“Mirror, mirror, on the wall – who’s the fairest one of all?”
May 11, 2009 General Fitness
Posted by
Chazz
While fitness center mirrors can be vital tools during one’s journey through the corridors of wellness, typically providing visual feedback on correct form, development and achievement, they tend to reflect an illusion for the mainstream fitness warrior. Novice exercisers are generally very critical of the reflective image they see of themselves; however, after a month or two, these now so called exercise veterans witness distorted images in the mirrors, replicating the imagination of their own perceptions.
Consider this. We see images of beautifully fit people everywhere we turn; television, movies, magazines, and newspaper ads. Advertisers know all too well that the general public will purchase products and services that are peddled by these individuals in an effort to look beautifully fit too. In the past, most marketing powers have been directed toward women. But now we are seeing more advertisements of this same nature directed toward men.
Advertisers tell us that in order to be successful and attractive to the opposite sex we must look a certain way. Men then flock to fitness centers believing that they’ll have an award winning physique that can grace the cover of muscle magazines in a few short months. After a couple of reps on the bicep machine, our would be alpha-male, in his Y-back tank top, has one eye in the mirror admiring his engorged muscle as he tenses for a quick nonchalant flex. But in reality, his small bicep muscle is still covered in layers of fat giving him the illusion of a Hulk Hogan arm.
It’s time to end the fairy tale and take a reality check. Gentlemen, if you want to display your hard earned physique, make sure that your physique is indeed hard earned. The majority of men (and women for that matter) I see every day in gyms and fitness centers do not know how to train or, judging from their bodies, how to eat. If you like the way you look in front of a mirror when you’re naked, then great; however, if you’d like to sculpt your body in to one you can be proud of in that reflection – give me a call.
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