CoachNoodle’s BodyBlog

Few of us can resist mirrors.  Whether we like what we see or not, we are self evaluators at heart. We only hope we like what is represented when we stair at that person in the glass. Mirrors can be our friends. I’ve heard women say, “Oh, that mirror is a skinny mirror.  I love it.” A skinny mirror?  What the hell is that? Are they all not created equal? Isn’t its only purpose to reflect reality back at us? Have the man trying his hardest to put on muscle, with the ideal training routine and the perfectly timed diet evaluate himself in that skinny mirror and he may sink into a dark pit of self-loathing. To this guy, the mirror is not a friend at all, but a liar. “I looked ok the other day.  What happened?” A new workout program and diet re-evaluation bounces around his brain like a game of extreme racquet ball.

I believe for many of the beautiful people at gyms around the world, there is a great deal of modesty.  Of course, there may be some false modesty intertwined with those of the truly self-effacing but I believe many of models of fitness are awash in humility. Give a guy a compliment who is pushing some major weight on the squat rack or looks like he has walked off a photo shoot for Men’s Health and you get a handful of excuses of why he isn’t stronger or how he may be fat, flabby, or small relative to…you fill in the blank. Maybe it’s that guys aren’t good at taking compliments or possibly not good at taking compliments from the same sex without letting their testosterone and pride rise up and inform the would be flatterer of how great they actually are or, at least, were. 

It’s true that many of our perceptions of ourselves leave us falling short of an idyllic standard we have for our body. And to make it more of a struggle is that this ideal is constantly evolving to match an ever changing goal and desire for improvement and change.  “I want to bench three hundred pounds.” “I want to see my abs.” “I want to gain twenty.”  Holding true in this case is the saying; you always want what you don’t have. We get stronger and gain muscle at the sacrifice of a few percents of boy fat.  We lean down to compete or for a sharper summer look and we lose thirty pounds on our bench press. No wonder the supplement companies do so well. There promises of goal achievement have us cruising the net and supplement centers for the next magic pill that will aid in finicky goal fluctuations. We are a society of instant gratification and rush to throw our money at those that offer the best possibility for aspiration achievement.  That’s possibility, not guarantee.

It is no tragedy that we believe we can always be better. If we didn’t, working out would lack enjoyment and a great deal of purpose. We may be content but never satisfied. We should strive to better ourselves; whatever our goals. It is for this reason that we are inspired by others; our friends, workout partners, and fellow iron lovers.  We aspire to have what another may have and they in-turn do the same. For the extremely devoted, they may always be in the shadow of ideal.