There’s More to Life Than Six Pack Abs
April 24, 2008
Photo by Tanworkboots
Men’s magazines are filled with exercise and workout routines designed to give you a chiseled physique. The glossy ads in the magazine showcase the desired result of all this work: a chiseled and ripped body. But what is the end goal of the pursuit of all
this muscle? Some men work out for the health benefits, for pleasure, and to generally stay in shape. This is reasonable and desirable. Every man should want to be fit and healthy. But some men develop an unhealthy obsession with getting a ripped physique. Steroid use has become common, not just for athletes, but also for average joes who don’t want to be so average. But to what end? To attract the ladies? To meet some idealized image of the male body? Such a pursuit is a huge waste of time. Here are some reasons why:
Huge muscles are not as attractive to women as you may think
While there’s no denying the fact that women view a man’s ripped physique as a sweet bonus, it’s rarely, if ever, a deal breaker. The women I have known in my life have been far more focused on a man’s personality, sense of humor, decency, confidence, and ambition, than whether he had six packs abs. Research studies have born this out.
Several years ago, psychiatrists at the Biological Psychiatry Laboratory gave a computerized test to college students in the US, France, and Austria. The men could choose from 10 different layers of fat and 10 different layers of muscle to create what they believed was the most attractive body type to women. The study found that men consistently layered on more muscle than women actually preferred.
A follow-up study had similar results. Compared to Taiwanese men, Western men greatly overestimated how much muscle is desirable to women. The men were asked to choose the body type which they thought was most attractive to women. They overwhelming chose a physique with 20-30 lbs more muscle than average. But when women were asked to choose the body type they found most appealing, they chose the average one.
Why is there such a disconnect between what women want and what men think they want? Interestingly, one reason the study posited on why Taiwanese men don’t desire huge muscles the way Western men do, is that women and men have more parity in the West than in Asia. Harrison Pope, whose lab headed up the studies, said, “Nowadays, women can do almost anything that a man can do with one exception: They can’t bench press 315 pounds, no matter what the Supreme Court says. It may be a last refuge of masculinity for some men in the West.” Hopefully, reading this blog has convinced you that there are more avenues to being a man than how much weight you can squat. Spend your time developing truly manly traits, not your pecs.
Avoid being a dupe of the media
Of course another reason men are increasingly making a ripped physique their goal, are the images constantly being pushed by the media. In the 1950s, only 3% of print advertisements showed men undressed. Today it has risen to more than 35%. While many men believe themselves immune from the effect of such images, they are unfortunately taking their toll. It has been estimated that about 45% of Western men are unhappy with their bodies to some degree, compared with only 15% some 25 years ago.
The problem is not so much the number of images, but the impossible standard of body type those images convey. The majority of men don’t have the genetic makeup to attain the bodies seen in magazines, and in trying to attain it they feel frustrated and inadequate. It’s not longer acceptable to simply be in shape, now a man should apparently want to look like Matthew McConaughey.
It wasn’t always so. The manly men of yesteryear like Humphrey Bogart, James Dean, Cary Grant, and so on had normal, average physiques.
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James Dean. Average Body. Bad Ass. |
Matthew McConaughey. Pretty Boy. |
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1960s Batman. Average build, but still managed to defeat the Joker and have a career as the Mayor on Family Guy. |
When you have start putting abs on your Bat suit, you know you’ve been duped by the media. |
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The Duke didn’t have a six pack. Did that stop him beating the bad guy and getting the girl? Hell no, Pilgrim! |
Obsessing about your physique gets in the way of your life
The other night I was tearing into a delicious burger at Red Robin when I looked over at a family sitting at an adjacent table. The whole family was chowing down except for the dad. This man, with his biceps and tree trunk neck bulging out of his t-shirt, was eating his two bunless, unadorned burger patties with a fork. He wouldn’t touch the fries. I pitied this man.
Attaining the kind of physique showcased in Men’s Health requires a man to organize his life around that goal. He spends many hours in the gym each week. He totes around Tupperware containers of chicken breasts and broccoli so he can eat “clean” every 3 hours. He even brings these to dinner parties, or avoids these parties altogether since they’ll tempt him to blow his diet. He avoids going on vacation and thus having to miss his workouts. And all for what exactly?
You lose focus on why exercise if truly important
Exercise offers a myriad of benefits: it can boost your brain power, help your heart, prevent Alzheimers, alleviate stress, and knock out your depression. But if the focus of your workouts is to add another inch to your bicep or to go down 1 percentage point in your body fat, you may one day burn out on exercise altogether. If you only workout to get ripped, then when you don’t see the results you were hoping for, or the results come too slowly, you may give up. The key to a lifetime love for exercise is finding deeper motivations than physical appearance.
Instead of concentrating on having six pack abs, focus on becoming “functionally fit.” What’s the point of fitness if it doesn’t help you in your everyday life? When are you going to have to press 400 lbs off your chest? If a car falls on you? Good luck with that. Keep your back strong so you can play with your kids. Keep your heart healthy so you can live into old age with your wife. Keep your muscles limber so you don’t pull something while running between gates at the airport. So keep your workouts simple. Find your local Cross-Fit, or stick with the basics, like running and the Holy Trinity of Fitness.
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< UFC Fighters are good example of “functionally fit.” No six pack, but they have have the strength and stamina to kick your ass. |
Obsessing about your physique spends your supply of self-discipline
Studies have shown that your brain power has a finite amount of willpower. If you spend your willpower on one task, you have less willpower for other tasks. For example, if you spend you willpower on being frugal, you may gain weight because you will have less self-discipline when it comes to eating. Or if you spend your willpower on your academic studies, you may have trouble reigning in your spending. Likewise, if you spend all your willpower on going to the gym, busting out just one more set of curls, and resisting that slice of chocolate cake, you will have less willpower to apply to tasks that really matter like moving up in your job, studying, being a better husband, boyfriend, and dad, and harnessing your emotions, temper, and jerky impulses. This may be why there if often a close correlation between meatheads and douche bags.
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Happy to have read this. I like to be in relatively good shape, but I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve been to a gym. I prefer to run outside, or do sports to stay in shape.
That is very interesting about only having a limited amount of will power. I had never considered that before.
I anticipated I what I was going to read as I saw image. Sort of stuff like impact on gals and your personality having 6 pack abs. But my inferiority of not having robust body faded gradually as I read post till end.
Personally, I train to gain weight, since I am (or was) very skinny. The resulting six pack and big biceps are just a bonus to me. Seing my weight go from underweight to normal weight was the main goal. Also, I think it’s worth mentioning that as you see results of your training (like a sixpack), it boosts your self confidence. It has done with me at least.
“Studies have shown that your brain power has a finite amount of willpower.”
That might be the case, but the study your link refers to does not show this. On the contrary:
“Focusing on success is important because willpower can grow in the long term. Like a muscle, willpower seems to become stronger with use. ”
If you are afraid of exhausting your willpower by doing both exercising and studying, than your willpower capacity will indeed continue to have a finite amount. For those (such as myself) who work as a freelancer and who’s income is dependant upon willpower and self discipline, exercising your “willpower muscle” in the gym will only increase your willpower powers.
After a ten-year hiatus from exercise and training I have recently taken up weight lifting. I have found my will power and my concentration have both increased significantly in this time. I find that the willpower I exercise for “busting out just one more set of curls” is the same type of willpower that comes in handy for cranking out just one more rewrite before I deliver my manuscript.
What the study you refer to seems to indicate is that when you have an important task before you, which will require will power, then don’t spend it all beforehand (but this is nothing more than common sense. You wouldn’t train hard on the same day as a big basketball game either, would you?).
My advice is that on an average day you should do everything to exhaust your supply of self-discipline, and your “finite amount of willpower” will increase over time.
The thing that you didn’t point to also genetics. If you don’t have the right genetics, you won’t get a 6-pack no matter how hard you try.
When I trained and ran an IronMan Traithlon, I did tons of core work and got myself down to just just over 5% body fat. Even at that, no 6 pack. I could easily do 300+ weighted sit ups/crunches twice a day and I still looked more James Dean than Matthew McConaughey.
The professor I that was monitoring my progression and health during this time said, “there are genetic reasons why some men will never have a 6-pack and some will have have if they just stink about having one.”
That in mind, as you stated you still need to keep yourself in shape. Something I admittedly have not done.
“being functionally fit”… That’s been my philosophy for ages.
There are few situations when you need to lift more than your own body weight, so all my exercises are geared toward that. Push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, lunges/squats. Running, rowing, swimming, martial arts. That’s pretty much it.
Think Navy Seal, not Rambo.
And the goal is to just get in shape. If you can climb 10 flights of stairs without getting terribly winded, if you can run a 7-minute mile for 2-3 miles, if you can do 50 push-ups and 100 sit-ups, if you can touch your toes or do back arches… Well, then you’re fit enough to do most anything you want: Sports, martial arts, hiking/trekking, playing with your kids, etc.
It’s all about staying active and engaged.
The dad probably had a Gluten problem - not a carb problem.
@ wanna-be-meathead-geek- I saw the argument about will power increasing over time in the article as well and I agree with it 100%. I guess what I was thinking when I read the article is that in our quest to increase our will power, we need to use a bit of wisdom.
Sure, I can put all my focus in exercise and increase my willpower in the long run, but other areas of my life will suffer. I’ve seen it in my own life. When law school finals come around, I completely immerse myself in the law. You just have to ask my wife and you’ll learn that I become completely useless in other areas of my life. I get messier, I tend to eat more crap, and I become less patient. Sure, I might have more willpower in the long run, but it was to the detriment of other areas of my life.
I guess the wise thing to do is work to expend ou willpower everyday so it can grow, but spread it around evenly so our life is balanced. I think a good analogy is the dude you see in the gym that spends all his time in front of the mirror doing curls and shoulder presses. Consequently, these guys end up with bulging biceps and no neck, but have little scrawny chicken legs. Has their strength grown? Sure, but only in their upper body. They’re physique, however, is completely unbalanced. They should have spent time working on their overall strength.
The same goes in life. We can spend all discipline in exercise and our physique and our will power will grow. But it will be to the detriment of other areas of our life. The wise route would be to spread our discipline in all areas of our life, so that there’s a balance. Our will power will still grow, but our life will be more balanced.
“Of course another reason men are increasingly making a ripped physique their goal, are the images constantly being pushed by the media.”
Guys effected by this should consider getting a grip on reality and stop acting like a woman. You hear women complain about this left and right, yet they never miss an issue of cosmo.
I’m glad you mentioned Crossfit as part of the functionally fit philosophy. I weigh about 170, and am lucky to have the genes that allow for 6-pack abs as a side-effect of doing ridiculous amounts of sit-ups. What’s interesting about Crossfit is that you can take a ‘meathead’, someone who appears very strong from all of their curls and lat pull-downs and half-assed bench presses, and put them through the paces of virtually any Crossfit WOD and their lack of functional strength becomes apparent. The size of a muscle means almost nothing. So, at 170 and without big arms I can Olympic lift with guys much bigger than me, while still having the size necessary for running fast and doing high reps of plyometrics and body-weight based exercise. The form (a six-pack, chiseled arms, etc) is a result of the function.
I would love to see a full-blown blog entry on Crossfit, I think it ties in well with the overall perspective of this site and is definitely part of the Art of Manliness.
All I know is this: I am obese. My waist is several inches larger than my chest, and last year, at 36, I lost a tug-of-war with an 11 year old girl.
I’m an avid Men’s Health reader, but so many of their workouts require a gym, or at least a home gym, so I can’t dedicate myself to those workouts. I am working on the barbell-based system at Stronglifts.com, which takes up 45 minutes, three days a week, and I do yoga and pilates the other days of the week.
My wife appreciates the small changes in my physique, and that helps. I feel stronger, and that leads to more confidence.
I think people have seen me as the fat guy, and fat guys stereotypically don’t have willpower or drive. Maybe I felt that way myself. No, actually, what I felt was drive, but too much inertia to get out of my recliner and do anything about it.
I still have to look at the nutrition side of things, but I can now polish off a Tour of Italy at the Olive Garden, not feel stuffed, and wake up hungry. This is because my metabolism is now operating faster that the tectonic plates.
However, the best thing about my workout schedule is I can do it, and I’m done. I don’t think about it, I don’t have to obsess about it, I stretch, lift, shower, and get on with the more important things in life. My self-discipline, motivation, and self-image have all improved.
Thank you for the article, I would like to point you to MH’s five tests of fitness, which I think are more comprehensive than the “trinity”: Single leg squats, 1 mile run, vertical jump, chinup, and pushup.
No, of course we do not need six-pack abs. What we need are massive, rope-like forearms, just like what the good ol’ frontier lumberjacks and Popeye had
Some men can have an Adonis-like body, but in their heads they are still weak and spineless, and some are just grumpy and reckless from all the steroids.
‘Functionally fit’ is the right way to go. You won’t end up spending so much time getting the perfect body, and you can use your strength to help others. Last I recall, the ladies like a helpful fella…
i have to say that the picture for this post is hilarious. i don’t know the 3 dudes so i can’t judge what they are like. i’ll leave it at that.
when playing sports i always found it much easier to have the willpower to bust my butt in the weight room. in the off season and during our season - conditioning and working out were an important part of my life. because of that i learned to focus on the end result - my increased performance in competition. it was never to have big pecs and a six pack.
because of that discipline i learned from working out, i am able to apply it to other areas of my life now. studying hard, working until the job is done, etc. are all things that relate back to making myself do “one more set of curls”.
i think it is important to understand to what end we are working out. is it functionality and health benefits, or vanity and pride? and what are we getting out of working out? self improvement and confidence are great by products. if i’m just doing it to get chicks and so i can lift up my shirt at parties, that seems like a weird motivation.
Having a strong midsection (not necessarily chiseled, that´s aesthetics and a nice side-effect) adds to performance on any sport. I have been utilizing the techniques of a book called “Legendary Abs II” which I think Amazon still carries, and have worked like a charm for me without spending countless hours doing endless sit-ups.
Many blessings,
Art Gonzalez
Check my Squidoo Lens at: Quantum Knights
This is a great reminder, but it still is hard to feel it’s true. I guess it’s the whole desire of wanting to be the best, and knowing if you don’t have what you think is the best, then you aren’t being the best man you could be.
But a good reminder nonetheless. Thanks!
@a husband-
I know what you mean. I big thing is just to shift our idea of what it means to be the best man we can be. For most of history being the best man didn’t include being ripped. The emphasis was on being intelligent, successful, and virtuous. Of course strength and health has always been important, and always should be. Men should strive to be as fit as they can, but they shouldn’t set the bar impossibly high. Be the best for you personally.
@Stian-Muscles can definitely be a confidence booster. I think the key is finding a balance between feeding off the results your getting and not letting yourself get obsessed about it or centering your life and self-esteem around it.
@Alessandro-I like your routine. I am a big fan of body weight exercises myself. You can get a really great work out without ever setting foot in the gym.
@b-I have definitely thought about doing a whole post about CrossFit. Look for one in the future.
I just found it funny that when I got to the end of the article the Google adwords ad being displayed was: “Learn Secret to 6-Pack Abs”
I read once that higher BMI is associated with greater risk for illnesses such as cancer and heart disease REGARDLESS of whether the increased weight was due to extra fat or extra muscle. The irony of that really got me; homeboy pounding chicken breasts every three hours and whey protein shakes in the middle of the night so he can be “the picture of health” actually jeopardizes his health with every (albeit hard-earned) extra pound of muscle. I really loved the comments acknowledging that strength as a functional attribute is worth far more than big muscles as a cosmetic trait, and an arguably dangerous one. perhaps our body-building friends need some encouragement to go ahead and keep carrying the tupperware…but just fill it all the way with broccoli!
thanks for this post. it is sad to see male bodies treated increasingly with the disregard historically reserved for female bodies. hopefully one day we can all be stronger, healthier and a little less vain!
In the 70’s I used to think that the guys on the muscle mags were the ideal, but over the years they’ve just gotten ridiculous. Part of it may be photoshopping, but I’ve seen covers with guys whose shoulders were as big as their heads.
It’s carried over into the culture, like in comic books and action figures like G.I. Joe, so much that some young boys have developed a kind of reverse anorexia called Body Dysmorphic Disfunction. They become obsessed with muscle size and will do anything to increase it.
I think there’s another component that should be added to achieving functional strength, and that’s muscular endurance. Boxing is the best example, even though I’m not big fan of watching two guys pound each other. Many times the loser will say, “I just ran out of gas.” He doesn’t say, “If only I had been able to curl ten more pounds in the gym.”
My ex dumped me for a guy who was really muscular and taller than me. It affected my self esteem in a lot of ways. I am a good looking guy, but I am the kind of guy that women say is a cute guy, not the kind of guy who makes them go wow! I think women are more superficial than men when it comes to the muscles, physical appearance, and the way a man dresses. I’ve dated a lot (I’m 29) and from my experience they look at all these things more than men do. It’s usually not until a woman hits her 30s that she starts to realize the other things men really have to offer them. I started to work out and build my body at the beginning of the year and I’ve seen results. My biceps are getting bigger, my body is defining more. It makes me feel a lot more confident about myself. I notice that most of my lady friends in their 20s love the new me, but my older lady friends it doesn’t really matter. They say they liked me before and like me now just as I am. I’m thinking I will start dating only older women, because they know what they want and they are at a point in life when movies and media don’t affect their ideal for a man.
@Santa-
I would disagree with you that women are more into a guy’s appearance than men are with a woman’s. Studies have shown that men are more visual than women. And anecdotal evidence certainly backs this up. I almost never heard my female friends talk about a guy’s appearance or muscles. It might be brought up, as in “he is soooo cute.” But that was always peripheral to his personality, confidence, ambition, ect. This is why you often see super hot women with pretty homely looking guys. But you almost NEVER see super hot guys with homely women.
@Amy-
While a higher BMI does correlate with a higher risk of cancer and heart disease, it also correlates with a decreased risk of other diseases. So much so, that it actually “cancels out” the negative effects of those first two ailments. Being overweight is apparently the healthiest way to be. Or so says the newest spin on things:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/07/health/07fat.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
One can certainly overdo the muscle building and end up thinking huge muscles are the be all and end all - but they aren’t.
Getting fit is a great idea but some men get obsessed with it in the gym because most men are competitive by nature and like to be top dog among their buddies.
The real fitness experts I admire don’t have bodies like a sack of giant walnuts but are still strong and masculine,like most men should be.
I don’t know. If you don’t have abs you can’t pose in semi homoerotic pictures with your bros
I liked the article, although there appear to be conflicting messages contained in it. The message that I got was that “[l]ike a muscle, willpower seems to become stronger with use.” I’m fortunate that I had the chance to go through 4 years in the Infantry. There’s no doubt that my willpower was increased significantly by that experience. I find myself backsliding a bit from time to time. Like right now, I should finish sanding the deck, but it’s cold right now (Michigan is having a cold-wave).
Anyway, I agree with the other comment that you ought to push yourself hard every day you can. It will pay off. You will leave other people in the dust. Life is a marathon, not a sprint. It takes training over months and years to excel. I guess it’s like the sales guy who picks up the phone at the end of the day and makes just one extra call. That’s the guy who’s going to outperform his peers (disclaimer: I’m not a sales professional).
I also agree with Brett that when law school finals come around, it’s almost impossible to maintain any kind of workout schedule.
I love the scene in Batman beings where Bruce learns that the “training is nothing, the will is everything — the will to act.” However, without the training, the will would be weak. Train to increase your willpower. Don’t train to get the abs. The abs are something you might get on the journey, but they aren’t the destination.
My objection to Men’s Health magazine is that the ads typify this homoerotic worship of the male anatomy. Fortunately, many of the articles make up for the times when the magazine seems to go out of its way to focus on superficiality.
And, as for Matthew McConaughey being a pretty boy, you should read the interview Men’s Health did with him a couple of years ago. I think you’ll want to put a different guy up there to represent the pretty boy type.
http://www.menshealth.com/cda/article.do?site=MensHealth&channel=fitness&category=fitness.tips&conitem=c65a99edbbbd201099edbbbd2010cfe793cd____
Sorry but this isn’t a good article.
First of all, it starts being about six pack abs, but then switches to talking about having huge muscles.
Second, maybe not all men have the genetics to attain the size of guy’s in fitness magazines, but this article isn’t about the size of muscles. And everyone can attain a sixpack.
The story about eating a burger and seeing a man with his family made me pity you. You talk about working out to be healthy, but what about eating to be healthy? Eating is a bigger part of health than exercise. And eating fast food is just gross.
I eat healthy and I don’t have tupperware, I go to parties and vacations and I eat ice cream if my girlfriend wants to go out for some. You don’t have to arrange your life like that to get a sixpack.
You know about crossfit, then you know probably know their philosophy on nutrition. Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, no sugar. KEEP INTAKE TO LEVELS THAT WILL SUPPORT EXERCISE BUT NOT BODY FAT.
And about the last part, willpower part, if you read the article you certainly know that it said that willpower increases with practice. Therefore the more you use it the more you have.
“Train to increase your willpower.”
Thanks, Rodney. You gave me a gem to add to my motivation notebook. I keep success stories and other bits of wisdom in it to help me over the hump on days when my energy is lagging. That is definitely a keeper.
On another note, ‘Mens Health’ can be good and they have some first-rate articles, but I felt cheated when I learned they and other magazines often Photoshop cover photos to make muscles larger. I suppose I was just naive.
@Rodney-I chose Matthew McConaughey simply because he is held up as having the ultimate male body and being every woman’s dream. The media definitely portrays him as a pretty boy-eye candy for the ladies. But you are right, he actually seems very cool in every interview I have read with him. Not only the one you linked to, but MH had another recently. Hey, you can’t argue with the manliness of a guy who hasn’t worn deodorant for decades because he enjoys his man smell.
Men’s Health definitely has some good stuff, but I have found myself getting kind of turned off lately. It seems they keep pushing the envelope and making their photos of women more and more pornographic. It’s just not needed.
@Karmazon-The post didn’t “start out talking about six pack abs.” That was simply the title. And I chose that title because while the article isn’t about big muscles per se, it is about being obsessed with getting them and the amount of time it may take a guy to do so. And six pack abs are symbolic of that. While exercise and health are important, getting ripped requires time and dedication that could be better spent on worthier causes. And no not every man can get a six pack. Please see Dave’s comments above.
Sorry that you pity me. I actually eat healthy most of the time. But once a week I go out to eat with my wife and eat whatever I want. I think having a “cheat meal” is actually beneficial as it helps you stick with your healthy eating the rest of the week. Having a treat every once in awhile is fine and desirable. I don’t think a man should go to a place famous for burgers (and Red Robin isn’t actually “fast food” by the way…although they do serve burgers if that’s what you meant) and eat a plain patty. Life is a little too short not to occasionally eat some delicious greasy grub.
On the issue of there being a contradiction between what the article in the NYT said, and what this post says….please see my response to “wannabemeatheadgeek” above. While your willpower does grow with practice, it is still true that at any given time you only have a set amount. Even if you massively increase your willpower, you still shouldn’t be using a disproportionate chunk of it on your physique. It’s all about balance.
@Gary-I actually I had never thought about magazines like MH airbrushing their models either. I guess I only associated that with women’s magazines. But it definitely makes sense.
Yes, every man can get a sixpack. Not every man can get huge. But being lean is possible for virtually everyone(unless you have some sort of a disease).
Getting ripped requires only being active and eating good, healthy foods. Basically, being lean is just a side effect of leading a healthy lifestyle.
And the whole willpower thing is a joke. Okay, people have a finite amount. But how much of it do they have? Isn’t it possible to have enough for numerous goals?
And the man you saw in the restaurant. Man shouldn’t go to a place famous for burgers and eat a plain patty? What if he was a bodybuilder or a fitness model and his livelihood depended on how he looked, and he was just taking his family out to dinner? You can’t assume anything.
Yup poor Dave. Afflicted with the dreaded “5% body fat Ironman disease.”
And why should being lean be a man’s goal?
Every man should seek to increase their willpower and personally decide how much willpower they have. And it doesn’t matter how much you have- it’s an inescapable fact that you can’t do numerous goals equally well. You can’t train for an Ironman and be the number one law student. You can’t be the number one law student and spend a lot of time with your family. Which comes back to my argument about balance-it’s simply a matter of prioritization. Can you get ripped and have time for other things? Certainly. I am simply arguing that men should know their tipping point of when other things in their life slip because they’re paying so much attention to their body.
I think this is a good post, but I think there is a problem that is much bigger than what is being addressed - whether or not a man chooses to have (or strive for) a great physique tshould come down to his own reasons and not the pressures he feels from his social setting.
Personally I strive for a great physique because a lot of the things I find most enjoyable in life require a lot of physical effort (climbing, bicycling, running, swimming, etc.). By getting in the best shape I possibly can I have a way to prolong the activities that give me joy.
“I will make my body” - Teddy Roosevelt
I think this is a good post, but I think there is a problem that is much bigger than what is being addressed - whether or not a man chooses to have (or strive for) a great physique should come down to his own reasons and not the pressures he feels from his social setting.
Personally I strive for a great physique because a lot of the things I find most enjoyable in life require a lot of physical effort (climbing, bicycling, running, swimming, etc.). By getting in the best shape I possibly can I have a way to prolong the activities that give me joy.
“I will make my body” - Teddy Roosevelt
@Joel-That was basically what I was going for. That a man should get in shape for his own reasons and not because of society’s pressure to conform to an ideal. Staying in shape for sports, for pleasure, and for health are all legitimate reasons. Being obsessed with your physique to get the ladies or simply because you think you have to to be a man are not good reasons.
@Dave
“The thing that you didn’t point to also genetics. If you don’t have the right genetics, you won’t get a 6-pack no matter how hard you try.
When I trained and ran an IronMan Traithlon, I did tons of core work and got myself down to just just over 5% body fat. Even at that, no 6 pack. I could easily do 300+ weighted sit ups/crunches twice a day and I still looked more James Dean than Matthew McConaughey.”
—> You don’t get a six-pack from doing endless sets of crunches and running triathalons. There is only one way to get your abs to show and that is to remove the layer of fat that is covering them and the only way to do that is to diet in such a way that you burn the fat off while retaining as much muscle as possible. Anyone can have a six-pack, you just aren’t going about it the right way. You don’t even need to work your abs to get a six-pack, you just need to burn the fat off of them.
By what measurement did you think you were 5% body fat? There is a big difference between being skinny and ripped. 5% bf means you are all muscle and isn’t very realistic to look like year round that without lifting and a finely tuned diet. Most likely you severely underestimated your bf% which most people do. I’m assuming you are very thin since you are a runner. If you want your abs to pop, you need to add more muscle mass which means lower reps and higher resistance training….and of course a diet that supports this type of training. Long distance running wastes away muscle and will make you very thin. You are probably burning just as much muscle as fat during your training, which does not lower your bf%.
Why do you pity the man in the restaurant who is trying to live a healthy lifestyle and at the same time look good physically? To some its a hobby and is a fun thing to do. I wouldn’t say he’s missing out on life not eating greasy french fries at the restaurant. When your motivation and will power are strong enough you don’t care about these petty things that you may give up to achieve your goals.
“If you only workout to get ripped, then when you don’t see the results you were hoping for, or the results come too slowly, you may give up. The key to a lifetime love for exercise is finding deeper motivations than physical appearance.”
–> I disagree. Seeing results in the mirror are what motivates you to come back to the gym every day. If you work out every day for a year and at the end of the year you look exactly the same, whats your motivation to keep coming back? The reason people don’t see the results they want are because they are doing something wrong. Instead of giving up on looking good physically, figure out whats wrong with your diet and/or training and fix it. There is no reason that you can’t be ripped and be functionally fit at the same time if you are willing to put the work in.
You forgot to mention the result of the survey that you based your blog on….
“The results: Men with muscular physiques were rated nearly twice as sexy as non-muscular men, but they were also rated twice as intimidating and dominant. ”
On looks alone, woman prefer the muscular physique but only choose the more average look because they were worried that someone like that might cheat or leave them.
@Chris-What’s the point of being sexy if women are still less attracted to you in general? There’s a reason women think men who are musuclar will cheat on them or leave them. It’s because many ripped guys, although certainly not all, have egos as big as their biceps. They’re often tools who are so into themselves they don’t have time to think of others.
@Kate
I don’t do it for woman at all, I do it because its a hobby that I enjoy. I have no ego, I’m actually very shy and hate attention. I also like living a healthy lifestyle and don’t consider sacrificing the little things, such as junk food, much of a sacrifice at all.
I have a problem with the bottom half of the article, I agree with the top portion. I feel like the author is telling you if its too hard to look the way you want, then quit and make excuses such as genetics as to why you cannot achieve those goals.
I don’t think that’s what the article is saying at all. The point is actually basically what you just said-that guys shouldn’t get ripped to look good for women or to look like a celebrity, but to find a deeper motivation for it. For you, it’s your hobby and that’s cool. The post says that’s there’s nothing wrong with working out because it’s pleasurable and something you enjoy. The idea was simply that you shouldn’t get obessed with it for the wrong reasons, or to do it to the detriment of other things in your life. It shouldn’t be the center of your life. There’s nothing wrong with trying to be in the best shape of your life, you just shouldn’t base that “best” on what the media sells you.
Kate, I agree with your last comment. I interpreted the article in a different manner, especially when the author wrote that he pitied the father at the restaurant without even knowing his reasons for lifting and eating healthy. Chances are, if he’s a family man, he’s not doing it for anybody but himself (and maybe his wife).
I absolutely agree that you should never buy into whatever the media is selling. Just be your own person.
A girl don’t see your six-pack until you’ve scored anyhow.
karmazon:
I work out daily, do crunches like a mo-fo, and guess what, no six pack. My granpa was one of the strongest men I knew, and he looked more like John Wayne than some meathead with a six pack and an attitude to match. I’ll take looking like the Duke any day.