Buns of Steel
n. Jocular physical trait required to sit through an extremely long meeting.
Examples
2006
Like contestants on "American Idol," the applicants for an open Colorado Springs City Council seat filed one by one before their judges Thursday night.

One wished his wife a happy birthday; another recited song titles but refrained from singing; another promised to use "buns of steel" to sit through marathon budget sessions.
—Ed Sealover, “29 audition for council job City meeting seems more like ‘Idol’ show,” The Gazette, March 24, 2006
1999
Here's a statement you probably never thought you'd hear: There's a real barnburner going on at the Illinois Commerce Commission.

The ICC? Home of the bureaucratic boredom Hall of Fame? Isn't that the place where "Buns of Steel" describes what's needed to sit through interminable arguments about penny-ante increases in electric and telephone rates?
—David Greising, “Trained Sitters Stand Up to Pair of Bulldozers,” Chicago Tribune, June 11, 1999
1997 (earliest)
Buns of Steel: Interminable city council meetings. "Got to go, I'm late for Buns of Steel."
—Lucy Howard, “Watch the River Flow,” Newsweek, June 23, 1997
Notes
This phrase borrows from the title of the "Buns of Steel" exercise video that was a bestseller in the late 1980s. Buns is a slang term for the buttocks, which are what one sits on during a long meeting, so having Buns of Steel would be an asset, indeed.
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