Athletic Women Blog

Just in time for peak wedding season (imagine that!) FitnessMagazine.com has launched a "bridal boot camp" that includes workout videos, targeted workouts, and a 20-minute circuit workout for buff brides.

Brides want to look great on their wedding day, a worthy and understandable goal. But muscling up before the wedding also has a utilitarian purpose—the buff bride is prepared to take charge when it obliges her fancy:

My DI women's bracket for one thing. I don't as a rule pick many upsets, but I invariably succumb to temptation and pick one or two. Well, of course there were upsets this weekend. But none that did me any good. For instance, I picked Virginia (5) over Green Bay (12). Green Bay pulled off the upset yesterday. Not the end of the world, since no doubt that one caught more than a few by surprise. But my problems were made worse by my picking Lehigh (13) to upset Iowa St. (4). Didn't happen. Thus I'm completely out of tomorrow night's matchup between Green Bay and Iowa St.

So much for my bracket, my little lonely trifles.

Unless you are reading this blog for the first time, you know that I hold politicians (and our increasingly servile citizenry, who seem incapable of thinking or acting on their own to solve problems) in fairly low esteem; not that political shenanigans aren't sometimes amusing to watch. But the year-long health-care debate that (perhaps) ended with a vote last night takes the cake. Too much even for me.

Astonishing were the lies and corruption so clearly on display; worse still, the impudence with which it was all done (Ways to Become a Banana Republic 101). What further damage will come from this latest round of lies and irresponsible promises remains to be seen. But maybe, just maybe, after having had an unfiltered whiff of the miasma in Washington, people will not be quite as gullible from now on. Politics is about power, and it's played best by megalomaniacs. End of story. Remember that the next time you hear a politician saying that he or she is "fighting for you."

Congress consists of one third, more or less, scoundrels; two thirds, more or less, idiots; and three thirds, more or less, poltroons.
—H.L. Mencken

So it is, at least to a degree, for many of us; namely, those who deem sports to be something more than mere priapic ritual.

Now please excuse me while I work on my bracket.

The music of North America owes a tremendous debt to Irish (and Scottish) music: country and folk, obviously, but later the "hillbilly" in rockabilly, one of rock-n-roll's foundational music forms. You will see, hear, and feel this connection in a moment, thanks to an extraordinary musician, indeed one of the world's best: Máiréad Nesbitt.

Nesbitt has an athletic performance style that at moments leaves one wondering if she isn't a world-class athlete too. (Ah, you weren't quite sure how I would tie this in, were you?) Such is the case seen here in a performance of "Granuaile's Dance" (possibly a tribute to Gráinne Ní Mháille, another remarkable Irish woman).

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Zara Phythian probably doesn't rate this with her 13 world titles in martial arts, but the rest of us remain justifiably awestruck:

The inaugural Sao Paulo Indy 300 will mark several firsts, mainly of interest only to avid Indy-race fans, but one in particular grabbed my attention: this will be the first time that four women have started an IndyCar race.

Methinks IndyCar is entitled to a little self-praise:

"This is really fantastic for our sport," said Terry Angstadt, president of the series' commercial division. "Diversity is actually one of the attributes of the Izod IndyCar Series. Racing is the only sport where female athletes compete in absolutely the same field as the men, they race on exactly the same tracks, the same cars."

Now we must work so that this parity is true for all sports, for only then will female athletes no longer be undervalued.

You would be hard put to find a set of athletic skills more impressive than that wielded by acrobat and aerialist Lisa Whitmore, a formidable truth inescapably apprehended when viewing samples of her work:

Today, International Women's Day, we honor women—something we should in fact do every day, without prodding.

Still, it's nice to have a special day to celebrate women. I was pleased to find this beautiful tribute created for the occasion: Women of the World ~ Divine Goddesses:

Brittney Griner is an incredibly gifted athlete. A mountainous exemplar of corporeal strength, Griner represents the awesome, ever-swelling physicality of today's female athlete.

None of which makes her a saint, of course. But neither does a punch thrown in a moment of mental opacity in the heat of athletic competition count her as a shaitan. What she did was unquestionably wrong, and she should be punished in the way typical for her offense (and surely a punch has been thrown in an NCAA game before). And there it should rest.

Much has been said about this incident already, some of it trenchant, so I will add only two further observations. I hope never to find myself on the receiving end of a punch from Griner. And I hope Jordan Barncastle, who must have one heck of a chin, is okay.

Lenda Murray, eight-time Ms. Olympia, the greatest female bodybuilder ever, seems to have a talent for dance too, as seen here in video taken at the 2009 Lenda Murray Bodybuilding Championships. Perhaps a stint on DWTS (which, boo! doesn't have a female athlete this season) is next?

As a rule I don't pay much attention to the photoshopped creations of fanboys. More often than not they look horribly disarranged, as should be expected. This work by "LEEE777" is a striking exception, however. It has a naturalness to it (as long as you don't look too close, that is). Moreover, it captures the essence of Wonder Woman, she standing strong after what was no doubt a great ruckus.

But the credit, I suspect, goes mostly to the star of this digital embellishment. We talked before about Jodi Lyn O'Keefe; her name comes up often when the subject is a live-action Wonder Woman film. Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos seem to have destined O'Keefe to play the mighty Amazon, so ideally suited is she for that role.

We are told that soon we can expect (fingers crossed!) to finally learn of definite plans for a Wonder Woman film. Rumors will fly once the casting frenzy starts, most awful to imagine being true. But Jodi Lyn O'Keefe should not be overlooked, for she is among a select few qualified to assume the mantle of Wonder Woman.