The “skinny arm”. Confused by what I mean? It’s basically the arm most girls are trying to achieve when they do the hand on the hip pose in pictures.

We do it because it’s more flattering than the arm straight down against your side because-God forbid- that could show off arm dimples or make your arm look larger than it really is. Instead, we pose so that our arm looks as skinny/toned as possible, right?! And, notice how I’m saying “we” here? It’s because I’m often guilty of this same thing, although recently I’ve been trying to do less of the skinny arm pose.

Why, you ask? Because it’s not worth it. And because I’m over it.

I don’t want a skinny arm- whether just by how I can make it look in a photo or just how it looks in real life- I don’t want it. Rather, I want a STRONG looking arm. I want arms that look like I can lift heavy things. Arms that look like I can do pull-ups and push-ups. Arms that look like I’m doing work in the gym. Strong, fit, muscular arms. Those are the arms that I want…#becauseMUSCLES (as Neghar Fonooni would say)

You might ask what sparked this post for me. This picture and these comments was the motivation behind it:

What’s funny, is that before my friend Alyson even made that comment, I remember saying to RM, “omg my arm looks so skinny there! Clearly I wasn’t doing any lifting at the gym”. Which is true: those were my cardio, cardio, cardio days. Days where if I went to a class, I was only lifting 3 and 5 pound weights (and if that’s where you are with lifting today- I don’t mean anything negative by it! I just mean for me, it wasn’t creating a challenging workout and wasn’t changing my body.). Days where I just wanted to be skinny… not fit. Not strong. Not athletic looking.

As I look at my body now, after having a few years of consistent strength training under my belt, I am so much happier with it. Sure, I may have had a minor freakout on my birthday when I put on a pair of skinny jeans and found them to be tighter than normal on my legs, but when I calmed down and thought about WHY they were probably tighter, I felt better. I’ve been increasing my weights at the gym and doing more heavy lifting.  I’m building muscle. I’m getting stronger. And you know what? I’m proud of that. I may have to buy different jeans, but that’s OK.

And, as they say: “Strong is the new skinny”, which is something I’m really resonating with these days. More so than the number on the scale or the size of my clothes, I’m focusing on the weight of my KB I’m swinging or the barbell I’m squatting with or the number of unassisted pull-ups I can do… because those are the numbers that matter more to me these days. Those are the numbers I want to focus on.

Questions for you: What’s your favorite way to pose in pictures? Have you had any recent mental shifts towards your body or fitness regime?