Conversation in my car on Sunday morning:
Rhianna (teenage moaning voice): I *am* the pale-est person in the UNIVERSE.
Erin (tweenager, matter of factly): No, uhm, I believe that would be Mom.
I am quite content with my pallor...I figure that the look of lily-breast and alabaster brow is timeless. :)
Of all the stupid things that people do for the sake of "beauty," I feel that baking in tanning salons or on beaches is one of the most asinine. It's no secret that it is unhealthy... but that doesn't seem to stop anyone. Why do they do it? A misguided notion that it makes them 1) appear younger and 2) appear thinner.
Addressing those silly ideas: If you are tanning because you feel it makes you appear more youthful, STOP. It doesn't. It increases your fine line and wrinkles. It damages your skin and makes you look dried up and shriveled. You don't look younger, you just look browner. IN FACT, the women I know my age and 10 years younger who tan, all look older than me...some by far. (Add smoking to the mixture and it's a recipe for old & ugly). They have deluded themselves into believing that tanning is actually accomplishing something to make them more attractive and no one is brave enough to tell them otherwise.
Okay, so some people feel that tanning makes them appear thinner, sort of - like always wearing black clothing to mask fat. ILess light is reflecting off their bodies due to the darkening of the skin, I can't deny the effects of light and dark - but I suppose it all depends what you're standing near and how far away people are looking at you from. Once the beholder is up close, you just look like the same size...only browner (and drier and wrinklier). Is brown, dried up fat more attractive than soft, smooth white fat? I'd vote for smooth, unscaly and unwrinkled any day.
I live next door to a college town - in that college town are no less than 9 tanning salons (probably a couple I haven't counted, as well). In my own town, there is one cheesy tanning salon near my favorite Chinese restaurant. When I go to pick up my chicken and broccoli, there are often lines waiting to get in. Lines of usually heavy-set, wrinkly older women thinking that they are going to look younger and thinner by baking their bodies. The young girls that are there look equally dried out, some in their early 20s already developing fine lines. These places are always booked up by silly people wasting money to 1) appear younger, 2) appear thinner and 3) have a healthy glow -- when again, that's all a bunch of crap.
Tanning Salons attempt to trick customers with their fancy lotions. However, the protection they offer is minimal at best. The artificial lights used in tanning salons emit three types of electromagnetic radiation in the ultraviolet range: UVA, UVB and UVC. All can cause health problems see; tanning is dangerous - you are under ultraviolet lights (like those given off by the sun) and are at just as much risk for sun cancer. The trick is to get the customer to think that only BURNING is dangerous. Therefore, they offer special lotions and blocks to prevent burning. It's crap, just crap.
Long term exposure to ultraviolet lights (whether you burn or not) contributes to the risk of three kinds of skin cancer: basal, an otherwise benign skin cancer that can cause scarring; squamous cell, which is usually benign but which can spread through the body if left untreated; and melanoma, one of the most fatal kinds of cancer.
Even if you are lucky enough not to develop skin cancer, dermatologist Cathy Petro of the Academy of Dermatology says, "Premature aging of the skin with wrinkles will occur in everyone who is repeatedly exposed to the sun over a long period of time, although the damage may be less apparent and take longer to show up in people with darker skin."
In addition to cancer, prolonged radiation exposure can lead to a dysfunctional immune system, sun and eye burns, cataracts, and photo-sensitivity reactions to medications. Researchers estimate that just 29 minutes in a tanning both is equivalent to spending a day roasting on a beach...so a person who heads to the tanning booth every week is definitely increasing their chances for serious health problems somewhere down the road.
Remember - that the myth of getting a base tan to protect again burns, is just another myth.
If you want to look more youthful, moisturize! If you want to look thinner, exercise and eat right! You are fooling yourself if you believe that tanning will do either of those things for you.
As for me, yep, I am pale and happily so - not as pale as Data on Star Trek or Lilith on Fraiser/Cheers, but pale just the same. I joke sometimes that when I'm out running in shorts that I might cause an aviation disaster as the light reflects off my shining white thighs and into the eyes of unsuspecting pilots. :) I don't hide indoors all summer - I definitely wear sunblock and deliberately try to avoid prolonged exposure to direct sunlight. Shade is nice. :) While muscle delineation can be enhanced by being tan, it is not worth it too me. I also don't want to coat myself with self-tanner and turn organgey for any reason. A) It doesn't make anyone look thinner and B) It doesn't make anyone look younger anyway...just unnaturally pigmented. :)
~o~
Tuesday's workout: 30 minutes progressive resistance HIIT on the Octane. 53 minutes of circuit training (pull). 10 minutes of HIIT on the Octane.
The Circuit
wide stance deadlift 12/80
1-pt dumbbell row 16/30
Bulgarian split squat 15/50
incline db pec fly 20/50
Repeat for total of 3 sets
--1:30 sprint on Scifit, 6% incline
leg curl 20/110, 15/115, 12/12)
wide grip lat pull down 12/125, 10/130, 8/135
adduction 15/130, 12/135, 10/140
--1:30 treadmill hill sprint
wide grip pushup on Bosu trainer 15
mountain climbers 20
side lunge 16/40
harpie on 4" step 16
Repeat for total of 3 sets
--1:30 treadmill hill sprint
hanging abs 12
table pose hold 30 seconds
weighted stability ball crunch 25/20
Repeat for total of 2 sets
~o~
Monday's workout: 10 minute treadmill, 4.2 mph, 8.5% incline. 60 minutes circuit training (push). 30 minutes HIIT, progressive resistance, on Cybex.
The Circuit
duck walk 16/50
stability ball pushups 5
pec fly on stability ball 15/50
squat and press 10/50
Repeat for total of 3 sets
--1:30 sprint on Sci-fit 6% incline
plank up 10 sets
boat pose, hold for 30 seconds
2 ct crunch 20
Repeat for total of 2 sets
Wheel pose 20 seconds
--1:30 hill sprint on treadmill
dumbbell squat 15/70
incline chest press 12/70
sumo squat 15/40
french press 12/40
Repeat for total of 3 sets
--1:30 hill sprint on treadmill
leg press 15/300, 15/305, 15/310
chest machine 12/100X3
leg extension 15/105, 12/110, 10/115
