The day I realized that my vision about fitness and physical appearance had changed. I was scrolling down my Instagram page the other day and came across an image of a girl wearing a swimsuit. She had a gorgeous body with the type of physique I dreamed of sculpting when I first got into fitness four years ago: skinny, no muscle definition and a coke bottle shape. But the sight of this photo made me frown. The first thought that came to my mind was: “Oh my God, she is so skinny and fragile, she really doesn’t look healthy.” Back then, I used to follow a lot of “fitness pages” showing super skinny girls. Today, the women I follow are all badass. My definition of beauty as I type these words is strong, not skinny. And the reason why my vision of fitness and beauty has changed is that my knowledge of bodybuilding and nutrition has broadened. When they say knowledge is power, keep in mind that every single word of this saying is true. When you’re a novice, you follow what other people tell you to do like a sheep (that I have been myself) and really drive yourself crazy, bitter, angry and frustrated when you don’t get the results you expected because you don’t understand what exactly are you doing wrong. Not only is knowledge power, but knowledge also brings humility and a soothing feeling of being in control. This enables you to get back up whenever you fall off the bandwagon which, in my fitness experience, happens several times a year. Knowledge allows you to adjust to events and situations without feeling anxious or nervous that all your efforts will be thrown out the window: you’ll know exactly what to do to bounce back, to strengthen a specific body part if you feel like building more muscle, get leaner if you feel like you’ve been eating unhealthy, soften up if you find you’re too muscular. So I encourage you to do your research before starting your fitness journey and to never stop learning. Taking a personal trainer might be a great way to start, as you get to ask them questions and they guide teach you how to execute movements correctly to avoid injuries. Don’t hesitate to read articles, books or take a fitness course yourself!
I have learned a valuable lesson throughout my fitness journey, that is applicable to pretty much everything in life: never take pride in your hard working skills and never expect results in proportion to what your perceived hard work should produce. Hard working is relative to someone’s abilities at a defined point in time and is subject to evolving over the course of life, provided one is willing to improve. Your work ethic might seem extremely high to you, but it may represent the lowest level of performance to someone who’s more experienced than you. So if you expect to reach, within two months of starting your fitness journey, the physique of someone who’s been training for a decade, just because you feel like you’ve been working so hard, it simply won’t happen.
For example, when I started exercising four years ago, lifting a four-pound weight was the hardest thing in the world for me. I remember crying the first time I performed bridges with a four-pound weight on my hips. Today, I lift 185 pounds and a four-pound weight requires minimal effort from me. When I started though, because lifting four-pound weights was extremely difficult for me and I pushed through the pain, I thought I was the hardest working human on earth and deserved spectacular results fast, which of course didn’t happen. Life doesn’t quite work like that. You have to work your way up and accumulate very small victories until you get closer to your goal. It may take months or years. You don’t get to choose WHEN you’re going to achieve your results. The only thing you have power over is how hard you work toward reaching that goal everyday. I guess my advice is: be humble. Be willing to work hard regardless of whether you see results or not and keep broadening your knowledge. In due time, provided you’re doing the right exercises, your efforts will be rewarded.
Side note: I am not body shaming skinny girls. Beauty comes in all shapes and sizes. I just don’t think it’s healthy to set a particular shape or size up as the ultimate model every woman must follow.
