Body Image and Exercise

Body Image is a sensitive and controversial topic in the modern world. A result of the onslaught of unrealistic body types being pushed in front of our faces on television, in magazines, and on social media. In some cases, so extreme that unhealthily attained body types are being glamorised as “attractive”. For women, this is largely in the form of “Thinspiration”, unhealthily thin women portrayed as the ideal body type. For men, it is “Fitspiration”, unrealistically muscular men, often resulting from the use of steroids or elevated testosterone. We compare our bodies to the people in the media, consequently wallow in disappointment with our bodies, resulting in problems with confidence and body image.

However, healthy testosterone levels in men which encourage muscle growth, is not a bad thing. In fact, the national average of testosterone levels in men has been declining year on year. A worrying sign. One could go as far to say that consistently seeing muscular men in media represents a truer version of the male form, as their muscular physique represents a man of historically healthy testosterone levels. Furthermore, people like looking at attractive people in the media. Having beautiful faces and attractive bodies in the media should not be labelled as something bad. This is when body image becomes such a controversial topic.

There has been a positive trend of late, largely in social media and television advertisements, showing more ordinary body types and our natural imperfections, reassuring viewers of their own bodies. Although, even this has also thrown up controversy. For example, when clips of overweight people are portrayed in a positive sense, is this promoting being overweight and obese?

I believe many people have developed a defensive response, caused by years’ worth of unrealistically “perfect” body types being shown in the media. They believe people should have unwavering body positivity, regardless of how poorly one treats their own health and appearance. We could describe this as “toxic positivity”. A topic I have spoken about before and can find by clicking on my profile.

Toxic positivity denies us the opportunity to improve our bodies through exercise. Arguing we are already “faultless”. Although it is important to be comfortable in our bodies, we cannot deny the research literature's evidence that exercise greatens body confidence.

A 2018 study conducted a review of 210 scientific publications, with the aim of exploring the connections between physical activity, sports, and body image. They found a clear correlation: the more physically active an individual was, the more positively they perceived their body. Another study focused on reviewing scientific papers concerning resistance training and body confidence, yielded similar results: individuals engaged in resistance training displayed higher levels of body satisfaction, improved self-perception of their appearance, and experienced reduced physique-related anxiety in social situations. A recent study in 2023 also demonstrated resistance training to be highly effective at reducing age-related wrinkles.

Although, people can become addicted to exercise in the pursuit of bettering appearance, something the book Holistic Health: A Bio-Psycho-Spiritual Approach goes into greater detail on. One exert from the book regarding using exercise to better body image, states:

“Exercise should be embraced as a tool for self-care and self-improvement, rather than solely as a vehicle for external validation”.