Finding Balance in Fitness and Bodybuilding

There are cases in which people go too far in training and nutrition. Sacrificing everything for a better physique, never once weighing whether it is all worth it. This is especially sad in cases where people have such a distorted self-image that satisfaction with their own body never comes. Oprah would say: "If with all that time, effort and sacrifice you are still not satisfied with the result, then the problem probably is not with the result but with the satisfaction itself. However hard you train and however much broccoli, sweet potato and chicken you eat, you will never be happy".

Opposite that is the risk of being satisfied with any result. A couch belly caused by the couch? "No problem, I am happy and satisfied with who I am". If you are satisfied with everything, you are of course never motivated to make the improvements you are potentially capable of.

Balance is relative

These are of course the extremes, people who do absolutely nothing for a good physique and others who do everything for their physique and make it their highest priority. So what is a good middle road, a good balance?

This is of course relative. First, some people need to put in much less effort than others for the same result and vice versa. One person can have a six-pack and a social life, while another has to live like a Spartan for a washboard stomach. It is not so much about which result you are aiming for, but how much effort you personally have to put in to achieve that result.

But there is also no single answer to the question "How much time and effort is normal to spend on your physique?". After all, that depends on what other things you have to sacrifice for it. If you have oceans of time, training five times a week seems less obsessive than when you are trying with all your might to cram it into a routine of work, family and other hobbies. You actually have no time, but still you "have" to go train, which leads to stress. For you and for people around you. The same applies to nutrition. Never joining in for a social meal, but always sitting down with your own container of food, which does not always make things more pleasant.

Spending 200 euros a month on supplements is fine if you have a well filled bank account and are single. However, if you have a girlfriend or partner and children, you will regularly wonder whether that money has found the best destination. Ten trips to the cinema, four dinners out or 2 millimeters bigger biceps? And that already assumes all those supplements actually have an effect.

Balance is subjective

What you consider normal, someone else may consider obsessive. But that other person "does not understand you", "knows nothing about fitness and nutrition" and therefore cannot tell you anything useful.

When someone knows nothing about "your world", you are quickly inclined to think: "What do you know?" and ignore that person's opinion. But what if you yourself are no longer objectively able to judge whether you are going too far? Then you still need the opinion of others.

"Muscle dysmorphia" or reverse anorexia, when you always think you are too small and no longer have a realistic self-image. Reverse anorexia may not be the scientific name, but it is a better description of the problem. When someone with a beer belly tells someone with anorexia that they are too thin, he can be completely right despite his own beer belly. Someone who never trains can still see very well that you are considerably more muscular than the average person and "the" beauty ideal, while you never find yourself big enough. You badly need these kinds of people to keep your balance despite, or precisely because of, their ignorance. And I know they can be very irritating. You can also ask another bodybuilder, someone from "your world", whether you are going too far with your training and nutrition. However, you may ask yourself how good the advice is that one person with anorexia would give to another person with anorexia. You will therefore need both and will have to constantly weigh them against each other to keep perspective.

"Setting goals"

It is very popular to advise people to "set goals". It is also, by definition, good advice if the highest priority is achieving a concrete result. Instead of "a good figure", you set a goal, for example, to reach a certain body fat percentage or body weight within a certain period.

As indicated, however, it differs per person how great the relative effort is that must be made for this. You may find, for example, that you have to turn into a "fitness freak" for it, high goal and less natural aptitude, and then proudly wear that label at any cost.

I have previously described how you can also give yourself an effort obligation as a goal. Then you turn the whole story around. What place do I think training and nutrition should have in my life? "Training three times a week and a diet that is challenging but not exhausting. I make sure the basics are good, but allow myself an occasional detour". You then have no idea what result this will lead to, but whatever it is, it fits into your life in the right way.

What is ultimately more important: the destination or the journey? It is a personal tradeoff, but I try to keep them in balance. I do not want to end up in Syria on a beautiful cruise ship, but I also do not want to row to paradise in a rowboat.