#body talk
Vocal Point
Body talk
I listen raptly, rapacious for
Every shift, every rustle
Blood rushing to
All the peak places
The sighs, the moans
Deciphering meanings
Translating tongues
Slipping and sliding
Teach me the intricacies of
Your language; make me fluent
Whispering softly at first
Then volume rising
With intensity of feeling
Heed the hedonistic glee
Following each other’s lead
We will both get there
Gasping for air then preparing
To again hit those high notes
In harmony
Anyways, the fuck is up with the disgust towards bodyhair?
It’s just hair. Even pubic hair. Having that on your inner thighs is not at all uncommon. Having hair underneath your navel is also fairly common for afab people. Leg hair? It is there. Everyone has it. Armpit hair? Basically everyone has it.
Dehairing can be hell on earth. Regardless of your gender, dehairing is not a hygiene requirement.
Like, I am saying this as someone with very dark hair on my legs and arms(in contrast with very pale skin), with hair that cannot be covered by a bikini, and who rarely, if ever, dehairs(and even then it is for ease of cleaning that particular area because otherwise it ends up smelling awful due to me not having the energy to clean it daily). It sucks that society has made such a normal, universal part of our bodies hated simply for existing.
Body hair is not gross. It exists, it’s just as ‘dirty’ as the hair on your head. Hair on your buttocks is also completely normal, regardless of your agab. The hair on your face is not gross. Body hair is not masculine or feminine. It is your body. Do with it what you want.
Well, I’m on day…25 of 30 (I had to think about that for a moment!) of the paleo challenge that my entire gym decided to do together. And I’m pretty pleased. If you had asked me a day ago, I would have growled at you, but since I let myself eat plenty of carbs last night (a sweet potato and a Larabar as a treat sound a little sad in retrospect) and a fatty (but not fattening!) breakfast this morning, I feel pretty fantastic. And it seemed to have a profound effect on my 9-mile run today. For whatever reason, I forgot to bring my water with me on the trail, so mild dehydration on a hot day like this slowed me down toward the end, but it was still a far more energetic run than I’ve had in quite awhile! So, I at least can’t say this kind of fuel is slowing me down.
In general, I feel that my performance has been slightly better, or at least is holding steady, when compared to how I have a tendency to eat while not paying much attention to diet. And, perhaps best of all, I’ve fully realized that fasting exercise is no more difficult than working out after eating. It’s nice to know that my body can accomplish the task at hand without needing food in some specific time frame.
So, how about the way my body looks and feels? Well, it’s tough to notice changes when you see yourself in the mirror everyday, which is, of course, what makes progress photos so important. I can tell that there is some amount of fat loss when I see how loosely my slacks fit or when I feel the more exposed contours of my quads and hamstrings. But the confirmation of visible change came in a very real way when my coach mentioned that I was looking leaner. I like to think that he’s just afraid that I’ll beat him! That is, he’s offering a 3-month membership to anyone who leans out more than him in this 30 day timeframe. Well, we will know for sure in the next week. In any case, I’m happy with how this has affected me.
Well, I did this last year, and I’m doing it again now. It’s the time of year where the entirety of my gym comes to the same conclusion: summer’s here and it’s time to lean out! So the majority of us, together, engage in a friendly competition to clean up our collective diet.
In the past, the prize has been a pot of cash reserved for the male and female who are able to reduce their body fat percentage most. This year, ANYONE who manages to cut more than our beloved leader and coach gets a free 3-month membership. And that’s a pretty substantial value.
So the competition is on, and I’m intent on “beating” him. Of course, I was rather pleasantly surprised when I received my initial hydrostatic test results anyway. After a few months of high stress and mediocre diet, I expected to have my body fat percentage closer to 25%. Instead, I was amazed to come up from the tank and hear the attendant inform me that I was sitting at 20.3%! I’m still a bit confused as to what metabolic pathways have been serving me so well, but I’m happy to claim that stat if I may.
With this challenge to cut our processed food, grain products, dairy (less unpasteurized, full-fat products), and legumes; I think I’m going to be seeing some nicely revealed muscles come July. More importantly, though, I know this will improve my performance! Every time I’ve made an attempt to become more “fat adapted” metabolically, I’ve experienced great success in my distance running and general energy levels. So, for a woman who is looking at an 8 hour race in August, this is a huge benefit.
Well, let’s get to the stats:
Current BFP: 20.3%
Current (Dry) Weight: 136.2 lb
Lean Mass: 108.6 lb
Fat Mass: 27.6 lb
And goals? Well, to achieve a leanness that will earn me 3 months free at the gym. ;) But, more specifically, I’d like to get down to about 17% with a combination of fat mass reduction and muscle growth. Tough, but doable. Especially when I’m running for hours on end during the process and walking around sites half of all working days.
I’ll keep you informed, friends.
For those of you who don’t follow my main blog, I’ve been working on the corset you see here for the past week, specifically to wear at Denver Comic Con yesterday. And, as you can see, I did!
This photo demonstrates my creative interpretation of the character GLaDOS from the puzzle game Portal. And, based on the fact that 30+ people requested a photo while calling me by “name”, I feel comfortable saying that the idea translated fairly well.
The headpiece clearly made it most apparent who and/or what I was attempting to be, but the corset was the real “main event” in my mind. It’s one thing to try and personify an artificial intelligence; it’s another to wrap oneself in steel in order to mimic the rigidity of a metal carapace. This is what I wanted to accomplish. It was less about reiterating a non-human persona in the flesh and more about emulating it with one of the most powerful skills I know: corsetry.
Something that seemed just as relevant to this cosplay - to me, at least - was the display of musculature. If I cannot actually be a machine, why not demonstrate the power that exists in my organic nature? That is, why not flex a little muscle?
I have a special love for this character. My voice is regularly mistaken for GPS, I’m told I’m intimidating in passivity, and my sense of humor is deadpan enough to do little more than confuse others. Even my husband pointed out the similarities in personality. It was important enough to me to get this right that I forsook sleep for the few weeks leading up to this display. And I only regret not deciding to begin the project earlier. Also, not signing up for the actual contest competition at DCC2015. Lesson learned for next year, I suppose.
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That is, not all at once! For a day when I felt horridly fatigued, I did well with this endless EMOM.
Start with just the bar, adding on 5 pounds every minute (10 pounds per minute for the guys), and performing one lift each minute until you fail. Then move onto the next lift, without stripping the bar.
Power Snatch (previous max: 65 lb, today’s max: 75 pounds)
Power Clean (previous: 110, today: 105)
Deadlift (previous: 210, today: 195)
Those weights aren’t incredible, but to get so close to (or surpass) my previous 1RMs during a tedious EMOM, with no extra chances to try a heavier weight again, is enough to make me pretty happy!
Mistake of the day: I should gave transitioned from my favored 15-pound bar to a 45-pound bar for the deadlifts. Because I quite literally ran out of bar to load weights on before I failed!
Do you want to hear about it? This is my second one (first was spring 2014), and I’m just a couple days in. It’s not particularly exciting, but I’m happy to share if anyone else in the corset community has heard of it (or “paleo”) and wondered how primitive-style eating works with a cinched waist.
Otherwise I’ll just hang out over here and chop up my mommy veggies quietly.
Guess who completed a WOD with unassisted pullups last night?
Yep, this lady! That’s one year-end goal checked off the list. Yes, I do work out with my glasses on; and no, I don’t work out with a corset on. But enjoy this evidence of how thoroughly I exhaust myself - sweat is a rather effective makeup remover. ;)
Cincher by Orchard Corset.
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