The aesthetic vs the functional

I've spent the past 24 hours or so fiddling with the aesthetics of this thing (as if it really matters, when I can change it up however and whenever). Yet in truth, I suppose it does indeed matter. After all, what is a blog mainly dedicated to fitness, if not a study in aesthetics? This is something Jason and I talked about when we first met, as he justified his not being the image I had in my head of a specialized personal trainer, you know, like personal trainer Sidney Wilson here...

For Jason, fitness is about the ability to successfully complete tasks requiring strength, agility, power and a lot of flexibility. Interestingly, these are tenets behind the Crossfit movement http://crossfit.com/ - function over form. What the movement seems to have done, however, is produce women who are beautifully built, cut and STRONG, and for the most part, for whatever reason, tiny men. They're fit and lean, but have no size. And when I speak of size, I'm not harkening back to the days of the Terminator, but to just your average guy who is well-muscled, but not so lean he looks like he needs a meal, like Adam Levine. I guess coming from the world of bodybuilding it's been hard for me to not believe in the importance (and yes, let's face it, beauty) of what guys like Jason and his Crossfit cronies see as purely window dressing, more often than not, with little in the way of functional use. 

Adam Levine needs a meal!

So as my blog description points out, I seem to have developed an unhealthy relationship with my couch, and with the worst of all vices, chocolate-covered almonds. These things are the devil. I have justified having them by purchasing only the dark chocolate versions, but who am I kidding, right? Since January 2009 I have watched myself settle into the place of needing to go to the gym, needing to find a new challenge... A few days ago I acknowledged all the things I keep "going to do," as well as all of the excuses I have had for not training, and fessed up to the truth - I am the sole thing standing between my successes and my failures. This isn't news, I have been well aware of all I have and have not done, I have had multiple "awakenings." But I can't allow that to prevent attempts now and in the future to hear the clarion call to fitness. It brought me to this place. It made me recognize that I need to find whatever motivations, whatever ways of cajoling myself into getting out there and just getting it done. It's all cliched, it's all bs, but you know what?  It's all also kicking my ass!!! 

I love being fit. I enjoy going up to strange men in bars and challenging them to an arm wrestle. You know why? Because I'm hardcore and so are all the women I love, and none of us have ever felt the need to apologize for it. Today I worked on cleans, something I have never been good at, but it felt great to be back in the weight room, slinging some weight around again. Here's to hopping back into the proverbial saddle again!


Sugs out.