getting yoked

I imagine that you've seen Kumail Nanjiani's 'glow up'? It caused a stir, a while ago, when he revealed his transformation for a movie. Well, that's what actors do when they have a role. Point in case: Thor, Captain America, Wolverine, Superman and even Star-Lord. Most of the actors who played them in the cinematic universe have had 'glow-ups. Not like it's unusual, but taking his transformation as 'normal' may be a little dangerous. And slightly disingenuous. According to Google, there are many things a play here that are usually not taken into account:

1. spending a lot of time at the gym does not translate into big muscles.

2. you'll have to eat a lot during the glow up to refuel your body and rebuild the muscles you tore down

3. building muscle and losing fat is difficult: genetics, hormones and god knows what comes into play and it takes time to achieve.

4. maintaining a ripped body all year round is not really possible. Professional bodybuilders gain weight and then get ripped. It's a cycle for them. They're not constantly jacked.

5. steroids (PED) are dangerous. Stacking, that is, using several PEDs together is twice as dangerous.

6. there are some signs of PED use: how long would it take them to get the results? Six months? it's feasible, but changes that are too radical and too fast are suspect. 

7. people who follow the 'workouts for the stars' know how insane and totally impossible to carry out they are. Don't believe the hype.

8. how long are these actors staying in shape? They need to stay fit for months in end. Sometimes years. Think about those franchises and what those actors need to do to fit in their superhero costume.

It's funny how people get defensive when somebody brings up the topic of body image and/or exercise being something that not everybody can do and not something everybody is able to profit from in the same measure. When the Kumail story broke a while ago, I was like, really? The conversation has to do with beauty standards, rather than body image and body shaming. It's the standards what I find disingenuous, not the idea that it can or cannot be done. The actors playing those superheroes for the screen prove that it indeed can be done. 

I think it has to do more with the impossible standards that some people have for the object of their lust than with the unhealthy and maybe dangerous process people would put themselves through in order to be totally hot and desirable? Yes, there are men who are genetically gifted but putting pressure on every man to look like a superhero is absolute madness. Of course, women have been put (and put themselves) through unthinkable measures for the longest time to fit into beauty standards that would drive any man crazy. It's so pervasive that it's become almost normal.

Ogling beautiful men is commonplace. I do it too. But I would never impose those standards on any man I know, date or am interested in. I know that many men have a checklist in their minds about the way the expect the man of their dreams look: fit, jacked and stacked. Oh, yeah. But the thing is, not every man can look like Ryan Reynolds in Deadpool. Not even like Tom Holland's Spiderman or Robert Downey Jr's Iron Man. Are there men you can take off the street who would look like they just need a cape and some spandex to look like a superhero? You bet your sweet ass they exist. Should we expect every man to have a 'glow up' and stay like that the duration of our relationship? Of course not. 

So yeah, go ahead and take a look at Kumail and enjoy the view. Just take into account that it took a lot of sweat and effort to go from his Silicon Valley body to his buff, ripped physique for his role in The Eternals and that he would take a whole lot of work to keep that beautiful body the way it is now permanently. No, men who have a little extra weight around their waist are not lazy, or slobs. They are just not getting ready to play a superhero in the big screen.

XOXO