There are a lot of reasons why someone would get into lifting weights.
Maybe you are a bit overweight and you are trying to get healthier and look better. Maybe you’re pretty scrawny and you would like to pack on a bit of muscle. Maybe you were looking for a group of individuals for you to finally fit in.
Whatever it was, I bet it was due to an insecurity.
But what about bodybuilders?
I’m a big fan of Kai Greene and when I found a video that talked about his insecurities next to Rich Piana, I was a little in shock about it.
I guess it shouldn’t be surprising that even the most elite bodybuilders and strength athletes have a lot of emotional and psychological similarities to us common folk, and that means they too suffer from insecurities and body dysmorphia.
More common than you may think, body dysmorphia is when someone spends hours per day thinking about their flaws. From the freckle on their face to being fat, they think and obsess about this every single day.
Since they cannot control the negative thoughts in their head, they do not believe anything that someone tells them and this can cause severe emotional distress and interfere with daily functioning.
Missing work or school, avoiding social situations, and isolation from everyone including family and friends happen because they fear others will notice their flaws. They may go as far as having unnecessary plastic surgeries to correct their perceived imperfections, but they will never be satisfied with the results.
People who have body dysmorphia also tend to suffer from OCD, social anxiety, depression, and eating disorders.
But there’s also muscle dysmorphia.
Muscle dysmorphia is a little different — it is a variant of OCD.
You may have heard the term “bigorexia,” where people who are massive still feel they are too small and underdeveloped.
Apparently, something in the brains of these individuals has gone awry, and the brain’s ability to map body boundaries are stifled. This means they really don’t see themselves as big as they really are.
In order for these people to try to fix their perceived smallness, they will compulsively exercise, lift weights, and take potentially lethal amounts of gear to get bigger.
Check out Kai Greene’s interview where he genuinely has some insecurity next to Rich Piana to the point where he wanted to escape so he would not be compared physically to him.
“Maybe I can sneak away really quickly before someone makes a comparison.”
This video personally opened my eyes to the fact that everyone has some sort of insecurity.
Whether it’s your body size, how much muscle you have, how big your package is, your face, freckles, whatever… everyone has an insecurity.
I guess what I’m trying to get at is everyone is built differently and even the people who we all look up to that have amazing physiques still have some sort of insecurity about their body.
Use this knowledge and press forward with your own journey and try not to compare yourself to someone else because all that will do is hold you back from achieving your own goals and life mission. Compete against yourself and do not worry about anyone else.
This post was last modified on February 6, 2019 2:47 pm
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