It's NOT REAL. And a CHALLENGE! (WIN SBD!)
Listen to me closely.
It's not real.
Photo by h heyerlein on Unsplash
Take a look at the cover of a fitness magazine. What do you see? A beautiful person, totally ripped, totally gorgeous, and posing to perfection, right? It makes sense. I mean, they've got to sell magazines, so they want to make sure and lure readers in with as many pretty pictures as possible.
The problem I have is this:
that picture is an extremely inaccurate representation of the lifestyle needed to achieve said picture.
Case in point.
That was me in 2011. That is with professional makeup and hair done, and of course, a professional photographer with lighting and background carefully selected.
That is carefully contrived.
That is not what fitness looks like.
This is what fitness looks like.
Every day. At least two hours per day. A bit different, no?
I recently saw this in a makeup store.
It's billed as "workout makeup." The three circled items would have made me angry if they didn't make me so sad. Especially, "train hard, never show it."
I'm sorry, but when I work out, I WORK OUT. I don't go to the gym to look pretty or make friends or have fun. In fact, I think most people assume I'm some type of antisocial troll who got smacked a few times with an ugly stick and now has a vicious grudge against humanity.
Yoga, anyone?
I know a lot of amazing women on Steemit who exercise on a regular basis. I have a question for y'all. What do you look like when you work out? Do you look put together, ready for a magazine cover, or do you look like you've just survived a run through a tumble dryer?
I shall start a challenge.
CHALLENGE!
Ladies, show me your post-workout faces. You can make a post about it, or you can just put it in the comments.
Let's fight back against people telling us we have to look "pretty" when we're kicking ass in the gym or at home!
And because I know it's gonna be scary to post those pictures (even though it shouldn't be, because you're gorgeous no matter what your face looks like in one mere split second of time a photo captures), I shall sweeten the deal.
Everyone who shares a post-workout photo will get an even split of the post earnings. If the post doesn't earn too much, each woman will get 3 SBD.
So share this around and let's see those beautiful, sweating faces!
Kudos to you for doing this! Yes, it is sad how women are pressured to look good at all times, and your initiative might help change that! Still, you look smashing even sweaty and tousled!
LOL why thank you. :)
You would be so proud of my post workout picture. ITs ugly, its real, its a sweat pool. My smile can make any picture beautiful because I'm beautiful. However, I celebrate every workout that doesn't kill me because I feel closer and closer to death after working out.
LOVE this :)
THIS is awesome! I feel this NEVER gets talked about because the fitness industry has to keep a beautiful facade in order to sell their product or service. I've struggled with this personally (as a coach who does not "look" like the magazines) as well as with my athletes who constantly feel inadequate and frustrated because they don't look like what they see in mainstream media.
This is REAL. I LOVE real. Thank you @lenadr. I'll have to take a post-workout pic tomorrow. You rock!
My workout partner and I are completing 18.2!
LOVE LOVE LOVE! Wow, you're still smiling?! I was never smiling after an open workout. HA! What is 18.2 this year?
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 rep rounds of DB Squats 2x35# and Bar-facing burpees with a 12:00 cap. With any time left on the clock, do a 1RM clean. I did NOT make it to the bar for the clean :( 18.3 gets announced tonight. If you’re interested, I do a weekly post about the workout on Saturdays after it’s announced and an update of my results on Tuesdays after the deadline. It’s fun :)
Oh my gosh, YES. It can be extremely frustrating not to "look" like you think you're supposed to, based on others. I struggle with that as well. I'm strong, but I'm not "ripped;" and being almost exclusively in the free-weight section of the gym with all those muscle-bound men can get really frustrating.
But, quick story.
I was helping a friend unload her pickup truck, and she had several 40lb bags of salt in the very back. I stood on a side step and was able to easily lift the bags over the side. She looked at me like I was an alien and said, "Geez, strong much?" I was like, pfff whatever. But then she tried and couldn't even lift one off the floor.
That really hit me (and of course made me feel like a badass). Just because I don't look like a Muscle and Fitness model doesn't mean I'm not strong AF. And that's the real goal, isn't it?
YES! We just need to keep spreading this belief, that it’s about what these amazing bodies of ours can DO, not just what they look like...and keep representin’ STRONG ladies!
I'm not a lady, so I won't participate.
I fully understand why this is directed solely at women. Men don't get the pressure from society to look their "best" all the time. Where "best" is some arbitrary notion built up by the fashion industry, or something.
Anyway, I do have a picture I really like of me passed out after some bouldering, and I'd like to share it here.
That's great! Oh, I can feel your exhaustion from here. Haha. Thanks for sharing!!
The biomechanics of the healthy human body are a beautiful thing to behold, to be celebrated for their own natural majesty. Working out is dorky as hell, but it can be kind of cool looking sometimes. A healthy human looks nice, so be healthy derp. Do the work, you can look healthy too! Marketing tries to sell a brand of lifestyle behind the image of a healthy person, so they want the best image they can make. Problem is, the result comes from the work, not the marketing, and they don't want to photograph or advertise the work, or tell you that you will indeed also have to do hard work to become healthful :P
Exactly. They show you the "after" and the "before" but not the grueling hours and days of the "during." Thanks for commenting!
It's through those grueling times that one develops discipline, and learns to shine under pressure - the most valuable parts of lifting. I know if I ever let myself get out of shape, I have the discipline to crack the whip and make the muscles grow, and the same motivation that pushes me through another set of hard squats carries me up a mountain perhaps more easily :D
Discipline is bad for marketing though; disciplined people don't buy as many things and are less vulnerable to manipulation.
Absolutely. Fitness is such a mental game. But like you said about climbing the mountain, life is a mental game.
Right now, in fact, I'm practicing my discipline with cookies: every time I think, "I'm done, I can't eat another one," I tell myself, "No! Just one more. I can do this!" LOL
The mountain can be a metaphor for any goal in life pretty easily :)
Hahaha it's a lot easier to not feel bad about having another cookie as long as you keep the same vigor in your squat and deadlift routine, or in the progression upward in intensity... you know you're gonna need every bit of energy you can scrounge to grow and recover :D
Oh my god the difference is unreal between the first and the last pic but I prefer the real @lenadr resteemed this for you.
Haha, yes, the real thing and the made-up version are quite different. That's how it is with everyone, especially models on magazines! Those glam pictures are the farthest thing from the reality behind them.
Thank you for the resteem!!
Yes yes YES! PSA to the massive, WORKOUTS ARE GLAMOROUS without the fake glam. You are strong and beautiful.
You've been upvoted and resteemed as part of the #LadiesofSteemit initiative. Keep up the great work!
YAY, thank you, I'm honored!! (Btw, I don't look like that first picture anymore. That was quite some time and many pounds ago. LOL)
Altho i like the art of photography magic and i think the photo is both pretty and strong ( which is way left of other magazine covers) I totally agree with your sentiment. Im about practicality. That said i forgot what a gym looks like...
Thank you @limabeing! Good to hear from you. :)
You don't do the gym, huh? I don't blame you. That environment can get a bit tiresome...
I have trouble getting out of bed sooo
Original contest/challenge, cool I'm gonna think about it haha, I do Zumba on the Wii but I have to pick it up again so this can be my change to finally do it all ready again ;P
Woohoo do it!! Haha
Only one more day to get a post-Zumba selfie in. You can do it!!! :D
We see this all the time especially with some that all dolled up and mostly does stretching hahha.
Haha, yep. Can't mess up the makeup by sweating!