I had been thinking about this for a few days so when I mentioned it on facebook and a few of you had interest, I decided to jump right on it!

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If you are anything like me, you are totally inspired by the body types of the Olympic athletes. They are AMAZING and the pinnacle of intentional eating, focused training and perseverence!!

There are 26 sports in total in the Summer 2012 Olympics. (I’m only going to show a handful of them below) You might notice that each sport has sort of a “typical” build. Even thought they are using their full body and all it’s muscles to do their sport, each will focus on different muscles which give the different looks. (Let’s be honest. The still shots don’t do these bodies justice!)

Of course, there will be outliers to each sport but I think you get my point! 🙂

Let’s take a look, shall we? (I will just be viewing the female athletes!)

Swimmers

Team USA’s, Claire Donahue

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Team USA’s, Allison Schmitt

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Volleyball

Team USA.

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Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh!

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Marathoners

Our awesome women’s marathoners: Team USA, Kara Goucher and Shalane Flanagan

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Check out those legs.

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Rowing

Team USA.

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Sprinters/Hurdlers

Team USA: Lolo Jones

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I’m not gonna lie. I feel much better about my muscular thighs and quads after looking at them! (below!)

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Whoa. Is there a gun show around here? LOL!

Gymnasts

I’m sorry but this is amazing. (Gabby Douglas)

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Team USA

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 A few random points:

♦ This is a great chance to sit with your daughters and show them the beauty of the “non-Victoria Secret” body! These women are strong, beautiful, healthy and probably not a size 0! If your girls are involved in sports, chances are they have more muscle on them than their peers and that can be an interesting thing for them to sort through in high school. (I experienced this growing up)

♦ I’m sure many of you are aware of this but just in case you have body envy—these ladies have spent (at least) the past year or two training for the Olympics as their job. They have coaches, multiple practices a day, and people creating nutritional plans for them. Don’t be so hard on yourself when checking them out! 🙂

♦ This is where “not the norm” heights, weight and body builds are celebrated. (I was listening to the height and weight of the beach volleyball players and they are by no means “tiny”!) But these numbers make these Olympic athletes exactly what they are–Olympic athletes. The best of the best! If you are taller, built in a bigger frame, have more junk in your trunk or broader shoulders (to name a few) then celebrate that!

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Did I miss any sport that you would have liked to see included up here? Are you inspired to sprint, swim and jump now? Next week we’ll be talking about what the Olympics has done for your inspiration in your workouts!