Fitness Tips: Ignore the Illusions
This post is borrowed from loveablepsycho from Randomfuckery. He illustrates the need for looking at the big picture and talks about expectations when it comes to wanting to get in shape.
The discipline to exercise is an admirable thing. I workout a lot but I find motivation from others that I observe. For instance; it’s corpse in a icebox cold outside right now, but I still see people jogging daily. I’m not jogging outside unless I have a whale blubber overcoat, so more power to those folks. It motivates me to GO TO THE GYM, and run on the TREADMILL. The discipline comes from a few sources within, one of them being vanity. Let’s face it, we all want that ‘I can go to the beach whenever’ body. Whether it be for self confidence or to catch others’ attention. The problem with that, is that this want for a perfect body is fueled by unrealistic influences. The most prominent influence would probably be magazines and movies. I know mine was, from when I was younger and watched Rambo and The Terminator and decided I wanted muscles like Stallone and Schwarzenegger. Today, however, I’m a bit more realistic. I’m muscular but I still want to have full range of motion. No need to have arms so big you can’t wipe your own ass without a rag on a stick.
There’s an alarming number of people who see these influences and set out to get in shape, and get discouraged when they don’t see results fast enough, and/or start to realize the amount of dedication it takes to get in shape (and stay there). So, because of that, I think we should call these unfluences “unfluences” because they tend to dissuade people from fitness than motivate.
There’s a secret though, that most people are unaware of. The majority of the celebrities and models you see, don’t look that way 24/7. Also, there’s methods to making someone worthy of a magazine cover. Airbrushing is one such method. Also, actors usually have “normal” looking bodies until it’s time for them to get in shape for a particular role, and that’s when they hire a trainer and go absolutely bazonkular on their workouts and diets. That’s all good, but it takes more effort to do that shit all year around. We all have our slips though, where we ate something we know we had no business eating. I bought a Pepsi last night. I had to check my elbows for cleavage (you know what elbow cleavage is, don’t look at me like that).
But, these slips do very little damage to whatever progress you may have made. We all trip up when we walk, at some point, but we keep walking. Fitness is no different in my eyes. LL Cool J made the cover of a new Men’s Fitness magazine. A friend of mine said he looks like he had some sort of surgery to look right, but all he did, is maintain discipline. I’m not sure if there was any airbrushing of any kind, and I’m sure he doesn’t need any. I’ve seen one of his workouts on television. He get’s it in. But, what I’m almost positive of was a slight trick of the lighting on the set. Either way you slice it, LL is in incredible shape and that’s the end of it. It goes to show that hard work really does pay off in the end.
We all love beautiful looking people, or just plain ol’ attractive looking people, they’re fun to look at. But you can’t see them, and then compare yourself to them. Especially if they wear a size 1 and you wear a size 6. Don’t even bother doing that, it’s silly. Accept whatever body type you have, and get in shape for that size but placing unrealistic goals will derail your progress SO quickly, you’ll wonder if you ever made an effort at all.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )
Green Afro Diva ™ - Natural Living with Flava 
