Bodybuilding Argumentative Essay
I realize that every time before a squat workout, I feel anxious. This is the same kind of anxiety that a person feels before a date or a job interview. I'm not really afraid of the weights, since they are inanimate. What I am really afraid of is confronting the weaker version of myself, and this happens either before or after the workout. See, this is a paradox brought by the meta (self-conscious, self-referential) nature of bodybuilding - If I hit a personal record, then my current ego would be destroyed by the new one, which means that I'm really the weakling right now, and that I should be scared. If I don't hit a personal record but was expecting to, then my current perception of myself is flawed, and I should be scared right now too,
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To build muscle, and to transcend over the corporality of the flesh, one has to overcome the body with the mind through the exploitation of the will. However, the more the mind is in control, the bigger, more beastly the body becomes. The increase in the physical realm automatically calls for an increase in the mental realm and vice versa. When the body becomes bigger, it takes over the overall proportion of the self to dominate the mind. The mind has no choice, then, but to insert more power upon the body in order for itself to regain control. The ironic part is that this very process of "mind over matter" only leads to the growth of more matter for the mind to overcome, ad infinitum. In other words, the mind attempts to destroy the body in order to free itself from the body's material trappings. However, the mere act of destruction only generates more physicality for the mind to prevail over, where the spirit's very own act of transcendence actually re-renders itself to become its very own act of imprisonment. So, at the end of the day, mind and matter become tangled in a feedback loop that attempts to destroy, while at the same time, establish and create their very own
To build muscle, and to transcend over the corporality of the flesh, one has to overcome the body with the mind through the exploitation of the will. However, the more the mind is in control, the bigger, more beastly the body becomes. The increase in the physical realm automatically calls for an increase in the mental realm and vice versa. When the body becomes bigger, it takes over the overall proportion of the self to dominate the mind. The mind has no choice, then, but to insert more power upon the body in order for itself to regain control. The ironic part is that this very process of "mind over matter" only leads to the growth of more matter for the mind to overcome, ad infinitum. In other words, the mind attempts to destroy the body in order to free itself from the body's material trappings. However, the mere act of destruction only generates more physicality for the mind to prevail over, where the spirit's very own act of transcendence actually re-renders itself to become its very own act of imprisonment. So, at the end of the day, mind and matter become tangled in a feedback loop that attempts to destroy, while at the same time, establish and create their very own