Aesthetics v. Functionality

Aesthetics v. Functionality

When you look around at gyms websites, you will be inundated with pictures of people with (what has been decided as) perfect bodies; shimmering, shining bodies without an ounce of fat. 

  These images depict “perfection” and the idea that, if a person has a different shape than the men or women in these pictures, than somehow that person is deficient. 

This is the image that magazines and media have dictated to us that we should aspire to be.

This is not what fitness is about! Fitness is about liberation and freedom through strength. Fitness is about working to be the strongest person you can be, mentally and physically.

I have a lot of experience training for a Globogym. The 1^st thing we were all required to do, when we first met with a new client, was get their weight and body fat percentage. This is, of course, to show each person how flawed they are.  Showing a person these numbers, that society has ordained that we should be judged by, proves to them that they need my help. To me, this is a horrific manner to sell fitness.  

This way of thinking personifies the fitness nay-sayers and reinforces the, sadly common, thought process that says: “I can just do this for a few months until I hit my goal weight and then quit”. People who view fitness as only about aesthetics will always fail in the end. A large portion will fail only because very few people in the world can ever look like those models in the magazines. Some will be defeated because no one can eat chicken and brown rice for every meal. Worst of all, some will fold due to the deterioration of their bodies, from ignorant and abusive training patterns that do nothing to help the body work correctly and often teach the body to do the opposite.

We are a Functional Athletic Training Gym.  This means that our main priority is to create programming that makes your body function correctly no matter what sort of duress it may be under. This is done not only through what most think of as physical exercise, but also through mobility, flexibility and stabilization training. You will never hear me talk about someone’s waist line during a SPIFIT class, unless it is a direct question. Someone’s body shape means very little when it comes to how proficient and efficient their body is. My goal as a trainer is to help each individual SPI’ite become the best that they can be. It is the job of every trainer at SPI to show that the value of an individual is found in their substance, energy, tenacity and brawn and not in the physical form they display. Every individual has a different genetic code. This code gives each of us a unique shape. These shapes are what make us special (just like your mom has told you).

If we view fitness only by how it is going to make us look or a number on a scale, then we are setting ourselves up for failure. Those results are not only superficial, but they are most often not sustainable.  Make this lifestyle of fitness actually affect your life in other than the size of pants you buy. Be as strong as you can be, be as tough as you can be! If you set out to do that, every day, then your physical form will represent the tough, vital, and healthy person that you are!

Work Hard,

Be Safe,

Repeat!

Shane