The pressure to achieve a perfect body type is a problem that men oftentimes face.
Being bombarded with images of celebrities who have near-perfect bodies, men can feel
like they have a lot to live up to.
Here's how the idea of the perfect body type has changed over the last decade.
At the start of the decade, being thin was all the rage, even for men.
The number of men with anorexia drastically increased from 10 percent in 1990 to 25 percent
in 2010, according to The Guardian.
The publication reported:
"But now thin is the cultural mainstream.
Thin is desirable.
Men want it, men diet for it.
They go under the knife in pursuit of it."
It's no coincidence that 2010 was also the year that Justin Bieber really came onto the
scene.
The singer released his music video for "Baby" in February 2010, and he fit right in with
the ideal male body type of being skinny.
Sam Thomas, a project leader for the organization Men Get Eating Disorders Too, told The Guardian:
"Men are certainly under a lot more pressure to look good, to live up to the latest trends
now than they were 10 years ago.
If a man is already feeling insecure about his body, exposure to such 'ideals' could
make him feel inadequate and increase his susceptibility to eating disorders."
While being skinny was definitely still in fashion at the start of the decade, the premiere
of a certain hit HBO show definitely provided men with a new perfect body type to aspire
to.
When Game of Thrones premiered in 2011, people couldn't stop talking about the show.
Game of Thrones was popular from the get-go, and so was Khal Drogo, the chiseled character
portrayed by Jason Momoa.
Drogo was definitely the epitome of what the ideal male body looked like in 2011, and people
were so obsessed with Momoa's body that he even described his workout routine to Men's
Health a few years later.
He said:
"You put on a lot of weight very quickly, and you also burn a lot of fat.
Pick a heavy weight and it will get you shredded and build a lot of muscle."
Momoa's big, bulky body proved to be the envy of a lot of men out there.
As time went on, the skinny look for guys started to go out of style.
Thanks, in part, to celebrities like Jason Momoa and The Rock, muscle tone became extremely
important around 2012, and it became what the perfect body type for men was all about.
In fact, according to Insider, there was a 2012 study from the Institute of Neuroscience
which "used 3D-visualization software to estimate our preferences for both male and female bodies."
The study found that the preferred male body type was lean and fit.
Around this time, men's ideal body type became toned and muscular.
Sure, not everyone could look like Momoa, but it was clear that guys still wanted to
get ripped.
In fact, according to the International Health, Racket, and Sports Association, gym memberships
really started to increase this decade.
The website reported:
"Since 2008, membership has grown by 33.6%, while the total number of club-goers has increased
by 31.5%."
Clearly, 2012 wasn't just about muscle, but about fitness as a whole.
In 2013, as the skinny guy look faded into obscurity and gym memberships continued to
rise, there was one particular body part that became a necessity of the perfect body type
for men:
"Rock hard abs!"
Yup, the year 2013 was all about the abs, and men can thank a certain celebrity for
making that happen.
That year, actor Chris Pratt shared an Instagram photo of his progress in working out, and
his abs were in full view.
Pratt's photo got so much attention that Men's Health magazine even wrote about him and his
body transformation, sharing tips on how anyone could get the former Parks and Recreation
star's muscles.
"I guess while you get your medicine I'll just stroll through the candy aisle but I
won't get any."
"You can buy two candies."
"Two?!"
Pratt's body transformation was everywhere, and having a toned body with defined ab muscles
became the very definition of a perfect male body.
While it might not have been possible for most to train as much and as hard as Pratt
did, men still wanted to get the same look, and honestly, who could blame them?
As getting into shape continued to gain popularity, so did one particular kind of workout in 2014:
CrossFit.
Though CrossFit has been around since 2000, it really got popular in the 2010s, with some
even referring to the workout routine as a "cult," per The Daily Beast.
However, there's no denying the fact that CrossFit was huge, and so was the CrossFit
body: one that is toned and seriously strong.
"Can I?"
"Ah, you have cold hands."
Part of CrossFit's popularity came from the team-building aspect associated with the workouts.
Jimi Letchford, a marketer for CrossFit, told Racked:
"We build a strong camaraderie and the competition is motivating.
You suffer through the workout, but you know that you are suffering together."
In 2014, the perfect body type for men was one that could easily accomplish a grueling
CrossFit workout.
Basically, it was all about being as fit as you could possibly be.
In 2015, as CrossFit continued to gain traction and more and more men were looking to appear
more muscular, the idea of the perfect body type for men was one that was pretty big but
also pretty muscular.
The perfect example of this could be found in Bradley Cooper.
In 2015, Cooper was featured in Men's Health due, in part, to his impressive weight gain
for a movie role.
In American Sniper, Cooper played Chris Kyle, who was a real-life Navy SEAL who had a record
of 160 confirmed kills in Iraq and weighed in at 230 pounds, according to Men's Health.
So, for the role, Cooper had to bulk up, and it wasn't easy.
In addition to working out, Cooper also had to greatly increase how much he ate every
day.
"I mean it was the kind of weight, too.
It wasn't like I just ate anything I wanted.
It was all regimented, 6,000 calories, but not fun food."
Still, Cooper's body definitely guided the year's fitness trends.
Perhaps in some sort of rebellion against all the muscle mania at the start of the decade,
a new perfect body type for men emerged alongside the heavier Bradley Cooper look.
This one was way more attainable, though also slightly problematic: the dad bod.
"Hey what's a dad bod?"
Good question, Dean.
In 2015, college student Mackenzie Pearson laid it out in an interview with Slate, saying:
"A dad bod is a guy who is not incredibly chiseled, but at the same time, is not unhealthy...Maybe
he had a few too many slices of pizza, or a few too many ramens, and just ended up with
a little bit of squish on top of his muscle.
It's a healthy body.
It's a boy-next-door look."
The dad bod of 2015 showed men that they don't have to have chiseled abs in order to be attractive.
Celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio, Jason Segel, and Jon Hamm perfectly showcased the
dad bod, and the trend gave men a new, attainable perfect body type to aspire to.
One huge male celebrity, emphasis on "huge", in 2015 was Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.
Johnson had been making his way into Hollywood for a number of years, and after 2015, films
like Furious 7 and San Andreas had further cemented his position as a total action star.
Because of Johnson's celebrity, people couldn't stop obsessing over how huge he was, and his
diet and fitness routine soon became what everyone was talking about.
Johnson was so hugely popular in the 2010s that he actually shared what he eats in a
day, and let's just say that it was no small amount.
According to HuffPost, Johnson eats about 5,165 calories per day, which is considerably
more than the amount the average man eats.
"You know I like my dessert first."
Of course, it can't be easy to maintain The Rock's giant, muscular figure, but, in 2015,
it was all the rage.
Not everyone can look like Johnson, but a lot of men really wanted to.
With arms like tree trunks, The Rock encapsulated the perfect body type for men at the time,
a standard that seemed nearly impossible to live up to.
"I am Herculeeeees."
In 2017, the body positivity movement really started to take over, and magazines, television
shows, and other forms of media really started to diversify their models.
Body positivity was on the rise, but, until 2017, men didn't really have a place among
the movement.
But that year, men started to get involved.
Body-positivity blogger Katie Sturino told InStyle that men were finding their footing
in the movement.
"For a long time, men had been excluded from fashion in general...There are days when men
look in the mirror and they feel bad about themselves.
That absolutely happens."
So, in 2017, the perfect body type for men didn't really exist.
Instead, men were learning to love and accept their bodies just the way they were.
"I'm thin.
I'm thin.
Look at my cheekbones.
I have cheekbones!
Look at my cheekbones!"
If there was one unexpected celebrity who took over in 2019, it was Pete Davidson.
Over the years, the comedian has dated multiple celebrities.
Truly, people were confounded by Davidson's mass appeal to women.
After all, though good looking, he wasn't exactly the typical Hollywood type.
With his lanky body, Davidson's reign over 2019 was reminiscent of a young Justin Bieber's
domination of 2010.
According to Slate, women's attraction to Davidson had a lot to do with his open personality.
Davidson definitely made the skinny look cool again, and, in 2019, the perfect body type
for men could definitely be summed up by looking at Davidson.
As much as the body positivity movement really shifted the public's perspective about what
it meant to love yourself and your own body, the diet industry still thrived in 2019.
Diet trends came back in style in 2019, and it wasn't necessarily for the best.
"An orange wedge, three cashew nuts, and a solitary grape."
"It's actually more than you realize.
Sometimes I can't even finish all the grape."
One huge diet fad in 2019 was intermittent fasting, and it caught the attention of even
Silicon Valley executives.
However, nutrition professor Marjorie Freeman told ABC News that the trend was potentially
dangerous.
"Long term, none of us would go on a trip without filling up our gas tanks.
And I would say the same thing for eating."
Diets were huge in 2019, despite all the body positivity out there, even for men.
At the end of the decade, losing weight was a way men tried to achieve the perfect body
type, as problematic as that may have been.
The perfect body type for men has changed a lot throughout history.
As far back as the 1870s, there was an ideal body type for men, and it was far from what
is considered ideal today.
According to Business Insider, the ideal back then was for men to have somewhat of a beer
belly, as it was a sign of class and money that they could afford a good deal of food.
Obviously, a lot has changed since then, and, even over the course of the past decade, the
perfect body for men has gone through somewhat of an evolution.
At the start of the decade, the skinny look was in, and, as time went on, men became a
lot more aware of their health and fitness, with body positivity taking over.
However, diet trends came back in style before too long, and men's struggle to achieve and
maintain the perfect body has continued.
Still, it's important to remember that there is no such thing as the perfect body, for
either men or women.
Real beauty comes from the inside.
"Aww, don't you look lovely?"
"Awww.
You also don't look lovely."
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