The Status Symbol of Being Fit

The below quote has stuck with me for a long time. This line is attributed to well-known bodybuilder Ashley Horner  and there is just something about it truly resonates with me and is something I've come to use for some sort of motivation when the daily grind slows me down. Check this quote out:

I've shown this quote to different people and has received a couple different reactions. Some friends thought it to be spot-on while others even found it a tad bit arrogant. I've reflected a bit and while I whole-heartedly agree with what she's saying, I would address that what's being said here is actually proud, vice arrogant, and that's a completely different ballgame.

Is a well-built physique a status symbol? Absolutely, yes. If you go back to the very first Pursue Fit post (found here), this is something we touch on, at least as one of my personal motivations. Speaking for me (and I'm sure many others to some extent), a lot of the heroes we looked up to in movies, sports, etc. likely had very chiseled physiques, and I think that at a young age we make associations that show that to be something to be proud of and something that is fundamentally good that we should be driven to attain.

That should be piled on further to the discussion of hard work. For me, a high level of fitness is almost all about achieving a higher level of what I deem to be 'good'. To achieve this means relentless hard work and the fruits you harvest from that hard work result in a product that is uniquely yours and yours alone. This is your body and you've worked so hard to get to where you are and to get to where you want to be that your results are a source of pride. The only person that can take that away from you is you and it requires just as relentless of a pursuit to keep it as it did to get there.

Ultimately, all of your work and all of your results still boils down to one very fundamental premise and that's being truly happy with you. While I believe that a well-built physique is a status symbol, it's also important to point out that the definition of a well-built physique can be very relative and open to interpretation. It has often been said or alluded to in Pursue Fit but fitness is not anyone else's fitness it's your fitness.

Fitness doesn't just show someone a bit about who we are, it can sometimes scream it. Our physique lets others know that you have commitment, vision, and self-respect. This brings us full circle to the physique operating as a status symbol. Sometimes all we have before we speak to anyone or before anyone knows us are simply the first impressions we give off by your own appearance and that can make or break a personal/professional relationship in some cases. People will make a read on us and then develop core assumptions before the first words are ever spoken. All this to mean that our own fitness can be a true tool or ally in some cases in marching forward in other aspects of our lives.

This belief is a powerful motivator for me and is part of a complex picture of what gets me up early in the morning to start training. Fitness means different things to different people, but that's really the point of it, isn't it? The point is about transforming yourself into the good that you want be. It's not about being anyone else version of good, it's about developing and pushing you to be satisfied with yourself.

While I'm interested in whether or not you agree with what is being said here, it is much more important for us to sometimes have these conversations with ourselves. We need to ask ourselves questions like what is it mean to me to be fit or why is this lifestyle so important to me? If anything, I just hope that this post challenges us to take a step back for a second to evaluate and then re-affirm to ourselves why we drive ourselves.

Thanks for checking out today's post. Any comments are always welcome!