Metabolic Damage and Women’s Issues Continued

It’s now quite obvious that metabolic damage is a real issue. I’m receiving e-mails from all over North America from females who have felt a wake up call regarding my previous Blogs on the subject. (Didn’t know it was getting out there so far) So I feel the need to continue here. Yes, I feel the proliferation of metabolic damage in otherwise healthy young ladies is directly connected to the boom of Figure competitions but there is far more to it. Also I need to point out again, that Wilson’s Low Temperature Syndrome is only but one in several, some as yet unidentified ways that such pursuits are leading to real and long term metabolic damage. This is primarily a female issue for several reasons. There are other female issues to deal with here as well; such as digestive problems, digestive stress, constipation, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Colitis, and Chrohns’s disease. Most of these can be considered a part of a continuum of a beginning of metabolic stress in females and enhanced by varying degrees of severity. I have dealt with clients with every single one of the above conditions or diseases, and ALL of them have been female! Why is this? Well the answer is both simple and complicated and both require further explication. First we need to address properly that because we live in a man’s world, that alone creates internal stress for females who buy into societal identity and prescriptions to “who and how they should be” Internalizing these narrow definitions of feminine and womanly lead to a myriad of issues and the pursuits of women to adhere to these definitions is part of the problem. I have had many female clients in the past hire me and come to me with copies of Maxim or Playboy in their hands to show me what look they wish to accomplish. Do they not realize that these are Men’s magazines marketing to men what women should look like for the purpose only of sexual desire? This totally objectifies women yet they buy right into it, and thus begins the problem. That identity becomes their goal identity so to speak. That is a problem right there wrapping up one’s identity and self worth all within a physical or cosmetic package. Male bodybuilders do the same thing, with respect to magazine bodybuilders.
Once women internalize this as a goal, other aspects of their self identity take a back seat to its pursuit, usually at the expense of their own well being. Consider the digestive track as your body’s way of trying to communicate to you messages from your consciousness. Constipation in females for the most part is an example of a physiology telling that individual she is repressed emotionally. It means she has repressed something into her consciousness that the body is making her aware of, and that her consciousness wants her to address, often some kind of emotional stress. Frequently this revolves around self image and no where is this more apparent than in the Fitness, cosmetic world and Figure competitions.
But it didn’t begin here. For decades female ballerinas suffered the peril of “maturing” in a natural way which then thwarted their overall aesthetic and then at a young age their careers were over. To combat it, many battled with anorexia, and usually suffered very painful foot deformities and maladies later in life. All for a few years of pursuing something they loved. In the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, female gymnasts were also put on severe diet restrictions and often even drugs to delay puberty long enough to win a medal. Then, most coaches were indeed male and so was their world view. The metabolic damage done to them as pre-adolescents and teens is now evident in their adult lives. There are many books about it from the former gymnasts themselves. This brings us back to the modern pursuit of the “Figure Look”
Listen you are either born with a natural V taper, capped delts, and tiny waist, or you are not. Some people are just born to do this. Others struggle to do so because they love it, but again at what cost to their physiology? Ladies it is now time to look inward. Every year for instance at Fame shows there are a few to several hundred competitors in Figure. Only a handful have a chance to even place. My question is what are all these other girls thinking, and shame on their trainers. Most trainers are not financially secure enough to really care about a client, so they will enter them in shows, take their money and put them through whatever means necessary, diet, training, and pharmacology wise to get them to a “show ready” physique. Now then, what is the cost of this pursuit to the body? Ladies, its time to start doing some real soul searching, and for lack of a better word, a cost analysis or more reality math if you will. Weigh, what are the costs of doing a show vs. the benefits. What is a show costing you in terms of compromising your self image, your level of self awareness and self gratification? What is the cost physically in terms of energy drain vs. energy enhancement? For some competing in Figure is just another presence of the dastardly “Energy Vampire” but in a more physical way. What do you gain, in terms of a sense of accomplishment, sense of achievement? Do the gains out weigh the costs. Are you a better person for taking this on? Are you suffering any physical ailments or warning signs by taking this on? Many girls start to define themselves differently once they get into this. They are no longer OK the way they are, in their minds. They only feel “good” about themselves when they are in a physically unsustainable state that exhausts them, that they can’t possibly maintain, and when they go back to their normal physical state they become depressed, angry at themselves etc., and metabolic damage ensues. They do not recognize they bring this on themselves by altering their self identity. From that point on, of achieving a stage ready body, they can no longer accept themselves as anything less, even though it is an impossibility to maintain for anything but a short term. I have many female clients, that are very pretty girls, by any standard definition but have lost that recognition of themselves, via the competitive route to re-identifying and re-defining themselves in contest ready terms rather than in every day reality.
To another issue: Why are these ladies all training with bodybuilding type training? Not only is it non-functional but it doesn’t even serve the purpose for the nature of the competition they are doing???? A good trainer/coach knows that. Agility training, takes the cell volumization training to a whole other level.
This is what my Metabolic Enhancement Training is now all about. It’s about giving these ladies back their working metabolisms, while it’s still possible. Those few females already on the protocol can comment on my Abel Files Forums section, how such training is different, and how it makes them feel vs. the basic bodybuilding type training most Figure girls are doing which serves no functional purpose, not even metabolically! Again, ladies need to start addressing the cost/benefit reality math for even the type of training they are doing. If their training is producing a tired heavy feeling physiology via biofeedback, it’s not the right protocol.
The Metabolic Enhancement Training is designed to serve metabolism not destroy it. The ladies are reporting in short times spans, renewed energy and vigor, FROM the training, instead of exhaustion from it. They report cat like reflexes and new found agility and energy. No; this is NOT a plug for Metabolic Enhancement Training, it’s proving a point. Training methodology will not enhance the desired V shape sought after in competitions. That is a natural thing pretty much. Therefore training should serve the body well, just as should diet. The Metabolic Enhancement Training is designed for energy production not energy destruction. Ladies can once again feel “athletic” look “athletic” and still be competitive in a way that serves the body functionally, and yet still allows the female to define HERSELF as feminine, since the effect on muscle is much different. Just as pronounced but much different.
At last year’s Provincial Championships, most Figure contestants that placed high would have won the Nationals in Bodybuilding not more than 5 years ago. That is NOT a compliment! Instead of other women walking away inspired, most audience members were of the opinion, “I wouldn’t want to look like that.” Sad as it is, in bodybuilding I’ve seen many women ruin their lives and their career with their obsession with physique development. Desire for the unattainable or for the “victory” at all costs has led to widespread drug abuse of MALE hormones. Women I knew to have begun their pursuit of stardom with very feminine attributes now look like bad science experiments or worse, male transvestites. There is a difference between obsession, and devotion and commitment. When the Servant becomes the Master, be warned. Is your training serving you, or are you a slave to it???!!!!!! Figure contestants are now falling in to this trap. Obsession with physique presentation is not the same as a determined committed effort to a worthy endeavor. Ladies please start questioning what the costs are to you to continue to pursue such an elusive and subjective goal. And please let the pursuit of that goal stop defining you both as a female and as a person!
Have a goal, yes. Have a coach, yes! But have a knowledgeable coach who can put you on the path to both reaching your goals, and serving your body well, not pursuing a type of training that sucks the life blood out of you. Training must be exhausting yes, but still be invigorating to the body. How many of you can say you are honestly getting that out of your training or coaching? Pounding you into the ground until you are contest ready is not serving you, as an athlete or a coach. But you as the client must recognize this.
I have got further and further away from what this Blog was meant to get at. But with the e-mails I’m getting I guess it’s time to address all of these issues. I want to continue in my next Blog for sure to discuss Metabolic Damage in yet another form. Enzyme destruction.
I hope you will stay tuned and as always, post on my website in the Abel Files Forums sections your thoughts on this or any other Blog. The female issues involved here are deep and numerous. I can’t address them all in one Blog. I hope in this one I touched on a few issues that may allow you ladies to look a little differently at how and why you pursue your physical goals, on an emotional, mental level, which may inadvertently be contributing to your self destruction and metabolic damage. Always keep in mind when you look inside yourself, “if you are not finding the answers, then you need to ask different questions!”
As you seem to already be doing you may also contact me via personal e-mail to share your situation or explore it further.