Wimbledon is in full swing, and there have already been numerous victories at this point (Maria Sharipova lost in a close match). Some dreams have been extinguished, while others have been fulfilled for some of the talented tennis stars from across the globe.  I’ll admit, I’m definitely not someone who would sit and watch tennis.

To me, it’s not the most exciting sport to spectate.  However, having played the sport when I was younger, I can certainly attest to the fact that tennis is one of the best sports to play for pure, cardiovascular, toning and ripping exercise.

Think about it. You are constantly moving up and down the court, and your mind is very busy too the whole time, strategizing, thinking, and burning more calories.  You also have to have quite a bit of arm strength to be able to wail the ball over the ropes to your opponent, so your arms get a great workout as well.

Think about it. Every tennis star you see is always in fantastic shape. They have to be. They must be lithe, agile, and very lean and muscular to be able to move about the court like cats, and to be able to strike at the drop of a hat, on a moment’s notice when their no doubt formidable opponent lobs the ball over with incredible strength and speed.

Agility is a must, as well and hand eye coordination in the sport of tennis. If you don’t have these two qualities, you likely will not a great tennis player make. This is me, by the way. I’ve never had the greatest hand eye coordination.

My husband on the other hand has better coordination than I do, and we played tennis once.  He basically blew me away at the game because I couldn’t make contact with the ball. However, I must say in my defense that I can ice skate circles around him on the ice rink, so ha!

Tennis is an interesting sport for some to watch, but to me it’s almost akin to watching golf, because there’s really no drama, and the audience is too quiet. I suppose it’s a bit too calm and high brow for my more middle American taste.

I’m not a huge sports fan overall, which is ironic because I do care very much about my personal fitness, and can certainly appreciate the training, dedication and shear willpower that go into the wins of any athlete.

I know, I know. Some people may be rolling their eyes over this, and believe me, I may have been one of them before I started dating a guy (now my husband) who knew a lot about pro wrestline and how hard the business really is.  When I was raised, my parents pretty much scoffed at pro wrestling, when Hulk Hogan was all the rage, and Macho Man Randy Savage was too (may he rest in peace).

So basically, we weren’t allowed to watch it when I was a kid. Not that I really wanted to, I liked cartoons better!  The television show Tough Enough is about people who are trying out to win a contract to become a star on the WWE (used to be the WWF). They may not make it big, but just getting their shot at being on the show is really a huge break for any man or woman who wants to get their foot in the door on the incredibly popular show about fake wrestling.

Watching Tough Enough, I realize how hard the business is on pro wrestler’s bodies. They are in essence putting on a show. Sure, the outcomes of the fights are predetermined, but the whole idea of the WWE is all about entertainment value. One person said it well when they compared the WWE to women’s soap operas, only these are geared more toward men.

Tough Enough puts the prospective wrestlers through the wringer every day that they are there. They not only have to prove their physical capabilities by doing challenges, but they also have “life lessons” which can be about everything from showmanship, to team work, to overcoming fears by running scary obstacles.

It’s amazing how bad of shape some of these people have come into this competition in.  A few people clearly did not train before they came, and to me that is such a waste, especially knowing how badly some of these people wanted to be in the WWE.

Steve Austin is the host, and he is one of the most interesting parts of the show. He’s actually fascinating to watch, because he’s so intimidating, and he’s hard to take your eyes off of.  he gets bleeped a lot, so he’s definitely laying it out for these kids when they screw up, and he certainly has a way with words. I wouldn’t want to get on his bad side, that’s for sure.

Tough Enough is a good show. It’s a little over produced and cheesy at times, but it’s interesting to watch what these people have to put their bodies through to be on the show.

I must admit, I was embarrassed that my hubby watched WWE. I did not grow up with watching it like so many other kids did. I grew up to think that kind of television was sensationalistic garbage. So maybe my parents were a bit elitist, but I enjoyed a lot of the stuff they did let me watch – and a lot of that stuff was crap too, if I’m being totallly honest.

WWE is nothing more than entertainment, pure and simple. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy catching the occasional match with my husband on tv, and enjoying the comedy that happens in the ring, and looking at some of the amazing physiques some of these guys have!

When it comes right down to it, to be good in the ring, these WWE professional wrestlers, men and women, have to have a good athletic prowess. They have to be able to take hits, get thrown on the ground, and to make it look easy, when in fact it isn’t.

What they do really gasses most people quickly, even if you’re in good shape, as evidenced on the revamped reality show that seeks out new professional wrestlers. They basically put them through the ringer, and eliminate them one by one until the last man standing gets a nice contract and money with the WWE.

I never realized how much these guys and girls have to be in shape, and how hard they have to take hits.  They are throwing these guys and girls on the mats, making them roll and make it look easy, and having them run back and forth and bounce off the ropes, which apparently is a lot harder than it looks judging by some of the trouble these contestants were having.

Making it very entertaining is pro wrestler Steve Austin, who is extremely good to watch as the drill sergeant type, telling these people that they have to work hard if they really want it. It’s a great show – I have to admit – I’m hooked.  Even if you don’t watch pro wrestling, it’s a very entertaining show.

Jennifer Aniston has long been the envy of women across the world for it’s incredibly toned appearance. She also tends to look very long and lean even though she’s a fairly petite woman, clocking in by some accounts at just 5’5″, which is shorter than what she looks like on film or in pictures.

Even past 40, she has maintained the lean physique of a twenty year old, and many women are clamoring to keep their bodies that fit and toned looking after they pass that magical age of 40, which seems to be a marker of fabulousness if you look even better than you did ten to fifteen years ago when you hit this age as a woman.

I must admit, in some ways I’m looking forward to hitting forty, just to see how well my body holds up. I do take care of myself, I try to eat healthy, and I’ve been working out since I was fourteen years old, so I’m curious to see how father time treats me when I start to really get up there in years.

Jen Aniston has notoriously followed a strict diet of avoiding excessive carbs and also has been very disciplined in maintaining a good workout regimen. She has been an avid runner as well as a yoga devotee, but she also has said she sprinkles other fitness activities in there too.

Like anyone else, she would have to keep it interesting and fun to keep working out at a pace that will keep her looking this great.  Many envy her toned, tanned arms, including myself since my arms have always been a source of frustration for me.

She has even said in past interviews that she’s not taking any magical pills, but it’s just good, old fashioned exercise and diet that has kept her looking so youthful and radiant for all these years. 

I love that she says that. She’s not one of these actresses who looks fabulous but says she eats crap all day and never likes to work out. I’d love to smack women in the public eye that say stuff like that – it sends such a bad message to other women around the globe!

Well, we all know that adorable, petite little Natalie Portman, as well as her naturally petite costar in the film that won so much critical acclaim and also earned Portman the Oscar, “The Black Swan”, are naturally pretty skinny girls.  However, seeing them in the Black Swan gave a new name to the word “fit” and thin!

They both appeared almost alarmingly thin, but it was all part of who their characters were, which was serious ballet dancers. Ballet dancers are notoriously worried about their weight because they have to be pretty thin to pull of the graceful moves that are required of the ballet dance form, and also because they have to be on their tip toes much of the time.

It’s better to be a featherweight when you’re on your tippy toes in tight, painful shoes all day.  So, the two of them notoriously underwent some very grueling training and also lost quite drastic amounts of weight for the great roles they pulled off and all the praise the movie has received.

I’ve heard it’s a great movie – but a little weird, which is just the type of movie I like – I’m not much for the straightforward feel good movie unless I’m really in the mood to not think anyway.

Both Portman and her costar Mila Kunis spent six grueling months training for the parts, Natalie Portman actually had some experience in ballet dancing when she was a lot younger, but none recently, but both are built for the grueling dance art since they are both slight of frame and build.

Portman says that she found it hard to get through the long days of training, but that she started off a year ahead of filming so she had time to prepare as necessary for the demanding role. 

It really shows in the movie too. I haven’t seen it yet, but from what I’ve seen, both of these talented actresses really moves like a true ballet dancer.  It’s amazing what the human body is capable of under extreme training and duress, and these two are testaments to the amazing capabilities of our flexible, beautifully versatile bodies!

I thought I’d write a fun, silly one today. I don’t know why, but for some reason the old Olivia Newton John song “Let’s Get Physical” popped into my head. If you are over the age of 30, you probably remember when Olivia was really popular.

You also probably remember the ridiculous music video of her in a terry cloth head band and a spandex workout outfit ala Jane Fonda from the eighties.

She was sweating with a bunch of big men, and looking as cute and perky as ever.

That was back when exercise had just started to get popular. The fifties, sixties and seventies even still had a lot of people totally unaware of how much physical fitness meant to their health and their waistline. The awareness of fitness and the need to get up and move and challenge your body didn’t really hit full on until the eighties, and I must say that Jane Fonda probably had a lot to with making fitness fun and popular.

Fitness hasn’t really been a popular subject matter for songs, but I have heard it referenced in a few songs. One of the most recent ones I can remember is Fergie mentioning “working on her fitness” in one of her incredibly popular songs.

Fitness is now pretty much just a given for most people in the spotlight. Whereas the movie stars of yesteryear like Marilyn Monroe, Ava Gardner and Audrey Hepburn probably just watched what they ate to keep their enviably slim physiques, most of today’s stars, both male and female, work out.

Now what is enviable are great sculpted arm muscles on women and long lean torsos on men in the movies.  The in body right now is Jennifer Aniston, who has the long lean look of yoga and the fat free sculpted physique of a runner, which I believe is also part of her fitness regimen.