The aesthetic factor presents some controversial elements. Surely it is the motivation that moves most of the young people who approach the sport. Those who enroll in the gym do it to lose weight or to gain a few kilograms of muscle, only secondarily to be healthy or for health reasons.
In my opinion, the cult of the body is not a practice to be condemned, on the contrary it is undoubtedly one of the motivations that must encourage long and intense sport. A bit ‘of healthy narcissism, in short, does not hurt, indeed has positive implications not indifferent. For example, it can distract from the excesses of agony, as we shall see.
Provided that the reference aesthetic model is compatible with health.
The wrong aesthetic models
Until a few years ago, the reference aesthetic model was the bodybuilder at Silvester Stallone or Arnold Schwarzenegger. These models are the antithesis of health for two main reasons.
1) In very few they can reach this level of musculature without doping.
2) A too muscular physique is antisalutistic for a whole series of reasons that we will deal with in a specific article.
The same applies to the models almost anorexic, without feminine forms, proposed by some designers: regardless of whether or not like this model of woman, the objective fact remains that very few women can aspire to have such physics and in an attempt to reaching them can lead to frustration and even serious physical problems.
Failure to achieve certain goals can then generate frustration and other negative feelings that are detrimental to our well-being.
So how can we make the “aesthetic factor” positive?
1 – Choose the right aesthetic model
Each of us has our own model of ideal beauty, both in terms of their sex (as it would like to be) and for the other sex (as they would like their partner).
The cult of the body goes beyond sexual attraction, but considers the body as an art form, as an aesthetic object, and since it prescinds (as far as possible) from the sexual attraction, a man can admire and appreciate the body of another man and the same is true for a woman.
In general, the aesthetic model is always related to physical efficiency: the muscular macho is synonymous with sexual power and strength, greater ability to protect against aggression by the ill-intentioned.
Those who practice only one sport so assiduously will have an aesthetic model of reference that expresses the maximum physical efficiency in that sport: a runner or a male cyclist will love a long-limbed female body and will not particularly appreciate the pronounced forms, a swimmer will love a more massive body , with wider shoulder; those who go to the gym will love a strong, muscular body capable of lifting heavy weights, etc. This applies the more the subject lives his passion for sport fully and is involved in the competitive environment.
Those who love physical efficiency in the absolute sense, without specific references to any sport, or those who attend different sports environments (such as the triathlete) will love a lean, moderately muscular, but above all harmonious and balanced , with the upper body developed as the lower one.
This type of aesthetic model is undoubtedly the one that prevents falling into the excesses typical of some sports (such as excessive thinness in the race, or weakness of the upper limbs in running and cycling) and that guarantees the best results also in terms of health, the search for a physique that is not exasperated in search of a certain performance, but something balanced and more accessible to everyone.
2 – Loving your own body
How many people go into fibrillation in the spring terrified by the mythical costume test? How many women, after marriage, let themselves go by putting on kg and kg of flab that will never dispose of? And how many men, after 30 years, do the same? In my opinion too many people worry too much to look beautiful in the eyes of others , but in reality it does not really matter to him. They are more exhibitionists than narcissists , they would prefer to look beautiful 2 months a year and be the ciofeche the rest of the time, rather than always having a physical to the maximum of their possibilities.
Unfortunately, in the long run, exhibitionism is not sufficiently motivating towards physical activity and the care of one’s body, so much so that the vast majority of people present themselves at the “trial costume” in a painful state, because they do not you become beautiful in 2 months, especially when the kg to lose are at least 5!
To have a strong motivation to play sports and to stay in shape you have to find satisfaction in looking in the mirror and see how beautiful your body is. Observing how physical activity transforms our body week after week, month after month, is a wonderful thing. The costume test should be done every morning, when we climb the scales and look in the mirror, and admire the beauty that is in us … Because a lean, healthy and strong body always has something beautiful, regardless of how much we are genetically lucky.
3 – Accept your limits
Some will accuse me of instigating young girls to anorexia and anything else negative related to the neurotic research of perfect physical form . Every motivating factor in sports can be negative if interpreted incorrectly, as most of the things in life can be done wrong. Precisely for this reason I stress the importance of the aesthetic factor that together with other motivations must serve to create the basis of non-neurotic motivation, but strong and solid, which leads us to play sports in a permanent way for life.