Many people believe there must be a secret to obtaining the “body beautiful.” The truth is there are no secrets. You can change the way you look and feel by exercising, eating well, and focusing on the progress these changes are making in your life. But there are myths surrounding fitness, and I’m going to dispel them for you here and now.

“IF I STOP WORKING OUT, MY MUSCLES WILL TURN TO FLAB!”

This statement is the theme song of the Sour Grapes school of life, and to take it at face value would be ridiculous. Let me explain: Progress from a skinny or flabby frame to one of firm, taut muscles is a gradual, microscopic one, rooted deep within the muscle fibers. If you were to decide to take a break from your workout to sit on your duff or for whatever reason, the loss would occur just as gradually as the gains gains even slower. But here’s the bonus: Once you have worked your body to a certain point of fitness, getting back to that level after a long hiatus takes less effort than it did to achieve the original gains. For instance, if you’ve exercised and lifted weights for six months, improving cardiovascular and muscular health, and then you veg out in front of the TV for another six months, it would take only three months of work to bring you back to your initial level of fitness. “The muscles have memory,” we say, and the cards are stacked in your favor.

“IT’S TOO LATE FOR ME, SO WHY BOTHER?” This is not so much a myth as an expression of defeatism that can dog a man and interfere with progress, pleasure, and achievement all his life. When you think about it, isn’t that statement perfectly crazy? Why sweep the floor when it’ll just get dusty again? Why shower when I’ll just have to do it again tomorrow morning? Each of us is unique, irreplaceable, and capable of the improvement we want and are willing to work for. Of course, some men are genetically gifted, born with a predisposition for a trim, muscular physique or have inherited muscular coordination or athletic ability. But everyone and I mean everyone has some quality, inherent or developed, that he can work on to optimal advantage. And these qualities are pleasures leading to other benefits, such as a natural inclination to achieve a toned body more easily.

“IT’S SO HARD ..” Perhaps the biggest and best kept secret about making changes in your life regarding exercise and diet is how much fun it is. The myth has it that fitness requires hours of exhausting, grueling work, combined with hearty lashings of self denial and sacrifice no more bacon cheeseburgers with a double order of fries, an end to late night pints of Håagen Dazs in front of the TV. Well, to some guys this might indeed signal the end of happiness as they know it, But look at it another way: How about the pleasure of putting your body through its paces for an hour or so three times a week and feeling it capable of things you never thought it could do, seeing and feeling it firm up and strengthen? What’s so bad about biting into a juicy peach or a hunk of fiery red watermelon instead of a Krispy Kreme doughnut? And is late night TV so much more of a treat than a bracing shower after an energetic game of volleyball, followed by dinner with your teammates? Even if we don’t consider the very real pleasures of possessing a trimmer body, one that looks good both in clothes and out of them, the process of getting it that way can and should be seen as a delight rather than a burden and a chore. It’s a matter of perspective so maybe it’s time to change yours and to of putting your body through its paces for an hour or so three times a week and feeling it capable of things you never thought it could do, seeing and feeling it firm up and strengthen? What’s so bad about biting into a juicy peach or a hunk of fiery red watermelon instead of a Krispy Kreme doughnut? And is late night TV so much more of a treat than a bracing shower after an energetic game of volleyball, followed by dinner with your teammates? Even if we don’t consider the very real pleasures of possessing a trimmer body, one that looks good both in clothes and out of them, the process of getting it that way can and should be seen as a delight rather than a burden and a chore. It’s a matter of perspective so maybe it’s time to change yours and to see exercise, weight training, and healthy diet as their own reward

“I’LL NEVER LOOK LIKE THAT ..” When I chose the photographs , I had a specific intention: not to present near impossible standards of beauty nor to make unrealistic promises about what my programs can do for you but to show you examples of men who, by exercising, weight training, and eating a healthy diet, have made themselves look the way they do. There are more than 40 different models black, white, Asian, Native American ranging in age from 22 to 45, each representing a different body type, a different look.

There is no single standard for male beauty; even Michelangelo’s David, once taken as the classical ideal of the perfect male physique, has been reduced to a refrigerator magnet to be dressed up or down. The joke speaks to our anxieties about perfection and an idealized aesthetic: The truth is that we are less attracted to perfection than we realize, and that there are so many ways, whether you are an ectomorph, endomorph, or mesomorph, to make your body into something of which you can be proud and in which you can take pleasure.

GADGETS DO THEY REALLY WORK?

We’ve all seen the infomercials for machines, from plastic “Abdominators” to elaborate and expensive gym machines adapted for home use, all endorsed by smiling semi celebrities and available for three easy payments of stupidity. Do they work? Well, to some extent, and for some people (particularly those whose fitness level is a zero), yes, they can. But they require commitment and discipline, like any other lifestyle change. What good is a plastic shell intended to help you develop washboard abs if it takes up residence under your bed along with the dust bunnies and lost socks? And a ski machine can’t help you increase your cardiovascular fitness if you use it primarily as a high tech clothes rack. In other words, use these aids to exercise as exercise. It’s not the manufacturer’s fault if you get bored with your Glitz glider and stop using it.