Energy Management (Part 3): Three essential schools of thought on body fitness and health
Happy Wednesday World!
I'm all about that bass!
I have always been all about that bass, even before Meghan Trainor's tune hit our ear canals, but for the wrong reasons.
Wave your hand up in the air if you associate body fitness with low body fat percentage a.k.a. having a tone/ripped physical appearance!
I bet 99.99999..9 % of y'all had your hand up and thought to yourself "Bh! Yeah!".
And there is nothing inaccurate about your reaction, because that's how physical fitness is perceived these days, and most times, people who have aesthetically impressive bodies can literally pick you with one arm and spin you around like pizza dough.
BUT...
Our ways of perceiving our own bodies are sometimes poisonous and can lead to various forms of mental illnesses like depression, anxiety, BDD, which is short for body dysmorphic disorder, where individuals are excessively preoccupied with their self-image which disrupts their ability to function. In my opinion, we are all slightly BDD, but that's another story HA-HA!
Nevertheless, if we were to draw a parallel between function and aesthetics, the common thought of body image is more geared towards us being a pain-in-the-bottom pair of beautiful stillettos versus being an arch support, cushioned sole pair of Asics (which is a brand of running shoes in case you were wondering!). Thus, we tend to look at our bodies from a "Am I hot?" perspective, versus "Hmmmmm... I wonder how fast I could run away from a zombie if the Z War would actually happen?"
Get it?
Pretty vs. function!
"Pretty hurts
We shine the light on whatever's worse
Perfection is a disease of a nation
Pretty hurts, pretty hurts!" (Beyonce - Pretty hurts)
I love the word 'disease' in this song, because it describes our obsession with our bodies so perfectly. A disease consumes us mentally, it drains our energy completely, and we need to find a way to manage this impulsive thought of pretty body and replace it with a functional body.
The following three schools of thought are an effective way to understanding what body fitness and health really mean.
1.Physical performance over Hollywood beach bodies
Let's play around with an experimental thought... If I were to show you two different videos and ask you the question "Which body would you rather have?", what would you choose? (My gender choice is biased :P, but proves the point).
Video one shows you images of, well, hot beach body girls with perfectly sized boobs (whatever that is), tiny little waists, long slender legs and hips and a Barbie doll face struggling to do one push-up. I don't mean knees on the ground push-up, I mean tail bone tucked in, feet hip width apart, neck aligned with the spine full range of motion push-up.
Video two shows you images of one girl with a smaller chest size, visibly defined legs (check out those thighs!!!), a round bum, wide shoulders and muscular arms balancing on one arm on top of another girl's head. One girl, balancing of another girl's head... using one arm! Now, that to me is pretty dang HOT!
I hope we all agree that the second option would be pretty darn awesome if someone would present us with two products saying "This one will make you look pretty, and the other one will give you outstanding powers, which would you like?".
Both men and women struggle with this thought of having abs, and a lifted butt, toned legs, collar bone showing, hip bone showing, when the story behind it all is performance bodies, not accessory bodies. It feels like walking with a 100 pound chain attached to our leg- it's so heavy and so tiring.
Let me give it to you straight... Tough love coming your way: When you will be able to do 100 push ups, 300 air squats, 50 pull ups and 30 inverted abdominal crunches (where you hang off a bar, upside down) continuously without getting sick to your stomach or passing out, you will have a body you love not for looks, but for what it does for you. You will love your body for allowing you to twist in a pretzel in yoga classes, bend down and touch your toes, carry your dog food from the store to the car to the house, walking in high heels without looking like you're walking on thorns, being able to spread lotion on your back (all of your back) and regaining balance when you almost slip off the icy sidewalks in the winter time.
So choose to channel your energy on how
R.E.L.I.A.B.L.E.
your body is versus how hot Hollywood tells you to look.
2. Confidence over comfort-zone
What exactly is confidence and how can we determine whether our comfort zone is a zone of confidence or insecurity?
Well, by definition, confidence is a feeling of self-assurance arising from the appreciation of one's own abilities and qualities. And the irony is that we tend to get comfortable in our comfort zone quite often, not knowing about the amazing benefits of stepping outside of our own limitations. After all, the greatest asset we have, out of all other species, is the ability to change and perfect every aspect of our lives from our thought process, to our behaviour, to our physical performance and appearance (Duuuuuh!).
Being confident in one's body is so rare these days, it makes diamonds look ordinary! And for good reason we fail to feel confident when the media and other people who eat media on toast compare us to air brushed models on cover magazines and athletes who get paid to perform and thus, from their high level of training, achieve a stunning body. There is a smell lurking in the air... What's that? Oh, yeah, it's the smell of bull's flatulents releases, that's what it is! We scratch our head and say "How on Earth can I ever look like that, carry on with a butt sitting job, commute for two hours every day, eat clean organic meals that I should cook at home, and go out on dates thinking that I'm James Bond? I can barely see my two abs... In the morning!". This pattern of thought right here, this is your comfort zone being challenged by the forces of change.
Once again the focus is on how hot you look and not on how reliable your body is, nor on how it serves you. Even the definition of confidence states that this is a feeling and not a physical, tangible attribute like a six pack. And yes, having a toned body is a quality, but it does not bring confidence. There are millions of people who do not have a six pack, but have this amazing Je ne sais quoi energy that screams confidence. Same as there are millions of people who have a defined gorgeous body but are very insecure about themselves and, get this, their body! So, how can we make sense of all of this confidence versus comfort zone versus insecurities dilemma?
It's simple really... Being confident in your skin requires acceptance!
3. Aging over getting old
Unless you are a teen wanting to reach your 20s, nobody wants to be called old. The concept of age as well as the aging process carries a thick cloud of stigmatization surrounded by comparison of how we currently look as opposed to how we used to look. Once again, we focus on looks versus functionality and start spending our life's savings on an industry that starts with anti and ends with aging: anti-aging products and procedures.
Aging begins from the moment we are conceived and it ends when our life ends. The concept of getting old is more so a social term meant to evoke a feeling of helplessness and loss of control over our own bodies. You know that feeling when your hips start to hurt and you think to yourself "I'm getting old!"?, that's a socially invoked response! When I step outside of my car and I feel a throbbing pain in my hips I think to myself "I haven't stretched enough! Where's the foam roller?", which is a more accurate and healthy way of thinking about ones body.
An aging body is always to be regarded as a natural process and it is your choice whether you decide to become a professional motorcyclist - and break multiple bones in your body more than once, or do yoga three times a week, weight train twice a week and run every morning. You can choose to take preventive measures and stay in a mobile body for a very long period of time, or produce high levels of adrenaline and live in the moment not carrying about tomorrow. Regardless of your choice, there is one constant factor- your body will still age.
How about we look at some research papers analyzing the mobility range at each stage of our lives?
How about NOT!
Don't fall prey to the categorization process as you are not a statistic, nor will you be told what your body can and cannot do. The self-fulfilling prophecy states that expectations affect behaviour and outcome, so if you think that by the time you are sixty your body will be all aches and pains, it will most certainly happen. Do we have research to back it up, since everyone is crazy for scientific proof? YES! But here is my response to it all: think yourself strong and healthy, stay mobile and above all, improve in as many areas of your life as possible.
The power of the mind will surpass the perceived body limitations!
If you were hoping to find some kick ass recipes and workouts listed in this article, I apologize...
A fit body starts with a healthy thought process!
The rest is gravy ;)
oxx,
Andrina
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