Do people not realize when you see a PR photo or movie with some actor looking really buff, those shots are generally taken under these conditions (even assuming they’re not photoshopped):

• They are generally very dehydrated. An easy way to improve muscle definition is to not drink enough water the day or two before and to do things to intentionally dehydrate yourself.
• They have generally just worked out. This fills the muscles with blood and makes them look much larger and more defined.
• They probably fasted the week before. See above for the results.
• They are in favorable lighting. This matters a lot — far, far more than most people realize who’ve never photographed models.
• They are flexing. Flexing makes your muscles look much larger and is easy to do without it being obvious.

This is what I was reacting to, by the way. Here, Momoa is doing none of those things, so he looks fairly normal from a muscularity perspective:

Jason Mamoa is getting body shamed on the internet today for this picture of him on vacation bc he’s “fat now” and has a “dad bod”… and I’m officially never taking my shirt off ever again as long as I live. Not even in the shower. pic.twitter.com/pXABzgH0Yt

— Dusty Smith 🥤 (@cultofdusty1) July 10, 2019

I am muscular enough now that I could look pretty shredded if I did all the things above, but doing so is inimical to actually continuing to gain muscle, which is what I care about.

Wondering why men have increasing issues with body image? See that moronic Twitter thread for why.