The “Swimmer’s Body” Illusion
by Arielle Juliette. Approx. 2 min read
Have you heard of a phenomenon called the “swimmer’s body” illusion?
“The swimmer’s body illusion is a cognitive bias where you attribute a trait or characteristic to a certain activity, and not the other way around. For example, you might look at a professional swimmer’s toned body and think you can gain that same appearance by swimming. However, these individuals are so good at swimming because they already had that kind of body.”
I first heard of this through a Tiktok I highly recommend by personal trainer James S Smith. Notable quotations include “keep this in mind the next time some c*nt in baby oil online tells you to do ab workouts” 😂 (he’s Australian).
I have definitely witnessed this in my own classes, too.
When I started belly dance, I already had a very flexible ribcage, spine and SI joint. Without any training at all, I had an advantage right from the bat. Did I gain a ton of strength, balance and muscular control along the way? Absolutely. Did the physical advantages I came in with influence why I became a professional in this dance? Absolutely.
It can be so easy to give up on doing physical things when the benchmark for success is the aesthetic benefits of the movements. I can’t tell you the number of comments I’ve seen on thin belly dancers’ videos of people thinking they will look like these dancers if they start belly dancing. I got those comments when I was thin, as well. Ironically, few people now ask if I get my ripped obliques that you can see even with my soft covering from belly dance- because the answer is absolutely yes 😂
The dark side of this thought pattern ranges from giving up on movement because it’s not bringing about the aesthetic changes we expect, to developing a disordered relationship with eating and movement in order to look the part. The latter is incredibly more common than one would expect; I am someone who fell prey to that when I developed an eating disorder in order to "look like a belly dancer".
We can glean tons of health benefits without ever seeing a visible change in our bodies. Doing a movement because we love to doing it or because it helps us manage pain, anxiety, chronic conditions, etc are reasons that most people are more likely to stick with in the long-term.
Body weight and distribution are largely determined by genetics. We can gain strength, flexibility, reflex control and so much more, but focusing on aesthetic changes is a far too often a ticket to a damaged relationship with movement.
So, the “Belly Dancer’s Body Illusion”- will you lose weight from belly dancing? Will your figure change? Will it flatten your stomach or narrow your waist or enlargenate your buttcheeks?
Probably not.
It can give you rockin’ obliques, great balance, a strong cardiovascular system, a strong pelvic floor, a great community and uplift your mood though, all of which are pretty dope by themselves.
Sending warmth,
Arielle
If you have any questions about this article, or a question/topic for the next blog post you'd like to see covered, please don't hesitate to write me and let me know!