The fitness guru and the Carb fairy
Appearance, social pressure and judgement
A fitness or if you prefer movement guru, let’s call him Ima Door, once proudly proclaimed how he trained purely for performance and never for aesthetics.
His attitude suggested anyone who exercised for aesthetics must be shallow, misguided in error.
Hmmmm
Mr Door is a man who has probably never gone a day in his life where his abs were not visible. He is a man who complained about the stares directed towards his chiselled physique while walking on the beach.
Admiration of his body is the medium he lives in, like the proverbial fish that has no word for water.
I propose a thought experiment.
Imagine if an Evil Carb Fairy were to wave a magic wand* in Mr Door’s direction and coat him with fifty kilos or more of blubber.
Let the same fairy wave that wand once more and place Mr Door back on that same beach.
Now observe again the stares directed in Mr Door’s direction.
Watch the expression on faces as Mr Door expounds movement wisdom.
Perhaps Mr Door would find his attitude to aesthetics transformed.
Though aesthetics may ultimately be a dead-end or a trap for training purposes, I’d be wary of judging people who find motivation there. Certainly not without taking a walk in their skin.
*for francophones this is a Baguette magique
(for anglophones a baguette is both a stick, a wand piece of french bread).
