Your Gym Guru Might Be Full of it
I, very recently, realised that you don’t have to work very hard to find stories you can write on Medium.
You can write just about anything. About any conversation you had with someone, about your day, about your exam or anything at all.
I think this is one of the beautiful things about blogging.
That’s why today we are going to talk about the gym. Like any other guy who wants to get motivated, in shape and be a legend, I was advised by other in-shape legends to start working out.
When you start working out, everything just falls into place.
The logic behind this ever-famous line that you hear from almost every white guy with a podcast is that the activity of showing up every day to a place dedicated to making you grow even though you don’t see that growth, instils discipline.
Now the logic is sound. However, the actions are not.
Firstly no one works out for discipline.
I should not say that. Scratch that. Very few people work out for discipline.
We all joined the gym because we wanted to look good. We all want to begin working out because we want to look good. And that’s okay. There is nothing wrong with looking good and getting attention.
It is one of the purest forms of getting an adrenaline high. It’s wonderful.
Now because it is about looking fit and good, teenagers are most excited about the gym. No matter where you are from, the maximum population in the gym consists of young people, if not teenagers.
Don’t get me wrong starting gym in the middle of your 20s is not impossible. It is just difficult.
People who have always worked out or played sports tend to continue working out in their late 20s, 30s and 40s. You see those uncles who are a little jacked up, their chest bulged out to match their overgrown stomach and their biceps bigger than most, those are the real OGs of working out.
Coming back to the young guns, when they start working out they are confused and shy. Yes, I was shy.
I was very shy to show up at the gym knowing I had the worst physique here and not only that but I didn’t know jack shit about working out. Even six months into the activity, I was still told by other fit guys what I was doing wrong, how to hold the grip, how to make mind-body connections, what not to do and many more numerous pieces of advice.
I used to observe these gym boys. The guys who had bulked, who always used to work out and always had some advice to share like a “guruji” of sorts. Most of these guys have the same personality and actions. They walk with their chests out, shoulders up, the gym is more than just a place to work out for them it is a place where they can pass their time as well.
They have many healthy tips to share, what protein to take, what supplements would help me the best, what to eat and what not to eat.
But are they really healthy?
We focus too much on proteins and supplementations. Nutrients, an established journal stated that excessive protein intake, especially from supplements causes kidney damage, liver disorders and cardiovascular issues.
The American Heart Association has time and again recommended that no more than thirty-five per cent of your daily calories should come from protein sources.
All I have heard are opposite things from the gym boys. I have been asked to take fat burners, protein, creatine, vitamin pills, BCAA, Glutamine, Carnitine and whatnot. Though, some of them do help you. Well all of them help you in the correct dosage.
But help in what?
Staying healthy or building large muscles to look good which in turn is not healthy.
Bodybuilders dehydrate themselves to pop out their abs before every competition. They do not touch water to look good.
It might be discipline but it definitely is not healthy.
Joining the gym to be fit is why gyms were created in the first place. Looking good always got second place.
Unfortunately, that’s not the case now. Young adults see heavily edited photos and videos of athletes who are in excellent shape and idolize them not knowing that the lifestyle they sell is indeed unhealthy.
The global dietary supplements market was valued at over 140 billion dollars in 2019. And it continues to grow, rapidly.
Eat healthy, live healthy and you’ll look good. Don’t look good and eat unhealthy.
