Body Image Musings

Well, I've been going through a bit of a crisis in my CrossFit 90 Day Challenge lately. I am seeing changes taking place in my body and I hadn't really decided whether I was happy about it or not. Nothing drastic, of course, but my thighs are getting more muscular, my arms are as well, but I feel better, feel stronger and my waist is getting trimmer.

I still have the fear of being this muscle-woman that looks like a man. I imagine most women don't view this type of body as ideal by any means. But, I was reading an article in the CrossFit Journal about how to get more women in a CrossFit box and some of it really rang true for me. Do I want to be skinny (and more than likely fat... b/c I can't stick with a diet that just cuts calories) or do I want to be strong, feel athletic, and be able to do a pull-up! So thanks to that article by Josh Bunch, I've decided to be positive about these changes to my body, even if my legs get more muscular than Adam's (just kidding).

To be honest, I'm not that muscular, it's just my perception that needs to change.

2 comments:

Rebecca said...
March 14, 2009 at 1:32 PM

Hi Kate,

I just noticed that you started following our blog. Hello :-) I hope you like what you find there.

I don't know what your body type is, but regardless of how you're put together, a fit, toned woman is always going to be better looking than a skinny will-o-the-wisp who is neither fit nor toned but merely under fed. I work out at a climbing gym, and I've seen a lot of very muscular women, and everyone of them is beautiful, and only the ones who want to look manly (this is Berkeley, after all).

The confidence that comes with knowing you have the ability to kick some serious booty in the gym will transfer to your every day life, and that confidence is sexy!

Love your new muscles! If they get to be bigger than Adam's that his problem ;-)

Anonymous said...
March 14, 2009 at 6:44 PM

A lot of women go through this struggle when they get into CrossFit. It's totally natural. The truth is, the likelihood of you becoming "overly" muscular is very very slim if you're not taking steroids. I've been doing this stuff for 4 years, and while I'm definitely more muscular than the average woman -- I'm still very much a woman! Enjoy meeting your new body as it develops and have fun training!