ESPN The Body Issue

It comes out every year, and I couldn't wait to get it this year! The ESPN "Body Issue" magazine, which features Olympic athletes nude.

It's not that I just want to see naked bodies, I want to see naked ATHLETE bodies. Bodies the way they should look: muscular, lean, strong, supple.

They have several covers, so you may not be lucky enough to get the pretty pink and purple one I got featuring MMA fighter Ronda Rousey on the cover (and it happened to match what I was wearing that day too!) It may have a football player, a basketball player, maybe even a whole team!

You can go online and watch videos of interviews as the athletes discuss what happened during the photo shoots, how they felt and why they posed. I especially enjoyed watching sprinter Carmelita Jeter, she has an amazing body.

An athlete's body is a work of art, the highest form one can ever dream to achieve. To see them in action is inspiring, but to see their bodies is absolutely amazing! Comparing the vast differences that each sport brings will really open your eyes to your own training.

It allows you to look at the bodies you admire and train accordingly. Now, I understand that none of us (or at least most of us) won't be able to train like an Olympic athlete, but  it is easy enough to consider their sport and what they do to get where they are. What type of conditioning and weight training is needed? They all incorporate both, believe me but it will be different for each. 

It's funny that I do not find male bodybuilders attractive, I am not a fan of the steroid, huge muscle look. I don't care for the fact that the look is achieved solely for that purpose: looks. They don't train for strength, or health or a sport, it's for show only.  Some may think that's what I do, but it's not. If I really wanted to train just for competitions, I wouldn't do half the work I do, or I would perform the work differently. First and foremost I want to look athletic, be strong, be physically fit. The Figure or Physique competitions are a by-product of that pursuit. 

I also enjoyed reading about what each considers their "best" body part or what they consider the best form of training for their sport; what they like to eat or how they eat. And motivation. They are all very highly motivated and it comes from within. These athletes are internally motivated, no one can push another person to be like this, no one but themselves.

Although I am an internally motivated person, I seek out positives that help me realize what I am searching for, and to help me as I become a bit complacent at times. Reading about successful athletes living their dream is the perfect motivation for me.

Pick up a copy soon before they are all gone.

Boxing

Finally. Boxing for women will be an Olympic sport in 2012, it will be history in the making, you can bet I will watch every match.


It's not that I am a boxing fanatic, on the contrary, I think it is a violent, dangerous sport. But if the men can compete then the women should be able to also, simple as that. 


In the picture above we see Gina Carano at 143 pounds and Cris Cyborg at 144.5 pounds. Pretty buff gals huh?


I have only been to two fights, I will never forget the first one. It was in the ballroom of a hotel, a small intimate setting, we were close, three rows back. The first thing I recall were the ring girls. They were young, very young, and pretty and wore very skimpy clothing and strutted around the ring with their cards. 


The men jeered and leered and made cat calls out to them, it repulsed me. I was thinking "many of these men have daughters at home this age, what would they do if it were their daughter in the ring?"


Then I recall the actual fight. It started fast and sudden, I could hear every blow as it landed, I was so close I could almost feel it. Then the blood, and the sounds of a beaten man. I jumped up out of my seat and ran outside, choking down the vomit, I couldn't stay and watch this.


David came after me and I told him to go ahead and watch the fight, I could not go back into the room.


Fast forward 20 years later to August 15, 2009 and I am at the HP Pavillion, with thousands of other people. I would be sitting way far away, in the nose bleed seats and I am there to see Gina Carano vs Cris Cyborg and Josh Thomson vs Gilbert Melendez (Josh was an AKA fighter, so we had to go). It's MMA, but boxing is part of the deal.


I was walking through the arena and some drunk guy gets right in my face and shouts "Cyborg!!!!" I was a little pissed off, she isn't the prettiest gal on earth. But Cooper grabbed my arm "Mom, it's a compliment, let go of it" and I guess he was right, she does have awesome arms and long blond hair, so maybe that is what he was referring to.


They actually referred to the two of them as "The Beauty and The Beast". Gina, the cute, girl next door is "The Beauty", and Cyborg is "The Beast". Unfortunately poor Gina, the crowd favorite, was beat to a pulp, with her parents in the front row watching. 


Here is a video of the actual fight to give you a bit of an idea what it was all about. (Email subscribers will need to navigate directly to the blog to view the video below).




   


I watched every card, it wasn't nearly as difficult as it was the first time. 


Back to the Olympics though. What blows me away is now they are discussing what the ladies should wear!



The International Amateur Boxing Association sparked charges of sexism by announcing that officials are discussing whether women fighters should be urged to wear skirts in the ring at the 2012 Games.


The decision on skirts will be made in January before the debut of women's boxing this summer at the London Olympics.


I say let them wear what ever they wear when they usually box! And it isn't a skirt, I can guarantee you that!