Gangly. Lanky. Skeleton. These are just three of the words that 21-year-old Seth Ayersman used to describe himself just three years ago.

Ayersman stood tall at 6 feet when he entered his freshman year at Simpson College in 2015, but he did not completely fill his own frame. He was long and lean and only weighed around 135 pounds when he stepped onto campus that fall.

Compared to other men his height, he was underweight.

Ayersman had been like this his whole life. No matter what he ate, he just could not gain weight. Others would point out how skinny he was and make claims that he didn’t wear abs under his shirt but rather skin clung tightly to his rib cage.

“As far back as I can remember, I have always been running around outside and trying to be athletic,” Ayersman said. “Everyone thought I looked like a skeleton because I couldn’t put on weight no matter how much I ate.”

It wasn’t until he joined the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity (ATO) the fall of his freshman year that things began to change.

In an effort to connect with his new brothers, Ayersman began to tag along to a few of their lifting sessions. He could barely bench his own body weight when he started, but that did not deter him from continuing. It was in these sessions that he began to change not only how he looked physically but also how he saw himself.

“After a couple of weeks, I started to see results that were body-positive in my point of view,” Ayersman said. “I was actually becoming the body type I always thought I had. It became an obsession of mine.”

Over the following six months, Ayersman went on to gain 35 pounds of muscle and increase his bench press to over 200 pounds while working out alongside his fraternity brothers. By the end of his freshman year, he was no longer considered underweight and had developed a new lifestyle, which stretched past the gym and consisted of a combination of intense workouts and a healthy diet of higher carb and protein intakes.

Ayersman was one of many young-adult males who struggle with their body weight. According to a study done by Jama Pediatrics, nearly 18 percent of young male adults are concerned about their weight and physique. This study was done to highlight male body insecurities that currently get over-shadowed by those of their female counterparts.

This struggle to get the perfect male physique has been around for centuries. Although the ideal body has changed slightly over the years, the concept of the chiseled muscles of a roman statue and the abdominal V of a Ken doll are still the goal for many young men today.

But how is this goal accomplished? There are many different paths for a person to take to achieve their fitness goals.

For Ayersman, the first step was to make it a priority and build from there. Setting aside one to two hours a day to go to the gym is hard for many, but he had a different view.

“Some people try to fit meditation or yoga in; its kind of something they do to relax their mind,” Ayersman said. “For me, I just make it a priority. It’s something I do for my personal benefit. It’s better than sitting on the couch for two hours watching TV. If I have time to sit there and do nothing, I have time to better myself.”

This priority turned to passion for Ayersman over the past two years. He now looks forward to getting into the gym each day.

“For me, lifting is relaxing because (of) the natural chemicals that are released when lifting,” Ayersman said. “All of those good vibe secretions in the brain are what actually helps me relax the most.”

While a person is working out or lifting, hormones such as insulin, glucagon, cortisol and testosterone are released. While chemicals like these are improving the body physically by improving metabolism and burning fat cells, endorphins are released that help trigger a positive feeling within the body, similar to morphine. This is why many people turn to working out as a stress-reliever during rough times.

Despite these benefits, many struggle to find a consistent workout routine.

One of Ayersman’s former fraternity brothers, Filippo Swartz, knows this all too well.

Swartz also began at Simpson College in the fall of 2015 as a member of the football team. During the first few days of pre-season in early August, the coaches revealed a plan for Swartz to increase his weight to 230 pounds within his first season. Swartz ended up reaching 225 pounds before leaving the team due to degenerative disk disease, which is the rapid aging of the neck and spine.

Due to his athletic career coming to a premature end, Swartz knew he had to do something to avoid succumbing to the infamous freshman 15.

“When I quit football here, I knew that if I didn’t work out I would get fat,” Swartz said. “I didn’t want that, so I just started to work out, and a work ethic built up that I really liked.”

Swartz’s work ethic consisted of 1-1.5 hour workouts five to six days a week paired with closer attention to the food he was using to fuel his body. This work ethic stuck for a while, but he soon found himself slipping into the unhealthy habits he tried so hard to stay away from.

By the end of his sophomore year, his weight had fluctuated from 225 pounds after his freshman year of football to 205 pounds when he stopped working out before finally settling at 217 pounds this past spring. At this weight, although close to his freshman football weight, Swartz’s body type was much different.

Instead of carrying a large amount of lean muscle, he was now sporting a gut. This caused Swartz to form insecurities about his own image.

“I was never really comfortable taking my shirt off,” Swartz said. “Once I started gaining a little bit of weight, I was really uncomfortable doing that.”

Swartz said he felt stuck. So he decided to change his lifestyle again and set a goal to lose 30-plus pounds. After returning from a study abroad trip to Italy, Swartz changed his diet and began working out on a consistent basis.

His weight loss journey began to accelerate when he met his girlfriend, Tori Vaudt, a member of the Simpson Women’s Soccer Team. The couple soon began to exercise together as they worked towards a similar goal.

“The thing that really pushed me was my girlfriend,” Swartz said. “She works out a lot, so during the summer she had this goal of getting a six pack by December. I knew to push me. So, I was like ‘Why don’t we make a bet?’ You know ‘best abs by December wins.’”

The bet between the couple has pushed Swartz to lose 25 pounds since May, 10 of which he lost within the first month of dating Vaudt.

This new-found motivation, paired along with a strict workout schedule and close attention to his diet has caused Swartz to completely change his image. But he is not done yet.

“I eventually want to get bulky,” Swartz said. “But if you are going to get bulky the right way and not look like a giant puffed up balloon, you have to lose the fat first, then gain the weight. So right now, I am just trying to get as shredded as possible and build up from there.”

Although Swartz has begun to see success, he is aware that he must stick with his new lifestyle choices if his success is to last.

This idea of a lifetime of good health is not something new. People have been exercising and eating right to ensure a long, successful life for thousands of years, but it did not take hold as a lifestyle choice until the ‘70s according to ArtOfManiliness.com.

A great example of someone who has stuck to a healthy lifestyle is Grand View English Professor Paul Brooke.

Thirty years ago, a 21-year-old Brooke decided to change his lifestyle following his success in arm-wrestling competitions. When Brooke lost the Iowa State Fair competition after winning it the three years prior, he decided he wanted more of a challenge and began powerlifting instead.

According to Elitefts.com, the sport of powerlifting differs from other strength-building sports such as bodybuilding, which focuses mostly on muscle definition, and Olympic weightlifting, which focuses on repetition of lifts. Powerlifting involves lifting as much as one possibly can for one repetition of squat, bench press or deadlift. For Brooke this was an easy decision to enter because of his body type.

“I don’t have the prolific bodybuilder type,” Brooke said. “I am too tall, and my calves are too high, so I knew going in I would probably be judged harshly. I am not really made for that. I am certainly made for powerlifting. Maybe not for bench but certainly for squatting and deadlifting.”

Over the past 30 Brooke has taken the powerlifting world by storm by breaking the world record for deadlift in his age and weight class. He even traveled to France to compete for the United States in 2014.

“I think it was just to do some crazy thing no one else was doing,” Brooke said. “I just like the challenge of it.”

For Brooke, the success that he has found in lifting is not by luck but rather by a lot of hard work and sacrifice.

He works out intensely seven days a week for 1.5 – 2 hours each day. He also plans and prepares a strict diet of clean, high-protein meals that aid him during these workouts, as well as help him recover. Brooke even spends upwards of $500 a month on protein powders and 26 clean supplements to help enhance his lifestyle. And that is when he is not preparing for a meet.

“I’m always sore all the time, like even my bones hurt, I work out so hard,” Brooke said. “But I like the physical exertion. I like to do something that kind of keeps me fit.”

Now, as Brooke has entered into his 50s, he has no plans to slow down. He has now shifted into strong-man competitions where he has already won the Iowa Games this past summer for deadlifting a car 24 times in a row.

“It has kept me young,” Brooke said. “I work out with guys who are 30 years younger than me, and it’s undeniably going to make you stronger if you have someone who is pushing at you who is younger. In a way, it is the fountain of youth. But it is a lot of work to maintain the fountain of youth.”

Although he has seen positive outcomes from his weightlifting over the years, not everything has been easy.

Brooke has suffered from a shoulder tear a few years back that forced him to adjust his workouts and slow down a bit to heal.

Injuries like these can cause a lifetime of pain. There are other risks to excessive lifting, as well. According to LiveStrong.com, poor breathing techniques when lifting can allow a smaller amounts of air into the body, causing blood pressure to increase. This enlarging of the heart can cause complications and heart problems.

The full effects of physical stress the body is put through while weightlifting is not completely known and probably won’t be known for many years because of the recentness of the health push.

Due to unknown aspects of this sport, Brooke encourages younger lifters to take it slow and do their research. He said he has seen many young lifters start off too quickly with too much weight, causing them to break bones and tear muscles. Injuries that will follow them for the rest of their lives.

There might not be an ultimate formula for the perfect male physique, but with perseverance, guidance and heart one can achieve a lifetime of fitness.