You Are More Than A Mommy
Find a Conversation
| Fri, 03-28-2008 - 10:06pm |
There is a certain style of woman that represents the accepted look to which we all are expected to devolve. This is a stage most women go through. Call her "mommy," call her "mature," call her "grown up."
I prefer you call her "cop out."
You know the look: the wash-and-wear clothes. The wash-and-wear hair. The pudgy, soft body that cushions children and disappoints men. The weary face on a body that's tired from a life of taking care of others instead of herself. The resigned "best I can do" attitude. The woman who has given up being vibrant and vital and alive and has accepted mediocrity as all she can achieve.
Why? Married life and motherhood hand you a list of convenient excuses. Too tired. Too busy. Kids need me. Husband needs me. Need to clean. Need to run errands. Gyms are too intimidating. Buying new clothes is too expensive.
All are excuses that can be overcome, except for the attitude that accompanies them: this is just what a woman's body does when it reaches a certain age and/or has borne a child.
That one is the biggest excuse of all.
You are more than your reproductive organs. You are more than an inevitable slide downhill to the lowest expectations. Your body wants to move and be strong. Your muscles want to strain, your heart wants to pump, your lungs want to heave and gasp. Your blood wants to burn a path through your veins. Your body wants to achieve its passionate, electric best.
So get off your widening hips and start moving. Never accept "average" as the best you can do.
full article:
http://www.musclewithattitude.com/article/features/alligator_stew_for_a_female_lifters_soul




Loved the whole article! I especially liked this part as well, I swear I could have written it myself about what I see at the gym regarding women/cardio. My favorite quote is "ellipticals and treadmills wouldn't get me where I wanted to go" I've always thought of cardio for the benefit of my heart only. Important for that inner aspect, yes - but to get my body how I want it to LOOK - that's about the weights.
"I was at the gym the other evening searching for the equipment and the space I needed to begin my warm-up.
Other members milled around me, presumably involved in their own workouts. The free-weight area was packed. All the benches were occupied. Both power racks, both Smith machines, both cable frames, and all four bench presses were occupied — and every single one of them was male.
Curious, I peeked upstairs at the cardio area. There were my fellow women, all on the ellipticals and the treadmills. Their bodies either had scrawny, boy-like proportions, or they were motherly with doughy, overlapping curves. The women of the gym had allowed themselves to be relegated to the moving walkways.
Or had they relegated themselves?
With a roll of my eyes I elbowed my way to the weight rack and grabbed a pair of dumbbells. Neither of the aforementioned body types was my goal, and ellipticals and treadmills wouldn't get me where I wanted to go. As I settled into my workout, I thought about the other women in the gym. Most weren't strong and powerful. Some believed they couldn't be powerful; others believed they shouldn't be powerful.
They allowed themselves to fall for the stereotypes and be swayed by public opinion regarding what they should do with their bodies. At that thought I rolled into a set of pushups and set my jaw. My goal was power."
belizesig1
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
GReat post, SRT...and the article was really good too.....
I love being a mom...but I don't need to look all soft and gushy, just 'cause I am...I like my muscles...
Someone once said 'you look really good for having 4 kids'..and I said 'when I can look really good PERIOD', then I will have succeeded... : )
Interesting, I had a strongly negative reaction to the article.
I don't work out to impress anybody.
I understand what the article is trying to say, but I too found some of the ways it was presented a little offensive and had a negative reaction.
Example -- I don't think a mom with four kids having a wash-n-wear hairstyle is a "cop out".