Fitness is for everyone. This statement is not a rare one, however, it is rarely believed. In America, we exist in extremes when it comes to fitness. There are individuals who are the fittest and most premier athletes in the world, but there are individuals who deal with chronic illnesses due to morbid obesity. The spectrum is wide, and the amount of people at those extremes is very high. A CDC study found that only 22.9% of individuals between the ages of 18 and 64 (adults) were exercising the recommended amount. This recommendation is 150 minutes/week of moderate aerobic physical activity, or 75 minutes/week of vigorous aerobic physical activity. This statistic means that over three-quarters of the nation do not find only thirty minutes a day, five times a week to exercise.
Moderate and vigorous depend on the person. For an individual who has never properly exercised, the idea of moderate exercise being a light three-mile run might sound, and actually be, physically impossible. However, that does not mean that no exercise can be completed. It does not mean that those individuals can't find a way to exercise. It simply means that they need to find the way that is right for them. Each individual needs to find their moderate, and allow it to help them grow.
As easy as it may sound when I write it, I know that this can be a relatively difficult task for people. I think because of the extremes at which our society exists, those individuals who struggle with obesity and do not exercise are easily discouraged from exercising. It is these individuals whom we should target and believe in. When I say that fitness is for everyone, I do not mean that running marathons is for everyone. I do not believe that lifting heavy weights is for everyone, or doing 100 push-ups, or planking for 5 minutes. When I say that fitness is for everyone, I mean that there is a physical activity that each individual can do to push themselves a little further than they thought they could. There is a physical activity that can challenge an individual just past their comfort zone. That is where the growth occurs.
The fact of the matter, is that fitness has positive benefits on mood. This has been proven time and time again in scientific studies. It has positive benefits on health. However, the most important aspect of fitness is that we enjoy the fitness we are doing. Fitness, while for everyone, must also be fun for everyone. This is where the difficulty lies.
Anyone can have fun with fitness, but they need to find what kind of fitness is fun for them. This, I think, is the most difficult and most daunting task of one finding their journey to fitness. In reality, people are drawn every which direction in terms of what they should do to stay fit and active. Big names like Crossfit, Orange Theory, and SoulCycle, sweep the nation with committed members who swear by these expensive methods to fitness. Every New Years, large gyms begin membership deals and experience an influx of members, hopping on treadmills to sweat away the holidays. However, it is those individuals who do not enjoy the treadmill lifestyle, or who are too intimidated by the other more-experienced members of Crossfit, Orange Theory, or SoulCycle programs, who are lost.
Fitness is meant to be fun. Whether that fun is in playing basketball with friends, throwing a ball around with your dog in the park, going for a walk through some nature, or going for a swim, is up to the individual to decide. It is meant to be fun, because the goal is self-progress and that should always be enjoyable. We should never knock someone down for finding the fitness that works for them, and pursuing it, no matter our personal opinion.
Knowing and understanding that fitness can be fun, and should always remain fun is a lesson that may be difficult to learn later in life. This is why I think that it is imperative that at a young age, and continued throughout the primary school years, physical education courses are taken. Teachers in these courses can be life-changing in terms of their ability to influence students. Not just the athletic ones, or the "cool ones", or the ones with potential. To influence the kids who are not in homes where fitness is a priority, who are not in lifestyles where fitness may be conducive, who have never had an interest in traditional sports or activities. It is those exact children who grow into the adults that don't participate in the traditional options offered, who may be too afraid to try something new.
Starting from everyone, from a young age, physical education teachers have the ability to make students believe in themselves more than they thought they could and those impacts can last a lifetime. If students can learn that fitness matters, that fitness is for them, and that fitness is fun then the benefits of fitness and the lifelong commitment to having that fun will never be lost. We should all strive to become people who believe in other's abilities, especially when they cannot believe in their own. Being further along in your own fitness journey simply means having the opportunity to encourage and help someone else along in theirs. Here's to supporting everyone, in whatever way is best for them, to participating in their own form of fitness and to having fun while doing it.
It is fun, and it is for everyone. You just have to find what that fitness is for you.
