Strong is the new skinny! Really?

I am choosing autonomy for claiming a notorious statement to my eminence- “All who workout is narcissistic but all narcissistic don’t work out”. There is a possible argument there that people exercise to stay fit or they do it for the unadulterated and neat love of fitness, longevity and health but I would say the overarching truth and underlying reality in all such declarations is the love for self. Yes? Makes sense? May be? It is self explanatory and so (vain and self absorbed) people who put in enormous amount of exertion and time and money to look good and prolong their youthfulness, would treat all of the above like an investment and every investment demands and promises a return, preferably tangible. Coffee table flat tummy is a viable, tangible and visible return and so is carved out calves. It therefore legitimizes the outcome which entails being in shape and toned like a model because fat and obese can truthfully not be pleasing to a narcissistic eye or otherwise. Hence it is established that (narcissistic) women in order to look pretty or alluring need to be slender if not skinny because that is what gets noticed first followed by intellect and blah blah blah. And being plus size results in self loathing.

I have been a Cross Fitter for a month shy of two years now and I keep faltering upon the phrase “Strong is the new skinny” which invariably is aimed at persuading women NOT to vie for an anorexic-size-zero-mannequin inspired-super model-body BUT focus on other integral elements of core strength development implying "UK 10 is also good while you are strong and toned". Yes! I can repeat the aforesaid 6 Gazilliion times every day to myself but my brain sieves out the latter and zooms in on the former every time I enter the Box. And so does 90% women's brains who train with me. The conversations are always about or around “I need some serious wash board abs”, “My calves are so fat, I think the only remedy is lipo”, “Look at my bye bye arms, I can barely keep them bare”, “Jesus Christ I am losing my boobs”, “I can call my butt Mini-me coz it’s as big as me”.....phew!!!!!

So where and how is being strong imperative and significant for us women when we can’t get over our bodily woes and inches here and there. I mean what the heck would I do with all the strength when I spend sheaves of cash and earn no abs to flaunt specially when there are stick figures dancing all around me? Skinny is all that matters and appreciated at the end of the day. Strength et al is still gibberish in this context unless one is a lady Mariner or a Security personnel or a black-vest-and-cargo-clad-super-cop straight out of a Hollywood film. But we are a Bollywood inspired race fed on "pretty is always petite".

And that is how I got into the business of decoding the so called paradigm changing assertion “Strong is the new skinny”. It took me a year and the track Sunscreen to understand the slogan and start appreciating it. Thereafter I could rationalize that we have created more (role) models to follow on the bony slender side and fewer on the strong chiseled, muscled super cop side and we obviously sway towards the weighted side. We need more of self loving stronger women and fewer self loathing skinny variety to inspire us. We need more super-cops, pilots, politicians, Mariners and fewer anorexic calendar girls and actors qualifying as role models. Narcissism, self love and conceit shouldn't be the evaluation metrics of skinny alone. The horse blinders that block the beauty outside of skinny should be compromised. The beauty in strong/big/plump/maybe fat too needs to be acknowledged as well. It is a process of transformation not for the women alone, but one that their entire ecosystem needs to undergo.

The truth however persists that while the wild goose chase for followers of strong continues, skinny will rule. It is a while before strong replaces skinny. The start would be when we choose to not embrace passing out due to starvation, deprivation and drugs to look pretty but lift 70 kilograms, dress up in UK 8, keep our heads high and wear our best smiles to party. In a nutshell happily reporting from the place we are at.