Take it all off

A little while ago I watched a youtube video by a guy called Omar Isuf.  He does bodybuilding / weightlifting videos and he wanted to talk about a thing he had noticed - his views and revenue from videos are strongly influenced by what he wore in the video.


When he wears a baggy tshirt his views are way down, but when he wears a tiny tank top his views go way up.  Extrapolating a little we can safely guess that he could increase his views even more by losing the shirt entirely and stripping down as much as youtube guidelines will let him get away with.

Omar is grumpy about this.  He wants his show to be successful because of the information he provides and his talent for entertainment, not just how good he looks while stripped down.  I get that.

But let's be realistic for a minute.  Omar isn't just choosing a shirt but otherwise appearing on the show completely naturally.  He shaves his chest, arms, back, and probably other parts of him to increase his aesthetic appeal.  He does his absolute best to look as cut as possible to try to maximize views.  There are a lot more things you could do to look better for a show like this, and although I don't know what Omar does I am sure lots of fitness folks making videos dehydrate themselves, chug laxatives to shrink their stomachs, starve themselves before shows, and use any number of other tactics to look as close to the ideal as possible.  Omar didn't talk about any of those things, largely because he wouldn't want to admit that level of manipulation, but he did talk about his shirt which he clearly he can't deny choosing.

Omar is right though that we shouldn't be choosing our fitness trainers based on their clothes or looks.  Looking hot mostly says you are young, have fortunate genetics, and that you have the money to pour into food and training to get that way.  None of that tells you anything about the quality of the information the viewer is getting.  Looking hot does say something about experience and dedication, but those are pretty weakly correlated to knowing what you are talking about too.

But we choose everything based on the attractiveness of the person we are dealing with.  Want to sell a lot of mattresses?  Look hot.  Want to get a promotion for an accounting position?  Look hot.  Want to get elected to Canada's top office?  Look hot. 

This focus on the appearance of the person giving fitness advice is silly but it isn't any more silly that the focus on appearance in any other part of life.

I am super sympathetic to the point of view that which shirt I wear, or my choice to refuse to wear one at all, should not influence my job prospects.  But let's face it:  If I go to an interview in a tank top or shirtless I will be laughed at at best, or have an interview with the cops at worst.  The fitness industry is just like everywhere else - appearance matters more than pretty much anything else.