What's a more meaningless measure of one's fitness level? Six-Pack abs or how much you can bench press?
When people, guys at least, talk about wanting to be in shape they mention or simply visualize the 6-pack. (As they simultaneously down one…) It's the holy grail of fitness. It's a gold medal, the Lombardi trophy and the top score in Space Invaders all in one. It means no more shirts at the beach. Belts, the guardians of plumber's crack are demoted to optional accessory.
When guys enter the weight room for chest and triceps day they eye the benches. Subtly counting the plates and sizing up the muscle that's pushing them skyward… repeatedly… like an elevator that can't get past the 2nd floor no matter how hard it tries. Their clandestine assessment results in a scoff, a 'damn!' or a shrug. That response determines which empty bench they'll choose to work at or whether they'll start with triceps today, just to shake things up. Or to wait until the 'competition' moves along.
In the quest for a healthier more active self it seems many people focus on the wrong thing. It's typically a misguided ideal. It's the look they're after. Or they feel they need to compare to a macho measuring stick.
A six-pack means you have low body fat. It doesn't make you healthy, it doesn't mean you are fit. There are plenty of fit and active people without a six pack. There are plenty of people with a 6 pack that couldn't run a mile if they had to. To get a 6 pack, unless genetically pre-dispositioned or dedicated to ultra-clean eating and aggressive exercise or all of the above, the 6 pack will elude you.
In some cases, depending on where you are starting from, a 6-pack won't ever happen naturally. It not pessimistic, it's realistic. Skin just doesn't bounce back the way you want it to, not when it's been stretched for so long. Ask any mom. Hope and wish and believe all you want, in many cases it won't happen without surgery. But I ask… who cares?
A bench press means you can lift a bunch of weight off your chest while laying down. You can generate some impressive short bursts of power. Invaluable if you are a defensive lineman or you happen to have a vehicle stuck on your chest. Although if I have a vehicle stuck on my chest I want to be able to throw it off of me not just raise it higher above my chest. Luckily, I'm not much of a super-hero so a car on my chest is not a typical hazard I face.
Another thing a bench press helps with is thickening up those pecs. 6-pack + swollen chest + no shirt at the beach = chicks. You can even do that muscly mating ritual with your dancing chest… left, right, left, right, left, left, right, right… 'hello, ladies'. So a bench press helps develop perky 'moobs' (man boobs). I concede, if you're a single guy, that's functional.
One of the major.. ok, probably the #1 reason, most people workout and try to eat better is to look good. The aesthetics; bumpy abs, broad chest, the cool vein down your bicep (I'm still working on all 3). Despite my making fun, there's really nothing wrong with that. (Unless you become an obsessive narcissist I guess.) What I am sensitive to is that misguided ideal.
When someone finally has the motivation to make a positive change and they begin their journey towards it, they focus on an unrealistic and ultimately meaningless vision of what they want. I am afraid that as they progress, as they work, as they achieve better health and a higher level of fitness they still get discouraged. They reach a self-imposed milestone and they don't see the results they expected. They don't see those 6 hard bumps, it's really just one bump with maybe a ripple or two and think they have come up short. And then they give up.
It's as if they become blinded by the glare of failure that they can't see that what they actually have done is far greater than washboard abs or finally out-benching their imaginary competition. Before they couldn't lift 20lbs, now they lift 40. They couldn't walk a mile, now they run 2. They ate a whole bag of chips for snack, now they eat a bowl of strawberries. They got winded walking up 4 flights of stairs, now they bound up two at a time. They wouldn't even watch the marathon, now they're in it. Their shirt size used to have an 'X' or two in it, now it doesn't.
They way I see it is this: When measuring the positive and healthy changes in your life, if your focus is on how good you feel, it will reflect in how good you look. Don't live by someone else's image, create your own.
