A post over at abarefootman started me thinking about our apparent inability to see what’s in front of us. This is true at any time, but more so in the field of exercise and the “body beautiful”, never did a term merit quotes so much!
We already have everything we need for fitness, we’re fully equipped. You have a body capable of exercising and, most importantly the willingness to do it. The fancy gyms are not really needed, they’re very nice to have, but not vital.
But going beyond that, I keep seeing new equipment, new supplements and nutrition bars, shakes and powders. It’s as if fitness has been turned from something to be enjoyed, into something chained down with a kind of performance anxiety, with the inference that you’re not doing it right unless you’re using this or that gadget or supplement. Part of my attitude stems from my old backstreet gym days, when it was just you and weight. But also from my time at Tai Chi, there can be no gimmickry there, it’s just you and the form.
Indulge me, try the following exercise with me. Close your eyes, allow yourself to breathe normally, be still for a few seconds and relax. Imagine your time in the gym, think of the machines, the supplement bars and drinks, the merchandising, all of it. Give yourself permission to let it go, one thing at a time, empty the gym in your mind.
Look at what’s left. Your motivation, the fact you enjoy it, your desire to improve yourself. Without these things, the rest of it is a lie.
Lewis says:
Brilliant! Even though it has been many years since I went to a gym, I did your little exercise there. The room was emptied, but my motivation to move my body and be fit and healthy remained. I thought I could use the walls still, run up them and somersault over or something, hahaha.. Then I did away even with the room and building, and was left with the Great Outdoors - Ah, I thought, how perfect.
You’re quite right, it’s what’s inside you that counts - where you do it or what you use to do it and how you do it is only an extension of that, an extension of you. You go to the gym, you say, “this is where and how I choose to express my body,” and if that feels good, then it IS good! What more, my friend, what more?
25 April 2007, 1:18 pm