Geez, who the heck resurrected
this thread?!
As for your comment, MM, "Was [Michelle] really that thin [in 2002]?" Criminy! That's only what I've been saying in every post in every thread on body weight since 2003 when, as others have put it, Michelle started "wearing muscle." And wearing it well.
BTW, Michelle worked with a personal trainer on her off-ice training and built herself up all over her body. It just showed up most in her arms and upper body because when you diet, as MK had done prior to the '02 Olys, you lose muscle first from where you use it least. For a figure skater, that would be face, arms, and torso. Although figure skaters need good upper body strength, they can get away with small jumps and slow spins, which is what tends to happen with less than optimal upper body strength.
But a skater
must use her lower body muscles just to stroke around the ice and jump at all. Working with her personal trainer, Michelle's body mostly just evened out in terms of muscle mass, it's just that her arms went from skinny sticks to beautifully bulked and ripped works of art. As many of us noted, at '03 USN, when Michelle did "Aranjuez" her skating and body looked
faaaaabulous!
I hope people have also noticed how much more bulked up Sasha was in '02.
Soogar, stop reading
here. 
Let's assume Sasha was 4'9" and about 80 LB in '02 and is now 5'2" and 95 LB (based on info in the SI article). Using insurance company and medical standards, the average woman should gain 5 LB for every increase in height of one inch. Based on these standards, without dieting, Sasha would now weigh 105 LB at 5'2". So it's as if Sasha has lost 10 LB since '02 or, to put it another way, it's as if Sasha weighed 10 LB more in '02 than she does now.
If you don't believe me, look at photos of Sasha from '02 and focus especially on her back--her lats (latissimus dorsi) are magnificent--and her legs, which are much more muscular in '02 than they are now. Assuming the change in Sasha's weight relative to height has been virtually all muscle, which is denser than fat, a 10 LB loss of muscle is not going to look as dramatic if it were a 10 LB loss of all fat.
All I would like to see Sasha do is, over the summer, add 5 LB of muscle to her 5'2" frame, 2.5 LB in her upper body, 2.5 LB in her lower body. A good personal trainer who knows figure skating--Sasha should steal whoever Michelle's trainer was
--should know how to build muscle where Sasha needs it for skating. I'll list each muscle for you and its function in Latin:
People run screaming from this thread.
Seriously, imagine Sasha with 5 LB of pure muscle added in just the right places. I think she would not only look magnificent, but that it would add a stability to her skating that she has been lacking without taking away any of her ethereal quality. Also, with the COP having become more demanding each year since its inception, IMO the additional muscle would also help protect Sasha against injury by giving her more strength and endurance.
However, I want to emphasize is that the added muscle would help Sasha's skating only if she also trains the right way, that is, by using the SAID principal, Specific Adaptation of Imposed Demands. This just means that as she builds the additional muscle, Sasha will have to train so it will help the right muscle groups work in the specific ways they work in the figure skating skills she wants to improve. This is why working with a personal trainer who understands figure skating is imperative.
Okay,
Soogar, you can start reading this again, if you want to, lol.
Rgirl
because they give the same effect as high heels. She doesn't look nearly as thin in candid off-ice photos.
