It May Not Always Be As It Seems

From time to time, I see these clips pop up on my social media feeds. The algorithms seem to think that I like to watch or care much about these over the top, physique toting individuals because I’m interested in health, wellness, and fitness. Personally, I don’t actually view most of these individuals as really being in these categories. However, the algorithm does. And so every now and again they grace my screen and enter into my eye line and thereby my little universe.

It is important, however, that I know what’s going on in the wider universe, so I do see the headlines and conversation that tend to surround these individuals. Bold headlines of a surprised scandalous exposé appear everywhere. Finally, after all the denials, the truth is out. An apology or more like an admittance with what mostly consists of a justification is issued and the next set of videos are now out in front of us. The Liver King is on steroids and in my utter and complete indifferent phony outrage and shock, I simply ask myself, how did we get here?

My first thoughts are why we have such prominence and regard for individuals as such in the first place. The physique seemingly plays a huge role in this, I believe. It would be rare to find them fully clothed in any of their posts. Then comes the wild workouts and exercises that are attached to it adding as well products and a lifestyle with a long forgone century diet that may have some basis of truth at its core, but is being overblown to the extreme without any scientific references or evidence provided alongside it, except ,well, the physique.

The societal fascination with the ‘perfect’ body and physique intertwined with preying on our own individual insecurities prompts the attention and draws the people in. The explanation of how to get there is then drilled into the heads of those who start to follow that which is shown to them. Key words here are what is shown to them and not necessarily what is done behind closed doors.  And just like that the carefully choreographed imagery has done its job.

To put it simply, the ‘perfect’ physique doesn’t necessarily mean that its owner has the expertise of how to get there or more importantly for how you can get there. If your underlying goal is to achieve a muscular physique, you may require a different methodology based on your circumstances and life which are probably different than those of the performing individual. Even athletes, such as Olympic athletes, mostly have specific knowledge pertaining to performing in their specific sport. The requirements of your journey, life and goals may be very different and not align at all with theirs.

The issue in this case is even deeper though. Even if this individual did have the map to not only his success, but your success, he certainly wasn’t sharing the real one with you. He undermined his entire presentation. Here is an individual putting it in front of you and exclaiming that this is the way to do it, building a whole presentation of how you can do the same while he does the complete opposite. He is presenting to you what for many is unattainable especially if done naturally, claiming that you can also do it naturally like him when all the while he himself isn’t doing it naturally.

If anything, his story not only disproves his lifestyle thesis, it proves the exact opposite. It proves that one can’t obtain such a physique naturally and that in order to achieve it, it has to be done, like he actually does, with steroids and PEDs. Proving that It’s the only way to achieve the unachievable. The bigger issue here is not necessarily that this individual was taking PEDs, it was the deceit and dishonesty. It was the fact that he was claiming something, selling you something potentially unachievable, while doing the complete opposite.

And this complete opposite is the testament to anyone who wants to go there. Therefore, guaranteeing that people will either give up, knowing that they can’t get there or that they will have to take PEDs to get there, thereby promoting its use because it has only fueled their obsession and existing fascination.

It is a strange fascination that exists with the physique and more so the obsession shown towards those who have achieved it. While we give less attention to our lives and our own individual journey to just try copy and paste that which we see presented in front of us. I wouldn’t necessarily tell anyone what to do when it comes to the use of PEDs, unhealthy or unproven supplements for the sake of the physique. However, I wouldn’t promote it and would rather strongly advise against it as they are proven to be unhealthy and dangerous to our health especially in the long run.

It’s up to the individual to discover what works for them and best if done so under the advisement of a professional. However, it’s this obsession and desire for a quick result that often drives people to go to the extreme especially with such imagery presented to them.

What we need to consider is not just how far people are willing to go for this obsession or even what people are willing to do to appeal to individuals with this fascination, but the dangers of what is being shown, promoted and preached. Rarely is any scientific evidence provided alongside the ideologies and methodology with the only ‘proof’ that it works really is the physique that is on show. How can we know if there is any validity at all in what is being promoted, and furthermore how do we know that it is not in fact damaging or indeed actually dangerous to our health?