It is more than obvious that we live in a culture obsessed with physical beauty. This has been pointed out countless times on countless media outlets by thousands of people. Not only is society - American society especially- obsessed with physical beauty, but American society is obsessed with a certain type of physical beauty. American society pines over a type of physical beauty where the women have chiseled calf muscles, followed by shapely legs and slightly defined abs. Whereas men have biceps that are big but no too big and legs like small tree trunks. We even have "fitness models" that get paid because they work out to make themselves "beautiful" and what do we do? We obsess over these people like teenage girls were obsessed with The Beatles.
America has recently become so obsessed with fitness. We are so obsessed in fact that we have single-handedly created the most creative ways to achieve it. Gyms have started to offer classes like fitness boot camps where you might as well be training to become a Navy Seal, juijitsu and even classes that offer sledgehammer workouts where, you guessed it, use a sledgehammer to workout. People will willingly pay to smash and lift sledgehammers around because they have a notion planted in their heads that working out will make them look more desirable. Therefore, people will work out just for the sake of being more physically attractive.
This is not the case for every single person who works out, but for many people, it is. And the people who don't exercise three or four times a week look at people who do just that and think, "Wow, they look great. Maybe if I worked out I would look as good as they do." Being someone who works out three days a week, I have had people say to me,"You look great! Man, if I worked out like you do, I'm sure I'd look much better than I do now." Of course, it is great to hear compliments on occasion about your physical progress when you work out because you work so hard to look the way you do but in a way it breaks my heart because that is not why you should get into fitness. That is not the reason why you should work out at all.
So many people have gotten into working out for the wrong reasons because of the ideas society plants in our heads. You should not start working out and eating better not because you hate the way that you look. People should work out because they know that they're great but they know that there is more potential inside themselves that they feel the need to unlock. People should work out because fitness is a great way to relieve stress and can act as a source of therapy. People should work out because they care about their bodies and want themselves to have the happiest and healthiest bodies they can. We have to stop telling ourselves we're undesireble because we don't exercise enough or because we don't belong to a CrossFit gym and don't drink kale protein smoothies every morning.
Working out is so much more rewarding when you do it for the right reasons. It is so much more than a physical act. It's more of a mental act than it is anything else. Do not start working out because you hate yourself. Start working out because you love yourself. Fall in love with taking care of your body, mind and spirit all in one in the best way possible.
