Stumptuous: From Dork to Diva to YouTube

May 7, 2009 12:36 PM

Mistress Krista says: Only YOU can stop gym dorkery! Stumptuous, one of AskMe's favourite fitness sites, has both a spiffy new design and a bunch of new content (Why your excuses are crap; Lies in the gym; Things you should not lift if you want to look like Madonna). Beginners will find plenty of smart and blunt information about eating, starting and refining a training program, avoiding and recovering from injuries, and developing a home gym one way or another. But Stumptuous has also extended its domain to YouTube. Part of the original Dork to Diva web series on correct technique is now up at YT (deadlifts; biceps curl) thanks to the support of The Prevention of Gym Idiocy Society (Ladies' Auxiliary), but you can also find some more unorthodox exercise ideas.
posted by maudlin (21 comments total)

Things you should not lift if you want to look like Madonna.
posted by box at 12:43 PM on May 7 [1 favorite]

Yay! I'm a guy but have been a fan of this site for years. Great information intelligently presented for the lay(wo)man and fitness aficionado alike.
posted by Shepherd at 12:49 PM on May 7

Thanks for posting this!

From the comment thread of the "Lies in the gym" link:

Speedskater Carol Dailey told this anecdote:

“Three older ladies in my gym (50’s maybe?) have been watching me work out for the last two years. A few months ago, fed up with making no gains on our gym’s one set to failure protocol, they started asking me some questions and finally got up the nerve to ask me to set up a program for them.
Needless to say, I was happy to do so and we have great fun training together. They have since progressed to asking my advice on nutrition and are really doing well. Well, one of ‘my girls’ went to her doc, who noticed a ‘mass’ in the center of her body, just under her breasts (at the lower tip of her sternum) and he sent her for a CAT scan. Needless to say, we were all upset and nervous waiting for the results.

As it turns out, the ‘mass’ was the first row of her abs, which are visible to her for the first time in her life!

Can you believe it! We all laughed with her pretty hard once the relief set in…”

posted by cybercoitus interruptus at 1:01 PM on May 7 [1 favorite]

The new design looks like Subtraction's younger sibling.
posted by mattdidthat at 1:08 PM on May 7

oops, it's from the hall of shame section, not the comment thread.

Those "Women shouldn't exercise too hard because their sacrosanct reproductive organs will get damaged or drop out" ideas a few of her readers report receiving, wow. I didn't realize they were still out there, to any degree. A hundred years ago, they used to be said in all seriousness by some MDs who didn't think girls or women should play basketball or any number of other newfangled sports. I'd have thought anybody who took that seriously would have died long ago.
posted by cybercoitus interruptus at 1:17 PM on May 7

The average woman (that’s you) cannot achieve a masculine monster look simply through strength training. You’re not going to wake up after a workout and be huge. You don’t believe me? OK, then, try to get huge. Just try. And see how far you get. If you don’t believe me, check out what happened in my before and after photos. I’ve had people tell me that they think my legs are “too big” (too big for what?) but the old gams were a whole lot bigger before I started training.

Uhh... where are they?
posted by delmoi at 1:31 PM on May 7

(the before and after pictures, I mean)
posted by delmoi at 1:34 PM on May 7

They start just beneath the butt, and extend to the floor, delmoi.
posted by Mister_A at 1:34 PM on May 7 [1 favorite]

d'oh!
posted by Mister_A at 1:34 PM on May 7

This is very entertaining stuff though, thanks!
posted by Mister_A at 1:42 PM on May 7

I've never understood the resistance (ha!) to weight lifting among woemn, even ones who are active and go to gyms.

You’re not going to wake up after a workout and be huge. You don’t believe me? OK, then, try to get huge. Just try. And see how far you get.

This is so true. And I have tried to get big. The only place it worked was my gut.
posted by GuyZero at 2:03 PM on May 7

Just don't Google "Mistress Krista"....unless you're looking for some CBT.
posted by Burhanistan at 2:30 PM on May 7

Well, she does address that in the FAQ.
posted by maudlin at 2:35 PM on May 7

unless you're looking for some CBT.

Computer-Based Training? By Mistress Krista?

If it hasn't been done already, I'm copyrighting & trademarking this right away!
posted by UbuRoivas at 3:03 PM on May 7

Been getting my mom to weight train. She used to go to Curves. That was a nightmare. Mostly for me, she enjoyed the socializing. Until she got hurt because they just threw her on a machine with no instruction or supervision.
Far too many women have very narrow views about working out in an actual gym. That is changing though. I have been seeing older women in the gym from time to time. My gym has an expanded free weight area for women (pretty much just less 45 lb plates on the trees).
I will say though women who do get into it tend to listen more and work on technique and so have better form when they lift so they get hurt less often than guys who are new and want to get big and strong in a week.
(Deadlifts though, I think, can be redundant if you're doing cleans and squats. On the other hand, it would be good for women who aren't isolating, I'd think, because it's a compound movement. And the clean style they show emphasizes the quads and glutes, so that'd narrow the chances of back injury. Still, you can change style, grip, etc. and work on isolated muscle groups, so I wouldn't want to prejudice anyone with my own tastes. It's an outstanding overall exercise. I just see so many people hurt their back. Try and get them to do rack deadlifts but they seem to feel like it's training wheels)
posted by Smedleyman at 5:34 PM on May 7

::still awaiting feminist jokes::
posted by hillabeans at 6:37 PM on May 7

Krista has been an inspiration to me for years, going back to misc.fitness.weights days. Glad to see her FPP'ed.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 7:33 PM on May 7

Also a big fan of Stumptuous. She taught me the importance of squats. And I'll always appreciated her candidness about things such as "pooplets" - both for it's candidness, and it's totally practical response, which is "everyone knows girls don't fart".
posted by smartyboots at 10:39 PM on May 7

Who knew that The Grudge would inspire a workout? Interesting site. Looks very informative, but needs more pictures.
posted by cmgonzalez at 12:22 AM on May 8

smartyboots: And I'll always appreciated her candidness about things such as "pooplets" ...

Indeed, she writes very amusingly about bodily functions:

On the plus side, a good hefty egg fart can really help clear the area and ensure that you can have any piece of equipment you like!

That whole page is useful. I've had the slight nausea thing happen to me after doing strenuous moves, and also the reflux (the various theories about why this happens during a workout is fascinating, one being "Psychological nausea brought on by the stress of executing a difficult movement").
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 7:02 AM on May 8

And only three days from when I planned to begin strength training again! YEAH! This website is great. =)
posted by aliceinreality at 10:44 AM on May 8