I love lifting with a strength and dedication I didn’t know I was capable of. I love how much of what I learn in training is applicable to real life. This is growth. This is progress. This is not failure.
I'm the writer, but I do the workout. Writing's not sitting. Sports, I have all of them in my body. Muscles always, for moving. I try the celebrity diets with my mouth, and eat them. I'm always doing the workouts, for my fitness body. I triathlete, I Pilates. I Pi early too. Pushing my body always because my mind, she's so awake with words and language. Pillar of strength, exhausted. Modern urban jungle, it's not…
Yes, you. You are an athlete. Some of you already have one or more athletic endeavors that you enjoy. Others of you may just have not found (or chosen) your activity yet. Some of you just have a body. So many of us are told that we aren’t athletic, and that we can’t be athletic. Society, friends, authority figures, media - there are lots of people and institutions that
The Book arrived today. It is, as you might imagine, chockablock with moments of the sublime. "I remember being in high school, sitting on the couch with my girlfriend watching MTV, and the video for "Under The Bridge" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers came on. The video ends with a shirtless Anthony Kiedis running in slow motion, long hair swinging, pecs bouncing, and the room got silent – loud silent. I looked over at…
Joe Manganiello is living proof that the reader-response theory is the truest form of literary criticism. Reader-response theorists share two beliefs: 1) that the role of the reader cannot be omitted from our understanding of literature and 2) that readers do not passively consume the meaning presented to them by an objective literary text; rather they actively make the meaning they find in literature" (154). In this way, reader-response theory shares common ground with…
Would you like to hear a really awkward gym story? Okay. Once upon a time a lady named Njeri (#womanofcolor, #blackgirlmagic) diligently made her way to the gym, set on re-inaugurating herself back into hot yoga. She has some anxiety. She has some thighs, too (no shame). Even though she used to regularly practice heated vinyasa at her local studio a year or so back, at the back of her mind she imagines arriving at…
Required equipment: Shoes (any kind, high heels preferred), bag of some sort (paper, cloth, or leather preferred, plastic strongly discouraged), at least one toddler
Arrive at your friend’s house. Set down bag and remove shoes. Walk 10 steps into kitchen. Walk 10 steps back to living room, remove phone from toddler’s grasp. Close bag.
Hieu Truong's previous work for The Toast can be found here. Most women her age are usually doing weak things, like hugging family members, cooking for large groups of small children, or spending much of their waking hours trying to support themselves financially. This woman is different. She lifts heavy weights. Maybe she lifts more weights than you, presumably male reader of undetermined size and athletic ability. Isn’t that crazy, a mere woman lifting…
Previously: Signs a contestant is about to lose on Chopped. There is no acceptable size for a contestant to be during the Ring Toss. If he is over six feet and 200 pounds, hosts Matt Iseman and Akbar Gbajabiamila will worry about his ability to hold himself up. "That's a lot of weight to hold up, Matt," Akbar will say. If the contestant is any smaller, they will immediately worry that he or…
Previously in this series: If Carrie Brownstein Were Your Girlfriend. If Cobie Smulders were your ostensibly platonic gym buddy for whom you have conflicted feelings, she would always have one stubborn lock of hair that escaped her ponytail. "Let me get that for you," you would say, and then you would use your calloused hands to slip it back under the elastic, with a curiously delicate touch. "Thanks, man," Cobie would say. "One of…
I’ve got two kinds of zealots on my Facebook feed: homeschoolers and Zumba enthusiasts. Can you guess which topic the following comments are in reference to?
"On fire!"
“I love how each participant has her own style and flair.”
“I am having the best time of my life right now.”
Previous installments of Feel the Burn can be found here. I have been enjoying posting my daily workouts for you in the link roundup, but your demands for a more formal Feel the Burn have not fallen on deaf ears! There is nothing I love more than telling you about exercise. As you probably know, I have been doing a group boot camp four mornings a week, baby in tow, in an attempt to return…
THIS GROWN-UP VERSION OF "ANNIE" IS GONNA PEEL AND EAT THEM I GUESS THAT'LL MESS 'EM UP REAL BAD NO TELL HER YOU FUCKED THE SKY AND THE CONCEPT OF REGRET BOTH AT THE SAME TIME…
