Nicole is pictured working out at
Chin Leung’s Gym.

As soon as you start taking care of yourself by looking after your body and mind, you will be accused of liking yourself. But what’s wrong with that? There are worse accusations—you could be accused of hating yourself. Don’t let anyone make you adopt a defensive posture. Most people are vain to some degree; it’s just that some people do a better job of hiding it.

Advantages of liking yourself
People who like themselves will look after their bodies by exercising and eating correctly. As a result, they will generally experience good physical and mental health, and practice proper grooming habits. They are usually confident, assertive and maintain a certain degree of self-esteem. They are usually happy because they feel good about themselves. Now, if you truly don’t like yourself, you will probably look and feel like crap and be a very unhappy person. However, after having said all of the above, when it comes to training, you have got to distinguish between training programmes that will improve your good health, level of fitness and still also make you look good and feel good about yourself, as opposed to training programmes that are superficial and only affect your external appearance, whereby you become a legend in your own mind.

Training programmes
There are basically two groups of people who workout: Group A and Group B. Group A people are concerned about improving their good health and level of fitness as their main priority.
Of course, they will eventually develop a good body shape anyway, but for them that is a fringe benefit. Group A people will always engage in a programme that incorporates cardio, weight training, stretching and introspection in balanced quantities. Group B people are not concerned about their level of fitness or good health; image and how they look is everything to them.

They take vanity to a different level and, from this perspective, liking yourself can prove harmful. Most times, people in Group B only engage in a one-sided training programme, where weight training is the order of the day.
They consider cardio training a waste of time and pretty soon some of them move on to anabolic steroids in an effort to enhance their physical shape. The mirror becomes an essential life support device and sooner or later they will pay the price for steroid abuse.

Smart training
Throughout history, training was always done for a purpose, whether it was for war (like the Spartans), or to help in the performance of everyday physical tasks (like the Shaolin monks). It was never for cosmetic reasons. Almost any type of physical training will help you improve your body shape. However, in today’s fast-moving world, training should be performed to help you keep a mental and physical balance by neutralising the pressures of stress. It is from this perspective you must understand the concept of liking yourself because structured training will ensure that you stay in Group A and preserve the beautiful gift of life the Almighty gave you.
Merry Christmas and keep training.