The People are Awesome series shows amazing physical stunts. Mind-boggling. Check out its website.
Archive for category bodybuilding
Josh Sobel sent me this video about Sam “Sonny” Bryant, Jr, a 70-year-old bodybuilder (when this was made last year) who started working out 27 years ago, when he was 44. He says “More peoples die retired than they do on the job working.” So he never plans to retire. But I read that he works out twice a day, so I wonder if he means he is going to keep working out as opposed to working for money.”Age gives most people a reason to be lazy,” is another view he has. So is “Your thought process is what makes you old.”
Check out this video of a competition he won for his division. Also impressive here is the one-legged bodybuilder:
not the usual before and after
Australian mom Taryn Brumfitt wants to make a documentary to help women love their bodies, even if they are not “perfect.” Especially after they have kids, and curves appear where they didn’t exist before. Or even if child-bearing had nothing to do with the lumps that she formerly viewed as unflattering. So she is raising money through kickstarter to make her film. You can read about it here.
Most impressive is that she originally did not like her body and the way she looked in the mirror, so she started changing her appearance by exercising, dieting and going to the gym. Then she became a bodybuilder who competed in contests. Surprisingly, she says in her video, this did NOT change the way she felt about her body!!! Nothing changed.
Once she had a child, she really became upset, posted the picture to the right, and it went viral. So she interviewed women, gives speeches, and now wants to make the documentary.
You can read more about her here .
Female Bodybuilders
Mar 15
So I have discovered this female culture that exercises like crazy and makes giant muscles, competes in competitions, puts up with comments like “women shouldn’t have muscles like men,” and also a sub group that loves to display their developed bodies they have created in soft core videos and web cams. These women really are different from those thin little bods that the movie stars are showing off on red carpets.
Like ’em or not, their years of hard work and obsessive determination are certainly athletic achievements to be admired. Here are a few examples…and they sure do have abs! The videos will give you an idea of what happens in a bodybuilding competition, where certain poses are required that best display particular muscles.
Iris Kyle has won the Ms Olympia competition six times. If you go to this website, click on “competitions” and then on the third video from the left, you can see her winning posing routine.
superlady
Irene Anderson—2008
Iris Kyle—Ms Olympia (2006- 2010), Ms International (2006-2011)
Women Bodybuilders With Abs
Mar 12
In my two previous posts, I showed pictures of the stomachs of female celebrities and wondered how the fan mags could rave about non-existent or barely perceptible abs (with one exception—Shakira). I also admitted that I was having little success in finding women celebrities with defined abs, except for singers like Mel B and Gwen Stefani. Maybe it’s because they are dancing and jumping on stage so much…or they work out extra hard in the gym to be able to do all that movement in performance.
I wondered if women had different kinds of abs than men, the way they can’t generally do push ups like men, or do have hips wider apart (so they can deliver babies). I mean we all agree the anatomies are different. I went to a web site called bodybuilding.com and found a few examples of women who really work out. These are not celebrities, in fact their names are rarely posted. But they do have abs…
Hahahahahahahaha…We all have to laugh at me—I just found out that one of the women won the 2010 Miss Universe bodybuilding competition last year. Learning about these various fitness and pop culture worlds is one of the great joys of writing for this site. Maybe some of the other women are famous too. Let me know.
Anita Hess—Miss Universe 2010
woman bodybuilder with defined abs
another woman with abs
young woman with abs
There is something intriguing about seeing muscle development of this magnitude. I know there are numerous magazines and videos that display these outsized examples of human anatomy, but I don’t look at them. So this video I bumped into is very confronting. How many hours did it take Bobby to reach this level of musculature. And now he has to maintain it as long as he can. What discipline. What obsessiveness and devotion.
I learned about a book called The Wonder Years that celebrates senior amateur athletes “who never slow down.” Of course these are rare individuals who have their health, the will to persist, and the physical capability to still compete. Very inspirational. They are truly blessed. The USA Today article follows the pictures. The photographer Rick Rickman’s words apply to us all: “…no matter how old you are, you can be active and engaged in life and have a whole lot of fun and not be this fragile, decaying entity.”
The first portrait is of a Catholic nun who began exercising at 49 and has since finished 20 Ironman triathlons in Hawaii and over 300 more around the world. She is 79! There is a video about her accomplishments at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUp9v8A46dk Check out 66-year-old Clifford Cooper’s October 31st post below about his upcoming Ironman dedicated to his brother who died of Alzheimer’s.
Sister Madonna Buder has completed over 325 triathlons
Margaret Hinton has competed in numerous national games. “I can tell that some of these people came here to socialize. That is okay, but I’ve come here to take home the gold.” Eve Fletcher began surfing more than 50 years ago. “I don’t think you can be too old to be stoked.”
shotputter Margaret Hinton
surfer Eve Fletcher
Jane Hesselgesser was a concert pianist and Bill Cunningham was a soccer player and a double for Frankie Avalon. Now in their 60’s and 70’s respectively, they compete as a pair in bodybuilding events around the world against couples 20 years younger.
bodybuilders Bill Cunningham and Jane Hesselgesser
Senior Athletes Still a ‘Wonder’ at Their Age
By Reid Cherner, USA TODAY
7/23/09
Growing old might be a contact sport, but it shouldn’t be a competition you need to lose.
That is the premise of The Wonder Years: Portraits of Athletes Who Never Slow Down, a book by Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Rick Rickman.
The official photographer of the Senior Olympic Games, Rickman has profiled everyday athletes who many think were past their expiration date as competitors. From surfers to runners to swimmers to body builders.
“These are people who, for the most part, really have no misconceptions that they ever are going to be athletic superstars,” Rickman said. “They are people who love to stay fit and healthy and competitive. Most of them started training late in life, and it has been a wonderful thing for them.”
When a high school student asked the photographer if he had any remorse taking pictures of people doing activities “that might hurt them,” a book idea was born. “I was so taken back I didn’t know how to answer at first,” he said. “I realized that there is this strange perception about aging in this country. I think in the process of growing old and gathering days under your belt, you can decide for yourself whether to be active and engaged and vital all the way to the end.
“I hope (the reader) takes away the fact that, no matter how old you are, you can be active and engaged in life and have a whole lot of fun and not be this fragile, decaying entity.”