We should all strive to be and do our best throughout all walks of life, after all you put in what you get out. But doing your best does not mean being perfect, and in fact striving for perfection can sometimes do more harm than good.
It's something that we see in the fitness industry a lot, especially with the prevalence of social media (instagram being the biggest culprit!). Every man and his dog seems to be posting pictures & videos of themselves either performing some superhuman workout or in their gym gear showing off bulging biceps, chiselled abs and buns of steel. Couple this with TV, film and magazine ad images shoved down your throat every minute of the day. You can tell yourself stop looking, STOP IT but that thumb just keeps scrolling. Eventually it can start to get to you and you start to think " Why don't I look like that, why can't I do that? Do I not train enough? Is my diet wrong? Am I just not as good as those people?".
What people forget is that for many of these people they see on their screens, this is their job! Be it actor, singer, model or just someone who is 'instafamous' and are sponsored by sports brands etc. They're paid to do this, that's a pretty good incentive - paid to workout and eat clean, if only eh! Trying to imitate the same workout and nutrition routine as one of these people? Remember you work a 40hr week, have 2 young kids and a mortgage to pay. Training x6 days a week is fine if it's your job and don't have the stress of a full time job that isn't in a gym or having to provide to feed the family.
And of course let's not forget about the magic of photoshop, filters and perfect lighting or even make up these days - contouring your legs & bum? Are you serious!!! Sure they work hard and put in the effort but i'm sure you also put in a lot of hard work into your job too. And what's more, if they're honest they will admit they don't look like that all the time. They prepare for photo shoots and events weeks in advance with even stricter diets and more intense workouts to look as good as they possibly can, it's not a healthy way of life, it is a form of yo-yo dieting. The rest of the time they're just like everyone of us, they bloat, they feel demotivated some days!
What i'm getting at is that it's hard to look like a fitness model, do crazy difficult workouts day in day out and eat clean 24/7, especially when juggling everything else in your life. Relationships, friends, work, family, they're all just as important. If you start to pour all your energy into trying to look and lift like some greek god or goddess chances are the rest of your life will suffer significantly and I know that from experience. You end up pushing people away, missing social occasions because they don't fit in with your strict routine of eating and workouts.
When you're overworked and look at yourself thinking what you see still isn't good enough all you can think of is to push harder for it, you end up spiralling deeper and deeper, even into the depths of mental illness and anxiety disorders.
Mental health is a massive issue and has so many links to body image and exercise (discussed in one of our other blogs). Here I want to mention physical health - Exercise is good for you right? Yes, but not if you work out for hours everyday without giving your body the time it needs to rest and recover. Overuse injuries can occur; sprains, pulled muscles, tendinitis. But you carry on regardless causing yourself more damage, compromising form in order to limit the pain, leading to more serious injuries and further imbalances. And then there's what happens inside your body - exercise is a form of STRESS. Your body adapts over time with regular exercise in order to better deal with that level of physical stress. That's why it is good for us. However continual exercise with little recovery means too much stress and no recovery or adaptation of the tissues, raised levels of hormones (cortistol) can cause havoc with your body and undo all the hard work you've previously achieved. Your body goes into emergency survival mode and actually stops you from losing fat, breaking down the muscle for energy instead. Not exactly what you want when you're trying to look like a greek god!
And all the while all you can think of is comparing yourself to others on instagram, thinking you're not doing enough, you've pushed away family and friends, caused yourself injury and illness, put added pressure on your work life and stopped enjoying life. The gym isn't life. All in the hopes of achieving perfection. Did it work? It didn't for me.
It's something that we see in the fitness industry a lot, especially with the prevalence of social media (instagram being the biggest culprit!). Every man and his dog seems to be posting pictures & videos of themselves either performing some superhuman workout or in their gym gear showing off bulging biceps, chiselled abs and buns of steel. Couple this with TV, film and magazine ad images shoved down your throat every minute of the day. You can tell yourself stop looking, STOP IT but that thumb just keeps scrolling. Eventually it can start to get to you and you start to think " Why don't I look like that, why can't I do that? Do I not train enough? Is my diet wrong? Am I just not as good as those people?".
What people forget is that for many of these people they see on their screens, this is their job! Be it actor, singer, model or just someone who is 'instafamous' and are sponsored by sports brands etc. They're paid to do this, that's a pretty good incentive - paid to workout and eat clean, if only eh! Trying to imitate the same workout and nutrition routine as one of these people? Remember you work a 40hr week, have 2 young kids and a mortgage to pay. Training x6 days a week is fine if it's your job and don't have the stress of a full time job that isn't in a gym or having to provide to feed the family.
And of course let's not forget about the magic of photoshop, filters and perfect lighting or even make up these days - contouring your legs & bum? Are you serious!!! Sure they work hard and put in the effort but i'm sure you also put in a lot of hard work into your job too. And what's more, if they're honest they will admit they don't look like that all the time. They prepare for photo shoots and events weeks in advance with even stricter diets and more intense workouts to look as good as they possibly can, it's not a healthy way of life, it is a form of yo-yo dieting. The rest of the time they're just like everyone of us, they bloat, they feel demotivated some days!
What i'm getting at is that it's hard to look like a fitness model, do crazy difficult workouts day in day out and eat clean 24/7, especially when juggling everything else in your life. Relationships, friends, work, family, they're all just as important. If you start to pour all your energy into trying to look and lift like some greek god or goddess chances are the rest of your life will suffer significantly and I know that from experience. You end up pushing people away, missing social occasions because they don't fit in with your strict routine of eating and workouts.
When you're overworked and look at yourself thinking what you see still isn't good enough all you can think of is to push harder for it, you end up spiralling deeper and deeper, even into the depths of mental illness and anxiety disorders.
Mental health is a massive issue and has so many links to body image and exercise (discussed in one of our other blogs). Here I want to mention physical health - Exercise is good for you right? Yes, but not if you work out for hours everyday without giving your body the time it needs to rest and recover. Overuse injuries can occur; sprains, pulled muscles, tendinitis. But you carry on regardless causing yourself more damage, compromising form in order to limit the pain, leading to more serious injuries and further imbalances. And then there's what happens inside your body - exercise is a form of STRESS. Your body adapts over time with regular exercise in order to better deal with that level of physical stress. That's why it is good for us. However continual exercise with little recovery means too much stress and no recovery or adaptation of the tissues, raised levels of hormones (cortistol) can cause havoc with your body and undo all the hard work you've previously achieved. Your body goes into emergency survival mode and actually stops you from losing fat, breaking down the muscle for energy instead. Not exactly what you want when you're trying to look like a greek god!
And all the while all you can think of is comparing yourself to others on instagram, thinking you're not doing enough, you've pushed away family and friends, caused yourself injury and illness, put added pressure on your work life and stopped enjoying life. The gym isn't life. All in the hopes of achieving perfection. Did it work? It didn't for me.
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