The Psychology of a Bodybuilder--How Self Concious are you?

[Venom]

I was thinking of the psychology of a bodybuilder, and one trend I seem to notice, is that we are a very self conscious breed; more so than any type of athlete that I have witnessed. This may just be because I am exposed to more bodybuilders than other athletes, but that is what I have seen.

For instance, I notice regular people—at least, many regular people—are fine with wearing many types of clothing, and are not as self conscious. But bodybuilders are incredibly self conscious. For instance, I know this one bodybuilder, that wears a jacket every single day—literally. I have not seen him take it off once. I don’t even know what he looks like without it. Funny thing is, he is super lean. He says he only takes it off when he is below 8% body fat lol. [img]/forum/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]

So I am wondering how consistent my observation is across this board. How self conscious are you off your body relative to the normal population? If that is the right term to use; hopefully, you understand what I am trying to say when I use the term "self concious".

Also, please post a response telling us your experience, and thoughts on this matter.

[Kibs]

Somewhat more self conscious I think.

[TForce]

I think that it really digs deeper into the issue of how important looks really mean to the person. Many people place lots of emphasis on how they look whereas others use their personality to make up for it. This, in itself, can get pretty complicated, as there are a myriad of reasons why any person does any certain thing. However, I would say that the general rule in this day and age is that people care more about how they look, though this is contraindicative when you factor in the Obesity Boom. I guess I live in a sheltered world. What makes people stay obese primarily, lack of knowledge or lack of initiative? Of course, logistics are always a big issue.

[RawIron]

i used to be ****y until my cartilage problems started... once my muscle went away i was very self conscious.. only now that im able to workout again is it starting to get better. but i would say ive always been more self conscious than the norm.

[lifting5]

I would consider myself a little above the norm. Since I graduated high school, I've gotten into better shape, while my friends have become lazy and sedentary, so I get a lot of crap from them. I'm proud of the progress I've made, but I tend to wear baggier clothes just so people are interested in my personality instead of my muscles. What really irks me is the big guys that think they are better than skinnier guys just because of their muscularity, so I'm very careful about how I come across to people when talking about working out. Bodybuilding has definitely done me a world of good with confidence, but I will never become ****y about it.

[Venom]

I think it depends on our conditioning.

Obviously, bodybuilders can't be too self conscious, since they pose practically naked on stage. [img]/forum/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] But, I think bodybuilders hold a higher standard.

For instance, if someone was 18% body fat, and had a lot of muscle, they would probably be really happy and confident with how they look. However, a bodybuilder may be very self conscious, and try to hide their body more. So in other words, I think that bodybuilders standard for being self conscious of their body, is higher. So the relationship may be curvilinear. Bodybuilders who are shredded, are really confident, when they are out of shape (25% for a male) they are just as self confident as most people at that body fat (very low confidence, or maybe even lower). But I think when they are in-between, is when you see that some bodybuilders self consciousness is greater than a sedentary person.

[Adam Knowlden]

It depends. Some days I am, some days I'm not. I'm a pretty modest dresser regardless of my conditioning. But that's more of my style, not really correlated to my condition.

I do prefer certain brands of clothes which I feel present my physique in a positive manner. For example, I prefer tapered dress shirts to just regular fitting ones.

[Giladvalkor]

About the Norm for me....Well Most of the Time anyway. There may be sometimes when it goes a little above the norm, I guess it also depends on my mood too!

[westlondonflex]

I'm no competing bodybuilder but I am really selfconcious. The first signs of love handles showing on a bulk and I'll stop wearing fitted tops. Similerly during cuts my arms just seem too look smaller especially my forearms and I'll only wear long sleeves. Also even at 17.5 inch arms I still dont think I can pull of wearing a vest.

This selfconciousness tends to be more comman place in the gym and is some what compensated for because when I'm out in the "real world" amongst non lifers. I'm definetly more confident then, then I was before I started lifting.

[R.A.D.]

more self conscious than the norm...
I guess once i get my BF down to single digits, it will change...