UTC

rmah wrote: post #82

I usually don't read articles like this, but it was so well written that I was sort of sucked into it. What was most interesting to me was not the various controversies about body aesthetics or even health consequences. What stood out to me was the author's description in the early parts of the article of how much she seemed to crave the approval of strangers, especially men. It was thought provoking and I'm still pr…

I was a ridiculously cute little girl and I'm pretty damn sure a lot of my social issues as a young adult were rooted in getting essentially trained to play to the crowd as a toddler. At that age, it's a form of brainwashing and it's amazingly hard to root out after you become an adult and are puzzled that your antics no longer get you adoration. (PSA: Please don't do this to your own children. It's an awful thing to experience.)

My oldest son was a ridiculously cute toddler but I never taught him that he was expected to play to the crowd. So when he got to be school age and found that too much social attention was actively problematic, he was able to choose to intentionally behave differently.

This is likely to some degree a gender difference. Girls seem to get a lot more social pressure generally to "be cute" and to engage socially in a performative manner.

Re: The Feminine Physique: On Women's Bodybuilding

#89

Post by joshspankit » Sun, Feb 07, 2021, 9:54 PM UTC

rmah wrote: post #82

I usually don't read articles like this, but it was so well written that I was sort of sucked into it. What was most interesting to me was not the various controversies about body aesthetics or even health consequences. What stood out to me was the author's description in the early parts of the article of how much she seemed to crave the approval of strangers, especially men. It was thought provoking and I'm still pr…

This is much more common than you would imagine. And on both sides of the typical gender roles. (I’m speaking about western society here as it’s what I know, and where I feel like a lot of that need comes from.)

Re: The Feminine Physique: On Women's Bodybuilding

#90

Post by Retric » Sun, Feb 07, 2021, 9:57 PM UTC

rmah wrote: post #82

I usually don't read articles like this, but it was so well written that I was sort of sucked into it. What was most interesting to me was not the various controversies about body aesthetics or even health consequences. What stood out to me was the author's description in the early parts of the article of how much she seemed to crave the approval of strangers, especially men. It was thought provoking and I'm still pr…

You don’t need that validation, but it’s still very noticeable. The difference between being slightly overweight and ripped is shocking. The world is suddenly a different place where you show up at a large party and several hot women hit on you etc.

Granted you need to be otherwise attractive, but it’s not just women men also treat you more positively. Women see a wider range of responses, yet it’s still generally a very positive experience.