I’d love to hear more. Starting June 1st, I’m giving myself 10 weeks to get in my best shape ever, which includes “contest preparation”, although I don’t have a contest waiting (I might consider a photo shoot, depending on how much progress I make).
Disagree. Most people exercise in order to improve their health and don’t actually want to see what they look like soaked with sweat and flushed. People who are concerned about the size of their muscles and whether you can see blood pumping through them have a body dysmorphic problem. A lot of bodybuilders have this problem.
Well in a nutshell, it’s a high protein, low carb, moderate fat, reduced calorie diet. 6 meals a day, half are whole food, half are protein shakes or smoothies. Water consumption should be around 2 gallons a day. This has multiple effects, notably reducing water weight and aiding in satiety when calories are restricted. If you would like more specifics, just drop me a PM.
Are people who build model cars OCD because they obsess about the little details of their hobby? People who are concerned about the size of their muscles and whether you can see blood pumping through them while working out do not necessarily have a body dysmorphic problem: if they recognize their progress, maintain a healthy balance in their lives between this activity and other important things, and have a realistic self-image, they are not body dysmorphic, nor do they have a problem. Despite what you are saying, not everybody who admires their muscles in the gym is suffering from a psychological ailment.
Moreover, even if “most people” who exercise don’t actually want to see what they look like (I doubt this, actually; have you ever met someone who exercises who doesn’t track their progress in some way? Visual results are a great indicator - far more than weight, especially - of someone’s physical development), most people don’t exercise very intensely, nor do they make the progress they typically aspire to.
It’s easy to dismiss the “hardcore” bodybuilder as just a weirdo with a fetish, but it has the same legitimacy as rolling your eyes at anyone who gets really into any other types of hobbies. (“That guy just showed up at the driving range and pulled out a Big Bertha with a titanium head…he’s clearly got issues.”)
When you put it that way, all bodybuilders have that problem.
But, all competitive sports are the same way. Once you get past the basic “fitness” stage, anything else becomes obsessive, whether it’s running, rock climbing, basketball, or bodybuilding.
Do you have problems with people who get tattoos or piercings? Bodybuilders are just doing body modification their own way.
You constantly live up to your username.
What? I’ve never “bodybuilt” a day in my life but I’ve lifted weights for years, on and off, and love what I look like when I’m all soaked with sweat and flush. I like watching myself do curls in the mirror (but not crunches tho, that is sort of sad). I often give myself a glance when I get out of the pool after doing laps, because I look pretty badass in my sport swim suit. I look cool when I come back from a walk or from trimming my yard too.
You seem to be a big fan of sweeping generalizations. You need to start backing your wild opinions up with some sort of fact.
I know you’ve completed before, so as I progress, I may PM you for advice.
I have some photos from 5 years ago (when I was at my leanest) in the gallery. I’m around 25 lbs heavier right now, but a lot of that is muscle. When I lose 10-15 lbs, I’m going to be pretty ripped…
It might appear that I am looking at myself in the mirror at the gym, but I am actually checking out that hottie behind me doing curls.
Regards,
Shodan
That woman in my mirror can’t make up her mind whether to look like my Idiot Aunt or my Good Grandmother.
I can be a bit obsessive or my looks. Not out of vanity or self-satisfaction, more out of insecurity. I find myself checking my hair, teeth, clothes, pretty frequently. Sometimes I like what I see in the mirror, sometimes I don’t.
Well, that, too. 
I mean, if you ever wonder why there are people who go to a gym for years on end, it’s because they like going there. It’s fun!
And, upon reflection, I have to disagree with this part of the OP
Ask anybody who has lifted weights for any length of time, and I bet they would tell you that they could do their reps with their eyes closed. It’s not about using the mirror to look at your form (although people do that, too - visual clues are helpful for concentration), it’s about focusing your mind on how your muscle feels.
The mirrors aren’t for watching yourself while you work out (how would you even do that while laying on a bench), it’s for looking at yourself between sets.
I go to a gym to swim, so I don’t know what goes on upstairs with the equipment. But in the locker room, a lot of awfully average looking guys seem to spend quite a bit of time looking in the mirror as they apply various lotions, gels, who knows what. I don’t think I even catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror - simply comb my hair straight back when wet, and let it dry.
When I used to work out, it was for functionality first, not looks. So occasionally I’d use a mirror to check form when lifting or some martial arts, but for the vast majority of time, the mirror was not where I checked for results.
Lately I’ve been using a mirror to work on some bass technique.
I’ve never been much of a mirror guy. I’m a pretty average looking guy, and no matter what I wear or do, when I look in the mirror I just see me. Often leave the house in the morning without having looked in a mirror. My wife would probably prefer that I take a little more effort - she’s often smoothing down the collar of my shirt or jacket after I just threw it on. Personally, I just don’t care. And there really aren’t many aspects of my life in which I give a shit what anyone else thinks about my looks. If anything, my preference is to be invisible/anonymous.
I suspect I’m insecure or something. I’m probably better looking than I think I am, but I generally hate the way I look in pictures.
Part of the reason I don’t wear makeup is because applying it involves a whole lot of looking at my face, which makes me uncomfortable. So, no.
To me, looking at my face (in the mirror or in a photograph) is similar to how some people are about hearing their own voice in a recording. The difference between the mental image and the physical image is just too jarring.
Nope. I mean, it’s fine. I’m a good looking dude and I know how to dress. It’s just that the longer I spend in front of a mirror the more I feel like an asshole. Preening is not my thing. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a firm believer in taking pride in your appearance, but after a certain point you’re trying way too hard and all I see is insecurity. One of the many reasons I loathe hipsters.
I’m a gym rat, and as mentioned by others, there’s lots of different reasons why people look at themselves in the mirrors while working out. There certainly are some that do it narcissistically, as in, I’ll see a guy “pretend” to use his shirt to wipe his brow, but he’s really flexing his abs underneath. Hell, some people don’t even hide it and will flex in the mirrors.
Speaking for myself, despite that I work out a lot and have a good physique, it’s not something I spend much time thinking about OTHER than when I’m at the gym. Part of it is the atmosphere itself, but being active, getting the adrenaline and other hormones going, getting a pump, has a way of grounding me in my body and making me more present to it, especially with all the mirrors. Of course, I use them to watch my technique, but still, I think it’s appropriate, and healthy, to have a little bit of self-love, especially considering the types of mirrors and lights most gyms used are particularly designed to make one’s physique look better. That is, one SHOULD feel most comfortable about one’s body at the gym, after all, that’s a major point for being there.
Also, I will notice small changes in my physique, maybe I gained or lost a couple pounds, or I have a posture or muscular imbalance. I do tend to think it’s obnoxious to just pose in front of the mirror, even for the people I know who are competitive body builders, most of them will tend to at least go to a more secluded part of the gym to pose. And, for them, that’s important because they need to practice, train the muscles to be able to get the exactly position that is most flattering, and assess their physiques. Still, there’s plenty of times I’ve found the mirrors useful for reasons other than just vanity.
This is good. To an untrained eye, it can look vain to do that sort of looking at yourself in the mirror, maybe it looks like you’re posing or whatever, but it can be a good way of judging your progress. Sometimes these sorts of things don’t even show up well in other ways. That is, you might even gain weight, but you’ll actually LOOK better because it was mostly muscle mass. I see it as part of a set of tools to track progress. It really depends on what your goals are.
Honestly, outside of the gym, other than when I’m doing basic grooming, it’s just me and, even in the gym, it’s overwhelmingly along the lines of watching my technique and the like. And for others doing it, I don’t even really notice it unless it’s blatant. Hell, I can only think of a couple recent examples, one who is a guy who constantly gets people to take videos of him, and I remember seeing some kids I hadn’t seen before (probably still in high school and just getting started) who were blatantly posing, and even then, I only remember the latter because they were being loud and obnoxious about it.
Really, at the gym, other than the people I socialize with, I pretty much ignore whatever other people are doing.
Yes! I occasionally try to grow my hair out but one of the reasons I end up getting it all cut off is that means I no longer have to look at myself while drying it. Now I just glance in the vicinity of my hair when applying serum, and go.
I have days when I feel ugly and fat and terrible, like anyone else, but I am neither afraid of, nor obsessed with, my mirror. I become very self-conscious when other people check me out. The goal even in my youth was never to draw attention from anyone but the one or two guys I’d deemed relationship material. That ship has sailed - I’m married to a man who is super attracted to me - so I have really nothing to gain from random people checking me out.
I’ve always felt like it was a weird sort of gift that I never had much confidence or reinforcement of my attractiveness. I learned pretty early on it wasn’t really a feasible thing for me to pin my value on, so I went off in other directions, trying to be the smartest, the kindest. Now some women my age have to come to terms with their diminishing physical attractiveness, a thing they maybe valued about themselves. It’s a struggle I never will have to face because my own relative beauty is almost meaningless to me.
All that matters is that the one man I want, wants me back.