ASK THE TRAINER

It’s about fitness, not fantasized physique

Be honest: What do you see when you look in the mirror? Do you see a distorted image that exaggerates your flaws, or do you see a fantasy version of your best self?

Body image is how you picture yourself and feel about your physical appearance, but it is not always based on reality. The key to having a positive body image is respecting our natural shape and learning to overpower negative thoughts and replace them with positive ones.

Personal trainers are in business to help people live healthier lives, not to help them look like unrealistic images of airbrushed super models. We can improve muscle strength, reduce body fat and raise cardiovascular fitness, but the shape of our bodies is genetically predetermined. If you are unhappy with the shape of your rear end or the length of your legs, at some level you can blame your parents. If you tend to carry excess fat in one area, look at your parents, and you will most likely see a mirror image of yourself.

While it’s admirable to have challenging fitness goals, it’s important to accept your body shape and strive to keep your fitness aspirations in perspective and within achievable limits. That is what I told a client of mine recently when he came to me and said he wanted to look like Ryan Gosling. “His body looked awesome in his last movie,” he said. After some discussion, we used my client’s motivation and sense of humor to help him achieve some specific goals that suited his lifestyle and physique, but nevertheless we titled it “The Ryan Gosling Workout.”

Sometimes I am at a loss for words. A few years ago, I worked with a beautiful, young client who was genetically gifted with a great body. She worked hard to keep her body lean and sculpted, yet she came to me because she wanted to “lose weight and flatten my tummy.”

Incredulous, I asked her, “How thin is thin enough?”

With guidance, she embraced a more balanced approach to fitness and concentrated her efforts on staying healthy and fit rather than starving herself to be model thin.

While young adults fight the lure of unrealistic body images portrayed by fitness magazines and Hollywood, baby boomers are fed similar messages by the media. Most of us will never age as well as Diane Keaton or George Clooney without the help of liposuction, augmentation, face-lifts and tummy tucks. But I am proud of the way my clients pragmatically face the aging process. For the most part, they embrace their fitness routines with zest, monitor their eating programs carefully and as a result, look younger than their years.

Appearance, however, still matters to all of us. A 60-year old woman asked me, “What can I do to get rid of my Bingo arms?” Bingo arms, you say? You know, the sagging skin on the underside of the arms that hangs down and flaps in the air when you raise your hand in the air to say, “Bingo!” This loose, crepe-like skin is the bane of existence for most women (and some men) of a certain age.

Skin loses elasticity and shape as we age, but strength training can help improve the overall appearance of the arms. When muscles get stronger they hypertrophy (get larger) and this will help fill out the skin that covers them and diminish the sagging appearance.

Resistance exercises that target the biceps, triceps and deltoid (shoulder) muscles will improve the tone of the arms, but don’t expect miracles. My female clients over 60 are fit and strong, but most of them have stopped wearing sleeveless blouses that accentuate the underside of their arms. They haven’t given up the fight; they have accepted the aging process and do their best to minimize it.

Men fight the battle against aging just as much as women. When they look in the mirror, however, they are more likely to focus on the positive aspects of their physique. The mirrors in the gym help people improve their form when they lift weights, and my male clients do not find it uncomfortable to look at their reflection while they exercise. They may have growing waistlines and sagging bottoms, but they focus attention on their strong chest, arm and leg muscles bulging under the strain of resistance.

My female clients, on the other hand, avoid the mirrors like a plague. They plead, “Can we move away from the mirrors?” or, “Will you please stand in front of me so I don’t have to look at myself?”

Notwithstanding the differences in what we see when we look in the mirror, we all have times when we are unhappy with the way we look. But we should keep the right perspective about the importance we put on our physique. Try to discard the social and media messages that make us feel bad about our bodies and embrace good eating habits and fitness routines that help our bodies look and be fit, strong and healthy.

When you look in the mirror, fight the urge to focus on certain body parts. Instead, work hard at a fitness program that helps you achieve realistic goals, and then embrace your looks as part of the whole person you see in the mirror.

If you have a question about fitness you’d like Ask the Trainer to answer in print, write to Janet Roget in care of ActiveStyle at P.O. Box 2221, Little Rock, Ark. 72203, or e-mail

[email protected]

ActiveStyle, Pages 23 on 06/24/2013

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