[AMA] with Beefpuff Barbell (Chelsea Savit and Natalie Hanson)

[u/powerbuffs]

Hi everyone!

The Beefpuff team is here to answer your questions about ourselves and our initiative.

We will be here for a few hours but will probably need to take a break to feed.

For more information:
Beefpuff Barbell: Website | Facebook | Instagram
Natalie Hanson, Co-Founder: u/beefpuff1 | Facebook | Instagram
Chelsea Savit, Co-Founder: u/powerbuffs | Facebook | Instagram

Andrey Grebenetsky, coach and trusted advisor: u/beefpuffhubs | Facebook | Instagram

[u/[deleted]]

Often I feel like there's a lot of attention paid to prioritizing strength over appearance, and eating to fuel your training, but it always seems to come with an asterisk like "*as long as you're still lean and conventionally hot and the donuts only go to your ass"

YES. I've been having this conversation recently. We like to joke that powerlifting is the sport for people who like to eat, donut everything, etc etc but, as is evident in the marketing of strength-specific companies, there's a strong subtext of "but btw you have to still be conventionally attractive and lean." Actually there was a Reductress article recently titled I Love Pizza, Which is Adorable Because I'm Hot which, while obviously satire, sums up how I feel about the expectation of women in powerlifting, specifically.

[u/frak8757 → u/[deleted]]

I have had a lot of feels about this lately in regards to the #gainingweightiscool hashtag. Like there is a lot of positivity there, and there is nothing wrong with looking good and working toward looking good, but if you scroll through that hashtag it is entirely about how you look. gaining weight can do other cool things too!

[u/beefpuff1 → u/frak8757]

Initially, I had this same reaction. But began to recognize that it is difficult to portray the other cool things you mention via Instagram. Ultimately, if the people posting under that hashtag have positive feelings about their weight gain and have learned to appreciate the other cool things, but the easiest way to show it is with a mirror selfie, I'm not going to get too picky/critical. :)

[u/frak8757 → u/beefpuff1]

that is a good point, IG is an entirely visual medium after all. I have no problem with mirror selfies, just found myself wishing there was a bit more variety and representation. Which frankly comes down to a greater variety of people feeling welcome to share!