Would you follow Marilyn Monroe’s fitness routine?
January 16, 2016 Ashley 0 Comments
When I was first searching for a diet and fitness switch, I looked to my favorite rocker for tips.
My then routine wasn’t working for me.
But knowing what wasn’t working for me was only half the battle. What I needed to know was what I wanted my new food n’ fitness routine to bring me. And, since my unreasonable hope was to morph into the inimitable Gwen Stefani, that meant I had but one option. To drain the interweb of all information regarding what sustenance she sucked into her face hole – and how she subsequently turned it into sexiness. I learned she was (mostly) vegan, so I became (mostly) vegan. I saw she trained with Gunnar Peterson, so I pirated acquired a few of his workouts. I remembered she was married to a British bad azz celeb, so I made my plan to marry Russell Brand (still working on that one). And it was this bit of my health quest that came to mind recently when I re-stumbled across an article from the 50’s…on Gwen’s own idol.
The topic? Marilyn Monroe’s health habits – from dining to dumbbells:
“Frankly, I’ve never considered my own figure so exceptional; until quite recently, I seldom gave it any thought at all. My biggest single concern used to be getting enough to eat. Now I have to worry about eating too much. I never used to bother with exercises. Now I spend at least 10 minutes each morning working out with small weights. I have evolved my own exercises, for the muscles I wish to keep firm, and I know they are right for me because I can feel them putting the proper muscles into play as I exercise.”
“Exercise. Each morning after I brush my teeth, wash my face and shake off the first deep layer of sleep, I lie down on the floor beside my bed and begin my first exercise. It is a simple bust-firming routine which consists of lifting five-pound weights from a spread-eagle arm position to a point directly above my head. I do this 15 times, slowly. I repeat the exercise another 15 times from a position with my arms above my head. Then, with my arms at a 45-degree angle from the floor, I move my weights in circles until I’m tired. I don’t count rhythmically like the exercise people on the radio; I couldn’t stand exercise if I had to feel regimented about it.”
“Sports. I have never cared especially for outdoor sports, and have no desire to excel at tennis, swimming, or golf. I’ll leave those things to the men. Despite its great vogue in California, I don’t think sun-tanned skin is any more attractive than white skin, or any healthier, for that matter. I’m personally opposed to a deep tan because I like to feel blond all over. By nature, I suppose I have a languorous disposition. I hate to do things in a hurried, tense atmosphere, and it is virtually impossible for me to spring out of bed in the morning. On Sunday, which is my one day of total leisure, I sometimes take two hours to wake up, luxuriating in every last moment of drowsiness. Depending upon my activities, I sleep between five and ten hours every night. I sleep in an extra-wide single bed, and I use only one heavy down comforter over me, summer or winter. I have never been able to wear pajamas or creepy nightgowns; they disturb my sleep.
“Breakfast. I’ve been told that my eating habits are absolutely bizarre, but I don’t think so. Before I take my morning shower, I start warming a cup of milk on the hot plate I keep in my hotel room. When it’s hot, I break two raw eggs into the milk, whip them up with a fork, and drink them while I’m dressing. I supplement this with a multi-vitamin pill, and I doubt if any doctor could recommend a more nourishing breakfast for a working girl in a hurry.
Dinner. My dinners at home are startlingly simple. Every night I stop at the market near my hotel and pick up a steak, lamb chops or some liver, which I broil in the electric oven in my room. I usually eat four or five raw carrots with my meat, and that is all. I must be part rabbit; I never get bored with raw carrots.
P.S. It’s a good thing, I suppose, that I eat simply during the day, for in recent months I have developed the habit of stopping off at Wil Wright’s ice cream parlor for a hot fudge sundae on my way home from my evening drama classes. I’m sure that I couldn’t allow myself this indulgence were it not that my normal diet is composed almost totally of protein foods.”
(Well that was a fun look into a diet that’s zero point zero percent similar to my own…)
In the end, I personally haven’t exactly become Gwen Stefani.
Or Marilyn Monroe, for that matter.
But what I have become is a better, healthier, version of myself. With none’a that yo-yo weight stuff. (And about ten pounds less than I used to be during the rolly-pollier parts of my rollercoaster diet.) Some of my current path includes Gwen inspired life choices. Some of it comprises the guidance of others in the public eye who also have stellar suggestions. Some of it includes first hand trial n’ error fails ‘n wins. But among those wins was discerning the biggest, most salient facet to any new path we take: does it make me happy? Young women of any era look to the likes of Gwen or Marilyn because they seem like they have it all. Dancing. Smiling. Wowing a crowd. That X factor. We don’t even have to use celebrities as examples. Most of us personally know at least one or two of these people who aren’t just sexy, but enigmatic. Radiant. Comfy and confident in their own somatic dwelling. That’s what we’re all really after. Will this make me happy? They look happy and beautiful and people like them – so let me do what they do. But, we hafta remember, often (when it comes to celebs) that’s an illusion. An aesthetic myth. So, we can listen to a point – but then we’ve gotta toggle on our somatic ear and decide what our own needs are. And it differs from person to person. Thus, the question you have to ask yourself is whether your new routine – whatever it is – is making you feel like the beautiful people of the world – famous or not – appear. If you don’t feel confident, sexy, or inspired by what you’re doing – then either tweak it, or leave it behind. It’s not for you. Find a new thing to try. Kapeesh?
After all, both blonde goddesses had bodies to die for.
And – even so – one of them (Gwen) consumes next to nada animal products, while the other (MM) ate nearly nothing but them back in her day. What’s more? The former emulated the latter, but didn’t follow her to a fault. Which is why I say, sure, start out with a health hero. Someone sexy to point the way. That’s fine. But, after you’re on your own two feet, uniquely mold it till you’re legitimately content that your formula fits you like a sexy studded glove. Because that’s yet another element that draws us to an icon. The “Underneath it all” authenticity. They aren’t obsessively following any one other person (like I was when I all but hacked into Gwen’s assistants’ phone to learn her daily itinerary to use as my own). So, why should we? These one-of-a-kind’s are exactly that ’cause they’re each a walking, Frankensteinian, compendium of all the good advice they acquired along the way because it worked for them. But if you can’t choose between these two for a starting point? I’d suggest going with the punky, plaid panted, vegan queen of Tragic Kingdom. After all, she A.) hasn’t died tragically of a drug OD and B.) she’s forty-something and still looks like she did when she started out at 28.
Either way, whoever you choose, today’s takeaway is to take a little…
But ultimately aim to become your own fitness icon.
