Strong AND Feminine
- Posted 08/03/2011
- Tags:
beautiful badass, strength training, and motivation - 20 comments
Today I’m going to share with you some incredible women in the fitness industry who prove that women can be strong AND feminine. Each one possesses the qualities and attitude of a Beautiful Badass™, and because these ladies definitely walk-the-walk, you can learn a lot from them. And as you’ll soon see, each one is incredibly strong and put most men to shame.
I’m inspired daily from each one of them – they are exceptional individuals and have different training and nutrition philosophies and training goals. And I love that! Each lady embodies the definition of Beautiful Badass in a way that is uniquely her own.
I have always, and will always, encourage you to do what best fits your lifestyle, attitude, and personal goals. There are multiple ways to get from Point A to Point B – this is true whether you goal is fat loss, getting strong(er), building muscle, or just improving your health through training and nutrition.
Because of this fact, you may relate to one of these women more than the others because their lifestyle and circumstances may closely match your own. Or, you may just appreciate the exposure to more amazing, strong, sexy, and healthy women.
Oh, and I should mention that I’ll be hanging out with several of these ladies in a few weeks. I am beyond excited to say the least, and I’ll be sure to take notes (maybe some videos too) and fill you in on all the fun, festivities, and craziness that will inevitably occur. Look out, ladies. If we go to a club, I’m going to bust out the sprinkler and the robot. That’s pretty much all I can do on a dance floor.
Then again, after drinking a Guinness it may look something like this:
To keep things simple, I’m going to list these ladies in alphabetical order.
Without further ado, here are some amazing Beautiful Badasses that prove women can be strong AND feminine.
Enjoy!
Kellie Davis www.MotherFitness.com – she shares all types of great information on her website, including helpful tips and information for mothers.
I love that she is glute bridging damn near 300 pounds, and the guy in the background is . . . doing something . . . with a little barbell. Ha!
Neghar Fonooni www.NegharFonooni.com – I definitely consider this BB a master of kettlebells. She is incredibly strong and has her own gym in Baltimore, Maryland.
Molly Galbraith www.RedPointFitness.com – she is a trainer and has a gym, Red Point Fitness, in Lexington, Kentucky. She can also out-lift your boyfriend.
Jen Grasso www.RenegadeFitness.com – she never disappoints when it comes to some awe inspiring strength, stability, and coordination. I love the fact that Jen is a master of her bodyweight; from walking on her hands to busting out a ton of chin-ups, this girl is just awesome.
Rachel Guy www.RachelGuy.Posterous.com – she is a strength and conditioning coach and physical therapist at Platinum Extreme in Sydney, Australia. And she can beat up your boyfriend.
Marianne Kane www.MyoMyTV.com – she shares awesome workout videos on her website. If you want some great ideas for workouts with minimum equipment, then you’ll definitely want to check out her website.
Jen Comas Keck www.aPeaceofJen.blogspot.com – she shares “an eclectic mix of healthy recipes, training tips, fashion, and ramblings” on her blog. If you like quick and tasty recipes, Jen will provide them for you as well.
Julia Ladewski www.WorkWifeMomLife.com and www.MomWOD.com – she is a badass powerlifter and shares great information for the busy mom on her blog.
Holy hell – she dominated 70 pound dumbbells! She can outlift your boyfriend and your dad combined.
Alli McKee www.AlliMcKee.com – she shares a great mix of training, conditioning, motivation, and more awesome information on her website. She’s also a beast when it comes to conditioning.
Clearly after seeing these women in action, you don’t need me to tell you it’s entirely possible to be strong AND feminine. Regardless of that fact, you will have some female fitness “pros” telling you to use light weights, high reps, and special “toning” exercises, and many magazines are littered with such bad advice as well.
Some will even encourage you to stay away from exercises like squats, deadlifts, and other heavy compound exercises.
Don’t listen to that crap. Those women don’t know what they’re talking about, or they’re just trying to get you to open your wallet and buy the “holy grail” training program they created.
If you too want to show the world that women can be strong and feminine, I suggest you join us for the Beautiful Badass journey. Be sure to check out the How to be a Beautiful Badass series – Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 for more awesome information.
Comments for This Entry
On the 2nd video on the top, I see this at the gym also. All the guys wearing these potatoe sack baggy below the knee shorts. Look at some old you tube videos of Arnold and Luo Feriggno what the style was then compared to now. How the dress styles differ. Drives me bongers trying to find a bathing suit that doesn't touch my knees.
Posted by curt at 10:54am Aug 21, 2011 [permalink | flag as inappropriate]
I am new to weight lifting and am loving it! Thanks for this post - it is so inspiring to see what these women have achieved. The one area that I am struggling with at the moment is chin ups - so I was soooo impressed at Jen busting them out!! I was wondering if you have any tips for conquering the chin up?
Posted by Nicole at 1:56am Aug 12, 2011 [permalink | flag as inappropriate]
I definitely suggest you use some bands. Get different sizes and work your way down to the smaller one.
These are by far superior to using a machine or some other device. You can get the bands from Iron Woody Fitness or EliteFTS. I use them with my clients and they progress to bodyweight chin-ups fairly quick.
Thanks for posting this! Especially when Good MOrning America runs a ridiculous segment on how women getting "too muscular" it's so nice to see awesome and dtrong women who could kick the arse of anyone show said such a thing! And watching Jen's chinups has made me revise my goal of getting 10 this year (8 now) with 15 by March!
By the way, where are you going that these women will be there?!
Posted by Dana at 8:29am Aug 4, 2011 [permalink | flag as inappropriate]
Thanks for posting these! Especially after the ridiculous segment on Good MOrning America about women getting "too muscular" it's nice to see strong women like this would could kick the arse of anyone foolish enough to say such a thing to them. And after watching Jen's chin-ups, I've revised my goal of 10 this year (I'm at 8 now!) to 15 by March of next year.
By the way, where do you get to hang out with them??
Posted by Dana at 8:25am Aug 4, 2011 [permalink | flag as inappropriate]
Really? I never heard about that on Good Morning America. Would they rather women be lethargic, weak, and unhealthy? Idiots . . .
We'll be hanging out in Covington, KY. Miss Julia is going to compete in a Powerlifting meet on Saturday. We're going to hang out, train, cheer her on, and see what kind of craziness we can get in to.
Wow, Nia, this is an amazing post. First, I'm honored and flattered to be a part. Like Emily (above) stated, I'm lucky to have gotten started early in life. Lifting heavy has not only made me strong, but it's led me to my career, it's transformed my body, (it helped me meet my husband!) and it's given me an incredible level of confidence!!
Like Alli said, I truly hope that we CHANGE THE WORLD one video, blog post and training session at a time.
xoxo
Posted by Julia Ladewski at 6:53pm Aug 3, 2011 [permalink | flag as inappropriate]
Looking forward to watching you kick some ass in a couple weeks. : )
Whoa. You ladies are all so badass! I hope that after I have my baby I can start training that way again and make heavy lifts like that! I'm so impressed right now!
Posted by Maria at 5:10pm Aug 3, 2011 [permalink | flag as inappropriate]
Yeah, definitely wait until AFTER you have your baby. ; )
Once you get going again, you'll never turn back! Congrats on the kiddo!
I subscribed to all their blogs! I just love strong women.. I hope to join all their ranks one day! :)
Posted by Bethany at 4:26pm Aug 3, 2011 [permalink | flag as inappropriate]
: )
Thanks for the feature Nia! You ladies keep me pumped! Keep up the awesome work girls!! :)
Posted by Rachel Guy at 1:45pm Aug 3, 2011 [permalink | flag as inappropriate]
You got it, girl!
Great post Nia. All the women who inspire me to continue to train heavy. I came into this late in life. I am turning 37 in November but feel better, look better, am a helluva lot stronger than I was when I was 27. I envy all of you sometimes because you discovered this early in your life. I wish I had started training this way when I was dancing regularly. However, I am doing it now and that is what counts! And I will start working with a new dance company the end of August. If you have not had a chance to check out my blog, I would love to share it with you. This is the link to my latest post. Stronger glutes equal a healthy and strong back. fivex3.com/2011/07/24/bottoms-up/. Keep up the awesome work.
Posted by Emily at 12:50pm Aug 3, 2011 [permalink | flag as inappropriate]
Thanks for sharing.
It's definitely better to make great changes and form new healthy habits late than never.
You did it again, Nia! Another great post! Thank YOU for including me...Let's keep working to change the way the ladies train one blog post, youtube video, network contact and one training session ("walking the walk") at a time :) ...I also liked how you included that there isn't "one way" to do it.. that women should find what they identify with and what jives with them....I can not wait to see what 8/20/11 brings.. it's going to be an EPIC first annual event! Bring on the sprinkler and robot dance!!
Posted by Alli McKee at 11:27am Aug 3, 2011 [permalink | flag as inappropriate]
Ha ha! You're quite welcome, girl.
Y'all better not think I'm joking about the sprinkler and robot. I'm not a dancer . . . at all . . . even a little.
Beer might help though. ; )
Awesome, awesome, awesome! Thanks for making me a part of this. Um, I can't get over Julia's bench. Chest is an area lacking in strength for me, so.... yeah... amazing!
Posted by Kellie at 8:34am Aug 3, 2011 [permalink | flag as inappropriate]
Thanks for contributing! ; )
I agree - Julia's bench was so damn impressive. She has a lot of other awesome vids too of her squatting and deadlifting, but I have never seen a woman (let alone one so small!) press 70 pound dumbbells. Too badass for me; I just couldn't resist sharing it. ; )
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