GYM DREAMS & JUSTIFICATION
We've become so fixated on fitness these days and what constitutes our being healthy that our concept of what's 'really' good for us has arguably been lost.
We are told that certain foods are unhealthy, that we need 5 items of fruit & veg, to hydrate with 2-3 litres of water per day and ensure to have 20 minutes of vigorous exercise. This is just to mention a few of the health maxims professed by the health & Fitness industry. We're lured in by the pictures and slick videos of the retouched, super-trained athletes and models who invest a lot of time lifting weights and honing their already well defined physiques by following a strict diet. It's their profession, so they need to invest the time, stay disciplined and make the necessary sacrifices. This is not something the majority of us can maintain or even really need for general health.
If we look at our ancestors, and even just as far back as our grandparents era, we can see that the rules for what was good for us then, did not mention much of the information we hear today. Far from it in fact! Meat and veg on the plate was the standard message but it wasn't unusual to eat high levels of fatty or fried food. My grandparents sufficed on this kind of diet right up into their 90's. When times were hard, they ate what they could get hold of - restrictions on money and availability keeping everything within moderation. In the leanest of times, they sustained themselves on a very meagre diet. Hence eating only shredded wheat and nothing much else for the first year they were married. They never went to a gym to stay slim.
Venturing back as far as Victorian times and beyond, the poor working classes (the majority of the population in the UK), would have survived mostly on a diet of bread, supplemented with a very small bit of meat, cheese & dairy. Water was rarely safe to drink in the cities, so the poor drank alcoholic beverages like mead or boiled the water to kill the bacteria. Even children could consume as much as the equivalent of a 6 pack of Stella Artois per day if they worked in one of the many labour intensive work roles for 14+hours a day, as was the norm back then. Physical work was tough, but some of the people working manual jobs, like the bakers of that time, became so strong as a result that they could lift very heavy 280lb or 20 stone (120kg) bags of grain single-handed. These people were more than just getting by on their very limited diets and evidently there was no need for a gym for strength gains.
Realities & The Leisure Revolution
Prior to the industrial revolution, before division of labour and machines fulfilling much of the time-consuming, physical and laborious tasks, work responsibilities meant that leisure time was almost zero. People had to work hard all day long. It was tough. So again, going to the gym was off the cards for recreation.
Fast forward to the 21st century where we are very much more richer in terms of leisure time and expendable income too. It's the best time for living in history. We have time to enjoy life. This means we spend a lot of time on what we like doing. We have the options to eat and drink pretty much what we want. So this also means we tend to over indulge. Having a more sedentary job means we move around a lot less. Transportation is easier - we have lifts and escalators to ease us plus comfortable environments to work in. We've softened around the middle and become lazy when we should be pushing ourselves with more physical exertion. In the simplest terms, we are consuming more energy than we are using and this is creating a higher percentage of overweight and unhealthy people.
This is the modern age where the idea that we need to regularly use a gym has greatly progressed.
And the reasoning behind our gym obsession, reads something like this: Without regular exercise, we will become overweight, unhealthy and therefore live shorter lives. We will not fair as well in attracting a suitable mate against those who are physically superior and therefore unsuccessful in life.
This thinking potentially has some truth to it, but we have the power within us to do something about our predicament and it's not as complicated or difficult as one might think. It may not even involve spending money or time in a gym. We simply need to learn what potentially makes us fat, clearly define what exercise means and understand how to make the right decisions to benefit our overall health.
Health, Vanity, Function & Reward
Firstly, we need to ascertain what it is we're exercising for. ie. are we merely trying to stay physically active enough to keep the doctor at bay? Are we trying to look good in a bathing costume or are we in it for the endorphin rush? Because if we're not training for a sport or physical event - why are we in the gym when we can be somewhere else that's more fun instead?
Keeping in good shape can be easy. Food choices are an excellent way to keep a lithe figure. Quantity and quality are the key. We need to be aware of how much food and drink we consume. So a better control of the palette is one sure way to stay trim. But if we want to look really good on the beach, we have to keep the muscles from sagging too. That's where some time needs to be invested, but it still needn't be in the gym and can be relatively easy to achieve desired results without uncomfortable over-exertion either.
Gyms cost money and let's face it, they are pretty dull places to be in general. Ok, so let's say that your gym does a glow-tone fitness class accompanied with banging house tunes and flashing neon lights. If that rocks your world, then maybe the gym is worth it for you. But likely, a night out clubbing with your friends is a better place to listen to music and dancing is a great form of exercise too. I'm not saying you should give up the classes you enjoy - just suggesting that there's other ways to spend your money/leisure time and still fit in some exercise in to your busy daily life, without greatly impacting your time or bank balance.
We can get our healthy daily exercise quota in a number of ways and in many places other than a gym. Here's a few examples:
- The living room
- On the way to work
- Standing up on the bus
- In the park
- The bedroom
- In the garden
- Down the pub
Ok - so, maybe doing power squats in front of the TV is not appropriate, but there are plenty of workout videos out there for free on youtube, or you can devise your own exercise plan, stick on your own choice of music and get those 20 minutes of movement in the comfort of your own home. Peddling on an exercise bike for 5k in front of the telly is better than slouching on the couch - or you could perform 3 x 2 minute
planks in the morning with your partner before breakfast. It's amazing how much this simple 6 minutes of exercise will transform your body if carried out every day.
Still don't have time? Even simply tightening, holding and relaxing muscles whilst standing on the tube, bus or waiting at a bus stop, will help keep everything firm. You can even tone up doing this while socialising in a bar. Taking a fast walk through a park, double stepping the up escalator and standing up while working - these will all burn calories, tone muscles, plus keep blood pressure and cholesterol levels in check.
Home Truths For Gyms
The fitness industry has become really big business but it's unsustainable the way it is now. This is because people are
getting wise to the gym con and learning alternative techniques for how to look & feel good at the same time as saving money paying for unnecessary gym memberships. Apart from diet, which is already well known about, there's three other mostly overlooked factors which provide the most benefits when exercising.
- Posture
- Breath
- Rest
Many believe working out is meant to hurt. Hence, pushing themselves to the limit in order to feel the pain. No pain, no gain, right? Not quite....
If you too have followed this maxim, I understand how hard it will be to adjust your thinking and to move focus on to the three points mentioned above. This will be especially hard to adapt to when all that's really wanted is to 'break yourselves' into a sweat and get the endorphins flowing. This physical reaction to exercise is how we can easily justify 'rewarding' ourselves with something decadent after, but it might be a double edged sword because we may be overly spoiling ourselves with treats.
Working out can be fun. It's a good form of stress relief and that's why boxing for me is No. 1. Training can be intense, good for strength building, stamina enhancing and flexibility improvements. It's really easy to feel the benefits immediately after a workout too. But to do it well and without injury, just like any form of physical activity, we first need to master the techniques.
Incorrect posture leads to strains and in the longer term - injuries. Incorrect posture is something difficult to fix and takes a long time to correct once it's gone askew. If you have persistent injuries - chances are, they'll have originated from strains through having an imbalance in the body.
I'd say we all need to take focus away from our strengths and give more time to correct and develop the weaker muscles for better keeping the body in balance. The sooner we realise and do this, the better the chances we have for repairing those minor niggles before they develop into major gripes and lead us into old age.
Breathing and good posture go hand in hand. Performing correct, deep, steady breathing while doing everything from simply walking to work, picking up the kids, sitting properly in front of a computer monitor or squatting 100kg and focusing on core strength for making sure to lessen the impact on our ligaments and joints - these factors are key for staying in good shape.
It's long been established that the way to stay healthy, revolves around diet, breathing good air and getting quality rest. Flexibility, strengthening, cardio health and rewards can all come from daily living, easy to do body weight home exercises ie. planks, Qi Gong, Tai Chi, yoga, pilates and other leisure activities. So, the majority of us really don't need to put the extra stresses and strains on our bodies in the gyms unless it's for a a particular sport, event or for medical purposes requiring professional assistance/specialist equipment.
It just takes a bit of mindfulness to keep the body in balance. Good rest and quality sleep are the saviours of our youth and health. Getting that extra hour's sleep may be what our bodies need more of than that early morning spin class. If we can factor in a just a few daily minutes of '
relaxed focusing' a body-scan to allow time for listening/monitoring our body's needs, we can help keep them disease and pain free right up to until a ripe old age.
