The Sexual Power of Exercise and Fitness

Earlier this week, along with millions of other Americans tuned into ABC’s “20/20”, I watched a dazzling woman named Regina Thomashauer (aka Mama Gena) open her home and the mind’s of her female students during a course of “Mama Gena’s School of Womanly Arts”.

What I found so refreshing and wonderful about Mama Gena is that she isn’t the media’s current idea of fabulously sexy. She isn’t barely legal, skinny almost to the point of being emaciated, with a pair of gravity defying C+ breasts as her best accessory. In a culture where sexy most often means young (if you’re a woman) and Mama Gena has the audacity to be middle aged. And she’s dazzlingly sexy. This is a woman who’s proud to be who she is. She wears feather boas and walks and talks and smiles speaks in such an effervescently seductive manner one can get in the mood, I’m sure, just by being in her presence.

Above all, what comes across is that Mama Gena is strong – strong in mind, body and spirit and her strength, rather than being intimidating, is beguiling because Mama Gena knows how to enjoy herself. She loves life, and it shows.

Strength is something I’ve been ruminating a lot on lately as it plays out in dating and socializing in general – especially physical. So many of us women have neglected our physical bodies to the point where we just don’t have the physical strength and agility to do many of the things we’d like to do with men – from going on a day hike to dancing the night away – without it wrecking havoc on us. How many of us are missing out on fun and adventure because we simply don’t have the strength and endurance to handle it?

And how many of us are missing out on the love life we crave simply because we lack the positive body image to even jump in and allow ourselves to have one?

And how does this make us feel about ourselves? You guessed it, lousy.

The great news is that one’s physical strength and agility can be improved at any age, and improving one’s strength and agility can vastly improve one’s self image. We don’t have to throw ourselves into a crash course that will leave us hobbling to bed with strained and aching muscles either. The truth is the tortoise beats the hare when it comes to fitness. What matters is doing it steadily.

For my money the easiest way to get into a fitness groove is through strength training. Yes, of course the aerobic is important with many many benefits (we’ll be discussing those in future articles) but if you want to see your body actually change shape weight training is the way to go. Weight training not only makes you look better, it actually increases you bone mineral density which is crucial to women as they age and begin to risk the chance of osteoporosis. We’ve all seen elderly women whose spines are terribly disfigured from this terrible disease. The good news is that it doesn’t have to happen to you. When your bones are appropriately stressed through muscle movement they literally get stronger. This is true whether you’re 19 or 90.

The more muscle one has the more quickly one burns calories (which is why men with their higher muscle ratio can pig out more than we can without gaining weight). On Feb 2, 2003 CNN.com posted a quick, easy overview of weight training from the Mayo Clinic. The article points out that “when you lose muscle, your body gradually becomes less efficient at burning calories. That's because muscle burns three times more calories than fat does. The more muscle mass your body has, the more efficiently and quickly it burns calories, even when you're at rest.”

The Mayo Clinic article goes on to recommend that you start with three work out sessions per week lasting 20 minutes, with a 5-10 minute brisk walk before hand to warm up. If you don’t have access to strength training machines or free weights the article suggests that you use gallon milk jugs filled with a little water to add weight. One should start out attempting 12 repetitions of each exercise with the last 3-4 being difficult to complete. The article also suggests focusing on your upper body for one work out and your lower body for another. Again your aim is to work towards toning and strengthening, not annihilating yourself the first time out.

Not sure what kinds of exercises you should be doing? Recommendations are everywhere. My favorite place to find old favorites I forgot about or learn new ones is my favorite women’s magazines. Most offer drawings with easy diagrams to understand what the heck to do. The January edition of “Oprah” offers a strength work out plan for your entire body – including which days of the week to do each exercise.

If hitting the gym with a bunch of other sweaty people just isn’t your scene, and if for whatever reason you have an aversion to free weights themselves, there are several other ways you can get the proper “resistance” to push or pull against to create strength. The Mayo Clinic article recommends isometric exercises (where you basically resist against yourself, or say a solid object such as a table), pilates (based on dance these exercises focus on strengthening your core muscles of the lower back, hips, abdomen and buttocks – they also make you look damn hot), aquatic work outs (where water gives the proper resistance) and resistance bands or tubing (they can be found at any sporting goods store and they’re easy to travel with).

So how about it girlfriends? I don’t know about you, but now that I’m finished writing this I’m off home for a round of sit ups and stair push ups (like the chair push ups we had to do for testing in school). I won’t be ready to run a marathon yet, but I’ll look better in my New Year’s Eve outfit – and I’ll feel better too!

For more information check out: CNN Health Library