With bikini season upon us, I set out a to write an article on diet, exorcise, and cosplay. This article, titled “Is Cosplay An Effective Motivation for Diet and Exercise?” was published on Nerd Caliber on June 5th, and has already received 10,512 hits!
In this article, I asked other cosplayers how looking good in a costume motivates them to stay healthy, and discussed whether or not cosplay as a motivation is practical and sane.
I personally use cosplay as a motivation to focus more on a particular muscle group, but diet and exorcise for me is really part of a healthy lifestyle which trumps the importance of cosplay in my life. Sure, if I am going to be wearing a costume that exposes my stomach or arms, I might work harder on those areas leading up to the convention, but I work out several times a week regardless of my upcoming costume plans. Staying healthy all the time, not just during convention season, means that I am always ready to feel good in a costume, bathing suit, or street clothes.
I think that if people want to use cosplay as a motivation to get healthy, that is just fantastic! Living a healthier lifestyle, no matter what the motivation, is a good thing as long as people stay realistic about their goals and remember not to compare themselves too harshly to the fantasy bodies of their favorite characters. Cosplay provides everyone with the opportunity to be a model. I think that if more people saw their body as an extension of their craft, and as related to their work and performance in the cosplay field, then they would treat their bodies better. People who distance their bodies from their mind and from there work tend to neglect themselves physically. So if we can, as a community, communicate that a healthy (not perfect) body is an integral part of a good costume, maybe cosplayers everywhere will spend as much time at the gym as they do in front of their sewing machines.
You can read my original article by following this link: http://nerdcaliber.com/is-cosplay-an-effective-motivation-for-diet-and-exercise/
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