My chest heaves as I throw the weight to the floor. The impact makes the floor shake, a tremor felt even by the freshman girls who are doing crunches in the padded corner of the gym. Everyone in the entire room is staring at me, that is, everyone but the men at my side who grunt and strain with their loads, beads of sweat creeping down their faces. We are strong. We are fit. We are constructing ourselves into the perfect male archetype, the physically powerful and dominant figure that controls a male-dominated world. It is an unfair world, and I and the men around me work to grab it, force it into a headlock, and throw it down to our feet. We strive to be gods above mere mortals. We are addicted to the feeling, pain, chemicals, and society's steadfast approval of people who fit into its assigned physical profile. It is an addiction that has changed the course of our lives.
However, is the addiction to fitness a negative impact on people's lives? Exercise relieves stress, conditions the body, and prevents many bone and heart diseases. Without question, exercise is good for your health. Which are more important though, the results or the factors that motivate one to achieve those results?
I completely support the idea that everyone should get plenty of exercise, not only for physical health benefits, but also for the psychological benefits to exercise, such as an improved self-image. I have also looked at people who are incredibly fit, the real head-turners, as examples of what people can achieve if they have the proper drive to work for it. I considered these individuals as near-flawless examples of the personal improvement of the individual. However, now I am not so sure.
The most prominent idea against the emphasis on over-working one's self is how pop culture affects a female's self-image. "Starve yourself, you can be pretty someday," is the recurring message. As a result of the combination of a figure-focused society and a fitness-oriented society, many female teens have turned to exercise bulimia to try to achieve the impossible form that is cast at them through popular media. This phenomenon is not limited to females, however. Pop culture has a deep impact on what is "male," especially in regards to physical strength and body image. Everywhere I look, I see images of large, "jacked" (muscular and lean) men who are portrayed in positions of wealth, power, and sexual prowess. In magazines such as Esquire and Men's Health, fit men wearing thousand-dollar suits are in exotic locals with stunning women by their side. These magazines seem to scream "work out, tan and buy expensive clothing; all of this can be yours."When these are people's motives to hit the gym and get the exercise they need, it becomes hard to argue that working out is entirely positive. It can sometimes be a medium through which people can hurt themselves. Females may begin to slip into an eating disorder, and men face the temptation of using steroids to achieve results faster in exchange for their health. At this point, the quest for fitness has become perverted because exercise should be used to make one more healthy, not less healthy.
pictures from http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~power/franco.jpg
Exercise should be a tool to become healthy and happy, not a medium for self-destruction. My message is yes, you should go and work out, but think about why you are working out. Is it because some magazine told you that you aren't skinny enough, or "jacked" enough? It's your body; love it and nourish however you want.
Use fitness for fun things, like these guys (accessed April 5th, 2008): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEeqHj3Nj2c posted by youtube user sauloca.
Thank you for reading
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