Wednesday 01.09.13

The various body shapes of professional athletes (from Howard Schatz).

 My wish for the health and fitness industry: that we stopped framing health and fitness in terms of "fat", "skinny", "trim", or "plus size". These are superficial terms that do nothing to gauge a person's fitness, which is a measure of a person's health (the other being illness or pathology). One thing I always harp on here at WCFM is progress. Is your fitness progressing? Are you becoming more flexible? Is your range of motion and technique improving? Are you moving toward or away from your goals? We have such a variety of people working out here at WCFM -- triathletes, distance runners, average Joes just trying to look and feel better, moms trying to lose those last 5, 10, 15 pounds of baby weight, folks who never worked out before -- that no single goal fits every person here. Except one. You got it: progress.

I wish the popular idea of health was framed in terms of individual functionality -- e.g., mobility, flexibility, digestion, cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood pressure. Your weight? I could not care less, particularly if you can out-WOD someone half your size who eats cheeseburgers and ice cream every weekend. You can be skinny fat and you can be fat fat with a bad diet. You can be skinny and look good in a bikini, but be so weak or inflexible that you can't lift yourself out of danger or touch your toes. You can be "fat" and have the blood panel of a god, but can you walk up the stairs without wheezing or making your knees or back sore?

It's time we all start thinking of health and fitness in a more holistic manner and less superficial one. A person is more than just their pant/dress size. I am more concerned with whether you are strong, capable, responsible, and continually progressing in your health and fitness goals, than with the number on the scale or how you look in a bathing suit. I feel the sooner we define health by how we feel, move, and function, the sooner we can abandon "ideal" body shapes and obsessing over meaningless numbers on a scale; we can embrace our true selves.

In the end, I believe this more meaningful perspective on our health and fitness will help us live longer, more productive lives. Stop thinking in terms of the scale or a size on a tag or a model in a magazine or an actor in an action flick, and start thinking in terms of your ability to defeat decrepitude - the advance of time and its effects on our bodies. Work towards improving your body's functionality - inside and out - for life. Changing the prevailing attitudes of the health and fitness industry starts with you (and me), so change your attitude toward fitness by being a better, more functional YOU. Be ever-evolving and never quit progressing.

WOD

Mini WODs!

1 minute of rest between each 5 min AMRAP:

- 10 KB Swings, 10 KB SDHP (53/35)

- 10 jumping air squats, 10 pullups

10 pushups, 10 ankles-to-bar

- Suicides

- 1 barbell complex, max stepups (24"/20")