Trying to build a physique like someone elses

stroutman81
stroutman81 Posts: 2,474 Member
edited November 12 in Health and Weight Loss
Just a random thought based on some conversations I've been having via email...

There are some people genetically inclined to look certain ways. Their training has nothing to do with it. But other people assume that since training must yield results, the training the genetically gifted do must be the source of their appearance.

It's a false conclusion. The reality of the situation is that you're not going to make your body look like anything other than what it 'wants' to look like.

Can you improve?

Heck yeah.

But that has nothing to do with how you're genetically hardwired to look, plus or minus any fluctuations in fat or muscle mass.
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Replies

  • usmcmp
    usmcmp Posts: 21,219 Member
    Thank you!!! :flowerforyou:

    I get people asking all the time what workouts I do for certain body parts to make them look the way they do. The parts they usually like are mostly due to genetics.
  • amyy902
    amyy902 Posts: 290 Member
    as a general rule you'll always be the same shape. however hard you work there are certain areas of your body that will hold more fat than other person. no matter how small or muscular or fat you get you'll always be the same shape, loosing and gaining just gives you a smaller or bigger version of yourself.

    thats how i break it to my clients when they tell me they want a booty like beyonce or legs like rihanna....
  • mirgss
    mirgss Posts: 275 Member
    OMG usmcmp, love the avatar!

    And as always, thanks for the post Steve.
  • stroutman81
    stroutman81 Posts: 2,474 Member
    Sounds like your clients are lucky to have you.
  • Frozenmango
    Frozenmango Posts: 207 Member
    This was a long lesson for me. I used to always look at other women with body types completely different than mine and lament the fact that I didn't look like that, even without the weight. I finally clued in and realized that my body is unique and that I have to work to make it the healthiest it can be, and that may not look like anyone I know or see, and that's just fine!

    Thanks for posting this!
  • usmcmp
    usmcmp Posts: 21,219 Member
    OMG usmcmp, love the avatar!

    Thank you! I have a few on here that always make me laugh.
  • amysj303
    amysj303 Posts: 5,086 Member
    probably worth the reminder. filed under "managing expectations" which I should study more often!
  • chuisle
    chuisle Posts: 1,052 Member
    Agreed!

    It drives me crazy to see people saying they want to do X celebrity's work out to look like X celebrity. Yeah, right. Let me know when that works for you.

    Along similar lines, people whoo aren't experts who have great bodies and people flock to them to ask how to look like that. In some cases they have enough knowledge to be helpful, in others, less so. I follow some fitness tumblrs and they're the worst: "Just do 45 minutes of cardio 5-6 days a week then lift lots of light weights, focusing on one area per day! You'll have a 6 pack in no time, hun!"
  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
    I just answered a question about Jamie Eason's lifting program. Jamie Eason is freaking hot and adorable, but I hate that she has a silly isolation program out there. People want to look like her. They see her program and think that if they do it they can. At least it's free. I'd be really pissed if she were charging for it.
  • chuisle
    chuisle Posts: 1,052 Member
    I just answered a question about Jamie Eason's lifting program. Jamie Eason is freaking hot and adorable, but I hate that she has a silly isolation program out there. People want to look like her. They see her program and think that if they do it they can. At least it's free. I'd be really pissed if she were charging for it.

    I looked at that a while back after I had started lifting and just read somewhere about how silly things like leg presses were for most people and there was on her program and I was so confused. Glad I didn't go with it.
  • infamousmk
    infamousmk Posts: 6,033 Member
    But.. but.. I like leg presses! And I don't want to look like Jamie Eason.

    But anyway, thanks, OP for the post. This is a good reminder that a lot of us will never have Kim K.s butt, or a thigh gap, or Shakira's hips and all that other crap I see around the MFP.
  • yankeedownsouth
    yankeedownsouth Posts: 717 Member
    Very good point.

    Thankfully, I just want to look like a better me.
  • amyy902
    amyy902 Posts: 290 Member
    Sounds like your clients are lucky to have you.

    :) thankyou very much
  • tgh1914
    tgh1914 Posts: 1,036 Member
    Yep, my 4 pack will never be a 6 pack. It can't happen.
  • amysj303
    amysj303 Posts: 5,086 Member
    I just answered a question about Jamie Eason's lifting program. Jamie Eason is freaking hot and adorable, but I hate that she has a silly isolation program out there. People want to look like her. They see her program and think that if they do it they can. At least it's free. I'd be really pissed if she were charging for it.
    :blushing: was it me? I am about done with Jamie Eason plan.
  • DaughterOfTheMostHighKing
    DaughterOfTheMostHighKing Posts: 1,436 Member
    so true! that's why so many people who have been brain washed to think looking like everyone else is the best, go for plastic surgery! HELLO?!?!?!? when you have kids and they don't look like you, what are you gonna tell them?!?!? that you didn't want to look like them?!?!? REALITY CHECK!!!!!
  • HikeRunLift
    HikeRunLift Posts: 70
    HAHA, yup! And although I look like The Rock, I'll never build the Rock's body. And I'm ok with that.
  • dieseljay74
    dieseljay74 Posts: 376
    I ask myself, why can't I look like Steve.

    Now I know.


    Just kidding bud, excellent point as usual.
  • usmcmp
    usmcmp Posts: 21,219 Member
    I ask myself, why can't I look like Steve.

    Now I know.


    Just kidding bud, excellent point as usual.

    That's because you are built like Jason Statham!
  • dieseljay74
    dieseljay74 Posts: 376
    Pshhh.....I want to look like the Rock!
  • Deinonychus
    Deinonychus Posts: 70
    This is such a hard lesson to learn.
  • Elleinnz
    Elleinnz Posts: 1,661 Member
    So true ......Being 50+ and big chunky legs - skinny jeans are never going to happen - regardless of how skinny I get ;-)
  • StaceyL76
    StaceyL76 Posts: 711 Member
    That is the truth! Thanks for putting it out there. = ) accepting oneself is a good place to start. I find the most motivation from looking at old pics of myself when I was my happiest and healthiest.. that fuels me more than looking at others and saying I want to look like that.
  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
    I just answered a question about Jamie Eason's lifting program. Jamie Eason is freaking hot and adorable, but I hate that she has a silly isolation program out there. People want to look like her. They see her program and think that if they do it they can. At least it's free. I'd be really pissed if she were charging for it.
    :blushing: was it me? I am about done with Jamie Eason plan.

    No, it was someone new to lifting who was debating about programs. There's nothing implicitly wrong with Jamie's program it just isn't great for beginners and really, it's not going to make you look like her. It takes years to build a body like hers.
  • RonSwanson66
    RonSwanson66 Posts: 1,150 Member
    It's important to choose the right parents.
  • stroutman81
    stroutman81 Posts: 2,474 Member
    Agreed!

    It drives me crazy to see people saying they want to do X celebrity's work out to look like X celebrity. Yeah, right. Let me know when that works for you.

    Along similar lines, people whoo aren't experts who have great bodies and people flock to them to ask how to look like that. In some cases they have enough knowledge to be helpful, in others, less so. I follow some fitness tumblrs and they're the worst: "Just do 45 minutes of cardio 5-6 days a week then lift lots of light weights, focusing on one area per day! You'll have a 6 pack in no time, hun!"

    Yup, there are a lot of athletes and such who are successful in spite of what they're doing in the gym... but since the vast majority of folks are desperate for that edge or that secret, they're naturally going to gravitate to those people who look the best. The boring basics aren't sexy enough to consistently focus on, which is why everyone you see is program hopping like it's their jobs. It's unfortunate.

    The basics applied consistently are always going to provide the most mileage though.
  • stroutman81
    stroutman81 Posts: 2,474 Member
    I just answered a question about Jamie Eason's lifting program. Jamie Eason is freaking hot and adorable, but I hate that she has a silly isolation program out there. People want to look like her. They see her program and think that if they do it they can. At least it's free. I'd be really pissed if she were charging for it.

    Someone from here asked me to review one of Jamie's programs and I was a bit disappointed as well. Not that I expect much from most fitness figures anymore.
  • stroutman81
    stroutman81 Posts: 2,474 Member
    HAHA, yup! And although I look like The Rock, I'll never build the Rock's body. And I'm ok with that.

    Holy crap, you do look like The Rock. Lucky you.
  • Anomalia
    Anomalia Posts: 506 Member
    You may want to let all the girls dying for a thigh gap know this information as they don't seem to be getting it.
  • stroutman81
    stroutman81 Posts: 2,474 Member
    You may want to let all the girls dying for a thigh gap know this information as they don't seem to be getting it.

    I didn't realize there was such a large faction of women around here hoping to develop a "thigh gap." I train a ton of women each week at my gym and I have to say, I've not encountered a single one asking about a thigh gap. I take it it's when you can see daylight between thighs?

    If so, I just don't get our culture's incessant need for extreme skinniness. Call me old fashioned, but I personally like my women with feminine fat and curvy hips and thighs. To each his own... I know. Beauty's always going to lie in the eye of the beholder. It just sucks that I bet a lot of women are trying to attain a particular look based on very misguided and shallow metrics that are being set by a very shortsighted culture.
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