What the Fitness Industry doesn’t understand about Getting Us Fit!
- Shannelle Townsend
- Oct 6, 2022
- 6 min read
Updated: Oct 10, 2022
The Dark Side of the Fitness Industry
As a bonafide foodie I found it fascinating to take a peek behind the veil of Fitness. My desire to understand more about food and how it supplements the body ultimately led me to the study of Fitness and later inspired me to become a fitness trainer. But somewhere along the path the rose colored glasses must have slipped off. Behind the mask of overly enthusiastic, beautiful people with chiseled 6 packs and tight butts, underneath the growing availability of supplements and diets, and around the corner of overly priced gym memberships and equipment I was able to see the dark alley behind the “Beautiful” Industry. As I began to steep more into my Nutrition & Fitness Training studies it became all to clear the views of the industry and the Hidden Problems therewithin.
The first red flag comes courtesy of the magazines and media publications we walk past everyday at the grocery store. Health and Fitness was everywhere but not everyone was being properly represented. Almost every ad featured a cast I couldn’t identify with at all. No top trainers matched my demographic. It then became frighteningly clear who the target audience of the market was. It was (and still is) a high dollar, exclusive, elite, club and people from my demographic are not in it. As I peered in closer I could see the great divide. In a nutshell: You can be healthy, Sexy, and Fit… if you can afford it.
There are Levels…
This attitude tends to leave us feeling “To blame” for our physical state instead of being welcomed with open arms by an industry willing to teach people how to properly manage and maintain their bodies. Add to account, the aftermath of the emotional monsoon otherwise known as covid-19, As of February 2021, millennials in the United States reported an average undesired weight gain of 41 pounds since the start of the COVID-19 , according to a self reported study conducted in 2021. And you are behind the times if you think your mental health and physical state are not intimately intertwined. Despite the surmounting physical evidence and medical research, the industry still chooses to segment our care and offer blanket solutions in the form of fad diets and exercises.
Maybe it’s just me? I didn’t enter this arena from the position of a former athlete or fitness enthusiast. I didn’t start here because I liked to workout, I mean I like to look good but who really likes to sweat and run out of breath on purpose, right? I was just trying to bridge the gaps within my food knowledge. It has always been about the food for me, so as it related to a whole bunch of stick thin or muscle bound fitness freaks telling me to scarf down as much steamed broccoli and baked chicken breast for basically every meal and hit the gym a minimum of 6 times a week, it was a NO for me!
In order to realistically start transforming my health I had to begin looking at nutrition, cooking, and fitness from a different angle. It’s deeper than working out and eating well, anyone can do that for a time. In order to truly transform. I believe that we must address all of the factors that led us up to the point of change. I believe the Fitness industry could do a better job of helping us begin looking at the problems from a different viewpoint instead of viewing ourselves as the problem from the start. Also, the Underrepresentation of various cultural groups and Industry Cost stop a lot of people before they even start.
We shouldn't be Bullied & Shamed into Exercising
If you do manage to muster the inner strength required to start transforming your health you're met with the pressure to train like an elite level athlete and eat like a monk from day 1. When in reality, most people live a very sedentary lifestyle and don’t eat as healthy as they think. The last thing they should do is start working out too hard or make too drastic a change in their diet. The pressure to keep up with workouts and diet plans often leads us straight into malnutrition and injury. Each day, there are more than 10,000 people treated in emergency rooms across the country for injuries resulting from sports, recreation, and exercise with the most common cause being over exertion (36.2%). And it’s not top level athletes and fitness professionals being hurt. It’s the regular people like me and you trying to keep up. The current motto is “Jump right into Rough,” with most fitness gurus offering plenty of “Motivation” but little Empowerment or Knowledge.
NOT Everyone can do a Squat, Hello!
The problem with cookie cutter fitness is that not everyone can manage it. Everyone can not do a lunge. Some folks can’t perform a jumping Jack, and that’s actually Ok. Why should they be made to feel like they can’t get in shape because they can’t do “industry standard” exercises? There are variations of every exercise. If you can’t do a lunge there are other exercises or series of exercises that will target that same muscle group. And actually, it’s no big deal to switch it up. Did you hear that Fitness Industry? We no longer want to feel like we can’t have the body of our dreams despite limited mobility. Due to a near fatal neck injury I was forced to think outside the box as it related to improving my own fitness. There are a lot of exercises I simply can’t do. I learned the real measure of fitness is based on a lot of factors, one of which is your activity level (sedentary, somewhat active, active, very active). Your activity level is measured by the number of steps taken each day. Increasing your activity level changes your body on a cellular level. It changes how your body expels energy derived from food. The more active you are the more calories you burn at rest and during periods of physical activity; therefore, increasing your activity level is the perfect way to begin cellular change within the body. It just makes sense right?
I was like…Well, shoot fitness industry why didn’t you just say that? Seems like a much lower barrier to entry then a gym, fancy supplements, equipment, clothes, and memberships. Nearly anyone can do that. Well then why not? Why are we not told just how positively your body responds to even the slightest increase in activity. Oh, because then we wouldn’t need the gyms, fancy supplements, equipment, clothes, and memberships….. I get it. It is a $32 Billion dollar industry, you know. But for anyone out there that may have been tricked into thinking that improving their fitness was out of their reach, understand this, there are an infinite number ways to increase your activity level without stepping foot into a gym. And the best part about it is that once you become more active your body will want to stay more active and will help push you towards even better health. Think of it like Newton's Law of Motion… in motion (see what I did there)!
The Body is made to Move
In conclusion, it’s not that the industry and its practitioners are bad, it’s that they are completely missing the mark, and it shows. Despite the 4.2% industry growth anticipated for 2022, Americans are still gaining weight at a rapid pace. According to the L.A. Times, “New research finds that by 2030, nearly half of American adults — 49.2% to be exact — will be obese. In every single state, no fewer than 35% of adults will have a body mass index of at least 30, the threshold that defines obesity.” Is it even fair to turn such a profit when the methods clearly deliver such little results? You don’t need equipment or a fancy membership to move. If you like them, and they help you, go for it but they are not a requirement. The bottom line is this, your body is made to move and when handled properly won't often fail you. And though your step count is not the only measure of fitness, increasing your activity level by increasing your steps is one of the easiest and safest ways to begin improving your overall health. Just start a little each day. Hope this Helps!
Talk to you soon,
Shannelle
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