Fear-Based Fitness: Exercise Should Be About More Than Weight Loss
Why do you exercise? Why do you think you should be exercising? Think about the last time you said, "Ugh, I should really go to the gym." Did you end that sentence with, "I'm so fat"?These are questions rarely asked, because the answer to the question of "why work out?" has been ingrained in our minds from such a young age: To lose weight. To get big muscles.Boys and men are supposed to go to the gym to “get ripped” and girls and women are supposed to go to the gym to get skinny. Once in a while you hear someone talk about working out to “feel good” but that phrase is far too rare.
Recently, as I passed by the New York Sports Club near my school in Manhattan, I noticed an ad in the window. It read: “You think flu season is scary? Wait until bathing suit season starts.”
The ad is one in many weight-focused ads I’ve noticed at New York Sports Club. The imagery used by gyms around New York City emphasizes weight-loss for women specifically, such as a glossy picture in the gym I work out at that depicts a very skinny woman holding a tape measure around her waist. I guess weight sells.As a teenage girl who stopped playing multiple sports regularly around the time that I hit puberty, I too frequent the gym when I am able to. I’ve always enjoyed the feeling of being, well, fit (a loaded word in and of itself). I like to feel physically strong but working out regularly makes me feel emotionally healthier as well. Plus, it’s a bonus to actually be able to make the bus when I run for it—and not be too out of breath.
Obviously I understand that for some individuals it is important to exercise with the purpose of losing weight, but even in these extreme situations I wonder why we view it in these pound-centric terms. Why not view it as working out to decrease your triglycerides, lower your cholesterol, or reduce your blood sugar? Shedding pounds isn’t important in and of itself. It’s important because of the physical benefits that accompany weight-loss.
I would like to see the barriers of why we work out broken down. I want there to be pictures of women flexing their biceps on the walls of the locker room and ads that discuss men looking good in their new speedo. Mostly, I want my generation to grow up knowing that exercise is empowering in other ways than just muscle building and waist-slimming. If we think the point of exercise is only to look like the women on the New York Sports Club ads, then it is likely that we will simply stop trying to exercise at all once we reach our seventies and realize that’s not going to happen. Or, we will just be sorely disappointed.We could certainly benefit from more realistic ads in all aspects of society, but why not start with fitness?Fiona Lowenstein is a weekly guest blogger, rising high school senior and Girls Leadership Institute alumna. Read more of her work here.