The poster boy in the Abercrombie & Fitch window looks like Huck Finn, if Huck were genetically engineered with “Say howdy!” nipples and perfectly symmetrical, squared-off pecs. In “300,” last year’s cartoonish gladiator epic, the actors looked so exaggerated, so cyborg-like in their soccer-star thighs, ripped abs and shield-like chests, that they all seemed airbrushed.
The list goes on: the ultra-reconditioned Brad Pitt in “Troy,” Daniel Craig in tight trunks in “Casino Royale,” that buck-naked beauty in the steamy Dolce & Gabbana magazine ad.
Is anybody just average-looking anymore? In a culture that enshrines physical perfection and makes the Philip Seymour Hoffmans among us feel homely and inadequate, more men are attempting impossible goals. Most do it through weightlifting and dieting. Some men are driven to steroids, human growth hormone and plastic surgery if those other methods fail.
“Location is everything,” says Bill Hayes, a lifelong bodybuilder and writer on health and medical issues (“The Anatomist”). “And in the landscape of the body, the chest is prime territory. Think about it: It’s at the top of the trunk; it protects and covers the heart and lungs. It’s a great spot for a head to rest on.”
