Punch in the nose

A recent small survey of 195 men conducted by a California professional psychology school explored the use of supplements by gym-rat men.  

I’m not talking about the good old-fashioned Centrum Silver adult multiple vitamins that you, I and other middle-aged men may take when we remember but, using a term included in the survey abstract, “legal appearance and performance-enhancing drugs” – also described by the acronym APED in the survey abstract.

"Hey gym-rat, do you want a new drug?

This chief executive blogger actually spent time reading the survey’s abstract and learned supplements were described by the evil-sounding term “legal “appearance and performance-enhancing drugs” to distinguish them from their more widely illicit and more evil-sounding counterparts commonly known to you and me by the generic term "steroids”.

You know the APED I’m talking about – innocent protein bars, creatine powder and glutamine capsules for example.

Leave it to those rascal psychologists to make something out of nothing and they did it again with this survey by suggesting that excessive consumption of legal APED supplements may represent an eating disorder threatening the health of gym-rat men.

The abstract further suggests these gym-rat men with their unique eating disorder-like behaviors can be helped by psychologists who can help them develop insight regarding their psychological factors other than body dissatisfaction that may contribute to over-reliance on supplements.  

The abstract gives an example of what these factors could be such as gender-based conflicts or core beliefs about being unworthy or fundamentally unattractive.

Don’t you dare yell out the following to someone working out hard during your next gym: 

“Hey gym-rat, yes you with the big arms doing countless barbell curls with that EZ Bar. 

Why don’t you go see your psychologist after your workout rather than slamming down a post-workout creatine supplement so you can find out if you suffer from gender-based conflicts or core beliefs about being unworthy or fundamentally unattractive.”

Doing so might get you a rightfully-deserved punch in the nose.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum