Olympics - Womans Super Heavy weight lifting

I consider her an athlete a lot more than those sitting on horses.

( Now I am about to get hate mail from those who love horses)

She lift a shot load of weight and it does not happen without a lot of training.

LOL... no hate mail, but you clearly have no idea how much general fitness and core strength it takes to ride a horse in the events showcased in the Olympics. I would bet 95% of people wouldn't make it over the first fence of a cross country fence without being launched. You don't think riding like that takes 'a lot of training'? :laugh:

What you snipped out was a reply from a man who did not think that she had a natural aptitude for physical endeavors, presumably because he found her to be "unhealthy"

My response is because this is yet another example of people feeling absolutely free to comment on women's bodies despite the considerable achievements that could fill up more than enough discussion time/space without making denigrating (or complimentary for that matter) comments about their bodies.

I will grant you that this thread, in two pages has not degenerated as far as MFP is legendarily known to do into "ewww gross" but there is certainly a tone to it already, and we are only two pages into it.

I invite you to do a search for "women with muscles" to find the kinds of male-privilege posts I'm talking about. Women repeatedly post pictures of other women with muscles as a means of sharing motivational pictures, and repeatedly, men come in and grace us with the information that they would not deign to tap that.

I recognize the OP has repeatedly tried to clarify that he really meant to ask more generically whether you would let yourself get that big and has also disabused any notion of sexism as he "could have" put up a picture of a man. Yet he didn't. It is our expectation that women Olympians look like gymnasts, perhaps that made a super heavy weight lifter stick out. One that was a woman. NOT one that was a man. It is the picture of a female that he put up to invite a discussion about whether one would let oneself get "that big".

Honestly, I'm tired of it. It is very demeaning and damaging and it is something that men are not subjected to.

Yes, she's an athlete just like all women at 75+ kg range. Take Zhou Lulu, she's 5'9 and 290 lb. She lifted something like 412 lb at clean&jerk. Most Olympic lifters are either tiny so it's easy for them to ripped or really big and a woman at her height needs those extra pounds. I'm 5'11. There is no way I can ever get to that body strength without breaking my freaking back.

What you snipped out was a reply from a man who did not think that she had a natural aptitude for physical endeavors, presumably because he found her to be "unhealthy"

My response is because this is yet another example of people feeling absolutely free to comment on women's bodies despite the considerable achievements that could fill up more than enough discussion time/space without making denigrating (or complimentary for that matter) comments about their bodies.

I will grant you that this thread, in two pages has not degenerated as far as MFP is legendarily known to do into "ewww gross" but there is certainly a tone to it already, and we are only two pages into it.

I invite you to do a search for "women with muscles" to find the kinds of male-privilege posts I'm talking about. Women repeatedly post pictures of other women with muscles as a means of sharing motivational pictures, and repeatedly, men come in and grace us with the information that they would not deign to tap that.

I recognize the OP has repeatedly tried to clarify that he really meant to ask more generically whether you would let yourself get that big and has also disabused any notion of sexism as he "could have" put up a picture of a man. Yet he didn't. It is our expectation that women Olympians look like gymnasts, perhaps that made a super heavy weight lifter stick out. One that was a woman. NOT one that was a man. It is the picture of a female that he put up to invite a discussion about whether one would let oneself get "that big".

Honestly, I'm tired of it. It is very demeaning and damaging and it is something that men are not subjected to.

The man who doubted this athletes prowess for physicality was offering an opinion based on his preconceptions about fitness, not his preconceptions about gender.

I get where you are coming from, really I do, I am the first to yell BS when I see any sort of sexist crud being dished out.

BUT..... as a feminist, I refuse to see offense where none exists and I really do not think it exists on this thread.
Yes it exists on multiple other threads but by bringing mention of those in here, the (mostly positive) tone of the thread is changed because of the reaction to something that went on elsewhere.

And men are subjected to it too. Look at the thread MEN that was posted on MPF this evening.
(and yes, I know, should not start sentences with an 'and'

It is. Food is extremely anabolic. Studies have shown sumo wrestlers have more LBM than top level professional bodybuilders. If she dieted down to reasonable bodyfat levels, she would lose significant strength and lean mass.

That is why lean record holding powerlifters are so rare and impressive.

And she is an athlete. If you have ever tried to perform an olympic lift, you'd realize how much coordination and athletic ability is required.

^ Absolutely correct.

True as that maybe, I wonder what the life expectancy for these athletes is. Certainly if they bulk up for competition and than they slim back down then there is no issue, but watching the 350lb female lifter I could not help but wonder what happens once she stops competing. I suppose on further thought though this is true for any large athlete whether he or she be a power lifter or football player. What I do know is she can lift way more weight than I can under the pressure of millions of viewers in a one piece spandex suit. She pretty mocks kicks *kitten*!

Not thinking the picture of Holley is particularly flattering. how about this one:



Or of her lifting. Looking more "athletic":


But if we're gonna talk about body image and athleticism, how about we open this guy up for criticism. Does he look like an athlete?

Let's have a big discussion of his level of health based on his appearance.














Oh wait:

And I don't think he likes people being mean to his sister.

Honestly, I went searching for pictures of her and could not find one as unattractive as was put in the original picture. Given the issues with women being in the limelight essentially meaning they've given tacit permission to have their bodies criticized, I wish she'd been given at least half a fighting chance by having a picture where she had her most attractive or her most athletic self presented.

From a link sent to me by an awesome male MFPeep of mine:

In a society that teaches girls to judge their worth on looks rather than abilities, it's no wonder that by age 14, girls are dropping out of sports at twice the rate of boys. When they walk away from sport, they walk away from their potential. To help keep them sports, please donate to the Women’s Sports Foundation to keep her in
the game. Visit KeepHerInTheGame.org to learn more and to donate and support the Women's Sports Foundation to get more girls active.

For real, this kind of stuff is harmful. Please stop. Better yet, call it out when you see it. Even if there are lovely people who belittle what you have to say.

Here's the link to the awesome video that went with the words above:


P.S. I'm told by one of my MFP friends that the mother of one of the American women's weightlifting teammates is on MFP. How would you feel if you read a thread like this about YOUR daughter or her teammate?

Then start a thread on obesity without singling out ONE particular athlete with a particularly unflattering picture and bring judgment in based on her appearance. That stopped it from being a thread about obesity (which I don't think was the OP's intent) but about singling a particular person out for ridicule as a fat person on a website full of people attempting to lose weight.

I think the OP was attempting to discuss what is sacrificed by these athletes for their sports. Many of us with our own fitness goals would not be able to get past our body image issues in order to build the strength she has. I couldn't wake up as early as most of these folks do to work out for hours and then go about my day. I couldn't send my child across the country to the amazing coach in her or his sport and see my child only on vacations. But that isn't where this thread went.

And again, if we're talking about health, why aren't we talking about her brother the football player. Or the osteoporosis risks that gymnasts and figure skaters endure trying to be so small at a time they should be building bones. Or the head injuries in the NFL and other sports. Or the punishment that diver's spines take. Or the risks of anorexia in many of the traditional women's sports, wrestling, and among jockeys.

Nope that's not what this thread was doing.

sumo wrestlers tend to weigh over 350lbs, but some can run and do full splits and are uber in shape. there are different body types. maybe she is uber healthy yet is carrying all that fat. who knows.

It was a number of years ago, but there was a study done (I can't find it so I don't have the exact percentages) in which athletes were asked If there was something they could do to win a gold medal but they knew it would mean they would die prematurely would they do it and something like 90% said yes. Elite athletes are typically still adolescents or fairly young (and obsessed) adults, so the reality of the choice they are making isn't real to them. They feel invincible. Not being an elite athlete, I don't have that choice to make, so it seems easy to me.

But then, I'm terribly overweight and I'm not competing at the Olympics. And I've spent a lot of my life really unhappy with myself. So I don't have a quibble with Holley.