When I started lifting for hypertrophy, a trainer told me something I've never forgotten - that you have to work hard to build muscle, but you don't have to work as hard to keep it. Now I know how right she was. It's important that lifters know how honestly attained, organic muscle likes to stay with you. The manic, anxiety-ridden race to outpace atrophy is part of the deal that juicers sign on for, but not the rest of us. This guest editorial by OCB president and Fitness & Physique editor Matt Shepley says it all. (Thanks, Matt!)
I sat next to him at the judge’s table, him being a competitive bodybuilder in the past. His arms bulged out of his sleeves. I grabbed his bicep and said, “Damn, you’ve been hittin’ it hard, haven’t you?” His reply, he hadn’t trained in about two years. He said he still ate well though.
This is a difference between muscles built without the use of steroids vs. muscles built with them. And what a difference it is.
I myself recently experienced something similar. I had not been training nearly as much as I used to. In fact, there was a period where I didn’t train at all. I used to fear missing a workout, thinking I would lose muscle that quickly.
Now, after missing MANY workouts, I’m finding that just wasn’t so. I’ve gotten comments such as, “You look like you’ve put on some size”. I usually pat my stomach and say, “Yep”. But they say, “No, I mean muscle size”. The muscle I built naturally, meaning without steroids, for five consistent years is sticking around quite well. Steroid built muscle is the opposite. If steroids are stopped, size loss is VERY noticeable VERY quickly. The saying goes, easy come, easy go.
Train steroid-free. You’ll have longevity not only in life, but also in muscle and strength retention.
Homegrown muscle sticks around
Michelle Dumaresq - a champ on one rocky ride
There's a documentary film called 100% Woman airing at festivals on a controversial competitive biker in Canada. Director Karen Duthie has picked up diverse awards from several countries on this embattled transgendered athlete's story. It's gathering steam because Michelle just won her third title in the National downhill Mountain Bike Championships, at Whistler in British Columbia last weekend.
From the film's web site:
"From her first day of competition, reigning Canadian downhill mountain bike champion Michelle Dumaresq has been shaking up the world of sports. But it's not her riding talent that's sparked controversy and international media attention - it's the fact that for the first 20 years of her life Michelle was Michael.
Shot over two years, 100% Woman is an adrenaline-fueled ride-along on Michelle's controversial foray into international women's competition...
33-year old Michelle is witty, charming and confident. Like any athlete, she dreams of being the best. But from her very first race she faces active protest from the other racers - some of whom she once considered friends. While some of her opponents merely question her right to compete, others challenge her very identity as a woman."
Here's an article on Michelle by Susan Reifer in Sports Illustrated
To read Michelle's thoughts in her own words, visit this page off the University of Michigan AI Lab , where this photo came from.
Curves goes behind bars
Now this is an exciting story. A franchise owner took her gym business into women's prisons, and of course the inmates love it. Looks like it is run like the franchise's model - put the women on a generic circuit training program, teach them about diet. Appeals to those who want direction and, at the same time, to feel their own power and individuality and improve themselves overall. From this News Sentinel story on Fort Wayne, sounds like the outside community is being sold on it, too. I'm really happy for the women who are getting to work out and enjoy this. (Though since the prison system uses it to manipulate prisoners, it is has systemic potential for emotional and physical detriment as well.)
After learning about the flack prisons have gotten about weight training, it's great to see there's an angle that's more acceptable, though why it is I can't know with only this information. The entrepreneur piloting the program has paved the way for this chain to monopolize women's prisons, and she's certainly gotten herself a secure niche.
I have some problems with Curves. The founder of the Waco-based chain, Gary Heavin, is anti-abortion and throws tons of money that way politically. The fitness model is fine for novices and maintenance work, but doesn't allow for significant, increasing gains beyond the initial ones. There are no freeweights involved, depriving women of valuable stabilizer work and the creative process of evolving into different areas of resistance training, like Olympic lifting, basic weightlifting, and powerlifting.
But at the basic level, this looks heartening. Working and honing the body is a crucial contributor to overall well-being. I would jump at the chance to train people in this kind of arrangement.
Here's the scoop from the article, by Carol McGraw for the Sentinel. The rest of it is interesting, but reads like a commercial for Curves.
"The prison project was started a year and a half ago by Carole Bergeman, who owns two Curves franchises - one in Canon City, Colo., and one in Colorado Springs, Colo.
The program is set up as an incentive for the prisoners. If they break prison rules, such as possessing contraband, they lose the Curves privilege.
The Canon City program, a pilot program for Colorado and the nation, has been popular. Of 224 inmates, 135 participate. Bergeman recently started programs at the Brush and Denver women's correctional facilities.
Within Curves, some of the other 10,000 franchises worldwide may adopt similar programs as community-service projects, according to Gary Heavin, founder of the Waco, Texas-based company. "
trapped
Okay, anyone who googled to get to this post will probably be sorely disappointed. This dandelion tuft caught in a spiderweb. DH said take a picture of that and call it "trapped" - enter it into an art show. It'll win, guaranteed. Bwahahaha! So what else could I do but spend a half hour getting the shot just for the joke? I give you the profound, the evocative, the near-Kitsch photo art piece: Trapped. Actually, not a bad photo, I gotta say. (depth of field exercise)
Salem Art Fair images
... lots of color ...
It's called No Screws Loose.
The woman who wove these needs to weave baskets. Seriously.
This is Indigo. The males of her species are green.
My friend Ken was shelling out delicious black bean burritos for a peace org.
My dragon got loose and ran around torching raffia.
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