My thoughts on the state of fitness
Fitness has been becoming more and more popular in the last years. Ever since approximately 1900, strength training has been a phenomenon that has entered our society. It seems there is a very small chance of it leaving again; everyone and their dog is now practicing fitness. Gyms around the world are earning plenty of money. That money naturally has to come from somewhere – namely us, the consumers. However, are gyms only a bad thing? And what do they mean to the world of fitness as a whole?
In my opinion, gyms are not solely a bad thing. A gym is simply a collection of weights and machines – a collection of tools, if you will. Basically, a gym gives the trainee access to a set of tools that he can use to improve himself. For example, if he wishes to lose weight, there might be a set of treadmills available to him. Or, if he desires to get stronger, he can use the machines, the kettlebells, the barbells.. And so on. However, why is all of this necessary? I believe that this is a question we are often forgetting to ask ourselves. The thing is, as soon as one person gets very strong, much stronger than the rest of his friends, something interesting will happen. His friends will become envious and want to be equally big. And this, I believe, is how the fitness epidemy has spread throughout the world. We all want to be perfect, and the fitness industry plays on this desire. |
A gym is simply a collection of weights and machines – a collection of tools, if you will |
But, you might argue, isn't improving yourself always a good thing? Surely, it has to be.However, it is important to keep a balance. While losing fat might be a great thing, since the trainee is improving him- or herself, well, if it is taking up all of the trainee's snergy to lose that weight, there's a problem. Suddenly, the trainee is unable to work as efficiently before since he has other things on his mind. And maybe he is spending all his free time researching diets, counting calories, and so on. Even worse, he might be looking into a way to solve his problem in a quicker fashion – for example with pills or other harmful ways. The better solutions would be to find a way to work out without it taking up all the trainee's time - and a possibility is using kettlebells for this purpose. The benefit is that they take up very little room and are very flexible to train with. You can read more about the benefits here: http://www.kettle-bell-workout.com/kettlebell-training-the-benefits/. Kettlebells should definitely be given a shot by anybody who finds that they have too little time to exercise. But anyway, on to the broader picture.
The point I would like to make is that, while fitness is very important for us all, we should try to strike a balance. If you have no social life outside the gym, for example, then this is a problem you should put just as much energy into solving as the state of your physical body.
The point I would like to make is that, while fitness is very important for us all, we should try to strike a balance. If you have no social life outside the gym, for example, then this is a problem you should put just as much energy into solving as the state of your physical body.