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“You Look in the Mirror, and They Don’t Understand”: Arnold Schwarzenegger Debunked the ‘Narcissistic’ Myth Around Bodybuilders

Published 09/13/2022, 9:30 AM EDT

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In the bodybuilding world, posing is a vital routine for all athletes. They need to understand their progress and the muscles they have to develop. Earlier, people had misconceptions about bodybuilders being narcissistic by looking at their bodies. These misconceptions annoyed Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the seven-time Mr. Olympia winner had his say. 

 

In a past interview, he explained how the whole process worked. Talking about the various misconceptions, Arnold detailed the life of a bodybuilder and the relevant aspects of the sport. Significantly, posing is crucial for athletes to understand their muscle development. The interview saw Arnold debugging the myths related to the sport. 

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Arnold Schwarzenegger in favor of posing!

Explaining why bodybuilders looked at the mirror, Arnold detailed the various minute details that one can spot while posing in front of a mirror. Arnold said“In some countries, people think that if you’re a bodybuilder, you’re narcissistic. Because you look in the mirror, and they don’t understand that.”

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Take basketball, for example. Players spend hours on videotapes to understand their weaknesses and rectify them in the upcoming games. However, people don’t call them narcissists, as one can imply when he watches his highlights. 

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Similarly, mirrors are necessary for Arnold as it helps. “The only way you see the progress of your physique is by checking in a mirror or stepping on a scale or taking a dead measure and measuring your muscles. So that’s how the preconceptions come up.” Another myth related to the sport is how muscles turn into fat if one skips workouts after training for ten or more years. Even to this date, people have this fallacy. 

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Muscles and fat are different!

Arnold explained how muscles never turned, into fat, if you failed to work out. He said, “If you train for ten years and stop your workouts, you will fall apart. You know you turn the fat, and that’s obviously wrong because muscles never contend with fat and a lot of preconceptions.” The work put in by bodybuilders for years amounts to developing their muscles for the future. 

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For queries related to posing, this method can improve one’s muscle awareness and adopt a different approach to existing workouts. Every gym has mirrors for bodybuilders to introspect their muscles. To sum up, fans cannot categorize bodybuilders to be narcissistic. It is a part of their job, and practicing this can produce critical results during contests. 

WATCH THIS STORY- From Tesla Roadster to Hummer- Here are Arnold Schwarzenegger’s most prized possessions

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Written by:

Jacob Gijy

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Jacob Gijy is a US Sports and NBA writer at EssentiallySports. Gijy finished his Post Graduation in Psychology and worked in a hospital for 2 years before his passion for sports compelled him to find his way to sports journalism. A fan of the great Tim Duncan, he is always ready to pick up a debate with anyone who does not offer the power forward, the respect he deserves.
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Edited by:

Simar Singh Wadhwa