“The greatest glory in living lies not in never failing, but in rising every time we fail.”
Nelson Mandela

This is one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite, inspirational and most influential people of all time. Correction – It WAS one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite, inspirational and most influential people of all time.

You see it all happened last Thursday evening. I was sitting at home finishing up on a few emails for our clients and decided to log onto my Facebook account to check on our group page. As I scrolled through my news feed “liking” photos from friends while despising CrossFit Quotes and Bathroom Selfies from others I stumbled across an ass update photo that was posted from a girl who’s a……ummm…. let’s just say a “friend of a friend” of mine on Facebook…..

For those of you that don’t know what an “Ass Update” photo is, it’s the term I use for photos or “selfies” if you will, that are generally taken by women (and sometimes men) of you guessed it – their asses. Now why would someone take a photo of their ass and post it online you might ask. Honestly I could try to explain it to you but that’s a rant for a whole other blog and by the time I was done explaining probably neither one of us would still understand.

Anyways, I’m Facebook friends with quite a few gym junkies and fitness competitors so the ass updates are typically the norm in my daily news feed. I’ve therefore become immune to the idiocy of them. However what made this particular ass update make me almost regurgitate my chicken & yams was that under the photo was my favorite quote from Nelson Mandela.

I thought I was reading this girl’s post incorrectly or perhaps this was just a joke so I clicked on the photo. Not being the most computer savvy individual I later realized that I accidentally ended up in fact “liking” this post by doing this…sigh. Anyways as I continued to read more into the description below the photo, the girl described how she was just a few weeks out from her next fitness show and how all the “Pain, Sacrifice and Dedication” has been worth it and that she can now see life for what it truly is about. She then went on to explain how she’s had her “ups and downs” during this particular prep and can now relate and understand to Nelson Mandella’s struggles throughout his own lifetime.

Now hold on a second. Before you go hit yourself over the head with a selfie stick and start hastag hating on this girl like I did perhaps we should all ease off. I mean she seems to have found some kind of enlightenment during her latest contest prep and who knows, maybe she did find the meaning of life. I assume it was in her ass based on the photo I saw….

Ugh! Enough. I’m sorry but I’ve prepped myself for over a dozen shows in my lifetime. Yes there were times that I was hungry, sure there were times I was irritable, hell, there were even times when I was so constipated and drained that I couldn’t even get my ass off the toilet seat to go to the gym. So what? Pregnant women go through this on a regular basis and rarely do I hear them complain about it. And not once did I even attempt to relate my experience with dieting and training to that of the struggles of Nelson Mandella!

I chose to prep for all of those shows. Nobody forced me to do it. So yes there was definitely pain, sacrifice and tons of dedication. Was it worth it? For the most part yes. Unfortunately I did not find the meaning of life nor did I find a sense of any enlightenment during my sleepless nights and carb depleted state. Maybe I prepped wrong?  I did however end up with a set of killer quads and a nice set of glutes if I do say so myself. So it wasn’t all that bad.

In all serious I don’t want to hate on this person and I’m sorry if I have offended anyone as that was not my intention. However this was the final squat that broke this bodybuilder’s back last week.

I understand that using social media as a tool can be extremely effective in both business and when establishing personal relationships, I’m not arguing that. I myself use it on a daily basis to promote health, wellness along with my own business – Have you tried our Green Coffee Bean Fat Burner by the way??? ;^). Where my concern lies now is when have we taken the selfies, the rants, the tweets and the hashtagging too far?

I overheard two women the other day comparing how many “likes” each of them received on their instagram selfies at the gym. How is this a conversation and why did these women care so much about who liked what and who didn’t? FYI these were not business promotional photos from the sounds of it, they were strictly photos of themselves posing in the gym (most likely more ass updates no doubt…..)

A tweet came through my twitter account poking fun of a gym member who was doing an exercise that looked a little bizarre along with the member’s photo while he was performing the exercise. This is just plain bullying and to me was not funny in any way or form.

There once was a time where all I cared about was a nice set of abs and giant muscular arms. But then I turned 18 and realized that my body is not what represents me as a person. Lucky for me I grew up in an age where there was no Facebook or Twitter and the word “Instagram” didn’t even exist. For if I did I might now be a 30 something year old man who constantly cuts his carbs, weighs himself religiously and takes countless selfies in the washroom. As my Dad always says “Back in my day, the bathroom was used to take a shit, not a selfie”.
Amen Pops!

Ofcourse I still care about building and maintaining a nice looking physique. I will admit, like many people, I do suffer from a little bit of body dysmorphia however my personal vanity goals have changed drastically over the past decade and have now been officially put on the back burner.

I still train everyday and I still eat fairly clean for the most part. I do this however not so much for looking good or because I’m “obsessed with working out” as some people say, but more so because it’s become habitual. Human beings are habitual creatures in nature. Most of us don’t like change and tend to fall into some sort of routine that we have become accustomed to throughout our daily lives. Going to the gym and doing my workout is like getting up in the morning and having a shower for a regular person. If you don’t get it in you feel dirty (or in my case lazy) and a little off for the rest of the day.

As I mentioned earlier I am a big fan of social media. I find that it can be a great tool to help me promote myself and my business. With that said there is definitely a learning curve and I’m still teaching myself how to use it in an effective and non-offensive manner every day.

I’m sure I’ve posted plenty of ridiculous things over the years online and I’m sure I will post many more to come in the future. I am a certified “Meat Head” after all.

I will not however tweet hateful comments attached to photos of people who are trying their best to become fit and healthy. I will not try to relate my daily struggles with life to another person (especially if that person has hit rock bottom and still managed to changed millions of lives in the process of climbing back up again).

I will however continue to try my utmost best to represent and conduct myself in a professional manner even when the haters come out and start bashing on me from behind their computers. Finally, I will not obsess over how many “likes” I get on a photo or video that I post online nor will I be offended when I don’t receive any at all. Although a “like” here and there does make me feel pretty damn good and is always very much appreciated.

In closing I think it’s great that there are so many people out there who look and feel great about their bodies. I think many of these people inspire others to become more fit and active within their own lives. My only concern is that we do not lose sight of what’s important in life and what’s not.

Family, Friends, Career all top my current list. A nice ass and a great selfie doesn’t even crack my top ten…….

Yours in Good Health,

Nick Cosgrove
President
Forever Fit