I think one reason I love water polo, for example, is that it does NOT require female athletes to abandon their bodies; the different body types and strengths that come with them are part of the (admittedly rough ;) sport. Or take swimming in general: No girl is or can be a stick, although of course for swimming, your natural built comes into place (broad shoulders, strong arms -- strong legs are a given in women, of course).
As for the building of muscle mass, it's not even close to everything: I build muscle mass easily thanks to the good parts of my decidedly mixed-bag genetic profile. But it doesn't mean my joints aren't fucked up, because MY JOINTS ARE FUCKED UP. My muscle strength would allow me to do pushups...if it weren't for the pain levels rising like the tide, only a hundred times as fast. Same for running: I can do a 10k in an hour and grit my teeth -- but that is where it ends, because my knees are in too much pain, and I know that running is not good for them, so I can't even tell myself it's good to bear it and get through it (whereas every lap I swim, I feel it's a good thing, sweet and centering and drowning out the world).
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I think one reason I love water polo, for example, is that it does NOT require female athletes to abandon their bodies; the different body types and strengths that come with them are part of the (admittedly rough ;) sport. Or take swimming in general: No girl is or can be a stick, although of course for swimming, your natural built comes into place (broad shoulders, strong arms -- strong legs are a given in women, of course).
As for the building of muscle mass, it's not even close to everything: I build muscle mass easily thanks to the good parts of my decidedly mixed-bag genetic profile. But it doesn't mean my joints aren't fucked up, because MY JOINTS ARE FUCKED UP. My muscle strength would allow me to do pushups...if it weren't for the pain levels rising like the tide, only a hundred times as fast. Same for running: I can do a 10k in an hour and grit my teeth -- but that is where it ends, because my knees are in too much pain, and I know that running is not good for them, so I can't even tell myself it's good to bear it and get through it (whereas every lap I swim, I feel it's a good thing, sweet and centering and drowning out the world).