The Marsh Effect

Back in October, in my post about Jody Marsh's new bodybuilding career, I wondered if Jodie's physique may or may not inspire one, ten, a hundred, a thousand, or ten thousand women to go to the gym. Well, I haven't had to wait very long to find tangible evidence that at least one woman has indeed taken up bodybuilding because of her. At least partly because of her anyway.

Ms Marsh, good-time girl turned Mrs Muscle, this is all your fault. You and Fit Guy, alias Will Sturgeon, my personal trainer, who during one routine session randomly suggested I might like to try bodybuilding.

The quote above from Ruth Walker's bodybuilding diary in The Scotsman online serves not only as proof that The Marsh Effect is real and working, but also reads as a 'You Should Totally Take Up Bodybuilding' sermon for the ladies. And here is the author...



If you can't be arsed to read the whole thing, my favourite bits are below. And as a reward for not clicking away, I've broken up the quotes with some pics of muscular lovelies putting in the kind of effort Ruth describes.

Week one was the worst. It almost broke me – physically and mentally. “I can’t do this,” I cried, my feeble arms wobbling, 40kg of weight on a 10kg bar, commonly known as drop-set bench presses. “Yes you can,” said Sturgeon. “No I can’t,” I cried, pleadingly. “Yes you can.” It turns out he was right. Just.



So, I suppose you want to hear that things got easier in weeks two and three? That I started to notice a difference? But the honest answer is no, it didn’t. It was pure, relentless hard work. I was tired. I was fed up eating smoked salmon and cottage cheese and scrambled eggs and grilled chicken. Those four sessions were taking a huge chunk out of my week and I wanted my life back. And maybe some chocolate.



But I kept going. I’m not even sure when the turning point came. Maybe it was the moment Sturgeon turned to me and said, “Not bad – you realise you’ve just bench-pressed your own body weight?” Or, mid dumbbell chest-press, when he said, “Most men can’t lift those weights.” Or maybe it was the e-mail from a (female) colleague that read, “Your delts are looking RIPPED!”



I lifted weights that had previously made me weep just to look at them, I grunted and grimaced in an unladylike fashion and, I’m embarrassed to say, I did stop to admire my developing delts in the gym mirror (only when I thought no one else was looking). Marsh has created a monster. The thing is, I rather like her.



Four weeks into the challenge, while on holiday, a stranger walked up to me and told me she had arm envy. And that was it, I had the bug. I liked feeling strong and toned and, perhaps surprisingly, powerfully feminine.



The challenge is all but over and, in a fairly elastic six weeks I’ve lost a mind-boggling 32.7 per cent body fat (eat my sweaty gym shorts, Jodie) and gained 5lb of lean muscle. The increase in my resting metabolic rate means I now burn an extra 112 calories a day. I have gone from chest-pressing a feeble 40kg to a much more impressive 60kg. My bicep curl has increased from 20kg to 30kg and my shoulder-press max weight has gone from 50kg to an incredible 80kg. When I do a tricep dip, I do it across two benches with a 20kg weight on my stomach.



I feel strong, healthy and physically confident. I won’t be standing on a stage in my swimwear any time soon, but I’m wearing my calloused, weight-ravaged hands with pride. As for the rest of the stuff 2012 throws at me: bring it on.

So, in summary, through pumping iron, Ruth has greatly increased her physical strength. It has also given her a body she is proud of, a body that attracts admiration and envy from other women, strangers and colleagues. This, in turn has led to greater self-confidence in her ability to tackle anything life throws at her.

Now, I know a few women who would love a bit of that! I might just have to email them the link to Ruth's blog 'by accident'.



Marsh Effect Scoreboard (21.01.12)

Jodie Marsh 1
People Who Think Women in the Gym Have No Business Lifting Weights and Should Stick to Running Machines and Spinning Classes 0


And don't forget UK readers, the first episode of Jodie Marsh: Make Me A Bodybuilder premieres on DMAX this Tuesday at 9pm.

Fingers crossed the airing of the documentary will further serve to inspire British women to muscle up. And I look forward to the next installment of Ruth's blog.

Enjoy!

More Column Inches

Yet more mainstream column inches for female muscle in the UK national media.
And once again we have Jodie Marsh to thank for the story.

This time it's not all Jodie though, but a 38 year-old Angela McNamara, who, unlike Jodie (to date), is a champion. It figures that the story would be, not exactly anti-Jodie, but more a don't-get-too-carried-away-with-Jodie story, because the paper which has been running the Jodie stories is The Sun, and this story appears in The Daily Mirror, which has always been the ying to The Sun's yang.

Read the story My Body's Better Than Hers And I'm A Gran here.

And it's worth reading the comments at the bottom too. Along with the usual abuse, there are some spirited defenders of female muscle among Mirror readers it seems. Inspiring stuff. Is the tide really changing? I suspect not, it'll all probably go back to normal now that Jodie's finished her publicity drive.

But I for one am going to enjoy this while it lasts!

Jodie Marsh Takes It Mainstream

There has never been so much female muscle in the UK mainstream press and media. And ONE woman is responsible for it. And, although it should be, it's not Lisa Cross. It's Jodie Marsh.

For those readers outside the UK, Jodie Marsh was once famous for nothing more than having huge boobs. She certainly put in the hours, turning up any day of the week at any nightclub or film premiere where she could flash her tits and guarantee herself a picture in the next day's paper.




Her career 'moved on' to reality TV. The 'highlights' were Celebrity Big Brother and Totally Jodie Marsh, the concept of which was to find Jodie a husband. No, really. And she actually got married to the winner. Surprisingly, it didn't last.

Then, just over a year ago, these images appeared in the mainstream media.
Jodie Marsh had started bodybuilding!



At the time, I was, I admit, sceptical. She looks so much better, I thought, but it's got to be just another publicity stunt - the reality TV work was drying up at that stage, and with the breakdown of her 'marriage', Jodie seemed to be heading for the E list.
How wrong I was!

Last January, I stumbled across a show on The Active Channel on UK TV, and there she was, looking even better than in the photos, being trained by Tim Sharp.
The shows are still up on the website, part one is here.



Then, since the beginning of this month BOOM! Jodie Marsh and her muscles are everywhere. Print media, online 'news' websites, even breakfast TV. She had competed in a pro-am show in September, finishing fifth.




Turns out that Jodie hasn't completely given up her reality TV dreams. Her journey to muscle has been followed by a TV crew, and the show will be on DMAX in the UK in January next year.




Now, as I said at the start, this level of coverage for a female bodybuilder is completely unprecedented. And what's more, it's pretty much all positive. And so Jodie has suddenly become a kind of unofficial spokeswoman for the benefits of female muscle.

When I look back at some of the photos of me in my 'heyday' they make me feel physically sick. I look flabby, fat and full of cellulite. I used to loathe my body but now I absolutely adore it. This is the best I’ve ever felt, and the best my body has ever felt too.

Before taking up bodybuilding I was feeling depressed and suicidal. Now I have a new life ahead of me. I have a great new body and I feel at peace with myself.

Anyone who feels fat and flabby like I used to can change that. What I'm saying is try exercise, get yourself off the sofa. You don't know how much your life could change for the better.

I feel proud when I look in the mirror. I still can't believe it's my body. Like, when I look at my abs, I'm just like, f**king hell, I love it so much!

I'm the prettiest I've ever looked. It has totally changed my life, doing this. My self-esteem is higher, my confidence is higher, I feel more secure, feel powerful – I almost feel invincible. I do feel a bit like Superwoman!



Moreover, it seems that us fellas who like a bit (or even a lot) of muscle on our women are not such freaks after all.

I've never attracted so many blokes in my life. It's been a real eye-opener. Since I became a bodybuilder I've suddenly got about 50 guys interested in me.

It's not hard for me (and you) to understand why this should be. The surprise is that this coverage and these quotes are from national newspapers and national TV networks. Jodie Marsh has single-handedly raised the profile of female bodybuilding to new heights, spoken out about the benefits of muscle building for women, particularly those with low self-esteem, AND made female muscle fans feel like they no longer need to be shy about expressing their preferences. It's quite an achievement.

If you're from the USA, imagine a fading reality TV babe who you never thought was much of a babe. It should be someone who has an annoying accent, and who seemed to be entering the fifteenth minute of their alloted fame time. Now, imagine that she disappears for a year or two, and the next time you see her she is in national newspapers and on NBC or ABC or CBS receiving gushing compliments from interviewers and presenters. Then, in the same mainstream media, results of surveys start to appear in which men who find her and other women with muscle attractive are the majority.

This is what has happened and what is happening here.

And all because of Jodie Marsh...







Jodie's physique may or may not inspire one, ten, a hundred, a thousand, or ten thousand women to go to the gym because they want to feel a bit like Superwoman. She may or may not change the public's perception of muscular women (and the men who adore them). She may or may not continue bodybuilding. But she has given the sport more mainstream coverage than ever. When Andrulla Blanchette won Miss Olympia there was absolutely no recognition in the mainstream media. Jodie Marsh finished fifth in a small UK pro-am competition, and today, the best-selling national newspaper (a tabloid, so take the word 'news' with a pinch of salt) has run a story that tomorrow it will have an exclusive video of Jodie Marsh naked on its website.

So, a national newspaper believes it can attract readers with a naked female bodybuilder. Let me say that again. A national newspaper believes it can attract readers with a naked female bodybuilder.

That, dear readers, is a first. And long may it continue.

Check the Tube Videos page for some of Jodie's TV appearances, which I will put up shortly.

I'll leave you with Jodie's ripped abs.



Enjoy!