
The Philosophy of Backyard Bodybuilder
Social media has normalised the idea that fitness should be your life, and that if you’re not obsessing over every minute detail you aren’t trying hard enough. This is wildly unhealthy advice. It primes individuals to develop problematic relationships with their bodies, their exercise habits, and their eating habits.
Resistance training reaps a huge range of benefits, including increased strength, improved longevity, and decreased risk of lifestyle related illness. It’s hard to see such a beneficial tool become weaponised to make people feel bad about themselves and their bodies. Forming a regular habit to move your body and exercise is hard work, especially with the problematic, obsessive mindset that permeates the majority of fitness content on social media. Following this mindset, a half-hour training session turns into a half-day when you include getting to the gym, the mental load of determining the exercises and loads in any given session, the pre-workout supplements, and the post-workout supplements. All of a sudden half your day is gone and you’re left feeling mentally exhausted and dreading the idea of doing it all again tomorrow – this isn’t normal and we need to stop pretending like it is.
It’s important to address why this mindset is so pervasive. Fitness influencers can afford to perfectly optimise their training and let it take over their day because for many, this is their life and career. They gleam immense satisfaction from training and they are monetising their fitness content in order to make a living.
Most people simply do not have the time or mental space to make going to the gym such a high priority. Between your caring for yourself, your friendships, going to work, and having hobbies it feels like there’s just not enough time in the day. There is a harmful rhetoric that is echoed by the throngs of internet-based personal trainers and lifestyle coaches which I find challenging; that you always have more time than you think and if you just reschedule your life and change your priorities, you’ll find the time to do it all and more. This simply isn’t true for most people. Instead of forcing yourself to rearrange your entire life to squeeze in countless hours of exercise every week, you need to make small, manageable changes within your life to incorporate movement where you can. If this means getting out the house once a week for a twenty minute walk, that’s great! If it means going to the beach for a quick swim once a fortnight, that’s fantastic! There is no minimum level of physical activity that must be cleared to be beneficial, whatever works for you is good for you. The best changes you can make are the changes that you can maintain. If you don’t have the time or energy for regular resistance exercise sessions, that’s okay! Find something that you enjoy that allows you to move your body on a schedule that suits you.
Forming sustainable movement habits is a foundational principle of Backyard Bodybuilder. We have stream-lined our training approach to make it as time efficient and convenient for you as possible. Our personal training sessions will train almost every single muscle in the body, in only 45 minutes. Add in a short warm-up and cool-down and you’re looking at an hour of high quality training that will leave you feeling stronger and healthier. And the beauty of that hour is that is all it is! We bring the gym right to you, so you can get back to your day with ease. Whether you’ve got time for one, two, or three sessions a week, our training program is flexible to your needs and your energy levels.
If this sounds like what you’ve been looking for, you’re in luck! We have got open slots for multiple clients, book in a session today using the button below.
Mobile Personal Training
conor@backyardbodybuilder.com.au
Perth, Western Australia