AEW’s Will Ospreay Opens Up About Body Image Issues

AEW

AEW star Will Ospreay has opened up about how body image issues affected his early career and how he tackled them.

Having returned from neck surgery at AEW Revolution back in March of this year, Will Ospreay continues to be in good shape, although this wasn’t always the case.

Speaking to Muscle and Fitness, the AEW star opened up about body dysmorphia that he suffered back in 2017 and how he struggled to challenge it, saying:

“I first discovered my body dysmorphia, and I won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, in October of 2017.

“And I remember one tweet was saying, ‘he is in the worst shape,’ and they were right.

“I didn’t understand working out, why you do sets, and why you focus on one body part, and macro counting. I would go to the gym, but I really didn’t know what I was doing, I’ll be honest, and I was so embarrassed to ask the boys; they’re all jacked. I felt like such an idiot to try and (ask) ‘Could I workout with you?’ so I never went to the gym.”

His breakthrough moment came through MusclePharm workouts and led to him hiring another personal wrestler to be his trainer, seeing the benefits from this partnership, with Ospreay explaining:

“I just said, alright, I’m gonna do these for the next six weeks.

“Within four weeks, I packed on so much muscle mass, and I started to understand how it worked.

“And then I invested in a personal trainer, his name is Iestyn Ress, and he really broke down macro counting, and how to count my calories, and why I do a push day and a pull day.

“It was so simple, but I just never had the courage to ask for help. And I always tell people now, the people in the gym, they’re fighting the same demons that you’re probably fighting.”

Ospreay would also reveal that he was kicked out of his first wrestling school, admitting he would have done the same looking back.

Body Image Issues

Body dysmorphia is a disorder in which the individual worries about the way they look, leading to a sense of embarrassment or shame and an impact on their lives.

It isn’t a disorder that just affects people of a specific appearance, with a number of gym-goers, including those in professional wrestling, experiencing the disorder as they quest to look the best they can, even if they are currently far better than many. Realistically, appearance isn’t a “one size fits all” thing and should never be treated as such.

As with many disorders, tackling it is more than just “pull yourself together, you look fine”, with the Mayo Clinic providing insight into what those with the condition can do to better manage it.

As the Mayo Clinic notes, it “usually doesn’t get better on its own”, though support is available for those who want to overcome the disorder.

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• body dysmorphia
• AEW
• Will Ospreay

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