What is the key to achieving the optimal physique?
The solution to this question may be less about following a specific type of nutrition protocol or workout regimen and more about learning to love and appreciate the physique we have from inside ourselves.
In 1890, William James wrote “How pleasant is the day when we give up striving to be young, or slender” from his book The Principles of Psychology.
I have spent many years helping people strive for goals related to achieving the optimal physique. What is the optimal physique? How did these ideals come to be? Carl Rogers used the term self-concept to conceptualize the external influences such as society, peer groups, family and so on influence individual’s behavior. Along with Abraham Maslow, an individual’s self-concept was said to prevent them from reaching self-actualization, or becoming their true Self. How do we put aside our self-concept of body image to self-actualize our optimal physique?
The question every individual must ask is, what is my optimal physique? We need to ask this question separately from a system of metrics influenced by self-concept. We spend countless hours stressing about a number on a scale, a body-fat number on an in-body scan, a BMI, a waist size, and the numerical references that we compare to a reference range to indicate if our physique is good enough in that moment. If the numbers change in the right direction, our emotional well-being for that moment is heightened. Yet, if the numbers go in the opposite direction, our emotional well-being is dampened at that moment.
Can we answer the question of what the optimal physique is without using a system of metrics? What would that look like when we are constantly enmeshed in a societal culture that uses metrics to define many aspects of what a good life looks like in general including body image or the optimal physique.
James used the example of a man who lost everything he owned in the Civil War and rolled around in the dust, saying he never felt so free and happy since he was born. When this statement is thought about in terms of body-image, what would it be like not to compare your body to any metric that attaches to our self-concept? What if we had no self-concept at all? How freeing would this be?
When is the last time you looked at yourself in the mirror and observed your physique without judgment to look and see what there was? If you haven’t, can you look at yourself in the mirror without judgment? It isn’t easy to do. I, myself fall victim to this as well as I do not spend merely the amount of mental energy as I once did as a competitive bodybuilder obsessing over the metrics that are consuming as a bodybuilding from the scale, to the daily macros over the year between contest prep and offseason diet phases to maintain or improve the desired metrics of the phase of year I was in. But still, I can understand the comfort of a number, and it gives us peace of mind to let us know that we are okay and on the right track, as I still find myself on the scale sometimes to double-check every so often.
During my last few years of competing, I was fortunate to feel content with my physique. I can’t describe a process or a physical protocol that I did that led to this feeling, but I knew during my final contest prep that I had arrived, as there was an emotional well-being feeling that I can’t put into words. There was a feeling that I had reached my optimal physique, and I am proud of the years that I have put into this, and the competitiveness was gone as far as being on stage. My last show at Masters Nationals, I remember walking off stage in prejudging, not in frustration, that I knew that I wasn’t going to win, but rather in a feeling of contentment to enjoy my final posing routine later in the finals. After I got done, I remember walking out of the backstage area, and I saw my wife, and I said this is it, as I had initially planned to compete in the Universe afterwards, which in that year, the Universe was after Masters Nationals because of Covid. That was it for me; I had no desire to compete again, and I was okay with that. I still trained in the offseason for another 6 months before I truly walked away for good. Still, the desire was never there in the same way again, as I did not care about getting better because I had already accomplished my goal of achieving my optimal physique.
I truly saw the physique I envisioned all those years of training in the mirror in my final prep. It had nothing to do with a placing or any other metric, but only that what I saw in the mirror for a few months was exactly what I wanted to see in my mind, and when the psyche and the mirror align without judgment, what a euphoria that is, and it becomes freeing. It doesn’t matter what level you compete at, whether as a novice or as an IFBB pro, or for any person who strives to change their physique somehow, to feel that euphoria of aligning the psyche with the mirror is rare. I have observed this after two decades of working with many individuals across different goals.
How do we achieve the ideal physique? First, we must reword this question to how we achieve OUR OWN ideal physique free of self-concept.
We must think about William James’ statement, what it would be like to no longer seek the ideal physique and let go of the metrics we commonly use to judge our physique. A quantitative metric that proves the perfect physique does not exist, as this ideal is a feeling rather than a metric. The way to achieve this feeling is to look at ourselves in the mirror without judgment to be closer to aligning our psyche with the mirror. We must develop a relationship with ourselves that tells us we are good enough. Once we meet ourselves in the mirror, free of judgment, we can begin to train for the pure enjoyment of feeling our best and knowing that each progression in time is a new version of our best self. Our motivation becomes intrinsic as the self-concept breaks down and we move closer towards self-actualization.
Now, I still find myself being judgmental towards my physique at times, but those times are much further apart than ever. While I don’t believe it is possible ever to be entirely non judgmental toward our own physiques in the societal culture that we live in and entirely lose our self-concept; the less judgmental we become towards our physique the better we will be and the more love we will feel for our body and the closer we will become to our optimal physique. Achieving the optimal physique is about learning to love our physique instead of measuring it.
To achieve the ideal physique, we must limit the emotional weight the metrics we use to assess our physique carry. Then we must look at ourselves in the mirror and be nonjudgmental.
The key to achieving the ideal physique is letting go of external comparisons and being proud of yourself in any phase. Your ideal physique is up to you.
The feeling is love, unconditional love for ourselves and our body, and that is freeing.
