A client once said to me,

“I don’t care about how I function or how I feel, I just want to look good.”

I appreciated what this guy told me.  He’d successfully lost over 20 lbs of fat and was in the process of packing on significant amounts of muscle.  He was finally at a place where he was confident in his appearance. . . and he sure didn’t mind the positive attention that it brought him from his wife, his children and his peers.  But I countered with something along the line of,

“What good will ‘looking good’ do you if you can’t play with your kids or simply stand up out of a chair because your body is out of balance and not functioning properly?” (As if I would ever let that happen. . . )

Even today, with all information emphasizing the importance of training for improved performance, there are countless individuals still training themselves with a “bodybuilder mentality” — and focusing a majority of their thoughts on body transformation . . . without giving a second thought (or first?) to heath.

I’m all for the idea of “training for improved appearance.”  After all, it’s one of the major perks of a good exercise and nutrition protocol.  Just make sure that you’re enhancing (not ignoring or sacrificing) your body’s health and functional capacities in the process.  After all, it’s the health status of your body that’s going to determine how good you look . . . and how quickly you’re going to get there.