We live in a
world where bodies of athletes taking grams of illegal drugs such as
anabolic steroids are put on a pedestal. Millions of people are
sharing photos of bodybuilders and other strength athletes everyday
vie online social media. Usually, the images are accompanied with
some kind of a cliche quote like: “Shoot for the moon, and even if
you miss, you'll land among the stars.”, “If you can't stay the
heat, stay you of the kitchen.”, “How bad do you want it?”...etc.
While of this is an amusing activity in itself what is happening has
also negative consequences since an opportunity for development of
false perception is present.
I have news
for you: it's all an illusion and the lifestyle of fitness and
bodybuilding professional is a well orchestrated pipe dream meant to
produce financial gains for some due to the ignorance of others.
Since online social media have become a catalyst for the human
narcissism sites like Facebook are also responsible for the cult of
the steroid bodies which have become the norm.
IronGangsta
is not against sharing photos over the Internet. The real problem
hides in the fact that as always people fall for a classic Hollywood
like scam, and in the end of the day remain frustrated and even hate
themselves because they cannot achieve something that seems to come
so easy to others.
If you
are not 8% body fat, you are “phat”.
If you
don't have 18 inches “ripped” arms with bulging muscles, you are
a “fagget who should try lifting some weights.”
Similar
language is quite common on bodybuilding forums where all it takes to
convince someone that you are not using steroids and all your “gainz”
are real is to just say: “I am a natural bodybuilder and you are
just jelly (slang for jealous).” The illusion has grown so
much that people have accepted the bodies of professional fitness
models as something “natural” and even supposedly easily
achievable by anyone who trains hard and eats plenty of vegetables.
If you fail – it's your genetics that are to blame! {More on
genetics here}.
How does
someone who is not perfect feel when he or she lists through photos
of professional fitness models who look like they've came straight
out of Photoshop? It's like being a broke person in an expensive
restaurant – you just feel weird and others look down on you. Most of the time people even start
criticizing themselves for not being good enough, to the point where
self-hatred eats them from the inside out.
Thinking bad
things about yourself is never a good thing – it's like having a
computer virus damaging your otherwise well working software. Therefor it makes perfect sense to limit your possible sources of viruses such as Facebook.
IronGangsta's advice is to be more realistic and to try to see
through the fake in front of you and appreciate yourself a little
more. Sometimes it's very hard, but as Bruce Lee has said:
“A goal is
not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something
to aim at.”