Body image is a topic that usually makes one think of teenaged girls starving themselves thin. But most people, no matter how old or young, have a feeling or image of the way their body should look. This image is composed of the actual view in the mirror combined with life experience, such as the image of our own younger/fitter/slimmer body, and the expectations of the way their body should look. This should comes from media images, parental influences, peers, past experiences or who knows what.
In my many years of fitness training I have noticed one common pattern among new fitness participants. Most newbies start a fitness program to get healthy and fit and to change a particular body part. Note the operative phrase here is particular body part. For example, its common for men to want to lose the fat roll around the mid section (love handles) and for women want to trim the hips.
Have you ever really observed other people in your gym? If you do, you will notice that there are a lot of men doing upper body and arm work and a lot of women doing lower body work. I recently prescribed outer and inner thigh (abductor/adductor) work to a client who was an...