There was a bit on TV the other day which was about the pros and cons of men (only men!?) aspiring to have a “six pack”.
The presenters seemed to be prepared to be neutral, a Personal Trainer argued for and a journalist argued against. The Trainer’s stance (we’ll call him Mike) was that whether or not it was possible for someone to attain a six pack it was a worthwhile aim to have – better than doing nothing and letting things drift.
When the male presenter asked the Journalist (we’ll call him Pete) whether he had a six pack, he pointed at his slightly thickening stomach and proudly said no, there wasn’t one hiding under his layer of fat. And he followed that with the “fact” that women didn’t go for men who cared about their physique.
“Are you sure about that?” asked the female presenter in such a way that you could not be in doubt that she would prefer a man to want to look okay.
Mike chipped in saying he couldn’t see why a goal such as aspiring to have a six pack with likely good side effects like feeling better, looking better and being more healthy was a bad thing. Neither, from their overall body language, could the presenters.
Pete then went on to justify his claim because an obsession with looks in men could well be hiding other woeful inadequacies. He also mentioned that he personally had no chance of getting a six pack because he was 40 “well 43 actually” – the implication here that it would be much too hard – not even possible.
Now maybe we’re getting to the crux of Pete’s stance and the fact that it’s probably telling me a lot more about him than the women he purports to talk for…
I have a lot of sympathy for his position with regard to an over obsession about looks.
However his thing about women not going for men who cared about their looks smacks of chauvinism (when challenged by the female presenter as to whether he had any evidence of this being so – he hadn’t). It was like he was totally convinced that the women in his life didn’t or shouldn’t care about such things as how he looked, but he didn’t go out of his way to say that he didn’t care what they looked like.
Now I think that neither men nor women are particularly turned on by any potential companion who excessively preens, but my observation is that people who feel good about themselves are attracted to others who do, too. Feeling they look okay is part of the whole deal. And most people (if they are really honest with themselves) want to be the best looking they can.
I don’t advocate trying to alter nature, but you can look after yourself. It’s nowhere near as hard as Pete seemed to think.
And that brings me on to Mike’s case. He said that not everybody could get a six pack, but that it was still a good aim. Well, I don’t know about you, but I most certainly would not like to be persisting with a goal I had no chance of achieving – how demotivating!
Anyway, I don’t believe it. I am sure that pretty damn near everybody (excluding any specific disabilities) of any age (I am in my sixties) could build up the necessary muscle, but I do accept that getting the surface fat off so that they can be shown off might be more difficult.
So here I am disagreeing with both Mike and Pete. My position being:-
• Set yourself reasonable (achievable) goals
• Take your natural physical attributes into account when selecting your goals
• Give yourself a reasonable amount of time – don’t rush
• Don’t get obsessed and work too hard on it, you won’t like it and you won’t stick to it
• Don’t use your age as an excuse
• Stay focused and perform
YES, NOW YOU ARE ATTRACTIVE (not that you weren’t before of course, but I reckon that you are more so now because you feel better about yourself and are more confident!)
AFTERNOTE:
Though Pete isn’t prepared to make the effort, it really isn’t that difficult or hard to get fit enough to look and feel good – Easy Fitness. I know the people I like to be around, they do look after themselves, they are not obsessed with their looks, but they do look after themselves (and a lot of them – not all – are over 43).
What’s your take on all this?
