All my life I always thought I knew what the perfect body was male and female of course, I've thought about each for many years.
It is what I saw in all the magazines, Men’s/Women’s health, films, TV shows and my friend Matty’s Dads DVDs that he uses to hide under his bed. What a strange place to hide his favourite shows we thought, the surprise was real.These people were tall (bastards), tanned, visible 6 packs, big arms, legs and shoulders popping so much they looked like small footballs. I was in awe. I wanted that. So like many others, I began with a trip to the gym to get super jacked within a couple of months …… I am still waiting 14 years later. This is bull shit.
I walked into the gym, I put no weights on the 20kg bar and began my warm-up set of bench press, this was not a warm-up set I soon realised, it was my 1 rep max. Jesus this isn’t going to be fun I thought.
As the years went on my training was always based around how I could be a better athlete but even during this time, aesthetics was always in the back on my mind of course it was. It always is. We want to be able to be proud of what we see in the mirror.
But what is wrong about being proud of your body for what it’s capable of without showing defined abdominal muscles, a definition in your quads, bulging biceps or an arse like J LO?
I will say it absolutely nothing.
Where has this idea of perfect come from? If you are super ripped up and have what you would call an ideal body, does this mean you’re strong? Does this mean your healthy? Does this mean you’re happy? Nope.
I have made mistakes in the past for dieting people including myself too low, not enjoying the foods we like, not going to social events, where stress becomes higher, happiness becomes lower, sex drive drops, training ability sucks and what for? To be able to take a picture and show people, is that really what we are living for?
Remember the pillars of health I have spoke about in previous emails, not just nutrition and exercise.
So what is the perfect body? In my opinion
The perfect body is the body where we are most comfortable, we are most happy and where we can live without stress.
It means we can love who we are, we can go to social events, we can enjoy our life and have a respect with our body
Of course, the bodies health markers should not be affected.
In no way shape or form am I saying, you shouldn’t be looking for improvement. HELL NO. But just understand your idea of a great body. Everyone is vastly different, genetics, hormones and the time of the month play a role. So don’t be chasing something that makes you unhappy in the process.
Look at what your body is capable of, not what it is not. You jump out of bed each day, you get to train, you get to give yourself nutritious foods, you get to give your body what it deserves. This is where the results are.
There is nothing wrong with looking to better your body and yourself but make sure it is processed oriented as much a possible and you don’t give your body a deadline in achieving your sustainable happiness in terms of a physique. Because it will be short lived.
I make a living on improving peoples body composition, but aside this we work on improving their mindset, their education, their vision, their understanding of what they really want and what will make them happy within themselves.
The point of my emails is to hopefully make you think a little bit differently, it is to challenge your belief system and question things you thought you already knew.
I will leave you with this. Do not believe having a ‘perfect’ body will fix all your problems.
