Those of us active in the fitness and nutrition industry know all too well the prototype body image of a woman with a lean physique or a man with large muscles selling supplements promising quick results. Slowly but surely the fitness landscape is evolving as exercise trends in weight lifting continue to grow and people start to grow tired of quick fix gimmicks.
The following articles were selected to further continue the discussion of what fitness and health mean.
Jessi Kneeland writes for Greatest:
"Many of us don’t actually expect “healthy” to feel good. Our culture has the majorly misguided idea that being healthy is no fun—that it’s supposed to be hard, painful, and require tremendous discipline and willpower to cope with suffering through a workout and forcing gross-but-good-for-you vegetables down our throats. But working out, once you find something you love, feels amazing. It’s often my favorite part of my day, and I try to help my clients see it that way too. Is it challenging? Yes. But I wake up on lifting days excited to have a challenge worth pushing myself for. Feeding myself nourishing food feels incredible, too. So does prioritizing sleep and being well-hydrated. Having a body, and all the habits that go into making it healthy, can and should feel absolutely pleasurable."
Neghar Fonooni in Girls Gone Strong writes:
" I wasn’t hustling for a low body fat percentage because I needed to be lean for any reason whatsoever. And, in the end, I wasn’t actually hustling for leanness at all—I was hustling for worthiness.
I didn’t own my worthiness.
Somewhere along the way, my inherent, implacable worthiness was challenged. It had become debatable, conditional, and controlled by external forces."
Nia Shanks' Lift Like A Girl site features fitness as a cornerstone for building empowerment and self-esteem. "Fit is a tool of empowerment. Fit makes your life better. Fit builds you up.
The reward of a healthy lifestyle is the journey. It has long walks, pink dumbbells, 5ks, yoga, and burgers. It's about focusing on enhancing your life and not taking over your life.
Gina Volsko MS, RDN, LD is a Columbus based dietitian, health data analyst, and weightlifting convert. You can find her antics on Instagram as gina.koko. She's also the SCAN blog coodrinator, if you're interested in blogging, send her an email at glesako@gmail.com.
