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I listened to some famous trainer talk not long ago and he said being the extreme best in something usually isn’t healthy long term. He said a lot if not most Olympian’s he’s worked with would take or do something that means they die in 5 years if it means achieving their goal of being the best.
And bringing up the word mediocre opens another discussion. You say it in way like people can’t possibly be happy if they are considered mediocre relative to other people. What does that say about the person? Does it say anything about society?
Well actually, I'm asking YOU if mediocrity is what YOU think of as normal. YOU are trying to make the point that working out = body dysmorphia.
You cannot compare an Olympian, who earns money with trying to be the best, with a person who just likes to work regularly. It is their job to work out.
Of course extreme athletes who work out for hours every day will have long term damage to their body from going above what their body can handle, plus the supplements. They train to be the best when they are young, ignoring how they will feel when they are older and out of competition.
Well actually, I'm asking YOU if mediocrity is what YOU think of as normal. YOU are trying to make the point that working out = body dysmorphia.
I never said working out = body dysmorphia. I said working out with the goal to change ones appearance…even if by all metrics a person is considered medically healthy.
I work out. I've been working out on and off since I was a teenager many many moons ago.
When I first started, it was because I was that 97 pound weakling that bullies liked to pick on. It gave me confidence and real ability to defend myself (well better equipped).
After working out on and off all my life, you know and get use to the routine. It becomes as casual as brushing your teeth.
I still workout. Picked up intensity since this damn Covid mess kept us paranoid and staying indoors.
For me it's pretty much "for myself" at this stage. The endorphin kick after your workout is like a runner's high. Also it feels good to be strong and vital.
When I take a break from workouts I feel the effect. After a few weeks / months I am definitely weaker. I HATE that feeling.
So for me it's not some body dysmorphia. I am not jacked and look like the Rock... and I don't want to look that way either.
But I do look fit, strong and somebody not to be messed with. And that has a functionality when you live in a big city.
Some people do take it to extremes and take steroids and tons of other things to be "unnaturally" big. Those people have body dsymorphia or at least degrees of it.
Fitness matters to us because it pushes us to limits too. My job sitting on my butt and pushing keys does not push me lol.
A lot of these actors don’t admit to using steroids either….they tell people about some random workout they did to get jacked in 5 months. Look at someone like the Rock who claims to have only dabbled in steroids at like age 18.
And it's amazing how many people actually believe that! To be built and shredded like that most days of the year, you HAVE to be on extreme diuretics and muscle builders...aka steroids. I just hope he has a TRAINED dietician/doctor to guide him somewhat as to manage his heart and internal organs because he won't last 5 more years if he takes dangerous level steroids for the next 5 years.
I work out. I've been working out on and off since I was a teenager many many moons ago.
When I first started, it was because I was that 97 pound weakling that bullies liked to pick on. It gave me confidence and real ability to defend myself (well better equipped).
After working out on and off all my life, you know and get use to the routine. It becomes as casual as brushing your teeth.
I still workout. Picked up intensity since this damn Covid mess kept us paranoid and staying indoors.
For me it's pretty much "for myself" at this stage. The endorphin kick after your workout is like a runner's high. Also it feels good to be strong and vital.
When I take a break from workouts I feel the effect. After a few weeks / months I am definitely weaker. I HATE that feeling.
So for me it's not some body dysmorphia. I am not jacked and look like the Rock... and I don't want to look that way either.
But I do look fit, strong and somebody not to be messed with. And that has a functionality when you live in a big city.
Some people do take it to extremes and take steroids and tons of other things to be "unnaturally" big. Those people have body dsymorphia or at least degrees of it.
Fitness matters to us because it pushes us to limits too. My job sitting on my butt and pushing keys does not push me lol.
I agree to this statement. I get body/joint pains if I don't work out regularly. It hurts getting out of bed. Walking stairs gets me out of breath. I get back pain and would need surgery if I don't work out my back well enough.
Some people meditate or go to church - I unwind at the gym, I am in my mental zone and do my thing, I sometimes don't even notice people around me. Additionally I do MMA - it works out the areas that are untouched by just lifting weights. I am taking a break right now and feel the difference, I don't feel as fit/energetic and need to go back soon. I like looking strong even though I am not very strong.
Working out regularly and eating right is a lifestyle or if you say - like brushing teeth. It is just part of you and your routine.
Working out to feel better may be one thing…but a lot of ones life revolving around looking a certain way may be another. It seems like a lot of people will defend that by claiming “I do it for me”. But I guess at some extremes people with things like anorexia also do it for themselves in some way.
And these are the people you think you see parked outside Planet Fitness?
Strange, because your argument went from:
Quote:
What about when people start revolving a large part of their life around honing in that “better” physique? To the point of making massive changes to their diets, being on a very regimented gym routine, taking supplements, sometimes steroids, worrying about protein, getting the perfect body fat percentage, tracking every bite of food, watching videos/reading about how to workout better etc.
To encompassing every single person of any age with a gym membership.
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I think ANY behavior or activity taken to excess, where it comprises 12 of your 16 waking hours, can be considered pathological.
I might "like" to play video games, but if I start gaming at midnight and the sun comes up and I'm still playing, thats bad.
You might "like" to be frugal, but if you wear threadbare clothes and eat food you fished from your neighbors garbage can and ignore expiration dates on antibiotics because "its still good", thats bad for your health and social life.
Jeff Bezos or Mark Zuckerberg might "like" success or fame or acculumating unthinkable wealth, but there's no shortage of people with harsh words and judgment of their life. To do ANYTHING exceptional, you have to endure the criticism and ire of The Herd.
Re: body dysmorphia or narcissism
Re: is the basis for much of the fitness world we see today?
"Bigorexia" is actually the term you are looking for, its in the DSM-5 as a real thing. There's a movie by the same name, which is everything your thread wants to be... $2.99 on Vudu if you want to stream it tonight.
Upthread somebody cited The Rock as an example. He's 6'5", 260 lbs, and 50 years old in 2022. I can say, I've never seen anyone like him at my local gym, the hundreds of times I've gone, in all the various cities I've lived in. He doesnt represent the average or the common or the mean or the median or the typical. So that's my question to you - what do you base your conclusion on, what are you looking at? 25 years ago, I'd say is that the airbrushed, dehydrated, professionally lighted and dipped-in-spray-tan-bronzer cover photos of Muscle & Fitness magazine? These days, is it Instagram posts with the Samsung/Apple Beauty filter? 'body dysmorphia' or OCD is hard to fathom, when a casual stroll thru the local Walmart is more convincing data of obesity is a far greater problem in America that affects tens of millions. Working out is not bad, workout out is good! At least until you tear a rotator cuff or achilles tendon trying trail running for the 1st time.
For my own motivations to workout I more align with Mark Rippetoe:
“Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and more useful in general.”
If you see narcissism that quote, then I'll agree and I gotta go, I'm meeting a friend for my Weds Workout in 4 hours.
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