Have you ever seen someone at the gym or on social media looking like a superhero, all ripped and jacked, and you wondered, how on earth does he look so different? Well, Derek from More Plates More Dates has some interesting pointers to drop about the massive difference that lighting and the pump can make.

To illustrate the basic difference, he used David Laid, as an example. Laid is a fitness influencer and a social media sensation with over four million followers on his Instagram page. This short clip was shared by Muslce3media. Let’s find out what Derek has to say on this matter.

Derek talks about the power of lighting

In the video, Derek showed a collage containing two different pictures of David Laid. In one image, Laid was in a regular setting, wearing a t-shirt with normal lighting. To one’s surprise, the next image was completely different. “Here he is on the left at the gym with downlighting, flexing his a** off, striations, going off the chain, and this guy looks like a motherf**k*ng meat stick and a half,” Derek said.

He continued and emphasized how it was all about the “lighting and angles.” “Some people need to stop letting it dictate their body dysmorphia too.” According to Derek, seeing these pumped-up, perfectly lit bodies can mess with one’s head and make you feel like you need to do something extreme to get what these fitness influencers have gained. Sometimes, lighting is the difference between making someone look like a regular person and turning them into a bodybuilding beast.

Many have talked about similar issues earlier as well. Earlier, before the 2023 Mr. Olympia, former champion Hadi Choopan had talked about unrealistic bodies.

Hadi Choopan’s two cents on photoshopped bodies

In a video displaying his incredible physique, Choopan posed to emphasize his conditioning. However, the caption accompanying the post urged his followers to expose Photoshop tricks. The Persian Wolf stressed the danger of trusting altered images, noting how these tools help in creating unrealistic bodies.

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What do you think about Derek’s advice? Let us know in the comments below.

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