Drowning In Negative Imagery
Human beings are naturally hard wired to compare themselves to other individuals as a means to fit into social hierarchy. What people are exposed to on a daily basis determines how they feel about themselves and they’re influenced by the opinions of others.
This is very obvious in today’s world of social media, where everything is extraordinary and abnormal. If the content isn’t abnormal or unusual, it isn’t viral and none of that content reaches the awareness of the public.
Social media has to sell illusions that produces the most engagement and attention to images that are deceptive in order for the platforms to remain successful and relevant. The fitness industry is one of the biggest culprits of this and millions of subscribers to these platforms are brainwashed to this predatory business model.
As a result, young bodybuilders and fitness enthusiasts are worshipping influencers that are fake naturals, athletes that hide their drug use from their followers to gain money, clout, and temporary fame.
Fitness influencers have to keep a ripped, shredded, muscular image throughout the year, so they use image altering technology and lighting to achieve a look of being perfect chiseled sculptures 24/7.
Of course, none of this is real but young people have the impression that these images are authentic because of their constant scrolling through this addictive social media content. Reality is much different than the online world and is something we need to return to get back to escape this era of trickery and deception.
How Social Media Has Affected Physiques In The 21st Century
The golden era of bodybuilding highlighted men that prioritized the healthy lifestyle of proper nutrition and moderate exercise to achieve impressive, inspirational physiques. This mindset was not something that was hyped or trendy, this was a preached as a philosophy to keep the mind and body strong well into the later years of life.
Establishing discipline in youth to enjoy the best years of your life was why bodybuilding appealed to so many individuals that aspired to look and feel great in adulthood. Bodybuilding in the 21st century has seemed to take the opposite effect, with aspiring trainees wanting the physique of other individuals to overcome poor self-esteem and low confidence.
This can be seen with the popularity of performance enhancing drugs that delivers results much faster by collapsing the time frames to achieve impressive strength and muscularity gains. The youth care less about long term health and mental development and more about getting shredded and the largest muscles possible for their genetic makeup (see The Dangers of Staying Shredded Year Round).
The standards for most weightlifters/bodybuilders are very low body fat levels (<10% for men, under 20% for women) with a certain accumulated amount of lean body mass per year. Someone new to bodybuilding will expect to add 15lbs of muscle their starting year and expect those results each and every year their training.
They also expect to maintain chiseled defined abdominals and vascularity between their muscles, as these are indicators of a trainee with advanced experience that has been training for well over 10+ years in their development. This look is achievable, but not for many that have little experience understanding their body and the proper nutrition that’s required.
As a result of these unrealistic expectations, many fitness enthusiasts are surprised when they see influencers in real life that look nothing like their photos or posted video content. Influencers often use lighting, oil, favorable angles, filters, achieve a pump on camera, and take multiple takes for their videos to give the impression of a flawless physique online.
The difference between an influencer and a real fitness model is that models are able to maintain realistic body compositions (closer to 12-15% body fat for men) and remain in great shape until it’s time for a photo shoot (see How to Get Photo Shoot Ready). Influencers strive year long to look great while taking great setbacks on their physical and mental health.
Becoming The Best Version of Yourself
Taking photographs on a regular basis is actually beneficial for your own self-awareness and to showcase your progress (or lack thereof) both in and out of the gym. If you have regions of your body that need more attention or having difficulty losing fat in areas of physique, your best critic is your own judgement of your photos,
Professional photos taken occasionally are a great way to fine tune your progress on your fitness journey and regular smartphone photos can also be beneficial to record progress on a weekly basis. Posting photos online for an audience can produce an opposite effect, as the criticism of others can deter your motivation and even lead to self-doubt or a negative attitude.
Mike Mentzer, the Mr. Olympia champion bodybuilder from the 1970s and 1980s, taught about subjectivity vs objectivity within his philosophy. This emphasized the mindset that bodybuilders should be more subjective, or focused on self, to improve on your personal goals and achievements.
The objective mindset is the era we’re currently seeing, with most people concentrating on the achievement of others to make progress comparatively.
The Wrap Up
The large influx of images presented on social media have currently changed the look of physiques in the 21st century. Subscribers to fitness influencer pages have changed adopted an objective mindset on comparing and contrasting their bodies to extraordinary and rare physiques because of the amount of attention given to these popular platforms. To counter all of this imagery, one must become the great version of self by focusing on what really matters, which is long term health and longevity to maintain a peace of mind.
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