Archive for August 2008

Does size matter II: A male perspective

This blog was inspired by a sister I met not too long ago. She has a great blog focused on the issues of black women www.thefitnessgoddess.blogspot.com. And like an argument on a Sunday afternoon the topic of size and image came up. Check it out and show some love right HERE

In this day and age it is clear and absolute that we see images of sexy more now than ever before. My parents didn’t have an example of what fresh was besides the images on Soul Train. Now there are magazines, TV, Internet and all other kinds of media. In addition to the said media you have the fashion and image critics.

We all know body image is connected to self- esteem. Women are rated/ranked on looks and desirability instead of personal achievement like their male counterparts. So would it make sense that somewhere down the line our sisters, who have been told what to do for years, might rebel? Rebel, by eating what they want and not subscribing to said images. When I think rebel…. I think of the comedian Mo`Nique. She rants and raves about how BBW are large and in charge. She carries herself well and there are plenty of men who would chase her but are we serious here? She might be doing many sisters and in justice by holding a torch for the unheard and large.

GET IN SHAPE AND LIVE A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE PERIOD.

Now, I have never looked at a girl and said wow what a great size 4. What I believe to be a key indicator is a healthy waist to hip ratio. If you are small like Jada or big like “Jackie” from 227, both these women have one thing in common a healthy WHR.
WHR of black Hollywood femme fatales would be somewhere around 0.7-0.9. Simply put the WHR is defined as a small waist and big butt alla J. Lo. or Lela Rochon.

Seriously, I remember when I was in college a classmate of mine said “my friends are giving me a hard time” I said “why? What did you do?” He said, in a unassuming voice “nothing my girlfriend is losing a weight.” You see, this was a Nigerian brother where thick healthy women are wanted and revered. You can line up 10 women all weighing 150lbs and you will discover 10 different body types. But the one with the good WHR and is confident will shine above all.

Crap Pushers Letter

So we live in a society that finds reasons to eat. I work for a animal health company where every week there’s a visitor, birthday, baby, or whatever. And for each of those events there’s a cake, cookies or some other trick in a bag. Trust me I love all of the above, I actually have to run away from cheesecake cause I’m batting 1 for 5 this past month when it comes to sweets. I was reading a blog from a lady called chickentuna who wrote a letter I’d like to share with you all:
“Hello There!

Were you trying to push someone who has taken on the challenge of a fitness goal, into eating some crap? This person has set out on a mission to get herself in the best shape of her life. This requires eating some food that doesn’t taste as great as what you are offering and it is very difficult and challenging to say no. It is a very very difficult sacrifice to make in giving up all the more delicious tasting foods in pursuit of a fit body and it becomes even more difficult when people like you constantly question what she is eating and and keep offering her more crappy food to eat. The crappy food you are offering may taste so delicious but the very sad and unfortunate truth is that it makes our bodies look like total shit. I wish it weren’t the case, but it is true.

Even if this person doesn’t need to lose any weight, the crappy food will STILL make her/his body look like shit so it’s not only about gaining or losing weight, it’s about staying fit. Here is a person trying to accomplish a very difficult goal of getting and staying in great shape, and you come along and try to throw her/him off course. How about giving her a little support instead ? This process is very challenging.

If you want to eat crap go right ahead,.. we all make our own choices but there is no need to try and drag others down with you. Or maybe you just don’t realize that eating crap makes you look like crap (many people don’t know that) and you think it is just genetics or aging that causes us to have dangling lard all over our bodies? It doesn’t have to be that way. Start eating right as well, and you will soon see how nice you will start to look and feel and you will see that it is worth giving up the crap. There is no doubt that it SUCKS saying no all the time to the pizzas, the cookies, the cakes, the ice cream and such. It really does SUCK.

As delicious as all the crappy foods can be, they don’t come close to being as fun as it is to walk around in a lean, hard, tight body and look good in any piece of clothing. The right food will give you this look and feeling…foods such as plain chicken, oatmeal, fish, and vegetables. It’s a hard pill to swallow in giving up all the goodies but once you accept the facts you can make the best of it. How would you like to go clothes shopping and have everything look good on you? It is completely possible if you’ll stop eating all the crap and make the right choices each day.

So there you have it. That is why you were reported as a “crap pusher”. Eating right and exercising is very hard work but very worthwhile mission and you are welcome to join in on the ‘fun’! If you don’t want to, no big deal but please stop pushing the crap on others and just keep it to yourself.”

She hit it right on the money avoid the pushers and more importantly see them before they come!

Hard work and more

The meaning of hard work Read more

New Look and swimming what a combination

 
Okay the challenge begins…My page has a new look and it might have another new look in a couple of days as well. My buddy Craig is helping me with design and layout but anywho WE NEED TO BLOG. It is 4 am and I am watching the Olympics and I ask myself why aren’t there more brothers and sisters in the water? I myself can’t swim and a lot of my friends and family can’t either. What happened to all the brown people?

This goes without saying that swimming is an aerobic workout that achieves an increased heart rate and hard breathing for an extended period of time. During this aerobic activity your body produces more energy and delivers more oxygen to your muscles. So why not have fun and workout? and swim more?
Simply put in my neighborhood in Brooklyn NY too many bad things were happening under water. That frisky play under water might have been more than frisky. Those unsecured lockers just couldn’t hold my belongings for long. But in retrospect neither my family or friends gave it much of a chance. While I was looking around the net these are the reasons I found for the lack of brown swimmers.
Blacks have historically been less apt to hit the swimming pool than others. Many reasons have been given- truths and myths-and here what some experts say about why Blacks dont swim:

• In the past ,many blacks were not allowed to swim in public pools, so many people never had the opportunity to learn

• There are lack of facilities with public pools in many urban areas.

• A large percentage of Blacks (esp.-Females) do not wear their hair natural and the water will ruin there hairdo.

• Many Blacks cant afford to take expensive swimming lessons.

• There are very few prominent Black swimmers.

Just recently a Florida House candidate said “African Americans generally can’t swim”. I will not elaborate on this cause my writing style will change and it might contain a few choice words. So for now check out this blog

 So my new goal is to learn how to swim … and don’t call me the black Michael Phelps. I’m just a new fish in the sea.

Incredible Transformation!

Some people say …”wow your lucky you can eat anything you want” Only if they knew or “you see your body type lets you pack on muscles pretty easy” only if they knew…Here is to all of those that say “i was born like this” or ” why restrict yourself you can die tomorrow getting hit by a car”.

There is hardwork and then there is I dont want to work hard…thats it!

Here is a sister that made a change and inspires me to workout this week…if I meet this lady I’d give her a hug on the spot and then ask her to spot me. You can see her HERE.