I came across the image on the right while I was researching exercises for parkour.
And two things popped into my head when I saw this image:
#1. Wow. She has an amazingly round bottom.
#2. Why is there no male equivalent of this?
The last one is what got me thinking about how this image is basically geared towards women, not men. It is aimed at women who want a sexier bottom. Sure, men enjoy looking at the bottom in question, but ultimately it is geared towards women who feel insecure about looks.
In contrast when was the last time men were made to feel insecure about their looks? For me I think it was a recent family gathering in which several relatives mocked my new beard - which was bizarre because from friends and strangers I have nothing but really nice comments on my beard - my girlfriend has even taken to calling me "Mr Sexy Beard".
So honestly, family comments aside, I don't have a problem with my beard or my looks. But beyond that recent thing I am trying to think of another incident when I felt insecure about my appearance.
Doubtlessly many men feel insecure about their appearance on first dates, during job interviews, when they are camera shy because something about their appearance isn't currently up to snuff.
But I have yet to see an image, similar to the one above, which deliberately hones in on male insecurities about their appearance. If you can think of one please post a comment below.
I love the scene below from "Grudge Match". It summed up how I have been feeling about Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) for years now.
I am so happy "Grudge Match" brought this topic up.
MMA is a bunch of steroid overdosing men with big egos who don't really know how to a throw a proper punch. Oh sure, the MMA has lots of "big men" in their 'sports entertainment' franchise (MMA is not a real sport), men with even bigger egos, but there is really no skill involved in MMA.
Why?
Let me break it down for you. The MMA fighting style exactly the same fighting style as two seven year olds rolling around in the dirt punching each other. That is not a "martial art". It is not a "sport" either. It is two grown men behaving like 7-year-olds. Observe the photos below and see what I mean.
See the similarities? Even little girls fight like that. (Seriously, I have seen it happen.)
Chimpanzees have better fighting styles. A chimpanzee at least knows how to throw a proper punch. Heck a chimp can even be trained to jump in the air and do a spin kick.
Here is another thing that bothers me about MMA - the length of the fights.
A boxing match is typically 10 to 15 rounds long, 3 minutes per round. That is 30 to 45 minutes of getting punched in the head and chest.
MMA (Unified Rules) matches have 3 rounds (sometimes 5 rounds for a title match), each round is 5 minutes long. So that is only 15 usually, with a maximum of 25 minutes in a title match.
What that tells you is that boxers have roughly twice or thrice the endurance of MMA fighters (who apparently get tired too easily because they're a bunch of pansies that fight like children).
What is also funny is the number of times MMA 'fighters' have gotten into real life fights with police, random strangers, etc - and got seriously beat up because they turned out to be wussies in a real fight.
Take for example a Brazilian MMA fighter named Maiquel Falcão who in 2013 tried kissing a girl at a gas station. He then got beat up by the girl's boyfriend and sent to the hospital with massive injuries. That is just one incident. There is another incident where a MMA fighter got in a fight with a much smaller Navy Seal, and the Navy Seal won easily.
With the growth in MMA popularity during the last decade there is now literally dozens of incidents per month of self-proclaimed MMA fighters (losers who joined a MMA club of some kind) who have been getting beaten up by the police, military personnel, boxers, martial artists (real martial artists, not the phoney MMA kind), and even grannies with their handbags.
Seriously. How bad of a fighter do you have to be to get beat up by a granny with her purse?
Lastly...
And I bring this up without any feelings of homophobia - but MMA feels a bit gay. And by a bit, I mean a lot. Two grown men rolling around on the ground, mostly naked, grabbing at each other and punching each other - I wouldn't be surprised if they sometimes get an embarrassing erection.
Now there is nothing wrong with being gay. It is just that MMA is a very macho piece of 'sports entertainment' and the gay moments happen during EVERY fight - and even before the fights, as you can see in the clip below.
Whether that was to psyche his opponent out (which it probably did) it illustrates what I am trying to prove here. MMA is just 'sports entertainment'. That whole scene was probably done just for publicity.
MMA is no more a real sport than the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment), another 'sports entertainment' franchise which uses a lot of theatrics and acting in order to provide more entertainment for the audience.
Basically what it comes down to is that MMA is an adult glorification of the same kind of fighting little kids do. No finesse. No skill. Just brute stupidity.
Boxing requires discipline.
Martial arts (real martial arts) requires discipline.
Military training requires discipline.
MMA? All that requires is a bunch of steroids, some weight training, and a big enough ego to step inside a ring and fight like an embarrassing little kid.
I guarantee if you stick a 200 lb MMA guy in a ring with a 200 lb angry chimpanzee, the chimpanzee will beat the crap out of the MMA guy (and possibly eat his face off). Why? Because MMA men are just punks with muscles and no self control - and can apparently get up by a granny wielding a purse.
But a boxer? You put a 200 lb boxer in a ring with an angry chimp and the boxer will knock the chimp's lights out. And they would never get beat up by an elderly woman with a purse.
End of Story.
About the Author
Charles Moffat has formally studied boxing, kick boxing, wrestling (Olympic style) and studied Taekwondo in South Korea. He currently teaches archery and boxing in Toronto, Canada.
Want to build muscle? Don't think bodybuilding, think gymnast. To see why watch the following 2 videos about a bodybuilder who decides to become a gymnast for a day and learns how difficult it is.
I think the problem people have is that they see skinny gymnasts but don't see that these gymnasts have great upper body strength (due to a very high power to weight ratio).
Watch and you will see that the gymnast makes the bodybuilder look like a complete amateur. So if a bodybuilder cannot do it, just imagine how horrible you would be trying to do the same activities. With lots of training the bodybuilder would eventually be able to do all the gymnast activities - and so can you. It is really just a matter of conditioning and training your body.
A burglar who broke into a house and threatened a 72-year-old pensioner with a knife got more than he bargained for when the elderly victim turned out to be a retired boxer who left him bruised and bleeding.
Frank Corti, 72, who served with the Royal Engineers in North Africa from 1956-58, dodged the knife and punched Gregory McCalium, 23, twice in the face, giving him a black eye and a swollen lip and sent him reeling to the floor. He then restrained the attacker until police arrived.
McCalium, a barman who was down on his luck, was given a four-and-a-half year prison sentence at Oxford Crown Court on June 24th 2013 for aggravated burglary and was told by the judge he "got what he deserved".
The court heard that Mr Corti was at home in Botley, Oxford, with his wife Margaret, 72, when the young McCalium, a neighbour, forced his way in at 8 AM on August 19th 2012 . McCalium was drunk and depressed from a recent bout of bad luck - and his bac luck was about to get a lot worse.
Speaking after the case, Mr Corti said: "I was scared when he first drew the knife, but my old training must have kicked in because I just punched him as hard as I could and he went down like a sack of spuds. If you can't defend what's yours, where are we at?"
McCalium had denied the charge and claimed he could not remember what happened. Which is perhaps true. Drunk and punched twice in the head, he may not remember trying to rob the elderly man at all.
But it certainly makes for a funny story.
For private boxing lessons in Toronto contact CardioTrek.ca. Boxing is great for fun, exercise and even punching burglars. :)
There is a weird double standard within society when it comes to women exercising.
Women are expected to be beautiful - because men desire beautiful women, and women want to be desirable.
But in order to maintain the kind of beauty that men find desirable, women need to exercise.
However on a cultural level women who exercise are considered to be less than feminine. They are referred to by any number of derogatory names: Tomboys, dykes, etc. Even female athletes are treated poorly because they are seen as less than male athletes.
And yet judging by videos like the one further below, females who exercise (even those who aren't athletes) are highly desirable.
It is as if women are expected to have cake and they're allowed to eat it for once, but they're not allowed to make it somehow.
So how are women supposed to get this beautiful body they're expected to have without exercising? Diet? That just leads to eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia. Or worse, yo-yo dieting and stretch marks from rapid weight changes.
What really needs to happen is a cultural change wherein women who exercise are more revered by society as a whole - as opposed to one aspect of society supporting exercise for women and another aspect of society condoning it and treating women who exercise as less than feminine.
Having watched the video above do you think the women in the video were less than feminine? Probably not. They are very obviously feminine and very attractive to boot.
This means we need to endorse and applaud women who exercise and give young women more positive role models who are female athletes they can look up to. Not just in North America either, but globally.
From a male perspective this means two things - more attractive women out there - and it means that we men need to do better ourselves and exercise more because we aren't as fit as we like to think we are.
My winter goal was to do a lot of weightlifting and put on a lot of muscle over course of the winter.
I weighed myself today. 183 lbs with clothes off. Up from 165 lbs when I last weighed myself in December. And yet I've lost belly fat over the winter due to my exercising / weightlifting regimen. Not a lot, but enough that it is probably about 3 to 5 lbs.
Which leaves only two possible explanations... I've either put on about 20 lbs of muscle during the winter - or I've gained weight due to increased bone density (most likely it is a combination of muscle and bone density, because weightlifting also boosts bone density).
I have put on more muscle mass over the winter, but I didn't think it was anywhere close to 20 lbs. That is a lot more than I was expecting.
In other news I also bought new running shoes for jogging this Spring and Summer. Nike Crosstrainers. (I've purchased many Nike shoes over the years, but never cross-trainers before.)
My goal is lose even more belly fat now that is is Spring by doing a lot of jogging, cycling and to continue my weightlifting regimen. The end goal of which is to have really nice six-pack abs. Having the new running shoes will certainly help with that.
Still... back to the muscle growth it boggles my mind that I put on that much muscle/bone density weight in the space of 4 months (December, January, February, March). Roughly 5 lbs of muscle per month...
And to be fair I wasn't even trying that hard. Some days I worked extra hard on the weightlifting and some days I didn't do any weightlifting at all. (You are supposed to have rest periods in-between heavy weightlifting days in order to avoid muscle fatigue.)
Which proves that while I wasn't trying that hard, I still succeeded at putting on way more muscle than I was expecting. Approx. 5 lbs of muscle per month over a 4 month period.
Now to be fair, I am a certified personal trainer and I do know quite a bit about the topic of building extra muscle (see the articles below on my personal training website), but even I wasn't expecting to build 20 lbs of extra muscle so easily.
Now part of what might be surprising me is that while the fat I lost over the winter was noticeable, the muscle I gained over the winter was not as easily noticeable. Yes, I do know I've put on extra muscle... But I think a lot of it is back muscles, core muscles and muscle weight in areas I can't really see that easily without a mirror.
Thus it doesn't really work for me to get out the calipers and measure my back muscles. I can't really reach properly and I never measure my back muscles in December so I don't really have a clue what my back muscles looked like back then.
I've also noticed it in my biceps, triceps and shoulders, but the change isn't super obvious.
As a personal trainer ideally I should be in really good shape - and eat properly. But to be fair I am currently not in spectacular shape. I got my certification back in November, and while I am muscular and fit I still have a bit of belly fat I would like to shed... and I would like those muscles to be more pronounced - which means I need to do two things:
#1. Cardio, to shed those last few pounds of belly fat.
#2. A lot more weightlifting.
The good news is I am seeing lots of progress, so that makes me really motivated to keep going. And that is really the hardest part, motivating yourself to exercise daily. If I keep up my weightlifting regimen I might be able to put on another 30 to 40 lbs of muscle weight by January of 2014.
When I was younger I had six-pack abs because I was running around on a farm every day. Since moving to Toronto and going to university I put on a lot of fat in an hurry. It has since been a decade since I graduated and while I have lost about 40 lbs of fat in the last 4 years, I still have a few more lbs to shed before I get my six-pack abs back.
Reminder to Self - Do a follow up post in September to see the status of my abs.
The following is a list of 10 things that men ALWAYS do when it comes to women*...
#1. If a man sees a topless woman he is guaranteed to smile. Even the men who publicly say ill of women walking around topless will secretly thinking "Huzzah for Women's Lib!"
#2. A man will always think that given time and a deserted island a woman will fall to his charms. Its just a matter of time in his mind. (Although getting lots of exercise, hunting, eating more fruits, veggies and berries probably will improve his chances along the way.)
#3. If a man looks at a woman his first thought is "Can I have sex with this person?" If she is unattractive in theory his level of respect for her rights just went up a notch because the average man will treat an unattractive woman with more respect than he would an attractive woman. Notice I said "the average man". That does not mean ALL men do that, but they do all immediately think "Can I have sex with this person?"
#4. A man presented with an opportunity to be a pig and isn't going to get caught or punished will at least think about doing it even if he doesn't act on it. Its the men who actually act on it who are the true sexist pigs, not the men who just happen to think it.
#5. Men will always assume that the woman has a sense of humour and will find their antics funny and charming.
#6. A man will always be vaguely surprised when the woman doesn't find his antics funny and charming. He's been operating under the assumption that he is charming and adorable all these years... and despite evidence to the contrary, will continue to believe that.
#7. A man on a bicycle will always try to race a woman in an effort to prove how fast he is. Its an ego thing.
#8. Place a woman in a room full of men and they will either start swearing less or more. Less if they are trying to be more polite in her presence, more if they are trying to impress her with macho swearing.
#9. If a woman asks a man to fix something he will at least think about attempting it. Even if the man has no formal training in how to fix something (eg. like a bicycle mechanic) the man will always assume that he can figure it out on his own without anyone's help or following the instruction manual.
#10. A man will always assume that he is stronger than he really is. Even if he is not into weightlifting he will still try to lift something just to see if he can. Men will always think that women are impressed by this, even if they fail to lift it.
* Assuming they are heterosexual. I cannot speak for homosexual men. I have no idea what they are thinking with respect to women.
Call it my horror / amusement of America's growing obesity problems, but I think the USA's problems with controlling its weight has reached a point where it is just plain FUNNY.
I mean, could you imagine if the USA were invaded by a hostile power (like in the 1984 film Red Dawn, or the 2012 remake) and the majority of Americans were too fat to put up much of a struggle?
It would just be laughable. The USA, with all of its claims of military superiority, doesn't really have the stomach (haha, fat pun) for a large scale invasion - whether it be by communists, aliens or even alien communists.
What is worse is that for those Americans who are fit, they're not fit for "combat" because their idea of a war is watching UFC or watching the U.S. military bomb Iraq on CNN.
The USA hasn't had a draft since the Vietnam War (which ended in 1975) so the average American really hasn't got a clue.
The average American only exercises 17 minutes per day (according to a 2012 survey). Now when you realize that some Americans exercise 1 or 2 hours per day, what you also realize is that many Americans simply don't exercise at all.
We have only to look at the sales of Rascal Scooters and the percentage of obese people who simply don't walk and instead use a scooter to do their daily activities.
Its reached a point where Americans are just a ridiculous joke.
Now I admit the exercise industry has its share of jokes too. I've shared a few below. But in comparison if I had to choose between bending over and ripping my pants because I am too fat for my pants... and struggling to do an exercise and looking like a fool, I am going to choose the exercise.
Maybe its just me, but being fit is worth it the pain and embarrassment along the way. Being fat is just plain embarrassing and the pain will never go away.
And this is why you should NOT get breast implants.
She is the Ukrainian model with a body and face that strongly resembles the classic Barbie doll - and is billed as such in advertising work that she does.
But how did she get that insanely fit body and her face to look like Barbie?
Well the face is mostly makeup apparently. Although she has been accused of using plastic surgery, Valeria Lukyanova maintains her looks are completely the result of well executed makeup designed to make her look more like Barbie.
The name she prefers to use is "Amatue", which may sound great in her native Ukrainian, but in English looks and sounds like Amateur.
She has also been accused of having her photos photoshopped, which some of them might be, but if you watch videos of her you can see she clearly looks like that in real life. So if there is any photoshopping going on the changes are comparatively minor... things like trying to make her eyes look bigger so she looks more doll-like and un-human. And to be fair, she is already using makeup to make her eyes look bigger so photoshop seems like overkill.
See the video below to see how she manages her makeup.
The thing however is that Valeria Lukyanova claims to maintain her physique using nothing more than exercise - and judging by her workout videos (shown below) she is using low weights and high repetitions to accomplish this goal. According to a Certified Personal Trainer from Cardio Trek using low weights and a high reps workout would result in an ultra thin body, with very little muscle tone and very little fat.
Now you might think, well what about her breasts? If she is exercising that much, shouldn't she lose some of her breast size by working out so much?
Not necessarily. Some women are simply blessed with well-developed breasts, and breast size doesn't decrease dramatically unless they're either anorexic or taking steroids. Natural breasts will ultimately look natural. And looking at the photo above, they're not HUGE and they do appear to be proportional for the size of her chest. And certainly not abnormal when you consider the number of women I've seen at the beach with similar proportions (although they are usually teens or in their 20s if they look that perky).
What is more unnerving is how thin she looks, but without that bony look that anorexic women typically get. Again, this could be due to her exercise routine. So lets have a look at her exercise videos below and see what she is actually doing.
So yes, we can conclude that she is exercising to keep her body ultra thin, but maintaining just a small amount of muscle tone so she doesn't look anorexic. Chalk that down to a very specific exercise routine.
But lets imagine you want to look like Barbie too. Can you do it? Is it even possible?
Well with exercise, you could certainly try to get part of the way there, and you would look fabulous. But its doubtful that you have the right facial proportions and some impressive skills with makeup to do what Valeria Lukyanova does.
SEX - Do you know what sells lingerie? Its not the sex, its the mystery of what lays beneath and it leaves the female body parts up to our imagination.
It doesn't even have to be lingerie. It can be any kind of fashion item provided it actually clothes the body.
Take the photo on the right as an example. It gets the point across. Its attractive and alluring... but all of this depends on the imagination. Skin by itself doesn't provoke much imagination. Its the shape of the skin and the flesh underneath. Muscles. Angles. Curves. And you don't need bare flesh to see curves.
And this works equally well with men.
What looks more attractive? A man wearing an extra large baggy shirt?
Or a man wearing a tight-fitting shirt which shows his physique?
The answer for most people is obvious, the tight-fitting shirt.
The problem however is if you are overweight... and have rolls of fat that you want to hide. That is when the baggy clothes comes in because you are looking to hide fatty rolls.
Lets look at the following photos as an example... two similarly attractive women both wearing grey... but you can see the curves of this woman on the right because her clothes are tight fitting.
Now once you've learned this fashion sexiness principle you realize why you its important to do two things when trying to attract a mate:
#1. Stay fit. Get nice abs. Do yoga and cardio.
#2. Wear clothes suitable for your size that is either tight fitting or not too baggy.
And provided you have a nice personality to go with your sexy body you will have no problem attracting a mate.
HEALTH - There is Hatha Yoga, Ashtanga Yoga, Moksha Yoga, Bikram/Hot Yoga... but the instant favourite yoga for men of all is JOCK YOGA.
Now I will admit, I've been doing my own version of "jock yoga" for years now. For me its basically a combination of yoga positions + weightlifting, sometimes simultaneously.
However Jock Yoga, as its patented by Toronto founder Michael DeCorte, is different from my own particular brand of yoga. DeCorte's Jock Yoga focuses on strength and endurance, with less emphasis on flexibility. And his methods differ wildly from my own.
And for male beginners jock yoga offers something that other yoga practitioners do not: Your dignity.
The reason is because many men, despite being quite athletic or strong, are not very flexible. Sometimes its just a size/height issue too, like it was in my case wherein certain positions are more difficult because my legs are too long. (Men typically have longer legs proportionally compared to women.)
Jock Yoga, as a new branch of yoga designed specifically for guys, uses positions that any man can do, but combines various aspects of Power Yoga, Vinyasa Yoga (which focuses on breathing), and Ashtanga Yoga (eight-limbed yoga, which includes meditation, self-purification, morality, posture, breath control, sensory control, intentions and contemplation).
Within jock yoga the idea is to make you sweat buckets. The poses are designed to be difficult to hold the posture due to the physical strain, not because it requires flexibility.
(Speaking for myself and my own brand of yoga, I do something similar, but I use 30 lb and 25 lb weights, exercise elastic tubes and rope to put added pressure on the muscle building part of the exercise. I will also sometimes add headstand pushups and gymnastic exercises to my routine.)
But whatever! More power to Michael DeCorte for succeeding to get more men into the yoga studio. His classes have become notoriously popular with both men and women.
Michael DeCorte's classes are available at:
473A Church Street Toronto, "Jock Yoga" at Buddha Body Yoga (where I briefly attended back in 2009).
889 Yonge Street Toronto, where it is known as "Athletic Flow".
661 Yonge Street Suite 300, Toronto, "Flow 1" at Iam Yoga.
1498 Yonge Street Toronto, "Jock Yoga" at Moksha Yoga Uptown.
155 Liberty Street Toronto, "Jock Yoga Bootcamp" at the LiV Yoga Studio.
1661 Queen Street East Toronto, "Jock Yoga" at System Fitness.
1977 Queen Street East Toronto, "Level 1" at Downward Dog at the Beach.
HEALTH - I totally understand why Arnold Schwarzenegger cheated on his wife Maria Shriver... and later separated from her in 2010 and now looks to be heading towards divorce.
Have you seen Maria Shriver? She is so anorexic she looks like a skeletal corpse.
When Arnold and Maria first met many years ago Maria Shriver was a thin but reasonably healthy woman. She was in many ways a trophy wife, but had intellect and was a member of the Kennedy Family (and thus a boon to Arnold Schwarzenegger's political career).
However as she got older Maria Shriver became more obsessed with dieting / cutting back on food that she began to look like somekind of undead monster. Combined with this is the associated mental disorders such an eating disorder like anorexia brings with it. She became irritable, obsessive, problematic... in short she became a mental head case.
To treat such a problem what you need is a psychiatrist, which Arnold Schwarzenegger is not.
But what Arnold Schwarzenegger is however is a bodybuilding health nut. To him this wasting away of muscle and fat to leave only skin and bones would have been seen as the opposite of what Maria Shriver should be doing. If she wanted to look beautiful the thing to do is to eat well and exercise. That Arnold certainly knows.
It is therefore perhaps no surprise that approx. 14 years ago that Arnold Schwarzenegger cheated on his wife Maria Shriver in favour of the much more attractive housekeeper Patty (Mildred Patricia Baena) and in the process fathered a son, who has recently been the centre of much media attention.
As a working mother Patty had to take care of Maria and Arnold's four children, cook, clean and do laundry. She was certainly eating healthy and getting lots of exercise. She was a virtual sexy amazon compared to Maria Shriver's withered corpse of a body.
The point I am making here isn't that Arnold cheated on his anorexic wife. I am not endorsing cheating whatsoever. The point I am making is that anorexia is NOT sexy. Never is, never will be.
Only some seriously mentally deficient person would want to have sex with a skeleton. That is just plain sick.
With respect to Arnold Schwarzenegger it is no surprise that he tried to do the honourable thing and hold his family together long enough so his children could all grow up with a family, including the bastard son who apparently spent a reasonable amount of time on his estate. While he kept it a secret from his family, he made the son a welcome part of their extended family.
I would speculate that Arnold Schwarzenegger will eventually find love again in his life, but this time he will pay closer attention to finding someone who shares his interest in healthy diet and exercise.
Heck, I don't even like to waste food byproducts... like bacon grease.
Thus when I had bacon yesterday I kept the grease in the pan and had fried eggs later.
And this morning I still had grease leftover, but I had run out of eggs... And then I looked at the cheddar cheese in my fridge and an idea sparked...
Minutes later I was grilling not one but TWO grilled cheese sandwiches in the frying pan, using the bacon grease.
And yes, it was delicious.
However on the health side of things it was so ridiculously fattening that I now feel a tad sick. I think I overdid it by making two of them (in an effort to use up more of the leftover grease) and now my arteries are going to be paying for it.
My only solution is that I shall have to exercise a lot today to work off all those extra calories I just consumed.
So my advice for other men (or women) out there is that if you are tempted to try making a grilled cheese sandwich using leftover bacon grease is JUST MAKE ONE! No need to overdo it!
I realize that men often overestimate what we can eat, even when we feel like we are starving. ie. "I could eat a horse!" But we really need to cutback on unnecessary calories when we really don't need them.
Just because we can eat that much doesn't mean we should.
As far as black female athletes go, how many can you name?
I mean asides from Venus Williams and Serena Williams. That is it. I could only name two.
When I asked a Haitian Canadian woman she listed Flo Jo, the runner - aka Florence Griffith Joyner - who died in 1998. She was able to name 3 (she also listed Venus and Serena).
And that is the thing.
When it comes to female athletes - and especially black female athletes, their names are often left out of our pop culture memories.
I mean there are a lot of black female athletes out there. Including athletes in disciplines not commonly done by African-Americans. Like gymnasts like American gymnast Gabrielle Douglas.
Or Mabel Fairbanks, an African American figure skater. Same goes with Debi Thomas, Surya Bonaly, and Tiffani Tucker.
And doubtless many others deserving of praise, but for whatever reason not recognized by mainstream media - which largely focuses on athletes that are white and male. I am not saying the media is racist or sexist, but they're definitely profit driven and have a very narrow view of what is profitable.
Truth be told I think all sports broadcasting is profitable. The people in charge just haven't realized that it doesn't matter whether we watch male hockey or female hockey, Canadians will watch anything with hockey in it.
Same goes with football. Americans would watch anything with football in it - including women's football.
The same could likely be said for Italians and soccer - because they're crazy about soccer in Italy.
So if you have difficulty naming female athletes, whose fault is that? The athletes? Or the broadcasters who don't think it will be profitable to sell a product people are willing to buy?
If we televised women's hockey, women's archery, women's boxing - I would watch those matches! And I can tell you right now I would not be alone in my thirst to watch women's sporting events.
ENTERTAINMENT/HEALTH - I must say everytime I do a post with the words "at Work" at the end I have to wonder what people are thinking... Obviously I am not talking about skinny dipping and nudity at work work... I am amazed everyone reading the blog has managed to figure this out on their own. You'd think there'd be one dumbass out there who doesn't make the connection.
Anywho, back to the main dish: Skinny Dipping.
For people who love to swim, skinny dipping is often the ultimate experience of freedom in the water... as long as its not infested with piranhas or crocodiles. Whether you consider swimming a form of exercise or a competitive sport, skinny dipping itself is really more of a recreational activity.
Last week Vancouver tried to set a Guinness World Record by having the largest group of people skinny dipping together... they failed, but the participants enjoyed it.
If you decide to go skinny dipping, either alone or with a friend, there is some general rules of thumb you should follow:
#1. The 200 Meter Rule
If you have neighbours or people that might notice try to stay at a distance of 200 meters or more. They won't be able to see anything of importance at that distance unless they're using binoculars (in which case I don't think they mind).
#2. Avoid Mosquitoes
Skinny dipping during the height of mosquitoe season is very unwise. The best time of the year is August when most of the mosquitoes are gone.
#3. The Boat, Canoe or Dock Solution
One solution for people who are shy is to swim on the far side of a dock, boat or canoe so the neighbours can't see you. Other solutions are to wait for dusk, swim really early in the morning, behind a rock outcropping, etc.
#4. Know the Laws
The Canadian Criminal Code forbids being “so clad as to offend against public decency.” As long as you take steps not to offend people or are around consenting people, then its no big deal.
Meanwhile toplessness is completely legal in Canada, for both men and women. So if you can't find the courage to swim nude, you can always go topless instead.
HEALTH - I have this horrible habit I do, its called exercise.
Let me explain... I was online chatting to a woman and I mentioned hurting my elbow lifting weights at the gym. To make a long story short she started giving me this whole attitude like "Oh, you're one of those people..." meaning people who exercise regularly. She wasn't referring to the muscle-bound professional weightlifters... or the people obsessed with working out every freaking day, she was referring to people "who believe in the value of exercise."
You see from her perspective exercise is a waste of time. You're either fit or fat and there's nothing you can do about it. "Its all genetics!" she argued.
If it was truly genetics how do explain the following?
#1. Obesity rates skyrocketing during the last 20 years in the United States. Is she saying Americans are genetically inferior? Highly doubtful.
#2. Obesity rates are only high in countries where people spend a great deal of time watching television and/or on computers, in contrast to spending time exercising. The average American watches 30 hours of television/movies per week and spends 14 hours per week on the internet. Combine that with an increasingly sedentary lifestyle in workplaces (and schools which have cut out Physical Education) its no wonder Americans are the fattest people on the planet. Please note that this has nothing to do with genetics and everything to do with lack of exercise.
#3. Some people eat a lot but don't gain any weight. This is because they have an active lifestyle. The more active and energetic you are, the faster your metabolism, the more easily you can consume food without gaining any weight... indeed if you are weightlifting the only weight you do gain is muscle mass (as opposed to fat).
But you see none of these points seem to matter to the woman I was talking to. From her perspective exercise to lose weight is a myth, a hoax forced on us by the weight-loss industry. She is absolutely convinced its all one big grand conspiracy to suck money out of people by forcing us to pay for gym memberships and exercise equipment.
Which is silly because exercise is free... anybody can go jogging, do aerobics and various traditional exercises like push ups, chin ups, etc., lift heavy things (ie. buckets of water or stacks of books) as a form of exercise. Having a gym membership is more about convenience because then you don't have to worry about breaking things in your home, you can get advice and you have all the extra space and useful machines at your disposal. (Heck my gym even has TVs on the treadmills and internet access.)
But regardless her mindset was clear she had a bit of a screw loose when it came to exercise. I did some checking online and there's a whole culture of people out there who think obesity is a genetic deficiency and on that basis they don't believe in exercise because they think its a waste of time and too troublesome.
At which point I am starting to wonder if the fat cells are blocking the flow of blood to their brains. Their arteries are so clogged with cholesterol their brain isn't receiving the proper amount of blood flow and its resulting in a brain malfunction. Its NOT genetic, its just a symptom of their condition.
Scientists have already proven that elderly people who exercise are less likely to develop Alzheimer's Disease and go senile. Regular exercise reduces the amount of cholesterol blocking their arteries, increases blood flow to the brain and results in the brain being healthier because it regenerates more.
Ergo people who exercise more often have less clogged arteries and healthier brains.
That might explain why some people can delude themselves into thinking exercise is a hoax... but I also think its part of their whole laziness mindset. They don't WANT to exercise, therefore they come up with reasons not to. Eventually all these reasons are combined until they've convinced themselves that exercise must be a complete waste of time because every time they do they never lose weight...
I think part of the problem is they expect instant results. Exercise is often combined with the word "regular" to imply regular daily exercise. Its not going to happen overnight. It will take months and years to achieve the final goal. That for some people is too long of a wait and they're simply too stubborn, stuck in their ways and lazy to make the prolonged effort.
Its like the people who say "Oh, I can't do art. I just don't have the talent." Bullshit. A baby has no talent. Talent is learned through practice and repetition. If you draw Charlie Brown 100 times by the time you get to number 100 you will probably be reasonably good at it. Artistic skill is learned ability. People aren't born with it. Some people might point out that other family members are also artistic, but thats because they also practiced their skill constantly. Their family values creativity and thus encourages it more, resulting in children who are better at it due to the amount of practice time.
The same thing can be applied to families of fat people. If the parents are lazy and spend all their free time watching television its guaranteed the children will do the same thing. Parents who are into exercise or sports are going to have active healthy children because they encouraged those activities.
And if you need further proof lets look at Type II Diabetes.
Type II Diabetes is caused by too much sugar (glucose) in the blood. Its not a genetic problem, its purely the result of overeating sugary foods. All that extra sugar results in hypertension, elevated cholesterol, various syndromes and will eventually kill the patient. Scientific studies have determined that the ONLY cure for Type II Diabetes is "consistent and continuing exercise" combined with healthy eating habits. In other words the patient needs to burn off all that extra sugar in their blood.
The human body isn't meant to eat large doses of sugar. We're meant to be outside hunting, fishing, foraging for food. We're supposed to be eating fruits, vegetables and meat. We're omnivores, not glucosevores. We're supposed to be outside, exercising, the wind in our hair... not trapped in a cubicle, eating prepackaged sugary foods and spending our evenings watching television or on the internet.
And now with much adieu I have to go to the gym now. Maybe I should take up archery? That sounds like fun.
HEALTH/SEX - Beauty is in the eye of the beholder right?
Well, what about female bodybuilders?
I'm not talking about regular women's weightlifting which doesn't cause women to look masculine.
No, I am talking about the steroid and testosterone chugging professional female bodybuilders who have devoted their lives to looking like... well... men.
Arnold Schwarzenegger specifically.
Some of them aren't so buff as Arnold, but the ones who take it seriously are taking so many testosterone pills that their voices have become masculine and they can no longer conceive children due to infertility.
Its so much that they're really just a sex change surgery away from being considered men.
Some of the female bodybuilders view their strength as a source of pride and even support feminist views on the topic, but its not very natural.
Female Olympic weightlifters don't use steroids or testosterone pills to bulk up and develop bulgy muscles.
In our modern world, where bizarreness is becoming more commonplace, there is a select group of men and women who find the bulgy look attractive on women.
So much so that there is a booming porn industry catering to men who like bodybuilding women... a bit disgusting to some people. Almost like gay porn in a way with all the muscles and such.
You would assume female bodybuilders would get regular jobs that require heavy lifting, like piano movers or construction work, but apparently the porn industry pays better.
Begging the question: Do female bodybuilders use Secret antiperspirant? (Strong enough for a man, but made for a woman?)
Some female bodybuilders look more natural than others.
ENTERTAINMENT - Is anyone taking female athletes seriously?
As a guy, I admit, we do tend to spend a great deal of time looking at a woman's assets. Pun intended.
So when female athletes get out oiled up and pose for Sports Illustrated/etc we men do tend to pay a lot of attention to whats on display.
But what about the athletes themselves? Don't they deserve to be taken seriously as athletes regardless of their sex?
"How good does a female athlete have to be before we just call her an athlete?" - Feminist Quote.
The following is a list of the 50 Hottest Female Athletes according to a magazine... you will notice almost all of them are white and that they're mostly golfers, tennis players or swimmers. In other words they're usually scantily clad (and thus we guys pay attention). 50. Daniela Hantuchová tennis
49. Jennie Finch softball
48. Flavia Delaroli swimmer
47. Sabrina Ferilli soccer
46. Christine Arron sprinter
45. Natalie Gulbis golfer
44. Lauren Jackson basketball
43. Mia St. John boxer/Tae Kwon Do
42. Kari Traa skier
41. Victoria Vanucci tennis 40. Danica Patrick Nascar
28. Victoria Adams Beckham, married to soccer star David Beckham which apparently got her onto this list.
27. Heather Mitts soccer
26. Misty May volleyball
25. Milene Domingues soccer
24. Laure Manaudou swimmer
23. Stacy Keibler wrestler/cheerleader
22. Ana Ivanovic tennis 21. Ashley Tappin swimming
20. Amy Taylor soccer
19. Kristi Leskinen skier
18. Anna Rawson golfer
17. Kristina Lum swimmer
16. Tatiana Grigorieva pole vault
15. Logan Tom volleyball
14. Elisabetta Canalis soccer
13. Ana Paula Mancino volleyball
12. Niki Gudex mountain biker
11. Malia Jones surfer 10. Romi Bean cheerleader (since when is that a sport?)
9. Amanda Beard swimmer
8. Maria Kirilenko tennis
7. Jenny Adams track and field
6. Daniela Cicarelli soccer
5. Maria Sharapova tennis
4. Haley Cope swimmer
3. Alisson Stokke pole vaulter
2. Bia e Branca swimming
1. Ana Kournikova tennis
The mere existence of this list is a testament to what men are interested in when it comes to women in sports: Sex.
And admittedly I have to agree sex does play a role in sports period. Look at football and all the cheerleaders. Look at all the sexual innuendos that revolve around baseball. Look at all the gay men into ultimate fighting.
And judging by the photos of the women on the list (almost all of them have posed for men's magazines, including Playboy and Sports Illustrated) there seems to be a culture amongst female athletes that in order to get attention media wise you have to show some skin and cater to the male crowd.
Where are the serious female athletes? The ones that take sports and athleticism seriously and aren't flashing their skin every chance someone waves some cash at them to do an ad for a sports bra or perfume.
Are male athletes showing off in women's magazines? No. So why is it "acceptable" for women?
Instead the focus is on the women who are the hottest, sexiest, etc. How about the highest paid female athletes? How about the strongest? Or the fastest? Or the gold medal winners?
I know there's a lot of people out there who think that if women weightlift or just plain exercise that they'll start looking masculine and ugly. That is bullshit nonsense. Women bodybuilders take steroids to look like that. Women's weightlifting is not going to make you look like a man.
Here's a prediction for the future: Female Mud Wrestling on public television. Its probably already here and I've missed it. Could sports get any more sexist?
Its no wonder most women don't watch sports or are interested in sports. Sports are so male dominated that even the female athletes are treated like sex objects.
