Why It's Perfectly OK to Chase Aesthetics (Lose Fat to Get Lean, Healthy, AND Happy) | Ep 312
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Feeling guilty about wanting to look good? To have visible abs, a perky butt, or bulging biceps?
It's time to shed that unnecessary burden.
The fitness industry has created a false dichotomy between training for health versus training for appearance, making many feel ashamed about aesthetic goals.
Yet research reveals these pursuits are actually aligned, with the body composition that looks good typically being the same one that optimizes health markers.
You'll discover why your desire for a better physique isn't shallow but actually connected to both biological drivers and psychological well-being... and how pursuing reasonable aesthetic goals provides benefits that extend far beyond fitness.
Main Takeaways:
Health and aesthetics aren't opposing forces; they're complementary goals that largely overlap
The body fat levels considered visually appealing align with optimal health markers
Pursuing aesthetic goals develops life skills that transfer to other areas
Building muscle is both aesthetically beneficial and critically important for long-term health
Timestamps:
0:01 - Breaking free from guilt about aesthetics (how you look)
2:22 - The false divide between health and appearance
8:27 - When clients whisper their aesthetic goals
10:17 - The science that connects looks and health
14:06 - Psychological benefits of physique goals
17:11 - The evolutionary reasons we care about looks
22:15 - Balancing aesthetics and health in practice
28:53 - How physique development skills transfer to success in life
34:30 - Embracing both health and aesthetics
Why Chasing Aesthetics Might Be the Healthiest Thing You Can Do
If you’ve ever second-guessed your desire to look lean, muscular, or just damn good in the mirror—this is your permission slip to stop apologizing. Because the idea that caring about aesthetics makes you vain, shallow, or somehow less focused on “true” health? It’s nonsense. And in this episode of Wits & Weights, I’m breaking down why your aesthetic goals might be the best thing you could do for your long-term health, confidence, and quality of life.
The False Choice Between Health and Aesthetics
There’s a narrative out there that says you have to choose between training for performance or training to look good. That if you chase visible abs or muscular arms, you’re neglecting your health or falling for toxic fitness culture.
That narrative is wrong.
In coaching, I hear it all the time: people whispering their aesthetic goals like a guilty confession—"I know I should just focus on my health… but I want to see my abs too." Here’s the thing: wanting to look better is not in conflict with improving your health. In fact, the path to an aesthetic physique overlaps almost perfectly with the path to better health.
Leaner, Stronger, Healthier: The Overlap Is Real
Let’s look at some objective data:
Optimal body fat ranges for aesthetics—about 10–15% for men and 18–23% for women—are the same ranges associated with:
Lower cardiovascular risk
Improved insulin sensitivity
Better hormonal health
Reduced inflammation
A 2019 study in the European Heart Journal found that body fat percentage—not BMI—is one of the strongest predictors of heart disease risk. So if you’re pursuing fat loss to look more defined, you’re also putting yourself in a much better position metabolically.
On the muscle side, higher lean mass is tied to:
Reduced all-cause mortality
Better glucose control
Higher resting metabolic rate
Stronger immune function
In other words, the pursuit of a more muscular and lean physique supports your health markers across the board.
And yes, even visible abs matter. Not because they’re a badge of honor, but because lower visceral fat—the dangerous kind that wraps around your organs—tends to be associated with leanness in the abdominal area. So if your stomach is flatter, you’re not just "looking fit"—you probably are metabolically healthier.
Strength Training and Nutrition: The Foundation for Both Goals
Here’s where the methods really align:
Resistance training is non-negotiable. It improves aesthetics, supports bone density, boosts metabolism, enhances function, and increases longevity.
Proper nutrition—especially adequate protein and whole food intake—supports muscle retention, improves energy, regulates hormones, and makes fat loss sustainable.
There is no contradiction here. The same plan that helps you uncover your physique is the plan that improves your blood work, mental health, and stress resilience.
But What About the Mental Side?
Let’s talk psychology.
Studies show that body satisfaction is associated with lower anxiety, higher confidence, and improved well-being. When you pursue aesthetic goals in a healthy, structured way—not through crash diets or disordered habits—you tend to feel better because you’re building something. You’re working toward something. And that increases self-efficacy—the belief that you can take control of your body, your habits, and your life.
In coaching, I’ve seen this time and time again. Someone starts with the goal of getting leaner, and along the way:
They gain confidence to ask for a promotion
They engage more fully in relationships
They show up with purpose, discipline, and pride
This isn't superficial. This is identity-level change. And it starts with honoring the desire to look and feel your best.
Yes, There's a Line—but Most People Aren't Even Close to It
Of course, we’re not ignoring the extremes. Competitive bodybuilding, crash dieting, or obsessing over aesthetics at the expense of your well-being—that’s not what we’re talking about.
But that’s also not where most people are.
Most people need permission to start caring about how they look, and to know that it’s not vanity. It’s self-respect.
Because the truth is, for 95% of people, chasing aesthetics improves both physical and mental health—as long as you do it with intention, evidence, and sustainability in mind.
Make It Sustainable, Trackable, and Aligned
How do you pursue this the right way?
Define your goals clearly: "I want a lean, muscular physique that reflects and supports optimal health." Say it out loud. It’s not selfish. It’s empowering.
Use the right metrics:
Track body composition, not just weight
Measure strength, mobility, and performance
Use biofeedback: energy, mood, libido, sleep
Avoid extremes: No crash diets. No endless cardio. No restrictive eating.
Cycle your goals: Use short fat loss phases and maintenance periods. Build muscle when you have the energy and food to support it. Don’t try to do everything all at once.
Leverage aesthetics as motivation: It's totally okay if you’re motivated by the mirror. Let that fuel your consistency while the deeper health benefits quietly accumulate in the background.
Final Thoughts
Looking good and feeling good are not opposites. They are deeply intertwined.
Strength training, lean mass, and moderate body fat levels are some of the strongest predictors of health, performance, and resilience—especially as we age. Aesthetic goals are not a distraction. They’re a feature, not a bug, of an optimal training and nutrition plan.
So chase the aesthetics. Build the muscle. Lose the fat. Show up in your life with confidence.
And if you want help doing it the right way—with data, structure, and support—you can always check out Wits & Weights Physique University. That’s where we guide you through a sustainable transformation built around evidence and engineering.
Because you deserve to look great and feel great—for the long haul.
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Get notified of new episodes. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or all other platforms.
Then hit “Follow” and you’re good to go!
Transcript
Philip Pape: 0:01
If you've ever felt guilty about wanting to look good like, somehow wanting visible abs or defined arms makes you shallow or vain, this episode will free you from that unnecessary burden. The truth is that wanting to look athletic, lean and muscular is not just about vanity. It's deeply connected to optimal health markers, longevity and even psychological well-being. Yet many of us have been made to feel ashamed about aesthetic goals, as if pursuing a better physique means we're somehow superficial or missing the real point of fitness. Today, we're challenging this false dichotomy between health and aesthetics, revealing the overwhelming evidence that they're actually aligned. Welcome to Wits and Weights, the show that helps you build a strong, healthy physique using evidence, engineering and efficiency.
Philip Pape: 1:12
I'm your host, philip Pape, and today we are tackling something that I see all the time in coaching and online discussions, social media, and that is the false divide between training for health and training for aesthetics. And you've probably heard things before like focus on your health, not how you look, or train for performance, not appearance, and these are all well-meaning statements that are, in some cases, trying to focus you on a goal which is completely understandable, but in many cases, it creates a false choice that leaves a lot of people I'm sure, yourself included, feeling guilty because you want both and you always feel kind of torn between them. And then you might come to me saying, hey, which one do I do next? But let's talk about what the actual research says, because I effectively want to give you some permission to embrace both. And what if I told you that the research actually shows a substantial overlap between what makes us healthy and what makes us look good? And that's what we're looking at today. We're going to examine why it is completely fine, even beneficial, to pursue aesthetic goals alongside health goals, and why they are often the same exact journey.
Philip Pape: 2:22
Whether you're trying to build muscle, lose fat, improve your overall body composition, I want you to walk away understanding why these pursuits both serve your health and your happiness. And, before we get into it, if you are ready to transform your physique in a way that optimizes both health and aesthetics, I want to encourage you to join our Wits and Weights Physique University. Now, the name of that program, physique, can be a little misleading, because people again think looks, look like you lift, that's great. But we also take a science-backed, systematic, systematic, systematic approach to building your ideal body, one that looks great and functions optimally, because, again. They go together so you can join, get two weeks free, kick the tires, get your first challenge, free access to your custom nutrition plan. For me, um, all the things for free, right from day one, full access. Just go to wits and weightscom, slash physique or click the link in the show notes. Yeah, there's lots of other things in there, like custom workout programs dropped every month. There's a monthly challenge. There's, of course, a very supportive community where you can be vulnerable and share what's going on and get help in a private setting and keep you accountable. So witsandweightscom slash physique, click the link in the show notes and again, just transparently. As far as pricing, once the free trial is over, it's87 a month. I mean, you're not going to find something that is pretty close to one-on-one coaching where I'm extremely involved as a coach for that price.
Philip Pape: 3:50
So remember, looking good, being healthy or not, competing goals, they're complementary and that's what we're talking about today and it's also what we teach in Physique University. All right, so let's get into why. It is perfectly fine to chase aesthetics and break it down into three sections. I like to be organized. So the first section we are going to explore this false dichotomy right that is abstract and created by the industry, I would say or created by coaches in many cases between health and aesthetics. Second, we are going to examine the science showing the overlap between aesthetic goals and health markers, and then, finally, we're going to discuss how to approach aesthetic goals in a balanced and sustainable way, because what we are not pushing here is some sort of extreme get shredded and, uh, wreck your hormones type of approach. Even if you do have a goal to, say, compete in a bodybuilding show or something like that, which is an extreme um, there are ways where you're living day to day where you can chase both goals, All right.
Philip Pape: 4:51
So, starting with the false dichotomy, there is a narrative that you must choose between training for health or training for looks, and when I did my coaching certification, we learned something called the iron triangle. Is it the iron triangle? Yes, I think that's what it is, and I actually still. I still teach that, I still talk to my clients about it. It's the idea that if you want to improve, say, your aesthetics, there's a point in time where you're going to have to focus more on fat loss than on trying to push your gains, but there's also time you're going to focus more on gains to build that muscle base before we go to fat loss. So in that perspective, yes, there are some trade-offs that always have to be made if you're going to go all after a specific goal in the short term. But in the long or in the medium term not even the long term, the medium term, like a year or two out you can combine these different periods, what we call periodization and ultimately get the best of it all, doing it in an efficient way.
Philip Pape: 5:49
So that's kind of what I'm talking about today and that's in contrast to what you hear in the industry, like the functional fitness crowd that says you know, aesthetics are shallow pursuits. You always have to have a deeper reason for this, like there's something wrong with you or you have body dysmorphia or disordered whatever, and again, the actual disordered whatever is outside the scope of today's podcast. We are talking about a healthy pursuit of aesthetics, even sometimes for its own goal, and that is okay. On the other hand, you also have physique competitors who push the extremes of aesthetics that might temporarily compromise your health and we talk about on the show, like the cost of going to that extreme. But I think this is a false choice. I think it's like saying that you have to choose between enjoying food and fueling your body and eating nutritiously. Why not both? Why not both? I heard on a podcast recently them talking about the no sugar challenge they were going through and how much of a struggle it was, and I thought well, that's because you're trying to cut something out completely, when, in fact, you can enjoy foods with sugar but also have lots of nutritious foods alongside them and have a great dietary pattern.
Philip Pape: 7:02
So, anyway, the dichotomy probably came up in a few different places. I think the first place is the legitimate reaction against the unhealthy extremes of bodybuilding and physique competitions, and when you see Instagram physiques where competitors might sacrifice health for stage ready appearance. Now there are some people doing this in a very controlled, deliberate, precise way, where there is still a short-term sacrifice to these things, for sure, but they know how to minimize that and they do it in a and I'll call it a healthy way, even though the pursuit itself may still be extreme. Then there's the marketing angle right, the camps, the health longevity camps, the aesthetic stamps. I mean these are to the extreme as well. You have longevity camps talking about not eating very much protein Somehow that helps with longevity, or biohacking to death, my 200 supplement stack or all sorts of gadgets and equipment and programs that sell all these different products and, at the end of the day, they're trying to sell you something. Heck, I'm trying to sell you something. I'm trying to sell you a healthy result that you can live with for the rest of your life, just to be honest. So that's what I'm trying to sell you, that's what I've gotten for myself through lots of hard knocks and hope to accelerate the process for you through this podcast, and do it in a very reasonable, evidence-based, nuanced, personalized way.
Philip Pape: 8:27
And then, finally, we have the well-intentioned but misguided attempt to make fitness more inclusive by downplaying aesthetics right, and again, the attention is good and I get. We all need our boogeyman and it's great for a clickbait or a podcast episode where you're trying to appeal to people who may have self-doubt about their physique at the moment and feel like they can't get there, and so you focus and sit on these other things, or someone who's older and they're like, well, I don't really care how I look, I care more about my bone density or living a long life, and, and that's fine, and again, your personal reason for doing it is your own and I like that. We want fitness to be accessible to everyone. But I think it does inadvertently shame people who do care about their appearance. Again, not you as an individual who's saying that's what you want, but the industry as a whole by somehow calling out people who want to improve their look as a bad thing, calling out people who want to improve their look as a bad thing. And I've worked with numerous clients who you know they initially like they whisper their aesthetic goals right. They almost apologize about it. They say things like well, I know I should really focus on health and being a role model for my kids and living a long life, but I really want to see my abs too. And they say it like with some guilt and shame, as if this desire is something to be embarrassed about. But that desire is not shallow, it is human, it is normal and it's often aligned with health. There's often a biological drive for why we want to look good. Let's just admit that. Okay, and I know looking good is very subjective, but there's aspects of it that are actually universal and objective that we can get into. So this brings us to the second segment today, which is the quite remarkable overlap between aesthetic goals and health markers. That even I was surprised about when I researched for this episode.
Philip Pape: 10:17
And again, let's just go and look what the science tells us. Let's first talk about body composition, which is one of the main emphases Is that plural for emphasis? Emphasis of this show is not focusing on weight loss, but focusing on body composition. The composition of body fat to lean mass and body fat percentages that are, I'll say, typically considered aesthetically pleasing, based on studies and people's reporting and surveys, is around 10 to 15% for men and around 18 to 23% for women. And guess what? Those body fat ranges align almost perfectly with optimal health markers, where maintaining body fat in these ranges correlates with better insulin sensitivity, improved hormonal profiles, reduced inflammation, lower risk of chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetes, certain cancers. I mean we know that the vast majority of these things are correlated with obesity, which is correlated with lifestyle, and it's all connected. So there was a study in 2019 in the European Heart Journal that found that body fat percentage was a stronger predictor of heart disease risk than BMI alone. And there have just been so many studies that show that and it's probably obvious at this point to many of us, especially when we talk about how BMI is not sufficient usually to detect some of these risks. You know, body roundness and body fat tend to be better indicators and the sweet spot for the lowest risk of heart disease is right in the range. That is also what most people consider visually appealing, right.
Philip Pape: 11:55
Again, this is trying to make this a little more objective and numbers-based. And then, if we look at the muscle mass side so that's body fat we look at the muscle mass side. You know the, the defined muscular physique that many pursue, that I'm still pursuing, raising my hand, like I. I didn't start pursuing it properly until my forties and I'm only 44 and I have a long way to go. Like my goal is to keep getting younger every year and notice younger means look good and feel good and perform well and be healthier. Uh, but anyway it's it. Anyway it's not just for show, even though many pursue it for that, especially younger dudes, let's say, or certain you know, if you're going for competitive aspirations, higher muscle mass We've talked about it many times on this show, but I can emphasize again it's associated with improved metabolic health, better glucose control, stronger immune function, even reduced mortality.
Philip Pape: 12:46
Right, not in and of itself right, we still need to have a reasonable level of body fat, right. We can't go to the other extreme and say it's only about muscle. But you've got to have muscle is kind of my point. There's a 2018 meta-analysis in the Journal of Kachexia, sarcopenia and Muscle that found that higher muscle mass was associated with lower all-cause mortality. And that's just again. I'm picking individual studies. Try to focusing on meta-analysis where they look at multiple studies, but you probably don't need me to convince you that muscle mass is important, even like superficial abs, right.
Philip Pape: 13:21
Having a six-pack or eight-pack or whatever that many of us chase can have health significance. When we flip it a little bit and talk about visceral fat around your organs your abdominal fat, which is metabolically more active and associated with increased inflammation and disease risk and all sorts of health issues so you could argue that a visible six pack doesn't just look good. It indicates lower visceral fat and therefore better health. It doesn't mean you have to get to the point of that level of being shredded. I do want to give that caveat. It just means that if you are lean in your belly area, there's probably some things you're doing right from a health perspective, assuming you haven't gone to like an extreme of getting too shredded right Now.
Philip Pape: 14:06
What about the process of getting there? Well, the method used to improve aesthetics resistance training, proper nutrition, are exactly what anyone, including health authorities, most fitness professionals myself recommend for optimal health. Like, resistance training is a non-negotiable in my opinion. Right, yes, being active, yes, moving, yes, managing sleep and stress, but resistance training is non-negotiable. And I would say sufficient protein and nutrients are the other non-negotiable that has a little bit more flexibility in what we mean.
Philip Pape: 14:42
It's not like binary, in the same way that resistance training is binary. Like you have to do that, um, it's more the levels that you need. Uh, but there is no other path there. There is no other path, right, you can't. You can't improve your health and longevity with running. In fact, you probably are going to set it back. You can't improve it with just yoga or just mindfulness and meditation, and I say just because those things are all great, not the running, but you know, walking is far superior, of course, for fat loss and longevity and health.
Philip Pape: 15:13
But all those other things for your mental state, fine, you can do, them, great, but they are not going to give you what you need without strength training and the quote, unquote, functional strength that we've touched on just here and there I'm not a big fan of the word. We had Lorenzo, um, lauren, lauren, colenzo Semple on from mass talking all about that topic. Right, it's a real misnomer in the industry, um, but the Any program that purports to develop functional strength is probably doing so through some form of resistance training. Even the things that I don't like so much, like CrossFit, the strength and the barbell, part of that is still thinking in terms of, hey, we need to load you up and push those muscles and challenge you. The only difference is how they're marketed and then also whether they achieve that efficiently. But you've got to resistance train, you've got to have proper nutrition, and those give you good aesthetics and good health.
Philip Pape: 16:06
So now let's touch on something that is often overlooked or maybe not talked about enough, and that is the psychological benefits of aestheticals, not the detriments. Right, we know we can talk about the dark side, but I care about how we look matters to us psychologically, because I wouldn't want you to pursue a goal like that if it was harmful to your mental health. Studies consistently show that body image impacts our mental health. It impacts your self-confidence and your well-being, which is why it's so important. Which way do we push the needle on this? There was a 2020 review in Body Image that found that satisfaction was associated with no, I'm sorry that body satisfaction was associated with better mental health outcomes across the board. Right, when we achieve our aesthetic goals, we often experience more confidence, reduced anxiety, greater satisfaction with ourselves, and so, to me, these are not shallow outcomes. These are legitimate psychological benefits.
Philip Pape: 17:11
Right, we focus a lot on things like body positivity and people's self-doubt and negative self-talk about their bodies, but we don't focus enough on the fact that those same people probably want to improve their. But we don't focus enough on the fact that those same people probably want to improve their body as well and need to be encouraged in a positive way to go. Do that, not shame them for it, but also not settle for where they are now. There's always a way to improve, and I've seen clients transform massively, not just physically, but mentally, when they achieve the physique that they've worked for, and it's okay. That's why I'm making this show, guys. It's okay to go after that because, at the end of the day, they all serve the same purpose.
Philip Pape: 17:52
Right, there are things like changes in your posture that have profound impacts not just on health, but also confidence. Right, I hear from clients how they're able to engage more confidently in a social situation. Maybe it's because people judge you for how you look. Maybe it's simply because they know they're accomplishing something that very few other people are and they can stand tall and proud. Right, maybe they haven't lost all the body fat or gotten to exactly where they want, but the change and the process and method are really what's bringing them the confidence right. Lifting heavy not even heavy, just lifting at all and making progress. And they often say look, I feel more capable in this area of my life, this area of my life, my relationships, my friends with my job okay, those are positive.
Philip Pape: 18:40
Now, let's not deny, let's not be delusional about the unhealthy extremes that could occur. Body dysmorphia and eating disorders are out there. They are serious concerns, right? Holly Baxter talked about her own past with eating disorders and she's a physique competitor, but she does it in the right way. Now you know, pursuing reasonable aesthetic goals as part of a balanced approach to fitness does not cause these issues. Let's be clear it can actually improve your body image when approached in a healthy, constructive way, which is exactly why I don't like restrictive dieting, crash diets, demonizing foods, moving ahead with poor relationships to food, because they're all tied into your body, your safety, your security, your self-image, all of that. But if we can make the process itself positive, we can make the outcome that comes from it, of improved body image, also positive. Does that make sense? I hope that makes sense. It does to me. Maybe I'm off my rocker. I think it makes sense.
Philip Pape: 19:41
Then there's the evolutionary angle. That's worth considering. You know I mentioned biology. I think it's important to touch on because our appreciation for these you know, beauty standards or aesthetic qualities it isn't arbitrary, like it's deeply rooted in biological signals of health and reproductive fitness. There's a reason that we are attracted to certain people from a young age, I mean around the time of puberty. Look back to it and just think about the hormonal chaos you had in your teenage years and how you're attracted to certain forms of things that you find beautiful. Right, and don't be ashamed of that.
Philip Pape: 20:16
From an evolutionary standpoint, visual cues of health, clear skin, symmetrical features, favorable body composition have been valuable indicators of genetic fitness. This is evolution. Our ancestors couldn't run blood panels, they didn't do DEXA scans, obviously, they didn't even have like barbells to lift, but they relied on visual cues to assess health when selecting a mate. And again, it's a little bit subjective, right, there have been times when being on the heavier side was actually considered valuable and a sign of health, robustness and wealth too. So it's not to say that this is a perfect correlation by any means. Let's acknowledge that. But there are biological reasons nonetheless. So when you find yourself drawn to a certain physique, whether it's muscle definition or a particular body shape or overall leanness, you're probably responding unconsciously to deeply ingrained biological signals that historically correlated with health and genetic fitness. Right, the ability to spread your seeds, to pass along your DNA to offspring who will have the best chance of surviving in the world.
Philip Pape: 21:29
Now, that doesn't mean that all beauty standards are biologically determined. Again, nuance guys. Nuance, right. Don't hold me to a what do you call it? Soundbite. That's why I like long form here.
Philip Pape: 21:41
Right, cultural factors play a huge role. Let's acknowledge that, right. If we understand the evolutionary basis that's like the baseline we can then help explain why certain physique goals persist across cultures and time periods and they tend to cycle back and forth but stay within kind of a range. And then it also suggests that our desire to look a certain way is not shallow. It is also not culturally imposed, right, it is partially hardwired and that's nothing to be ashamed of Like. Just acknowledging reality of your biology is nothing to be ashamed of.
Philip Pape: 22:15
So now let's talk about how to approach aesthetic goals in a balanced, sustainable way that actually enhances health rather than compromise and I include mental health in there, for sure, body image. So first, recognize, health and aesthetics exist on a spectrum, right, they're not in opposition, they're not mutually exclusive, and that goes back to the whole triangle idea where you have trade-offs and you can't, you can't pursue all in parallel to the nth degree, you know, to the 10th degree, whatever, I'm trying to say, to the maximum degree. And they're on a spectrum, but they're not exclusive, they're not an opposition. The methods stack on each other. The methods that improve your health markers, like your nutrition, your resistance training, having adequate sleep, managing your stress, also enhance aesthetics up to a point. It's only at those extremes, like bodybuilding, competition prep or extreme endurance training, right, marathon runners, long distance runners where the true exclusive trade-offs might appear, if I'm to put it that way. I mean, you know that just visually you look at a marathon, an elite marathon runner. They probably don't have a physique that most people aspire to. Let's be honest, right. And then you look at somebody who's an extreme bodybuilding competitor, especially enhanced, because if you're enhanced on steroids now you're messing with your health in other ways. But even if they're not, they've made some sacrifices to their health and longevity. Yes, at least in the moment. A lot of it is recoverable, but at least in the moment to get there. So we're not really talking about that. For the vast majority of us in the middle you know 95% pursuing both simultaneously aesthetics and health is not only possible, but it's actually optimal. It's optimal. So I wanna give you that permission to go after them together.
Philip Pape: 24:05
The second thing is you want to set goals that serve both purposes and make sure they're logical, they're rational, right. So instead of saying I want six-pack abs or I want to lower my cholesterol, try. I want to achieve a lean, muscular physique that reflects and supports optimal health. This is the framing, and again, we're talking about the big goal. We're not necessarily talking about the short-term goals. This is a framing, positive framing. It acknowledges both aspects but doesn't privilege one over the other. So I'll say that again, if you want to repeat it with me as kind of a mantra. I want to achieve a lean, muscular physique that reflects and supports optimal health. Just one way to do it. You might put it in your own words.
Philip Pape: 24:45
And then, third, I want you to use metrics and data that capture both health and aesthetics. You knew I would get to this eventually. We're all about engineering data, measuring, tracking, experimenting and doing what works for you. So body composition, which is the ratio of fat to lean mass, is going to be far more informative than weight alone, even though you need to track weight as well. Now, I don't get hung up in trying to exactly calculate body fat. It's more of the change in your body composition over time. Are you building muscle and losing fat? Is your waist shrinking while your biceps are growing, for example? Right, and a lot of this comes through look and feel and performance, as well as proxies for body composition.
Philip Pape: 25:25
Speaking of performance metrics, what are those? Strength? There could be some cardiovascular metrics, but I prefer things like stress metrics, hrv, as opposed to, say, vo2 max. I think that is much less useful, especially if you're looking for body composition improvement. If you're looking for body composition improvement, Um, but resting heart rate is a good metric for health for sure, right, blood markers like lipids, uh, and what did I say? Yeah, um, and your blood pressure, even your movement quality, and it's kind of how do you? How do you track that? Well, some of you may have issues with your joints and you can track the level of pain or level of mobility in those joints and how that improves over time. Right, many people they start lifting, their back pain goes away, their knees feel better, their elbows, their shoulders feel better to a point, right, unless you go too extreme in the other direction. So you can track all of these things and then you know that's just tracking.
Philip Pape: 26:16
And then how do you put all this together to make sense? Well, that's where the sustainability comes in, and I kind of I feel like I overused that word and we're not talking about energy sustainability. We're talking about can it be sustained for life, not just for a year or three years or five years, but for life. It's going to cycle through. You're going to have different sub goals and periodization where you go to more extremes in different directions, but overall it's still a sustainable approach.
Philip Pape: 26:40
Crash diets are not sustainable, right? Even if you want to go after a very rapid, aggressive fat loss phase, which is something that I can teach you to do for an advanced person who's done all the other things first. We're still going to do it in a way that doesn't harm your health, that maintains your muscle, that maintains your protein, that gives you refeeds for your energy and that keeps it really, really short, right? I'm talking about crash diets like restrictive diets, where you're not really in control. You're just cutting, cutting, cutting. You lose a bunch of weight really fast. It might temporarily improve your appearance Probably not, because you're probably going to lose muscle along with some fat, and it's going to harm your health anyway. It's going to wreck everything.
Philip Pape: 27:20
To be honest, extreme exercise same idea, lots of cardio, right? Put that in the equation. I just spoke to someone yesterday on a rapid nutrition assessment and I could tell exactly what her problem was. She tries to lift weights seven days a week and it's like a YouTube workout and she's with like 10-pound dumbbells, right. So right there, I know she's doing a cardio endurance type approach. It's probably stressing her out and it's not building muscle. So it has both of the opposite of what we want when it comes to aesthetics and health.
Philip Pape: 27:51
Again, because they are aligned and show up for fairly easily I'm going to put it that way easily, even though there's always effort involved, but fairly low friction, where you are progressing gradually in a way that serves both health and aesthetics, without getting so extreme and losing patience that you haven't gotten it all tomorrow. So I'm getting a little long-winded today, but I think this is an important topic and I did want to share something that might surprise you a bit about the relationship between aesthetic goals and everyday life. And it's a pretty cool thing that I've learned talking to very skilled bodybuilders, physique competitors I think of, for example oh my gosh, revive Stronger. You guys know who that is. What's his name? Host of Revive Stronger. He was on the show man I am blanking out right now, I'm not going to look it up anyway. He, um, steve Steve Hall. There we go. He was.
Philip Pape: 28:53
He and Dr Eric Helms and others like him, um have demonstrated how the skills and the mindset you develop while pursuing aesthetic goals can transfer really well to other areas of life. I think there's a little bit of a push, a little bit of an extreme that we go after with some of this, and I hate to use the word extreme, it's just discomfort, expanding your comfort zone and pushing yourself to grow the essence of the struggle, of the human condition. For those of us who really love and relish life every day, it's because we are going after it. We are improving something, maybe everything all day in some meaningful way. We have purpose right. And so that skill, that mindset, it applies pretty darn well to aesthetic goals, to strength, to performance, all of it, even if you do shift around in the very micro goals that you pursue.
Philip Pape: 29:44
Think about what it takes to transform your physique Consistent effort over time, delayed gratification, patience, strategic planning, but also measuring your progress and adapting to the challenges, to the plan, like the black line versus blue line thinking that I talked about on a recent episode, managing setbacks, all of that. These are not just fitness skills, they are life skills, and I've worked with a lot of clients who didn't really have that baseline of those skills in their life in general. And by going through that process together for health, voila guess what? Now they've got confidence and a system and an approach that they can apply to learning an instrument, becoming a better gardener, becoming a leader in work, improving their relationship the list goes on and on. It's incredible, and I've observed clients who transform their physiques and the language.
Philip Pape: 30:39
The narrative that comes out of their mouth evolves to this almost sometimes shock at the improvements that they have that were unexpected in their careers, relationships or personal projects. It's kind of like something I've experienced on a smaller level when I joined Toastmasters years ago and I worked on my speaking skills and I thought, well, I'm going to become a better presenter by doing this. No, it was far more than that. I became more confident in every meeting at work. I could speak to you know, executives and customers in a way that I felt like their peer and that we could really engage in an intellectual level, all because I could communicate.
Philip Pape: 31:15
So don't discount the discipline, the systems, thinking, the growth mindset that you can develop through physique transformation. We're not going after short-term before and after photos here. We are going for long-term transformation in who you are, your identity, your systems. I can remember a client who lost a decent amount of weight and by weight I mean fat and built a bunch of muscle at the same time, and he said you know, something like I used to think that I couldn't stick with anything hard. Right, that was his identity. Now I know I can commit to something long-term and then see it through and he just he had to go through this process, and I think the physique development process is a good way to do it because it can give you a lot of quick wins along the way and your physique will change, like it. It just will, if you do this right.
Philip Pape: 32:08
And if it's not, if you're listening to this or watching this right now and you're like, yeah, but that hasn't happened for me, you just don't have the right approach and that's okay. Like that's not a judgment on you, that's an objective fact that I want you to get on board with me about and say, okay. Well then, I know that Philip is telling me there is an approach that'll work. What the heck is that? Talk about that on this podcast, but you're always welcome to reach out to me one-on-one. I'm not going to bite. Hit me up in the Facebook group, send me a message on Instagram at Wits and Weights. Send me a question at witsandweightscom slash question and I'll talk to you like a person, like a human, about what it takes. I'll send you a free episode or resource. I'm not here to sell you anything. If you need my help, you'll ask for it.
Philip Pape: 32:49
Another client that I can think of that came to mind. She had a thing at work where she wanted to have a promotion or she wanted to get into a leadership role, mainly because she was super stressed at what she was doing. I get this a lot with clients who they're stressed in their jobs and part of the thing we work through is are you even in the right role right now, or is there a way we can mitigate this with everything else you're doing? By the way, lifting weights tends to reduce your stress anyway. But she said, you know, I was confident enough because of the physical transformation and, mind you, she didn't lose a lot of weight on the scale, but she built muscle, improved her physique, had a better posture, just felt like she could go after it. And then she went and asked and she got the promotion right, like stuff like that really makes me happy and proud for them, because this transfer effect it's not anecdotal. I mean research shows this consistently.
Philip Pape: 33:40
I did some training in positive psychology and it is clear that self-efficacy, your belief in your ability to succeed, generalizes across domains. Okay, success in one challenging area builds confidence that transfers to others. So why not do it with your body? Because then you get all sorts of benefits, including a long lifespan and healthspan. That then translates to other things. It's pretty awesome, right? So when you pursue aesthetic goals in a healthy, systematic way that's what we're talking about You're not just building a better body, right. You are building better life capabilities and profound benefits that go far beyond the superficial. All right. So let's wrap it up here, and I want to emphasize the key message it's perfectly fine to chase aesthetics. In fact, it's normal, it's healthy. It is often in fact, almost always aligned with optimal health outcomes.
Philip Pape: 34:30
The body composition that looks good in the mirror is typically the same one that produces favorable health markers. Yes, you'll go through periods where you carry a little extra body fat. Some of the numbers start to drift and you're doing it on purpose, to build muscle. But then you come back the other way you lose some fat and, all of a sudden, everything is even better than it was before. Plus, you tend to eat more food and carry a little more body weight without having to worry about it. The training right, the strength training that builds the physique is the same training that enhances your capability, your function, your hormones, your longevity building muscle. If you're not doing that, I'm sorry. You are just not going to have this result. There's no way to do it. Otherwise, the nutrition that reveals your muscle definition, right Fat loss and maintaining a healthy body weight is the same approach that supports internal health. When you're getting enough nutrients, enough protein, enough hydration, enough, you know, just energy, calories, that's healthy. So let go of any guilt that you might feel about wanting to look good right now. Let it go. Let go. You can look good, it's okay. You can want to look good, it's okay.
Philip Pape: 35:40
Embrace the aesthetic goals and just think of it as a comprehensive part or a part of your comprehensive approach to fitness. It honors. It honors how your body looks and how it functions together. So remember three principles. I'm going to leave you with this. Three principles One health and aesthetics are not opposing forces. They complement each other and they largely overlap. Number two the methods. The process that produces optimal health also creates an appealing physique as a byproduct. And number three pursuing reasonable aesthetic goals. Right, I said reasonable aesthetic goals can also provide psychological, mental health benefits and life skills that extend way beyond fitness to everything in your life. And when you approach it this way, thoughtfully, patiently, the pursuit of an aesthetic physique does not detract from health but enhances it in so many ways, and that is something worth striving for as a human being on this earth. So get after it.
Philip Pape: 36:40
And one way to get after it is to transform your physique using evidence in a systematic way, tracking it the right way, and we help you do that in Wits and Weights Physique University. We give you a personalized nutrition plan when you join. So here's how it works. You join, you get a nice prescriptive set of steps from me, an onboarding course where you submit an intake literally on day one. You could do it within minutes. I look at that within a couple of days. Give you back a plan that shows you how to map out all of this stuff.
Philip Pape: 37:11
Okay, and it it can be overwhelming at first. So what we do is we guide you through step-by-step. Here's how you track this. Here's how you track that. Here's the one thing you want to start this week. And then here's how to stay accountable. You want to check in every week with us and, yeah, there's a lot of bells and whistles and courses and challenges and all that. You don't have to do any of that. Just come join us, get the plan.
Philip Pape: 37:32
I mean, that alone is worth a year in the program, in my opinion, and I've had people cancel in the first two weeks because maybe they said they couldn't afford it or they weren't sure if the program was for them. And I'll say here I'm going to give you a plan anyway as a parting gift. And I've had a few of those people then say, oh wait, this is actually super valuable. I want to stay in and find out how to apply it to my life. So join now. It's a free trial for two weeks. You get to kick the tires. You could get your nutrition plan as part of that and, even if you cancel, you got it for free.
Philip Pape: 38:02
Go to witsandweightscom slash physique or click the link in the show notes Again witsandweightscom slash physique. And there's a demo there. By the way right, I don't keep anything hidden there's a video of me walking you through with a screen. Share what the heck the program looks like. So there's no risk whatsoever. Give it a shot. Remember that looking good and being healthy are not competing goals, right, they are complimentary, and I definitely want to show you how to achieve both. But for now and until next time, keep using your wits lifting those weights and remember that pursuing an aesthetic physique is not shallow or vain. When approached properly, it is a natural expression of your desire to optimize your body's appearance and function. This is Philip Pape and I'll talk to you next time here on the Wits and Weights Podcast.
