Skip to main content
Post a Comment

At the Gym, Abs and Stats


I responded to the NY Times article on fitness, about new competitive classes, since I have been working out for over 25 years, and was previously certified as a fitness trainer:

#1:
To answer the question "Can't we just work out because it feels good?" 
No, we can't. Some people can, many, if not most people, can't.  
I am self-driven, been devising my own workouts and targets for decades, was certified as a trainer, and have taken almost no classes, except for ballet one semester, but I acknowledge that many people require some social aspect to their routines, either a friend, a trainer, or a class. Even more so, we all have different sets of goals. For some, getting healthy is fine, but some are competitive, some are athletic, some like novelty, while others like routine. 
People are different.
#2:
It seems many commenters are hostile to these people, berating class-takers' ambition, describing them with a variety negative terms. Some might see these people as narcissistic and overly competitive, but they might be driven, and either new to fitness or people looking to push their limits after finding themselves bored. The class format gives some people a way to strive without being 'jerks' to their fellow humans. 
I've been working out for 27 years, mostly on my own, was certified as a trainer over 20 years ago, and was a member of a competitive rowing club in my late 20's and early 30's. I found the rowing club atmosphere, as well as club competitions, as a way to push myself harder, without having to be directly competitive. Now, at 55, I aim for the gym four (4) times per week, and engage in either rowing machine or spin bike workouts, but there were periods where I was driven to improve and aimed for beating the curve, and group activities helped me do that.
#3:
Not taking anything away from your fun, but some of us like hard work, the rewards and the feeling of accomplishment, and that is a kind of pleasure. The most rewarding activity for me was rowing - I still use the machines several times a week - something that often has people responding that it is a hard. To be honest, I love the visceral aspects of rowing while listening to my favorite rock/metal/dance music, again, another pleasure. 
#4:
You obviously aren't considering the pressures and concerns of women. While strength and muscle might be perfectly healthy, and socially acceptable if you are a man, for women, and in particular, smart, ambitious women, you live with a different set of concerns, which although it comprises fitness, health and strength, it also covers social expectations about beauty and appropriate behavior.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Meanings of Ender's Game

In response to an Ender's Game discussion (Goodreads), with a link from Reddit, I posted the following: Much of the Reddit stream seems to focus on military tactics, or the lack thereof, used by the Ender, but who reads Ender and thinks it about military tactics, except the 20-year old grunt that started the thread? For a book written in the 80's, then edited in the early 90's, it seems more prophetic, with its use of game immersion, remote military operations and portable computing. Then when you think about the use of children in military games, one can think somewhat more deeply about sociopolitical indoctrination.  The series itself becomes a broader exploration of empathy and foreign culture.  The criticism seems more like the problem of a man with a hammer, who thinks every problem is solved by hammering, but even worse, every problem is about hammering. An additional post, regarding suspension of disbelief: Some people commented on the suspension of disbelie...
Post a Comment
Read more

Accomplishments of Mayor de Blasio (as of December 2014)

I realized that de Blasio's accomplishments go unnoticed, primarily because affluent white people do not benefit from them. The benefits the mayor has brought are often corrections to the abuses of Bloomberg's, along with prior mayors', policies: Policing The NYPD conducts fewer stop-and-frisks. The city dropped its stop-and-frisk appeal. NYPD officers are starting to use body cameras. New York police officers are being retrained. Carrying a small amount of weed will probably result in a ticket, not an arrest. Teenage inmates are no longer put in solitary confinement at Rikers Island. The city has settled with the “Central Park Five.” Poverty There are 23 new homeless shelters in the city There's a new rent subsidy program for homeless families. More public housing units are available to homeless families. Traffic Pedestrian deaths are at a record low. The speed limit was lowered from 30 miles per hour to 25 miles per hour. There are harsher ...
1 comment
Read more

The Right to Write - NYTimes.com

In an article,  The Right to Write - NYTimes.com , I commented on the right to write, since writers are sometimes questioned on the validity of their writing, e.g., Harriet Beecher Stowe with Uncle Tom's Cabin: One, people always have the right to write, but readers concurrently have the right to reject said writing. Much personal criticism of depictions from writers is whether the depiction seems valid or plausible, but even that is an exercise in empathy, since it requires one to experience that depiction ideationally.  Two, there is a streak in Americans, and maybe anyone, that states that you cannot understand 'my pain', usually the death of a child or some horrific personal lose. Over a longer term I have sensed that people most easily accept empathy if it is expressed by someone with similar experiences, an aspect I believe is part of human nature. I find both irksome, since they deny empathy.
Post a Comment
Read more