Fitness: Defined upper arms for women – unfortunately often a mixed status symbol

As of: 2:38 p.m | Reading time: 4 minutes

Ahen President Joe Biden strode through the House chamber to deliver his State of the Union address in March of this year, he saw red. Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia wore a red jacket and a red MAGA cap (the acronym for the battle cry Make America Great Again). A look for the pit lane of a Formula 1 racing team or perhaps for a carnival session, not necessarily for one of the most important occasions in US politics. Biden is not known for his speed of reaction, but this time his timing was perfect. He paused briefly and grimaced in astonishment, as if he were seeing a strange, unknown, silly but harmless creature from, at least, another planet – and walked on.

In fact, this appearance was typical of the ultra-right troublemaker Marjorie Taylor Greene. Fashion-wise, it was rather unusual. Women who want to make it big with the Republicans under Trump usually go for the so-called Mar-a-Lago look: skin-tight business suit, half-height stilettos, ultra-white, perfect teeth, luxuriously blow-dried hair. Melania with knowledge of the files, that’s what you could call this style. It can be perfectly studied by the governor of South Dakota Kristi Noem, who has treated herself to a fashion and dental surgical makeover to accompany her ambitions to become vice president. In her recently published memoirs “No Going Back” she describes in detail how she shot her 14-month-old hunting dog for being naughty – and a “nasty and mean goat”. She probably wants to demonstrate toughness with this.

Strength building and coordination

The joke about her party colleague Greene: She looks as if she could do it with her bare hands. And instead of the somewhat old-fashioned glamor that you often see on women in Donald Trump’s estate in Florida, she cultivates the look of the so-called soccer mums. A group of voters that is feared and courted in US politics because it is seen as potentially decisive in the election. They are mothers who drive their children to their sports activities and cultivate a world view that is much harsher than is usual in the despised American cities, especially New York, where a trial that is considered scandalous is currently underway against the leader of the MAGAs.

Greene wears the same, generously applied tan as Donald Trump – but unlike him, she wears armless outfits on many occasions that show off her strong upper arms. This makes her a rarity in political Washington, but not entirely alone.

Perhaps the most prominent representative of the biceps look is former first lady Michelle Obama. She also enjoyed sleeveless dresses or outfits, especially in her first few months in the spotlight, and she had good reasons for it. Her upper arms were so toned that they were criticized for not being ladylike. The First Lady responded by asking presenter Ellen Degeneres to do a push-up competition in front of the camera – and of course she won.

In recent weeks, Greene has done everything he can to further align the Republican Party with the ultra-right MAGA course. So energetic that it even became too much for Donald Trump. “The Republican politicians who are currently active in Washington are no different from the Democrats,” she explained in the most beautiful conspiracy theorist style in a television interview. “We are governed by a large, unified party that serves the interests of the world and neglects the interests of Americans.”

The target of her tirades was her party colleague Mike Johnson. She mentioned the Ukraine aid he helped negotiate bullshit. He has repeatedly betrayed the American people, is a lame duck, would have to do the right thing and resign. Otherwise it will be removed. With Greene, such attacks have particular force. She once owned a cross-fit gym and posted films of herself training in hand-to-hand combat with a barbell and pull-up frame during the coronavirus lockdowns.

“Men place more emphasis on their upper arms when training,” says Berlin fitness coach Luke Satterly: “For women, it’s usually more about the stomach and legs.” There could be reasons for that. The biceps is a universal symbol of muscular strength and defensiveness. Unfortunately, for women it is often a mixed blessing status symbol. Her 1997 work-out film “GI Jane” marked a career break in Demi Moore’s film star life from which she never fully recovered. The singer Helene Fischer is suspected of being a human machine with her muscular arms. Madonna’s super-defined body has been mocked for years: “Nothing says ‘growing old gracefully’ like monstrously toned, creepy corpse arms,” ​​it said sarcastically on the gossip website “TMZ”.

The influencer and entrepreneur Caro Daur is certainly one of the fittest women in Germany. A few years ago, the moderator Klaas Heufer-Umlauf invited her to the Pro-Sieben studio, where she was supposed to demonstrate fitness exercises in front of online fans. He ridiculed the athlete with all the tricks of the person sitting in the “command center”. “Imagine I’m the monkey. And you are the little cars. Hup, Hup,” is what she was supposed to say to her fellow athletes during the warm-up. Höhö.

So you can say: well-trained and defined upper arms in women are not always a guarantee of a people-friendly worldview, but the fact that they are still provocative definitely speaks in favor of working on the weight bench.