He’s Just Not That Into You, Iron

I don’t like to consider myself, or most of my fellow bodybuilders, elitist snobs. One stereotype of bodybuilders is that we consider nonbodybuilders lazy, unmotivated and not concerned enough about their appearance. You know what they say: Behind every stereotype is a little bit of truth.

Be honest now. When you’re in the gym and you see the “normal” members who don’t train all that hard and never seem to improve, you do sometimes secretly sneer at them, don’t you? We all do. But what if they’re perfectly happy with a modest level of fitness and genuinely aren’t interested in owning a spectacular physique? They do understand the level of commitment it requires to look like a bodybuilder or a fitness model, and perhaps they just don’t want that look badly enough to go to all the effort.

Recently I had a little epiphany that made me understand the situation a lot more clearly. I’ve been going to martial arts classes once or twice a week for about five years. I make a point of going on Tuesday nights, which is the sparring class. Certainly I am far better than I was years ago, but I won’t be mixing it up with any UFC fighters in the octagon in this lifetime. Honestly, it would be nice to be able to fight as well as those guys do, but it would take a great deal more time and effort on my part to approach that skill level. And I’m just not that interested in martial arts to do that.

I was thinking about that when it finally clicked: The average gym members I’ve been looking down my nose at all this time feel exactly the same way about their physiques. They go to the gym regularly, but they’re not obsessed with it. They train, but they don’t want to push the boundaries of pain and effort too often, and they aren’t interested enough to read magazines and Web sites to learn more about training. They will eat fairly healthfully, but they really don’t want to go to the trouble of eating clean meals every two hours and keeping a cupboard full of supplements.

They’re not in fantastic condition, but they still look better than people who don’t work out. I’ve finally come to the understanding that I’m in no position to judge them for feeling that way. Neither are you. We’re really, really into trying to build the best physique we can. Not everyone—not even everyone at your gym—shares that burning desire. It’s time we all realized that it’s okay—unless they happen to be doing curls in the gym’s only decent squat rack and it’s our leg day!