The Inner Valkyrie Project

[truepenny]

So I've started trying to maintain an exercise regime again. [Insert long, complicated history of Truepenny's Boring Health Problems and Stressful (Tho' Equally Boring) Academic Problems and the interconnection there-between here.] And of course, because I am an American woman and have been properly brainwashed and indoctrinated, I find myself thinking about it in terms of losing weight.

Don't get me wrong. I'd love to be a size 6 again. But thinking about exercise and eating in terms of weight-loss is stupid. Because you psych yourself out. Every time you gain a pound, or fail to lose a pound, you cast yourself into the Slough of Despond and wander around thinking at random intervals, You utter sow.

This is not good for one's mental health, one's self-esteem, or one's resolve.

I was thinking about it in the shower, and thinking, The point isn't to lose weight. The point is to gain health. (Like making the next level in Angband and giving yourself CON points like a mad thing.) And this cross-connected in my head with my post about Valkyries earlier today.

My mental image of Valkyries was fixed when I was a wee sprog and my father gave me Rackham's Color Illustrations for Wagner's "Ring". Now (leaving aside for a moment the cultural context of which I did not wot at the time), Rackham's Valkyries are ladies of presence. (He can't draw dragons for shit, though.) I feel sure that they would scoff at the idea of doing anything simply to make oneself skinnier. And while I'm also sure they'd be very amused at my weight-training, I think they might, just possibly, approve.

So I'm listening to my Inner Valkyrie, and my exercise regime is about letting her out.

Comments

[copperwise.livejournal.com]

Now this idea I like. The Eowyn Challenge is a neat idea, but it doesn't really get me where I live. The Inner Valkyrie...that does.

[calanthe-b.livejournal.com]

So I'm listening to my Inner Valkyrie, and my exercise regime is about letting her out.

Oh, beautiful. I want an Inner Valkyrie too...

[redbird]

Let out your inner Valkyrie, indeed.

If your brain wants numbers to focus on, the weights you're lifting may be a good fit for that slot. Also, count reps, not calories.

[necessaryspace.livejournal.com]

**Every time you gain a pound, or fail to lose a pound, you cast yourself into the Slough of Despond and wander around thinking at random intervals, You utter sow.** This is why I refuse to own a scale. It is way too easy to fall into that trap. However, a horrible fear of weight-gain can be a good incentive to hop out of bed and onto the treadmill ... but only for about a week, and then you start to like sleep a lot more. =)

[stillsostrange.livejournal.com]

Hurrah for Valkyries! That's the goal of my exercise regimen. I'm certain there's a toned, ass-kicking valkyrie trapped under the writer-flab.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I was never much into exercise until I took up martial arts. It helps that I don't think of it as a form of exercise, but as learning how to artistically kill people with my bare hands, feet, knees, and elbows.

[owlfish]

I am delighted by your Angband analogy!

[slithytove.livejournal.com]

Looks like Rackham used one of the larger salamanders to model that dragon.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

I've liked the Eowyn Challenge very much (as you know, I actually reached Mount Doom last October) but I like this idea, too. I've been getting really serious about both losing weight and gaining health, and it's remarkable how it's taken over my life. Now I'm doing cardio kickboxing, step, treadmill, elliptical, yoga, weight-lifting, and karate, and I was doing NONE of it four years ago! I've cut my hair short and as misia says, it makes me feel fierce and sexy, and when I yell on my side kicks, yeah, I feel like a woman warrior. Like Eowyn, or a Valkyrie.

Yeah. Like that.

Anyway, good luck to you, truepenny, and all those who join you.

[deva-fagan.livejournal.com]

The point isn't to lose weight. The point is to gain health.

That's a lovely way to put it. Thank you!

I've been somewhat disturbed lately by the notion that it seems men in our society seem to work out to get "stronger" and women to get "smaller". I know that's not true across the board and there are plenty of men trying to lose weight, but from what I see at my gym it is still more the norm (men on weights, women on cardio machines).

I don't know if you are doing weights as part of the Valkyrie plan, or if you already know about this site, but Stumptuous (http://www.stumptuous.com/weights.html) is a great resource for women (and men) who want to be strong.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

But you're thin. I mean, I don't want to be rude, but you're thin, you can't want to lose weight, that doesn't compute. Being stronger, I can see that.

And you're absolutely right, that's a sorry looking excuse for a dragon. Maybe he had difficulty finding models -- which leads me to the image of Arthur Rackham wandering about in the wilds of Wales, knocking on cottage doors in the rain after dark looking for someone who might direct him to a dragon.

[talimena.livejournal.com]

They're beautiful! The valkyries, I mean. Thanks for the link; I'd never seen them before.

I seem to have missed most of the brainwashing on weight loss (thank luck and my mother), but am motivated, when I am at all, by the desire to be stronger and more flexible. And it works for me. I love the soreness in my muscles and amuse and annoy my boyfriend by saying "Feel my bicep!" and "Look! Look at the muscles in my back!"

So, best of luck with the project, and the health problems.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Arthur Rackham did beautiful work. (Except for the dragons, but we'll let that slide.) The site (http://rackham.artpassions.net/rackham.html) where I found the Valkyrie images has a bunch more of his stuff, and is worth a look.