Body Image (Part I)

Posted May 3, 2019

Do you worry about whether you are too fat or too thin? Are there aspects of your appearance that you're unhappy with? Do you find yourself consumed by the way you look?

Many individuals have struggled with body image their entire lives. Even as adults, I hear how unhappy my clients are with the way they look. As a personal trainer, one of the most common client goals is to look better.

Unfortunately for some, body image issues can negatively affect many parts of their lives. Spousal relationships, confidence in the workplace, and even how you parent your children can be adversely impacted by how you feel about your body.

The first step in trying to regain a positive self image is to identify your body type. By identifying your body type, you can create a realistic approach for improvement. Typically, we categorize individuals by three different body types.

• Ectomorph: Lean and long, with difficulty building muscle.
• Endomorph: Big, high body fat, often pear-shaped, with a high tendency to store body fat.
• Mesomorph: Muscular and well-built, with a high metabolism and responsive muscle cells.

Many times, I will have a client come to me with an aesthetics goal. More often than not, the client’s aesthetics goal is unattainable. The failure is not based on the person’s desire or ambition, rather, their genetics will not allow for such a transformation.

In order for myself and the client to initiate a positive conversation about their body, I implement this exercise...(I ask the reader to play along and answer these questions as well).

1. Which actor/actress do you or other people think you most resemble?
2. Which actor/actress would you most like to resemble?

This exercise serves several purposes. The first purpose is that we are not using the client as the object of opinion. Rather, we are now objectifying someone who merely looks like the client. The conversation then becomes much more fluid. Ironically, my client who is speaking negatively about their own appearance almost always identifies someone who is regarded as attractive.

In this moment, we are already changing what was a negative conversation, into an objective discussion.

You might be thinking, “Sure, but what if your client says people think they look like Melissa McCarthy?"

I love it when my clients give me an example of a plus-sized celebrity because they all have one thing in common... confidence.

At the core of all of our fitness goals the most rewarding by-product of our endeavors is confidence! The confidence to now be able to run a mile, the confidence to now be able to do a push-up, the confidence to now be able to climb a flight of stairs with coworkers, the confidence to now be able to sit with you kids in a bathing suit at the public pool, the confidence to now be able to be physically intimate with another person. I have seen and heard it all. It comes in all forms!

Exercise’s greatest gift, is the ability to do something you couldn’t before.

So your homework is to answer the two questions I asked... who do people think you look like and who do you want to look like. In my next blog, we will try and bridge the gap between where we are and where we want to be. I will discuss the different body types and detail workout and nutritional techniques that promote your physique. Most importantly, let’s start a course of action to change how you feel about the way you look and find the confidence you deserve!

Jesse Baker |  one80fit@gmail.com