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I think it is very interesting what has gone on in the fitness industry in the past 15-20 years. I’m sure it has been building for a longer period of time but has really taken affect recently. If you are on Twitter or Facebook you would think that in order to exercise properly, you have to go all out every time and be extremely sore the next day. You should fear “leg day” because, not only will you collapse after your workout, you won’t be able to walk for a week. If you don’t have rippling muscles you simply aren’t doing enough.
Then we have what is going on with much of this country that is leading to a serious health crisis. Poor eating habits and no exercise at all. This, obviously, leads to obesity and illness. I can understand why someone who is out of shape and has a long way to go to be fit would stay away from the gym. Even shows like The Biggest Loser are, in my opinion, a detriment to helping those who need the help the most. They look at those shows and think, “there is no way I can do that so I won’t do anything”.
One thing I have preached for a long time is that getting to that middle ground of extreme exercise and couch potato is what will get us out of the health crisis. I have always been an advocate of challenging yourself when you do a workout. When we lift weights, we need to lift heavy enough that we feel the muscle work and have a little soreness the next day. We need to get our HR up high enough to burn more calories and make the heart stronger. When we get those people who think they can’t go extreme to get moving and start to see results, they will gain confidence and become healthier. It doesn’t happen overnight but you can start to see changes quickly.
I’m certainly not bashing extreme exercise. If that is someones cup of tea, more power to you! I simply don’t think everyone has to take that path to be healthy.
Until next time…
