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It’s Monday, which makes it a good day to channel your inner current-gen Mazda Miata: smiling on the outside, yet ready to give somebody a hardcore evil eye at any.

At a press conference on Sunday, angry citizens ran off Jason Kessler, the organizer of a disastrous rally for white supremacists, neo-Nazis and other members of the. In role-playing games, I tend toward a “type” of character. I didn’t realize it for years, until my partner pointed it out while we were playing Final Fantasy XIV. The year 2017 has clearly shown that the Earth is tired of humanity’s bullshit. And it’s probably going to deliver plenty more sinkholes to remind us just how. I don’t think there’s anybody as happy as the rally fans who help dig out a car from the woods about a minute into this supercut of flat-out ridiculousness, either. Watch our most popular videos, original series, 360° VR videos, and more only available at Huffington Post.

Overwatch's Zarya Got Me To Start Lifting Weights. Overwatch features characters with body types and backgrounds that are not often seen in pop culture, let alone first person shooters.

For many of us who rarely see ourselves reflected in media, this cast can seem radical and even life- changing—especially in my case. Zarya, Overwatch’s Russian strong- woman tank, inspired me to start weightlifting. I’ve played video games since I was five, when my siblings and I got a SNES for Christmas. I came of age with a lot of first gen FPS games. I played DOOM and graduated into Goldeneye, Counter Strike and the Half- Life trilogy (yet to be concluded).

As I got older, FPS games fell out of my rotation. I moved on to RPGs after Morrowind and eventually got into MMOs where I could make my own character and role- play. I wanted less ultra- fast twitchy action and more of a holistic gaming experience where I could find more emotional fulfillment than piloting a rugged action dude with a mysterious backstory could offer.

I still like action games, but for years I mostly got my fix from platformers, twin- stick shooters, and the occasional single- player FPS game like Devil Daggers. In role- playing games, I tend toward a “type” of character. I didn’t realize it for years, until my partner pointed it out while we were playing Final Fantasy XIV. In real life I am a whopping 5’4” woman with anxiety problems. In video games, I tend to play huge Amazon women. I regularly max out height and musculature settings, though the options are often disappointing.

FFXIV is a refreshing exception. Here is my toon, a Roegadyn: Playing as musclebound women in games is one thing, but actually being a big buff woman wasn’t something I ever entertained in real life. Every time a character editor forced me into a petite- framed bombshell, it reinforced ideas about femininity and how women’s bodies should look. Physically strong women are difficult to make in games given the limitations of most character creators, and this made them all the more impossible to imagine in real life. And like many women, my understanding of “exercise” was limited to cardio like biking or running. The idea that I could actually become strong was absurd to the point that it never struck me as a real possibility.

When it crossed my mind it was such an alien thought that it seemed like a wild fantasy. When I first saw this ad for MAC's new . I wasn’t initially sold on the game—it had been years since I played a competitive FPS—but when I saw Zarya I decided to pick it up. Here was a game with a big, buff lady built right in! In Overwatch, Zarya is a champion Olympic weightlifter and the strongest woman in the world. Even though she could be seen as somewhat stereotypical, she was exactly the hero I needed, both in- game and IRL.

Once I had the game installed, I played as Zarya almost exclusively. Hd Movies Ipod Killers (2015). Anyone can hop on Overwatch and play as Zarya; her presence just feels normal. Her backstory is built into the game’s lore and stories, further cementing her as part of Overwatch’s world.

The fact that she just existed in the game felt more important than any character I ever created. She wasn’t an attempt to push character editors to their limits; she was a main character in a AAA game. This was something I’d never experienced before, and it inspired me. I saw years of body policing and conditioned beauty standards for what they were, both in games and in real life. The fact this female character in a game could be celebrated for being strong so easily made me realize that I could be strong, and I resolved to try. A few days into my first Overwatch binge I bought some dumbbells and started exercising. I had no idea what to do with the weights, but some quick googling led me to an introductory dumbbell- only workout program.

I started doing squats and other exercises in my living room using the instructions from my dumbbell program and how- to You. Tube videos featuring shirtless fitness bros. There seemed to be endless bodybuilding dudes on You. Tube providing instructional videos on how to lift weights, but virtually no women. I cringed when You. Tube bros said things like “and this movement will give you great aesthetics and the ladies will love it,” but I was learning what I needed to learn. So I’d simply shake my head and look at the framed picture of Zarya on my wall (yes, there is a framed picture of Zarya on my wall).

I had been pretty much sedentary for several years, and those early dumbbell workouts were gruelling. Despite how exhausting they were and how sore I’d be days after each workout, I committed to sticking with them. Zarya is an Olympic weightlifter, and Overwatch happened to come out in an Olympic year. I soon found myself watching the women’s weightlifting events at the Rio Olympics, where I found a bunch more real- lifeheroes.

Before the 2. 01. Olympics, I had no idea what Olympic weightlifting was. The strength, speed, and precision of the athletes performing the two competition lifts, the snatch and clean and jerk, blew me away.

I decided that this was the kind of lifting I someday wanted to do. Bollywood Thriller Movies Bravetown (2015). In order to learn Olympic lifting, I’d have to learn to use a barbell. I’d never been in a weight room, but by September I grew confident enough with my dumbbells to book a few sessions with a personal trainer (his name is Paul and he is charming). The first time I put a barbell on my back to squat I was so nervous that I felt a little sick to my stomach. I squatted the bar as Paul instructed, my trunk wobbling and my knees knocking.

Paul was unbreakably positive as he explained in detail how to brace my core, lead with my butt, and force my knees apart to stay stable. By the end of the first session I was able to squat 6. My quads and butt burned, I was sweating so hard it looked like I just climbed out of a pool, and my upper back was sore from the metal where the bar had sat. Barbell squats were a whole new way of engaging with my body, and I felt it in muscles I didn’t even know I had (especially the next day). But I felt strong as shit!

It might have been the post- exercise endorphins, but I felt like I was glowing after that first training session. I was instantly hooked on weight training; I wanted to feel the rush of a difficult workout again. The feeling of strength and power from pushing my body to its limits was liberating and empowering, and although new, it felt natural and familiar. Over the next six weeks, Paul taught me most of the basic barbell movements, like squats, deadlifts, bench presses, and overhead presses. Learning these was exciting. Every workout pushed my body in new and different ways as I discovered different muscles and how to use them. I also started a nutrition plan, which constituted eating a ton of protein and dramatically cutting back on carbs.

Paul designed the program to support my lifting, and my total newbie drive in the gym extended to my meals. I found it easy to jump into eating well.

I by and large stopped drinking, and I went from eating pizza three times a week to eating lots of chicken, fish, and vegetables. Eating well and lifting weights regularly had me feeling amazing, sleeping well, and motivated me to wake up early for the first time pretty much ever. I rapidly started seeing progress and kept on ratcheting up the weight until I felt strong and confident enough to commit to learning the two Olympic lifts. The snatch and clean and jerk are unique in the world of strength training.

They’re referred to as “ballistic movements” because they require not only strength, but explosive power, speed, and finesse to lift the bar from the floor to above your head extremely quickly. They also require a great deal of shoulder and hip flexibility, core strength, and technique. It’s not enough to be able to move the weight; in these lifts you need the control to catch it properly in the bottom of a squat (called “receiving” the bar), then stand up with the weight.