Top soccer players unhappy with their body
Top-flight football players may be in peak physical condition, but many wish there bodies were 'more normal,' researchers have found.
The discovery came while psychologists were investigating whether athletes had a better perception and are more satisfied with their body image.
Experts from the University of the Basque Country assessed the body type of Spanish footballers and fans before asking them how they would like to improve their body.
The fans - who tended to be fatter and have less muscle mass - said they wanted to be slimmer and more defined.
But bizarrely the majority of buff football players wished they had more body fat and even wanted to look more like fans ... obviously they have never been to a Newcastle game.
Dr Marta Arroyo, who led the research said: "While the control subjects tended to want a more muscular body with the same amount of fat or less than they had, the soccer players expressed that they wanted more muscle mass, but also more body fat."
"The soccer players' ideal image was more like that of the rest of the young men their age.
"This shows that what is considered ideal from the point of view of sports is not the same as what is considered an ideal image from the social point of view."
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