"Bodybuilders"

[dugdeep]

So what's your standard of beauty? You can't be totally against muscle? Can you?

I, too, think that that much muscle on anyone, woman or man, is over-the-top, and, as m put it, just plain wrong and obsessive.

Doing a bit of body building is okay, but to see people bulked up like in the pictures of the above woman and man, to me is not beauty. To build muscles in accord to what you need for a specific activity or work is one thing, but to go so overboard, to me, is wrong and artificial.

Just my opinion.

I would agree with this. I think there's a big difference between functional strength built from engaging in activities that require use of muscle versus repeatedly working isolated muscle groups for the specific purpose of making them bigger for purely aesthetic reasons. The former leads to strength that serves a useful purpose, whereas the latter seems like a result of distorted body image and a twisted sense of beauty.

My 2 cents ...

 

[Siberia]

Agree with Nienna and dugdeep. There's plenty of research materials confirming that the most natural and healthy shape for a woman is X (hour glass), so i'll just add some pics to the collection: this is Kim Kardashian and her dresses. She is not climbing any mountains, she is already on top isn't she? :D

 

[anothermagyar]

So what's your standard of beauty? You can't be totally against muscle? Can you?

I, too, think that that much muscle on anyone, woman or man, is over-the-top, and, as m put it, just plain wrong and obsessive.

Doing a bit of body building is okay, but to see people bulked up like in the pictures of the above woman and man, to me is not beauty. To build muscles in accord to what you need for a specific activity or work is one thing, but to go so overboard, to me, is wrong and artificial.

Just my opinion.

I would agree with this. I think there's a big difference between functional strength built from engaging in activities that require use of muscle versus repeatedly working isolated muscle groups for the specific purpose of making them bigger for purely aesthetic reasons. The former leads to strength that serves a useful purpose, whereas the latter seems like a result of distorted body image and a twisted sense of beauty.

My 2 cents ...

Totally agree!
Of course exercise is important to keep your body healthy, imo and a lot of body builders are taking steroids on the regular basis, this is far from healthy life style!

Reminded me to this, pretty good spoof from Jim Carrey very funny! :D :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXhfRBkbeR4

 

[Redrock12]

So what's your standard of beauty? You can't be totally against muscle? Can you?

I, too, think that that much muscle on anyone, woman or man, is over-the-top, and, as m put it, just plain wrong and obsessive.

Doing a bit of body building is okay, but to see people bulked up like in the pictures of the above woman and man, to me is not beauty. To build muscles in accord to what you need for a specific activity or work is one thing, but to go so overboard, to me, is wrong and artificial.

Just my opinion.

I would agree with this. I think there's a big difference between functional strength built from engaging in activities that require use of muscle versus repeatedly working isolated muscle groups for the specific purpose of making them bigger for purely aesthetic reasons. The former leads to strength that serves a useful purpose, whereas the latter seems like a result of distorted body image and a twisted sense of beauty.

My 2 cents ...

Totally agree!
Of course exercise is important to keep your body healthy, imo and a lot of body builders are taking steroids on the regular basis, this is far from healthy life style!

Reminded me to this, pretty good spoof from Jim Carrey very funny! :D :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXhfRBkbeR4

Actually Emma, hilarious would be more accurate.

A lot of former bodybuilders I knew in my teens (I'm now 68) are now
dead or suffer from an enlarged heart, brain tumors directly related to steroid use, worn out joints, arthritis, and other ailments directly related to body building. And a lot of them have died prematurely, again directly as a result of excessive bodybuilding.

 

[thinker]

None of the above look too pretty to me but that's just my opinion, the two rock climbers are probably just as obsessed with what they do as the body builders are.
There's a little town called Overdoingit and it's just up the hill from another little town called Moderation..

Well... little obsession is good tho... IMO it's good to have something that drives you, otherwise you're just slinking through life.
(Says the guy that got up this morning half an hour before sun rise, so he could mountain bike before heat.

Then he had eggs and bacon with a side of butter, and proceeded to lawn mowing in the heat he was trying to avoid with a reel mower - I'm telling you, loonie... :)

But yeah... all bodybuilders are just overgrown bullies, overcompensating for their the lack of brains... At the same time, they don't sell intelligence in stores so you got to overcompensate with something, right? :)

 

[Mrs.Tigersoap]

I also don't think big muscles are attractive and even less so in women. But that's me.

Agree with Nienna and dugdeep. There's plenty of research materials confirming that the most natural and healthy shape for a woman is X (hour glass), so i'll just add some pics to the collection: this is Kim Kardashian and her dresses. She is not climbing any mountains, she is already on top isn't she? :D

I wouldn't take Kim Kardashian as a role model for anything. But that's me! :)
I'm not even going to get into the whole 'being famous for just being famous' thing she's into but physically speaking though, I personally would not say a woman 'is on top' when she's actually had multiple surgery operations to 'be on top', most notably a 'Brazilian butt lift' (i.e. injecting your own fat in your buttocks). Of course she denies the operations but Google is not her friend.

While her silhouette looks different than the bodybuilder's, it reflects the same self-centered obsession, osit.

Reminded me to this, pretty good spoof from Jim Carrey very funny! :D :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXhfRBkbeR4

So true...

 

[Keit]

I wouldn't take Kim Kardashian as a role model for anything. But that's me! :)
I'm not even going to get into the whole 'being famous for just being famous' thing she's into but physically speaking though, I personally would not say a woman 'is on top' when she's actually had multiple surgery operations to 'be on top', most notably a 'Brazilian butt lift' (i.e. injecting your own fat in your buttocks). Of course she denies the operations but Google is not her friend.

While her silhouette looks different than the bodybuilder's, it reflects the same self-centered obsession, osit.

Yeah, the whole body fixation, what ever it is, just takes too much energy from more important things. Besides, we, girls, should feel comfortable with any shape. :D

http://<iframe width="640" height="...CM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[thinker]

I also don't think big muscles are attractive and even less so in women. But that's me.

How big is too big tho?

I wouldn't take Kim Kardashian as a role model for anything. But that's me! :)

Jessica Biel?

Sure, you could say that actors work with their bodies so they need to spend time to make sure they're good looking, but back in the day hunter gatherer Grok used his muscles everyday just to get food on his table and was probably pretty ripped too...
Those days weekend warriors are more common... we work at the computer five days a week and get killed in the mountains on the weekends :)

 

[Nancy2feathers]

That was fun watching, Keit! Thanks!

 

[Minas Tirith]

I wouldn't take Kim Kardashian as a role model for anything. But that's me! :)

Who would have thought that Kim Kardashian would make it into the Cass Forum one day? :D

The comparison with Nicole Kidman and Victoria Beckham is a little unfair, since all three women are completely different types , and I wouldn't say Nicole is less healthy (or probably as unhealthy) or anything than Kim, but maybe that wasn't intended by Siberia.

Yeah, the whole body fixation, what ever it is, just takes too much energy from more important things. Besides, we, girls, should feel comfortable with any shape. :D

Little OT,
M.T.

 

[gottathink]

I find the discussion about muscle on women quite odd. I have a muscular lean physique,(similar to Jessica Biel photo) I don't train,(I am not obsessed) I just do stuff and my work keeps me in shape. I live in New Zealand , the most interesting thing to me is the different cultural perceptions of strong women. Here at home, I am not that unusual, and men find me attractive. Particularly Polynesian men often comment and tell me, wow I look fit and strong. Through my life I have always had Polynesian boyfriends. I was born in Europe. My husband and I regularly visit his family in America (he is of Hawaiin descent) women often do an over the top geek out thing about my arms and "oooh my god, what do you do, I would love arms like that" It actually is very irritating and all I say now is "I do shit."Going to Europe is a mixed bag from country to country. But I certainly get tired of the close examination of whether its attractive or not, or whether women should be aspiring to an ultimate feminine image. There are many of us in the world who just get on with things, we look after ourselves and our body is our body, every woman who is healthy is attractive, I really mean that, and strong women with good postures who just are strong because that is natural for them are very attractive. The picture of the rock climber is awesome, how on earth can people look at that and think that making a comment on whether her muscles are attractive or not is actually something one would do. Look at what shes achieving, the discipline and focus and skill and strength is all there. Doing physical activities and mastering the body is a worthwhile endeavour. My experience with physically challenging feats is that it dredges your soul, you are faced so much with your own weaknesses, it is very confronting. There lies the opportunity for growth.

 

[Siberia]

I wouldn't take Kim Kardashian as a role model for anything. But that's me! :)
I'm not even going to get into the whole 'being famous for just being famous' thing she's into but physically speaking though, I personally would not say a woman 'is on top' when she's actually had multiple surgery operations to 'be on top', most notably a 'Brazilian butt lift' (i.e. injecting your own fat in your buttocks). Of course she denies the operations but Google is not her friend.

The only reason why I chose her pics is because they show almost ideal hour-glass shape silhouette, imo. Those could be pictures of anyone else, I didn't choose by personality, but by the shape only - hers looks gorgeous to me. If she achieved this result through unhealthy methods - well, too bad for her.

And this, of course, doesn't mean that other silhouettes are automatically unhealthy or unattractive. Many sporty and/or thin women are also very beautiful. :)

 

[Yozilla]

It always can get worse - like tattooed body builder...

With tattoos that curl up his arms and around his neck and a burly muscled body, Duncan, a bodybuilder from Swindon, looks every inch the ink fan.

But there's a twist. For Duncan, tattoos are an expression of the things that are most important to him and right now, that's his dog, Thor.

Thor, who died last year, is to be the subject of Duncan's latest inking: a portrait of the dog, complete with angel wings created from a mixture of tattoo ink - and Thor's ashes.

_http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2430000/My-Tattoo-Addiction-Swindon-bodybuilder-Duncan-dead-dogs-ashes-tattooed-skin.html

 

[Redrock12]

Great video Keit.

 

[mkrnhr]

The thread shifted a little from the subject of the ridiculous first and second images (any unbalance in the psyche/mind can lead to other imbalances which manifest in different forms, depending on the individual). Regarding the feminine beauty, if all people looked the same, the world would be very boring (and with less information). However, the ideal in my view (personal preference) is represented by this: