Linda Fousek is an athlete who has taken full advantage of Northern California's outdoor riches. Although she swam throughout high school, she rowed crew and sailed during college (Stanford University). After graduating she decided to branch out and try a variety of new sports.

That meant getting into running, swimming, biking, sailing, climbing, volleyball, tennis, snowboarding and wakeboarding depending on the season.

"Right now I'm still racing dinghys and run in local races every once in a while, but other than that I'm not doing anything competitively. I'm starting to do a lot more climbing, and I think I'd like to get serious about that and possibly start competing in the next year or so. And eventually I'm planning on doing an Ironman (triathlon), but I'm not quite ready to train that seriously right now," she adds.

Of course, Fousek grew up in California and was exposed to all sorts of sports from a young age.

"I was always a pretty active kid and loved being outside. I started doing organized sports when I was five when my parents put me in the city swimming league and I joined the youth soccer program when I was seven. I really enjoyed the competitive aspect of sports as well as the ability to set goals and see the improvement that came with practice. So when I got to junior high and high school where there were more sports available, I took up other sports including volleyball, track, and cross country."

Fousek also had the opportunity to explore a lot of different activities, including a variety of sports, academic challenges, acting, singing, community service, student government, since she grew up in a small town.

"There wasn't a very high level of competition to be involved in most of those sports, so I was able to enjoy doing them instead of focusing on being the best. Because of this, I'm much more willing to go out of my comfort zone, try new things, and take advantage of opportunities that come up. I've also learned how valuable it can be to take lessons I learn in one aspect of my life and apply some variation to other areas of my life. I tend to be very competitive, but having such a wide variety of interests helps me not take myself too seriously and when I'm in a slump in one area, I can take a break from it and focus on something else for a while instead of getting very frustrated and down on myself," she wisely adds.

While Fousek tried different things while in school, she even ventured into the realm of being a cheerleader, and admits to even enjoying it. Now, however, she's looking forward to trying whitewater kayaking and has already started to learn windsurfing.

All of these sports do demand a level of physical prowess which Fousek possesses. A quick glance and you can tell that she's an athlete.

"I love being strong, not necessarily for the sake of being strong or looking strong, but because of what it enables me to do. I think it has opened up a lot of opportunities for me that I wouldn't have gotten otherwise. People are willing to let me tag along even if it's my first time trying something because they don't have to worry about babying me. They know I'll actually give it my best effort, won't complain, and will have a great time. It's great to be in good enough shape that I can go out and do something I've never done before or haven't done in a long time and not completely destroy my body because I'm using muscles that aren't used to being used."

Since she's grown up in California, and more specifically the San Francisco Bay area, she's always been surrounded by active people who respect the fact that she's strong.

"People definitely notice that I work out, and I still haven't quite gotten used to both men and women coming up to me and asking what I do to work out and complementing me on my body. I've often been told that people are a bit intimidated when they first meet me, but that quickly wears off because I am very down-to-earth, open, and friendly (and smile a lot when I'm not working out). I get a lot of jokes from my friends about being nice to me so I don't beat them up, etc., but I've never had any strong negative reactions from people. I do feel a bit uncomfortable at times when I travel, especially in other countries. People are definitely not as used to seeing women who work out and I get a lot of long stares."

Luckily, the trend in the media is moving towards more realistic and healthy body ideals - slowly, but at least it's happening.

"There has definitely been a trend toward featuring more natural-looking women in addition to the supermodel types. There have been very strong efforts and campaigns on this issue ever since I can remember, and I think they are slowly changing the way women are portrayed. The overwhelming majority still tends to be the traditional supermodel type, and I don't think that is ever going to go away or necessarily needs to. I do think it's important to portray a good balance of attractive women of all body types though. We are far from achieving this good balance, but I think the movement has definitely generated enough momentum that the current trend is going to continue to get us closer to this balance," Fousek states.

And what advice does she have for young women?

"Lifting, even if you lift a lot of weight regulary, isn't going to give you big bulky muscles. Know what your goals are (general fitness, muscle tone, strength, fat-burning, etc.) and do a little research, meet with a trainer, talk to people who work out a lot, or read a few books and articles on the topic. There is a lot of knowledge out there about how to achieve each of these goals. Find somebody to work out with - either somebody who has been working out for a while and can mentor you - or somebody who wants to start with you and has the same goals you do. It's a lot easier for a guy who wants to start lifting to find somebody to give him good advice and support, but that doesn't mean it's impossible for a girl to enjoy and benefit from a training program."

And anyone who knows Fousek can attest to that. Her combination of training, outdoor activities and mental acuity are put to good use in everything she does whether it's in the gym working out with weights or outside of Las Vegas rock climbing for a weekend excursion from the city.