How would your body look like if you didn't adhere to external standards and didn't seek validation from other people?

When you think about it, how many of our standards are actually our own?

How would our body look like if we always did not try to adhere to other people standards and try to aim for someone else's physique?

We are always aiming outwards and bringing external standards to our lives. Our own voice gets silenced while we lost touch with who we actually are.

We say...

Let the chips fall where they may. Be formless. Be shapeless. Be who you are without trying.

In the early parts of our training journey, our goals and aspirations were largely dictated by other people's standards. 

Only after we lost health and got injuries we were snapped back to reality. Trying to be someone else was never worth it physically and it was absolutely was never worth it mentally.

People who are always focused on external standards will never be happy with anything. We certainly were not and we see this phenomenon in the fitness landscape everywhere. 

You are never shredded enough. You are never big enough. Your arm development is lacking. Your cannot do this or that... bla bla bla.

Of course as individuals we need to aim for the best versions of ourselves, for our highest potential. But we are different and we all have different sets of strengths. We all look different. Our skeletal structures are rarely alike. Our genes determine largely our future.

However...

There is certainly, without a shadow of a doubt, a version of you that is the purest, strongest and the best version of who you are.

Very likely, you are not this person yet or even close. Despite all of our work, we still have a long way to go. This is where life gets interesting and exciting.

Who you actually are? When you get healthy, structurally balanced and strong... how good and unique can you actually look? How strong can you become? What can you possibly achieve?

This is why we don't believe in external standards and fictional goals of imagination anymore. We have sovereignty over ourselves and are not ruled by others.

We just focus on doing the best we can. We focus on getting the healthiest, strongest and most functional as humanly possible.

If we are jacked as a result (all resistance training will always build muscle...) so be it. 

Then it's not even our will anymore. Obviously you will modify your training to suit your goals but they should always be your goals and not strict definite images. 

Direction is important. Improvement is crucial. Development is a necessity.

We have never been more happy and confident with ourselves than we are now. Mostly because we are not chasing phantoms and ghosts anymore. 

What we have discovered is that as long as you are healthy, balanced and functional, you will have true confidence.

It's natural for your skin to look good, your muscles to radiate energy and feel fantastic when you are healthy.

The person with bloated and swollen muscles who is desperate for other people's validation and attention has zero appeal to us. We see this as a form of pain and weakness, not as a form of strength.

We are who we are and we become who we are.