… or technically, I am not that muscular yet. Read on…

As I was doing my ball crunches in the gym a while ago, a friend approached me and told me that he had just splurged big time on buying body enhancing supplements 'coz he wants a body that would really show that he really is doing some heavy workouts… in short a defined muscular body. It hit me like he was fishing for comments about his looks… well he isn't really that muscular but you can tell that his workouts have paid off. In fact he has an above average physique than most people in the gym, just enough to be called muscular and to be admired.

Supplementing and/or drugging is one way of doing a shortcut to having a desired physique. Supplements are not really that bad 'coz they have their purpose… they supplement your body with nutrients you are not capable to provide because of some reasons. I, myself, use supplements primarily because I don't have time to prepare the recommended daily dosage of nutrients I need. It's just like your daily dosage of vitamins. But for some, they surrender their dependence on these supplements, they have these psyche that they won't reach their desired physique without these supplements.

Men are as vain as women… and sometimes even more. Men are also as susceptible to depression as women, as we are also victims of societal stereotypes and mental models. Muscle Dysmorphia or Bigorexia is an equivalent disorder to that of bolemia and anorexia with women. It is a disorder, an obsession in attaining a muscular physique and not being contented to just being big… and wants to be bigger…

In the book The Adonis Complex, a Harvard psychiatrist asserted the role of media in fueling the minds of the society and in influencing the young minds of having a musculature physique. He argues that the portrayal of overly fit and unattainable physique on cartoons such as G.I. Joe or Batman has an effect on the society especially with the young ones. Add to that, the tri-media including the internet has bombarded us with ideas of what is "beautiful" and what is "in".

I don't wanna sound like this kind of vanity is bad. In fact being fit and healthy is a good vanity. There is nothing wrong with having a good physique as long as the primary goal and way of achieving it is healthy. A person can have a good physique but not healthy… fit and not healthy. As long as you are doing it right, eating and exercising right, taking supplements in moderation and providing ample time for working out, for social life or for as long as working out does not interfere with your daily functions and "life", that's healthy.

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I once read a comment on an a health article that Men's magazine suck! 'coz they only provide readers with something to be depressed about. IMHO, it is the negative way of looking at it, if you are an optimist you'd look at is as an inspiration, something you'd look forward of having… something to motivate.