Unrealistic Body Standards

malachi said:
Just a converation I having with a work collegaue whose family members are dietitians and sports physiotherapists. They see a lot of people in their 30's who have fantastic bodies because they are in the gym 24/7 but have type 2 diabetes. Also coming in with shoulder and knee problems.
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I'm also really interested by this, I'm a frequent gym goer and I see lots of guys who do look pretty amazing, like almost impossibly good - but who simultaneously don't seem to have any real strength or stamina. I look like a bag of turds in comparison, despite being very fit and strong, even at my peak as an international swimmer, I didn't look anything like as good as these modern gym guys with all these supplements and potions.

I've also noticed, some of them - not all of them have real bad skin problems and things like acne, along with insane mood swings - some of them scare me a bit and seem very volatile.

It seems there's this craze to look a certain way in no time at all, being fit and strong doesn't seem to matter - it all seems cosmetic, it can't be good for people. The diabetes thing is interesting too - I read something similar in athletes who were consuming gigantic amounts of carbohydrates (energy drinks, gels, power bars etc) before training, which is interesting because you'd think that you'd be burning it all off - but maybe it causes too much of a high load on the endocrine system, as all of those sugars still have to be metabolised.
 
Screeeech said:
even at my peak as an international swimmer, I didn't look anything like as good as these modern gym guys with all these supplements and potions.
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Steroids. Pretty much the whole of instagram is full of fake natties pushing all these miracle supplements and workout routines while shooting up a bunch.
 
I can tell you for certain that if you see someone in the gym and you think "wow that dude is massive" then 9 times out of 10 its not natural.

I have been going to gyms for years and my time in the military surrounded by people keen on fitness has shown me that even guys with perfect strict diets never reach levels that bulge out of their clothes and grow traps up to their ears.
 
Screeeech said:
I'm also really interested by this, I'm a frequent gym goer and I see lots of guys who do look pretty amazing, like almost impossibly good - but who simultaneously don't seem to have any real strength or stamina. I look like a bag of turds in comparison, despite being very fit and strong, even at my peak as an international swimmer, I didn't look anything like as good as these modern gym guys with all these supplements and potions.

I've also noticed, some of them - not all of them have real bad skin problems and things like acne, along with insane mood swings - some of them scare me a bit and seem very volatile.

It seems there's this craze to look a certain way in no time at all, being fit and strong doesn't seem to matter - it all seems cosmetic, it can't be good for people. The diabetes thing is interesting too - I read something similar in athletes who were consuming gigantic amounts of carbohydrates (energy drinks, gels, power bars etc) before training, which is interesting because you'd think that you'd be burning it all off - but maybe it causes too much of a high load on the endocrine system, as all of those sugars still have to be metabolised.
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i suspect it's a combination of technique and the fact that building for practical strength=/=building to look ripped, perfect example is just look at worlds strongest man- most of them look like a bunch of fatties but you cant argue when you see them pulling a truck.

me and a friend were chatting about this phenomenon the other day, we were talking about when we chopped down a bunch of trees in his drive (proper 40m tall firs) and we were loading up the decent logs to the trailer to store them. there were a few of us including myself and his brother in law, who is a fitness instructor and a proper healthy living type of chap (no steroids), but he was knackered after a few decent logs while the rest of us kept going all day despite me for one being overweight and not exercising much.

the only answer we could draw was that the rest of us were used to doing this kind of work, and as such had developed techniques to minimise the expended effort and properly pace ourselves, while the brother in law who might have had the power, was burning himself out because he wasn't used to lifting awkwardly distributed weights.
 
There's absolutely a difference in functional vs non-functional strength, a lot of bodybuilders/gym goers stick to isolated movements which aren't great for activities like you've stated above.

You need top tier genetics to be big and ripped naturally, think of people like Dorian Yates before he knew he needed to take stuff to win competitions, he was genetically gifted just like all the winners of Mr Olympia have been. Your frame makes a hell of a difference, geared up muscle on narrow shouldered, wide hipped men just makes them look like a ninja turtle.
 
Screeeech said:
I look like a bag of turds in comparison, despite being very fit and strong, even at my peak as an international swimmer, I didn't look anything like as good as these modern gym guys with all these supplements and potions.
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Silly thing is, the swimmer physique is probably more in line with the optimal shape girls tend to find attractive. I don't think the pointless excess muscle that various gym queens seek to build is at all necessary. When I was in my early 20s and on R&R from a tour of Iraq I had quite a lot of success with women in that short 2 week period, partly because I just had a bit under 2 weeks to blow off steam and so was putting in effort to hook up with as many girls as possible and partly because I was in really good physical condition and had a bit of a tan.

adolf hamster said:
me and a friend were chatting about this phenomenon the other day, we were talking about when we chopped down a bunch of trees in his drive (proper 40m tall firs) and we were loading up the decent logs to the trailer to store them. there were a few of us including myself and his brother in law, who is a fitness instructor and a proper healthy living type of chap (no steroids), but he was knackered after a few decent logs while the rest of us kept going all day despite me for one being overweight and not exercising much.

the only answer we could draw was that the rest of us were used to doing this kind of work, and as such had developed techniques to minimise the expended effort and properly pace ourselves, while the brother in law who might have had the power, was burning himself out because he wasn't used to lifting awkwardly distributed weights.
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you might well find that he's simply not very fit... you get all sorts of BS from these personal trainer types, some of them don't like to do much cardio, especially if they do a lot of work with weights... because they're not really into "fitness" they're into body building.

I remember at a previous workplace we had to enter a charity run (it was only about 5k or something), various gym types (who regularly had protein shakes and other nonsense on their desks) fared pretty badly, they were simply unfit, their gym training consisted purely of vanity sessions to build muscle for the sake of it.
 
dowie said:
you might well find that he's simply not very fit... you get all sorts of BS from these personal trainer types, some of them don't like to do much cardio, especially if they do a lot of work with weights... because they're not really into "fitness" they're into body building.

I remember at a previous workplace we had to enter a charity run (it was only about 5k or something), various gym types (who regularly had protein shakes and other nonsense on their desks) fared pretty badly, they were simply unfit, their gym training consisted purely of vanity sessions to build muscle for the sake of it.
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he's more of an all-round type, certainly not going for the bag of muscles effect
 
adolf hamster said:
he's more of an all-round type, certainly not going for the bag of muscles effect
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perhaps it is more like Ayahuasca has pointed out then, gym muscles not the same as real muscles... someone used to doing that work outside who has got that strength partly from doing something in the real world rather than repetitive controlled exercises in a gym perhaps has an advantage

as a more extreme example, this is a former world champion boxer attempting some p company tests:


he's at a huge disadvantage (he's a bit older than them too to be fair), those other recruits have been building up strength and fitness not just in a gym and through boxing but through military training more specific to those tasks. He's clearly a very fit man but he's not going to cope with that (also note he's a bit bulkier than most of those recruits, carrying extra weight/muscle that isn't really needed), though perhaps if he had gone through their training before hand then the result would be different. I'd wager that plenty of otherwise very fit people would still struggle a lot initially with plenty of military training as various aspects of it are only trained for really by doing it.
 
Greebo said:
Sad thing is the thigh gap is genetics. Its something you either have from birth or you don't. Lucky for those girls with it as it seems to be the in trend.
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I disagree. To me It's like fat/obese people saying oh "I'm just big boned." Narrow hips doesn't preclude a thigh gap at all. Hell, most men (if not not overweight) will have a thigh gap, just need to move the balls out of the way to see it.

I've not seen a physically fit woman without a thigh gap. There will always be a gap unless she has super dangly labia minora, but vaginal rejuvenation is a whole other topic.
 
In Victorian times the prozzies used to fool the punters during an against the wall knee trembler by gripping the
[ usually drunk ] john's member between their thightops rather than risk vaginal penetration.
I suspect this thigh gap has a historical, nay, genetic role in the evolution of the species.

What's that nurse ? my medication is ready ?
 
Screeeech said:
I'm also really interested by this, I'm a frequent gym goer and I see lots of guys who do look pretty amazing, like almost impossibly good - but who simultaneously don't seem to have any real strength or stamina. I look like a bag of turds in comparison, despite being very fit and strong, even at my peak as an international swimmer, I didn't look anything like as good as these modern gym guys with all these supplements and potions.

I've also noticed, some of them - not all of them have real bad skin problems and things like acne, along with insane mood swings - some of them scare me a bit and seem very volatile.

It seems there's this craze to look a certain way in no time at all, being fit and strong doesn't seem to matter - it all seems cosmetic, it can't be good for people. The diabetes thing is interesting too - I read something similar in athletes who were consuming gigantic amounts of carbohydrates (energy drinks, gels, power bars etc) before training, which is interesting because you'd think that you'd be burning it all off - but maybe it causes too much of a high load on the endocrine system, as all of those sugars still have to be metabolised.
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It opened up my eyes too, I always thought diabetes 2 happens only with over weight people. I was clearly wrong.

I go the gym everyday but I balance it with cardio and never take steroids. Doing martial arts twice a week also help keeping my body in shape.
 
I remember a TV interview comparing "Mr Universe" style body-builders with "Strongmen" saying that when Arnie/Ferrigno etc were competing they were actually quite weak compared to the Strongmen of the time (still strong compared to me obviously) as they were building muscles for "show" but not "use" which leaves muscles leaner but more densely packed i.e. just look at the physique "The Mountain" who is the current worlds strongest man but doesn't look hugely muscled compared to a body-builder.
 
englishpremier said:
I disagree. To me It's like fat/obese people saying oh "I'm just big boned." Narrow hips doesn't preclude a thigh gap at all. Hell, most men (if not not overweight) will have a thigh gap, just need to move the balls out of the way to see it.

I've not seen a physically fit woman without a thigh gap. There will always be a gap unless she has super dangly labia minora, but vaginal rejuvenation is a whole other topic.
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Well the medical profession disagrees with you

Most women can only get a thigh gap when they're too thin to be healthy and there is muscle wasting in their legs due to restrictive eating behaviors. For someone with wider-set hips, however, a thigh gap is possible even with a healthy body weight
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so you need to be either born like that or you are unwell
 
IrishChr1s said:
I find this hard to believe

Evidence towards exercise, weight loss, muscle gain and sustaining a low waist circumference would lower your risk of type 2 diabetes to virtually nothing.
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Nope, one of my boss is slim yet last year he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. I asked him how because he is not over weight. He said it doesn't matter because you can be skinny and still have a bad diet, his weakness was sweets and sugary drinks consumed over years. Now he has to cut down.
 
This thread has an awful lot of very commonly held misconceptions and nonsense in it. it's much, much more complicated than muscles being "more dense" or "muscles for go, not for show". If you want to understand the mechanisms behind what makes one person stronger than another, you need to understand the role that the central nervous system plays. It's a really interesting thing to read about, give it a google.
 
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