I’ve been called a health nut. I’ve been accused of having orthorexia. I don’t think either of these things is true. For me, most of my health behaviors began with what might be commonly thought of as an immature desire to be jacked, strong, and capable.1 I’d like to address what I’ve come to recognize as a bias against people that exercise and take a deliberate approach to nutrition so that they can enhance their physical appearance. I’ve had many conversations with people who go out of their way to assure me and other casual observers that they’re only lifting weights to “be healthy” as opposed to trying to improve their appearance. I’ve even heard conversations between industry professionals about how wearing a stringer to the gym is ridiculous, because, you know, reasons. How can I explain the glory of the stringer to the uninitiated? Can these lost souls ever hope to grasp the wonder and inspiration latent within an unapologetic desire to look like you lift?
While most people think of bodybuilding as the sport where people stand on stage and use a lot of drugs to achieve extreme physiques, I think the term can be applied to anyone that has among their health and fitness goals a desire to enhance the beauty and aesthetic appearance of their body. This is what I mean when I argue that bodybuilding can make the road to optimizing health and fitness a little less mundane. It is just another subjective value that can motivate you to build habits that promote optimal health. Will you ever achieve your dream physique? Probably not. As Greg Doucette, one of the worlds most experienced coaches likes to say “Imagine your dream physique… now think about how you’d look if you were halfway there. That is probably realistic.” People get caught up on the end goal, but life isn’t about ends, it is about means. The process of getting where you want to go is where life happens.
If you don’t start lifting weights because you’ll never look like Mr. Olympia, you’re a dumb ass. If you never pick up a guitar because you’ll never shred like Rusty Cooley, again, that is stupid. You can get better at anything, and if you want to have a more beautiful body, then there are things that you can do as surely as there are songs you will be able to play if you just pick up a guitar and get started.
Why The Hate?
I’m pretty sure it just comes down to jealousy and insecurity. I just read a great article by Luc Koch on this. Very short, very valuable.
Upon reading it, I realized that this is something I do regularly with respect to bodybuilding and let me tell you, it works as advertised. Whenever I see someone who looks great, I let them know.2 To give you an example, I was once in a Wal-Mart and a guy walked by me wearing a stringer, and I simply said “looking jacked, bro.” The way his face lit up brings me joy just reflecting on it. When people look great, that doesn’t mean you look like shit. Beauty and excellence isn’t a zero sum game. When people work hard to become strong and capable, and yes, look better, it makes the world a better place for everyone who values beauty and excellence. If you’ve been telling yourself that exercising or eating right to change how you look is stupid, I’d recommend taking a closer look at that assumption. Do you really think its stupid, or are you just afraid you won’t be successful if you try? If its the latter, do you really think that you won’t be able to make any progress if you try to say, lose a couple pounds of fat or gain a pound or two of muscle? When you see someone wearing clothing that shows off their physique, does it upset you? If so, why? If it is coming from a pang of jealousy, as Luc points out that is natural and human. What if you turned that pang of jealousy into a feeling of appreciation for the effort that person put in to make themselves look that way? What if (assuming a culturally appropriate context) you were to turn that pang of jealousy into a complement that makes that person’s day? This shift in attitude might be what you need to get started on incorporating exercise and nutrition behaviors in your life if you aren’t already “living the lifestyle.”
Manifestations of toxic masculinity no doubt.
This only applies to dudes, this is probably not a wise strategy to employ with members of the opposite sex, especially if you’re married.
This is such good advice.
I have been told that working out is pure vanity. I admit there has to be some vanity involved, but I feel better when I train. Training regularly and eating clean fits with my goals of being able to continue to do more fun, physical things as I age, like carrying a 35 pound pack into the mountains for days.
I can second the sentiment of just wanting to look jacked. AND CONVENIENTLY I’m healthier for it. I eat more veggies, consume an optimal amount of protein, get my cardio done all for the sole purpose of being arm candy for my girlfriend. Performed a VO2max test the other day, 55mlO2/kg/min just from incline treadmill walking and a day of intervals a week. When trying to get jacked fails to motivate me, I think about preserving my health span.. The 👏🏼 two 👏🏼work 👏🏼 synergistically👏🏼