Defiant Athlete

Being a Defiant Athlete.

There are some amazing people out there doing awesome things.

They’re swimming, running, walking, doing yoga, skiing, roller skating–and they are doing these things, and much more, not to lose weight, not to shrink their big bodies, but because they can. Because it feels good.They might not know it (since I just made the term up like two weeks ago), but they are defiant athletes.

This list is in no way complete. I’ll link to it in the Defiant Athlete tab and update it frequently. If you are, or know of, a blog or blog post that should be here, please let me know. Leave a comment, or email me at shauntagrimes@gmail.com.

Added 10/27/11

Awesome blog by a woman working toward a century on her bike. Fat Chick in Lycra.

Added 4/9/11

Here’s a great article about an Australian fat synchronized-swimming troupe, and a video about another in San Francisco. I want to be a fat synchronized swimmer!

Added 4/4/11

April at Round Shape posted a video of her belly dancing. I want to do this. I’m going to do this!

Added 4/1/11

Check out Julia at Fat Girl Gives it a Tri, where she logs her training.

Added 3/29/11

Tristy is a weight lifter. She’s made an awesome video that is guaranteed to make you feel like you can take on the world.

Added 3/27/11

Donna at The Barefoot Athena runs. She’s an awesome athlete training for a half marathon. (Trigger Warning: she does talk very minimally about weight loss.)

Added 3/18/11

Great article about Kelly Gneiting, a 405 pound National Champion sumo wrestler, training to complete the LA Marathon.

Added 3/17/11

Pretty Strong is a blog by two women working toward being Olympic weight lifters.

Added 3/12/11

Vansterdam XXX is a kick ass blog by a body positive roller derby girl.

Noel Lynn Figart is a fat swimmer with a lot of really good things to say.

Living~400 lbs is not an athletics exclusive blog, but this awesome defiant athlete has gathered her exercise posts here.

Ragen Chastain blogs at Dances With Fat about being a fat dancer. She seriously rocks my world.

Running While Fat is a killer blog by a fat runner.

Erin at Bearly on Earth doesn’t generally blog about her athletic pursuits, but she did write this awesome post about body positivity through athletics. (Also, she’s adorable and posts super cute OOTD pics.)

Anna Guest-Jelley blogs at Curvy Yoga about all sorts of body positive goodness.

Jayne Williams blogs at Slow Fat Triathlete. Check her out–also her books, which are incredibly empowering for anyone who is struggling to understand what it means to be a defiant athlete. (ETA: I just went and read this blog again, and there is some very mild talk about losing weight. It may be a trigger to some who are very sensitive. I’m going to keep this resource though, because Jayne Williams is one of the biggest proponents of being an athlete right now, not after you lose weight.)

Visit Sallie at Plus Runner. She has a lot of information about resources for fat athletes.