Edward Titov on the role of ideals of beauty, age and sport
beauty - the word that most often appears on the covers of magazines and the concept with which we unconsciously measure everything around. Yourself first. At the same time, a single and unchanging idea of beauty never existed - as our heroine Iris Apfel said, "in a society where there is one standard of beauty, something is wrong with culture." We talked with five people of completely different professions and looks, whose lifestyle or occupation is associated with a reflection on the beauty of the body, and also asked them to film for us in that degree of nakedness in which they feel comfortable. Our second hero is Eduard Titov, a 42-year-old special forces veteran, an entrepreneur and a man for whom sport has always been an integral part of life. He told us how physical exertion helps to feel better, his attitude towards age and why there are most mature people among Moscow runners.
Why do you do sports, what kinds and for how long?
I can be called mnogostanochnik. I tried everything I could, except maybe chess and rope pulling: starting with single combats and cyclical sports and ending with the fact that I am the silver medalist of the championship in knife throwing. In 96, I got into special forces, so the sport turned out to be my job. Reception was then preferential, after the very first tests in the service, I realized that I was losing in many respects, and decided to pull the whole thing up. He began to train hard four times a day: he stubbornly did exercises, managed to train before work, coming 40 minutes earlier, at work with the guys and separately - independently. As a result, the following tests I passed the best of all and began to go to competitions from special forces: in hand-to-hand combat, polyathlon, officer triathlon, running, swimming. And at some point I realized that I get pleasure from it. Not from the process itself, to swim and run is hard, but because I can do it no worse than others. I understood that sport is where I can achieve something, find myself. So sport has become my main passion in life. Now I am running, triathlon, skiing and continue to play for special forces at competitions as a veteran.
Do you have daily rituals for keeping yourself in good shape?
When in the 90s I retired from the special forces, I started having back problems. Up to the point that the leg began to be taken away. I was diagnosed with an intervertebral hernia, and was told that there were no drugs for this, and all that could be done was to pump the back muscles, doing special exercises. It is similar to yoga, but only without all this philosophy and conventions about "you must be free from everything worldly, the trees are good, the leaves are good", "everything is Feng Shui." I do this exercise almost daily. She helped me a lot: after two weeks my pain started to pass, after a month it became much easier, after two months I returned to a full life. Plus, I try to train three or four times a week. I can go with a harnesses on a horizontal bar, on skis, on a bicycle, run or go swimming. Well, I go up to the ninth floor at a run and go down the same way. Training for me is the main way to deal with stress.
Have you ever referred to sport as a way to approach your physical ideal?
I live with the thought that I am about to reach the ideal form, which is left with quite a bit of pressure. In this case, I never had a role model - I didn’t want to be like any bodybuilder, have a certain amount of biceps, or, there, squat with a barbell at least 160 times. I don't care how I look in the photo or look at the finish - it is much more important to feel in good shape, run and swim faster, pull up more and show results. To prove to myself that I can still do it.
What woman and what man would you call beautiful?
The women I like from head to toe are Monica Bellucci, Charlize Theron and Catherine Zeta-Jones. They are definitely different. Bellucci, unlike Theron, fits the definition of "woman mother", she has forms, bones do not stick out. It’s like comparing an SUV and a racing car — it’s pointless, both are good. A handsome man, in my opinion, looks like a fitness model - he has a press, pectoral muscles, and definitely not like a gaunt model or bodybuilder with biceps beyond understanding.
Do you think society needs the canons of beauty?
Of course, we need ideals in order to have something to strive for. Any person, if he, of course, is not seriously ill, may become what he wants. I saw people who had not walked for fourteen years, their legs were broken, they were going through an operation after an operation, then they dropped 30 kilograms and now they run marathons for some incredible time. And the average results can be achieved without making huge efforts.
Have you ever complexed about your body?
I recently found my draft certificate with all the technical parameters when I was 17 years old. Then I weighed 72 kilograms and was very thin, they were talked about "with a shortage of weight." After the army, due to active training, I have reached such a weight and volume that I have now, and they have not changed for fifteen years. I am very picky about my body, but I am satisfied with it. In addition, I understand that I am at an age when, for example, to remove the fat from the sides, I will have to try very hard: to rebuild the diet, add drugs. I do not need it, I am comfortable in the form that is.
Has age already somehow affected your appearance and fitness?
I began to go gray immediately after the army. While working in special forces and business trips to Chechnya, friends asked: "You probably saw a lot?" But no, I just live for twenty years with gray hair and it doesn’t bother me a bit. One time a familiar girl painted me - and I became completely black, it was a shock. I then told her: "I have good gray hair. Why did you do this?" I have not noticed any other age changes; that it was difficult to get out of bed or the skin became flabby - this was not. Yes, I am not training as intensively as before, but there is still a lot of sport in my life. I do not do any special exercises, I do not use creams, except that Johnson's Baby oil can be smeared after the shower.
I accept age-related changes as a given - you cannot get away from them, you can only delay time
Are you afraid of aging in principle?
It scares me that soon I will begin to fall sports results. They are already worse, for example, in sprint - with age, speed is lost, but endurance remains. I accept age-related changes as a whole as a given — you cannot get away from them, you can only delay time. In this sense, a sports person - and at sixty years old is fit, cheerful, with a light step. I hope to be just like that, run around Gorky Park in short shorts and bring up my grandchildren in the same traditions.
In recent years, literally all of Moscow has hit the road - both young people, adults and old people.
Yes, because we have perfect conditions for running. Most of my friends play sports, some run just for fun and almost every day, others are purposefully preparing for marathons. Those who are familiar with the question "Damn, I can not lose weight, what to do?" Often approach me. Only one piece of advice - you need to run. (Immediately after our conversation, a completely unfamiliar man of about thirty approached Edward with the question of which of the Moscow clubs it was best to go to if he wanted to prepare for a marathon. - Ed.).
And what age people do you most often see among runners?
Probably adults, from 30 to 40 years. For young people it is more a tribute to fashion, for the elderly - a way to keep fit, and for my peers - a favorite hobby. The overwhelming majority come to the sport from nowhere and train with incredible zeal, 6-7 times a week, as if they want to make up for lost time. There are a lot of young people on the five-kilometer races that Nike conducts - this is basically a party: you can also run in bright leggings, in a wig and in a funny suit. Forty kilometers and a half marathon are already serious distances, you can’t manage with a kondachka. A base is needed here, you need to be able to endure the pain, therefore there are more adults.
To show how the characters see themselves, we invited them to make a self-portrait
The photo: Edward Titov