The other day, I found two blog posts from other writers. One was dated earlier this year, but it heavily referenced a post from over 10 years ago. Both are excellent if you have the time to read them, and bring up many points that will really get you thinking. While these articles were absolutely from the perspective of women, and I do think that this is something we face more so than men, guys aren’t immune from this, especially in the fitness industry, and that’s the particular slant I want to add my thoughts to.
The societal push to maintain a certain standard of “prettiness” seems to be the driving force in the fitness industry – get ripped, get a 6-pack, get a “bikini body”. Here’s a thought: if you want a bikini body, put a bikini on your body! Ta-da! This attitude of trying to force everyone into a goal of a certain look to their body is I’ve known I was uncomfortable with since first getting into the fitness industry nearly 7 years ago. I tailor our workouts to help our bodies do more and feel better. While that may re-shape our bodies somewhat, that’s not my main driving force behind any workout that I put together for us. That’s not to say that I can’t help you lose weight (just don’t ask me to help you get to an unhealthy weight), or direct you to some specific exercises if you decide you want to build up your booty. But frankly, you have plenty of options available to you around town and online if you want to “get ripped”. I was just saying to someone the other day, “It’s easy to kick someone’s butt. It’s much harder to kick someone’s butt safely.”
The above referenced articles both make some really good points regarding this simple concept – that it’s ok not to look “your best”. And if that’s something you struggle with, I want you to know that the FwR studio is a great first place to let down your guard about it. We all just want to make or keep our bodies as happy and healthy as possible, and I’m pretty sure no one cares if you have makeup on, your hair is done, if you shirt has a hole in it or if your pants are on inside out.