It was hard not to be struck by several things. The first, unavoidable conclusion is that almost all the top competitors are juicing. (That said, it seems less like cheating in a sport in which practically everyone does it.)
At the beginning of the movie, one of the organizers earnestly claims, about their championships, "If you get to the Cross Fit Games, it means you're in the top one percent of the world's top athletes, bar none."
From another Cross Fit exec: "What the Cross Fit Games is, is who's the world's best athlete. Not the best Cross Fitter, but the best athlete." (Comparing one sport to another is always ludicrous; different sports have different ways of measuring fitness.)
Another claim: "What we're trying to do here is get people good at life."
The movie itself seemed to incorporate every sports movie cliche: overly dramatic music, and the attempts to imbue a sport with a significance it can't quite sustain. (Are sports really that important?) The movie even has the obligatory competitor who was doing it not for herself, but for her dead grandmother.
I understand that a sport can be extremely important to its competitors. (I've been there.) But to an outsider, the dramatization can seem a little silly and overdone.
But the most overwhelming impression I was left with was that a lot of the female competitors must have been quite attractive, even beautiful, before they started serious Cross Fit training. Before they gained the musculature of men.
But the most overwhelming impression I was left with was that a lot of the female competitors must have been quite attractive, even beautiful, before they started serious Cross Fit training. Before they gained the musculature of men.
Here's Sara Sigmundsdottir:
Here's Katrin Davidsdottir:
And here are the two of them together:
Yes, attractiveness is subjective. But when women who would otherwise be considered extremely attractive by most people spend 30 hours a week in the gym rendering themselves freakish, it seems, somehow, self-defeating.
Who knows, maybe some of these women don't care whether others find them conventionally attractive. And it's certainly their right to do whatever they want with their own bodies.
Who knows, maybe some of these women don't care whether others find them conventionally attractive. And it's certainly their right to do whatever they want with their own bodies.
But has Cross Fit really made these women, as that exec claims, better at life?
The shift from the jogging craze of thirty years ago to more whole body exercises has been a healthy one. Short, intense bursts of exercise release more human growth hormone and testosterone naturally than extended aerobic workouts do.
But when you supplement that increased natural hormone production with an exogenous, artificial supply, the results aren't necessarily pretty. Or healthy.
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17 comments:
The women lose their natural prettiness, turning themselves into Amazon women. It's not worth it.
- birdie
Birdie --
The thing is, their faces are still pretty, but they're now perched atop a physique that's more masculine than feminine. It's sorta disconcerting.
Looking at the photos, I thought to myself - these women look like the female guards in the Nazi concentration camps. Once a woman looks manly, she's not someone you really want to look at.
- birdie
I've watched all three (I think there are only three) of the CrossFit movies.
The first one "Every Second Counts" chronicled the 2008 games (the 2nd ever) - which were held in a countryside field, with lots of dirt and dust. The guys there didn't look juiced (for the most part) and seemed to be just a bunch of guys who loved to work out, and wanted to compete too.
Next came the 2015 movie "the Fittest on Earth". Now the athletes were all jacked and the event was held in a tennis stadium, with a highly polished organization and presentation. Sara Sigmundsdóttir got a lot of coverage in this movie, and she was happy, entertaining, and a bit silly - but fun to watch.
I found the story line of Davidsdottir's grandmother in the 2017 movie overdone and heavy handed - plus it reminded me of the Olympic coverage they used to do where there was more emphasis on athlete 'personal interest' stories than the actual sport itself (especially in swimming) - and I always hated that style of coverage.
Given that the top CrossFit athletes are likely all juiced - I think of it as a 'Steroid Olympics' and take it as entertainment on that level. I've been doing workouts at a circuit training gym (nowhere near the insane workouts at the CrossFit games) - but I see some of the same sorts of exercises here and there that I do a little bit of myself.
So - maybe I should be embarrassed - but I found myself following the 2017 games on-line, and frequently checking the leader board during the event.
- Ed
Ed --
Agree, the clips they showed of the 2008 Games did not make the competitors looked juiced.
I was reminded of the Olympic's "up close and personal" segments too. Those were supposedly introduced to get women more interested. gad they got rid of them.
Most women can't get this big, not enough hormones. It may not be the fact they are too big or muscular, but the lack of bodyfat. If muscle, they are the exception. I took a crossfit class once, there were plenty of strong women, but they weren't freakish, they were lifting heavy weights, doing squats, no toning or girly stuff. They looked like strong fit women more like this:
https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1AoFmzw3G-c/WLFQf7nJGXI/AAAAAAAABlc/pjQzMqoLpA81RB2qrWFLnsA9bAGzanROwCLcB/s1600/Sandra%2BPrikker%2B10.jpg
A lot of it isn't too much muscle but very very low body fat. Women have higher levels than men, women in these competitions try to make certain weight classes dehydrate themselves, go on zero carb diets, force themselves into being leaner than what is evolutionary ideal.
It can give the impression of excess muscularity. Most women also don't like men who are too ripped either. I imagine most women don't like 8 packs, don't believe the hype, they think it's gross.
I want to add, I did see an article saying why women nowadays prefer more girly feminine men (think Brad Pitt). It may have to do with birth control pills, and the hormonal changes could remain in their bodies and affect developing fetuses in the womb. I worry about all these stuff, chemical, flavorings, more. The hormones in birth control pills can be exreted and be flushed into our oceans through sewers. Getting into fish,our ecosystem!
Or higher levels of lead increasing homosexuality and possibly autism/other mental disorders. Hormone imbalances can be a catalyst for autism severity and/or transgenderedism. Birth control pills may have a role.
That's something you will never hear liberals talk about despite how much they care supposedly about our environment.
-Ga
Ga --
The girl in that picture you linked doesn't look freakish, she looks good. A nice, fit but feminine body. With the women in the pictures In included, it's not just the lack of body fat, it's the muscle. If you look up Sarah Sigmundsdottir on Wiki, you'll see her weight-lifting bests, all of which put the average guy to shame. (She's done a snatch with 200 pounds, and a clean and jerk with 240.) But she of course represents the extreme end of Cross Fit. Most women will never end up looking like that.
Pitt's undergone a complete metamorphosis. He started out at skinny and lithe (look at a picture of him from Thelma and Louise), which must be the period you're referencing. But then, around the time of Fight Club, he started juicing, and getting more muscular. Around the time he made Snatch, and played a bare knuckle boxer, he looked great, and I remember being impressed by his athleticism. Then, when he got huge for Troy, it hit me: of course, he's been juicing. But the steroids he took had the effect of making I'm more masculine, so now, even though he's no longer huge, he's cast in roles like Army Generals and the like.
You're right about the effect of pollutants in the environment. It's a huge crisis, yet the MSM doesn't want to present the prevalence of less masculine men as a problem.
Its like they voluntarily reduced their feminine attractiveness from a 9 to a 1 via male hormones. Seems a bit crazy but its their life.
Steven --
In a way the craziness is admirable, but that's an awfully big sacrifice.
As an aside - based on the photo in your story of Davidsdottir and Sigmundsdóttir - who is competing angrier? Its not fair to judge from one photo - but based on the movies, I wouldn't be surprised if Sigmundsdottir hasn't done quite as well as Davidsdottir largely because she is not as hard-nosed.
Straying further into your previous post on competing angry - I can't give a verbatim quote, but I remember hearing Olympic gold medalist in distance swimming, Kieren Perkins comment on how he feels before a races as 'about like I'm going to kill someone'.
- Ed
Ed --
In the photo of both of them, Davidsdottir looks a little more determined, but in their individual photos, I'd say, if anything, Sigmundsdottir is wearing the fiercer expression. The answer to your (implied) question is, Davidsdottir won in 2017, but Sigmundsdottir won in 2017. They strike me as remarkably similar in build and mien. Another striking thing about these competitions has evidently been the high number of women of Icelandic descent who have been successful in it. Evidently Iceland has a long tradition of strength events, especially among the men, so it's not surprising that some women would go in this direction too.
No wonder Perkins was so successful. He almost won a third gold in the 1500 free in 2000, too. (I think he got the silver there.)
Maybe the story about the grandmother was a way of making these cyborgs human again. They might be hearing about how normal people view them as juicing and imitation, fake. Granted they aren't actually cyborgs. As more folks lose interest in their "cause" of Crossfitting-to-be-better-at-life bovine excrement they need to find ways to make themselves relevant.
Yes, a majority of folks into fitness and crossfit aren't like that and are just plain fit. They have lives, jobs and other activities that keep them from working out 30 or so hours a week. Professional fitness freaks don't have a life outside the gym so they really aren't better at life than average people. It's a farce, an advertising slogan.
These two women have pretty faces and yes, probably were attractive women 10-15 years ago before they began their rise to become the best at what they do.
The Soviet, sorry Russian, government still promote their athletes to juice. Baseball lost more fans over them striking than the revelation that their superstars were juicing. NFL players have been doing it for years but they haven't lost fans over it. So while it is still considered unfair it's socially acceptable as long as the athlete is playing for the team they root for (or whatever justification they give).
Not Dave --
Yes, the idea that people who've dropped out of a regular career and have taken steroids in order to be competitive at Cross Fit are "better at life" is laughable.
Sigmundsdottir is now 24 (she turns 25 in 10 days) so she was probably attractive 6 or 7 years ago, yes.
True, the public at large doesn't seem all that turned off by steroid use. I'm almost at the point where I want to say, just make everything legal, that way it will once again be a level playing field. Of course, the powers that be will never allow that, since that would be encouraging something unhealthy, which they could later be held financially liable for. But making all PEDs legal would be the only way to level that field now.
I didn't know their age so my estimate was off, actually thought they'd be older.
Having grown up watching baseball I remember Barry Bonds as a skinny guy that still hit home runs. Then he got huge. Of course some of that is just getting older and filling out as an athlete but the rest was the "clear" or whatever they called steroids. He denies using it to this day as far as I know but the evidence is there. His transformation from healthy athlete to huge athlete was overnight. He believes us as idiots by still denying it.
Drugs and sports go hand in hand, have for decades. Hearing about NFL players smoking pot, ingesting meth, snorting coke, injecting steroids and various other things is almost normal. Olympic athletes know how long they can use PED's and stop before being tested so they don't show up. Pretty much is going to happen. Now there's natural athletes, those are becoming rare or outdated as they're not as competitive against ones using PED's.
Not Dave --
Around fifteen years ago I knew a guy who'd been a champion wrestler (as in, world champion at 198 pounds) and he told me that when he went to visit the Chicago Cubs clubhouse one time, he couldn't believe how jacked they all were, and that a lot of them made him look wimpy by comparison. He also said that somehow they ended p looking at a film of the 1977 World Series and he was struck by how all the players back then looked like stick figures by comparison.
You're right, it is ubiquitous.
disturbed by the tone of this article and some comments. who gives a flying *@#* what in your subjective opinion is attractive. let women do what they want with they're bodies.
I expect they don't give a shit whether you think it's attractive they just want to win. They may find it attractive themselves and that's enough for them. maybe some of them would like to attract other women. Or to attract a big man like me who doesn't feel attracted to skinny girls but get really turned on by the Icelandic warrior girls mentioned here.
Anon --
You sound like the same commenter who wrote in yesterday about the "How steroids mold the body" post.
I believe I already pointed out in the post that "Who knows, maybe some of these women don't care whether others find them conventionally attractive. And it's certainly their right to do whatever they want with their own bodies."
Or, as you put it, with "they're bodies."
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