Female Bodybuilding

When Caster Semenya races, people talk. Sometimes in support of her, but very often it's the opposite, sadly enough. Lately, this latter sort (or something very close to it) has been coming from her sister athletes, that is, her competitors, many of whom think it unfair that they should have to race against her.

But let's forget, for a moment, Semenya. Rather, let's focus on the ignorant, gender-abasing obsession with a "male biology" that supposedly confers unfair, insuperable athletic advantage, here in particular the hormone testosterone:

"We have levels that we are not allowed to test over, so even if she’s a female, she’s on the very fringe of the normal female athlete biological composition from what I understand in terms of hormone testing," Cummins [Diane Cummins, who finished eighth in Berlin] said. "So from that perspective I think most of us sort of just feel like literally we are running against a man because what we know to be female is a certain testosterone level. And if that isn't the case, they need to change everything."

The first and most obvious problem with such thinking: There is no certain (precisely defined) testosterone level for females! Testosterone, the so-called male hormone which nearly all women have in their bodies, can be found in widely varying amounts among women, with some women having levels well into the range generally considered "male".

What is more, even a baseline testosterone level for individuals is hard to come by. Monitor someone's testosterone and you'll find that it changes constantly, responding to all manner of environmental factors, some seemingly random, others quite predictable. Strength training, for instance, increases testosterone naturally, only women have to work just a little harder and longer to get the benefit. Sex (# 8), too, raises testosterone levels. (Should female track athletes with already "high" levels abstain from sex before meets?)

Research the subjects of steroid-, hormone-, and gender-testing for a time and you see how silly and hurtful the effort to make sport perfectly "fair" has become. Anything beyond the most basic of tests is in fact pointless and counterproductive. The witch-hunt has to end sometime.

You probably wouldn't as a rule expect to find photographic portraits of female bodybuilders featured in a dignified art exhibition, much less their carrying the name of a celebrated artist whose work is part of the Permanent Collection of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. But that is exactly what you will find at Hasted Hunt Kraeutler, which is hosting Martin Schoeller's "Female Bodybuilders" through August 27. (Location: 537 West 24th St, Ground Floor; Chelsea, New York City 10011.)

Judging by not only his work but also his words, Schoeller's appreciation of female bodybuilders is paired with a keen awareness of what they can teach the rest of us.

Drags on a little, but worth sticking around to see who wins:

A review of Salt calls attention to it, and Hollywood Life made the very same observation at the Salt premiere in L.A. earlier this week (just ignore the recommended "toning" exercises—weak!). Moreover, both are right. We don't generally see spindly action heroes, with good reason. And those rules do not change, nor should they, for action heroines.

I harp on this, some might say, too much. But it is important—very important—that young athletic females start strength training early on (properly supervised, of course). Strength training builds not only stronger, more athletic bodies but bodies less susceptible to injury. These benefits can be reaped at any age, naturally, but they are amplified when young girls prepare their bodies early for the rigors of athletic competition. In so doing, they make a lasting, bounteous difference in their athletic careers, and their lives.

Cortney, a high-school athlete who trains at Philippi Sports Institute, is on the right track. Thanks to an early start and hard work, she has already progressed remarkably, and is well on her way to being a strong (an understatement), healthy athlete. A 315-lb trap-bar deadlift and you're only in high school—way to go, Cortney!

I've grown tired of a certain type of commercial, practically unavoidable nowadays, for home security systems. You know the story: a woman, home by herself or alone with children; a man, usually a stalker or a crazy ex; he smashes a window or kicks open a door; the woman screams; the alarm sounds; now another man, this one sane and professional, an employee with the security outfit, calls to check on her—help is on the way.

Not to make light of a serious topic, but must woman always be shown the helpless victim? Always at the mercy of some man—attacker or defender—for her safety? Can't producers of films, television series, commercials imagine life any other way, indeed, as it really is?

For it isn't that way in real life. A woman's safety is her own province, whether she likes it or not, and something for which she is well-equipped; and the athletic woman, abundantly so.

In point of fact, the would-be attacker in the Cincinnati area who recently found out the hard way:

The benefits women—female athletes in particular—reap from strength training are well-established. A new study shows, however, that drinking milk after lifting weights enhances and accelerates them.

Thus, as if it needed confirmation, we see now that Dara Torres knew what she was talking about when she unveiled her first Milk Mustache ad:

But this good news comes with a caveat, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. Girls are hitting the weight room more than ever before, and not surprisingly that has come with a price—more injuries occurring in the weight room.

The price, however, is a small one compared to the injuries to be prevented by girls' building stronger, more durable bodies. Not only that, it is one that can be avoided without too much difficulty.

Despite the hyperbole ("alarming rate") fated to any topic that finds its way into mainstream media, the news here is straightforward and mostly propitious; but it does require some attention:

The problem:

"Using data from 100 emergency rooms, researchers found that although men and boys still make up the majority of gym injuries, the increase was the largest among teen girls, indicating that more girls are lifting weights than ever before."

The cause:

"From that [data collected from hospitals], researchers were able to surmise that lack of supervision was the main reason girls were hurting themselves, not because they were lifting too much."

The solution:

"Getting proper instruction on how to use the machines and lift safely is essential, and always use a spotter with free weights."

See, not so hard, was it?

Aneta Florczyk owns the official title but one could make the case that Becca Swanson is the strongest woman in the world. Swanson holds every noteworthy world powerlifting record, including a 600-lb bench press that is daunting even to contemplate.

Not long ago, Swanson visited Jakked Hardcore Gym to lift with some of the strongest men in the Chicago area. The T-shirt says it all:

Somewhere there is a little girl warming up with your max

Thanks to stars like Gwyneth Paltrow and Madonna, personal trainer Tracy Anderson has become a minor celebrity herself. Anderson caters to a Hollywood aesthetic that prizes slimness above all else (that is, for women anyway; men, not so much). Unfortunately, her work perpetuates a foolish ideal, not just in Hollywood but in the general culture; for better or worse, celebrities hold sway over how people think and act.

But it is particularly inimical when female athletes, their parents, or their coaches take such nonsense to heart:

Beware of the gym: the weights are too heavy. "After over-exercising in gyms in my late teens my muscles got very bulky and I was more like a gymnast than a ballet dancer. It looked like somebody threw me in the trash compactor: my neck got really short."

To point out just one relevant danger, female athletes would in fact do well to train their neck and trapezius muscles, and yes, with heavy weights.

One last observation. Not to take too much away from Anderson, but I suspect that more than anything else Madonna owes her fantastic body to an admirable work ethic and good genetics—I don't remember her ever not having a nice body, always rather athletic—and she would probably look and feel even better with some heavy weights thrown into her workout mix.

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:

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?

If you watched women's Olympic downhill skiing yesterday, you understand why Emily Brydon and her fellow competitors might think such a thing. We saw again the awesome difference strength can make in sports, seemingly almost any sport. The Vancouver Sun makes clear what sets Lindsey Vonn apart:

The fact is, Vonn, an analytical perfectionist whose size and strength — she’s [5-10 and 165 pounds] — allows her to race on more forgiving men’s skis, is just too powerful, too innately talented to be caught when she’s on her game, shin bruise or not.

Congratulations to Lindsey Vonn and to Julia Mancuso!

When last we saw bodybuilder Kathy Bertram she was snapping a baseball bat. In today's bit of fun we find her doing dishes, that is, in her own eccentric strongwoman way:

Thanks to Under Armour, we get to see just how hard ski racer Lindsey Vonn is working to prepare herself for the 2010 Olympics. Here she is a role model for not only her hard work but her insight. Vonn gets it—she understands that you must build your body for your sport, and that starts in the gym, most often with strength training: