Friday, January 2, 2015

The Industry of Comparison?

Good 2015 to everyone reading this… hiiiiiiii

This is going to be more of a rant than informational, may some food for thought to chew around in your brain. Or just pure entertainment.

Something has been bugging me lately, well not really lately per sey, but more of a growing nagging brain itch over the last 3 or so years.

Maybe I spend too much time on social media (probably true) but I think there is some truth to this, and we are all guilty of it to some extent (including my self). I have run into the rare human flower that does not partake in the following in the health and fitness industry, and they are rare and wonderful creatures indeed.

What I am painfully building up to is: has the health and fitness industry become the industry of comparison?!?!

Maybe it’s always been this way, maybe I have been naive until becoming completely immersed in health and fitness as a passion and career. However, I read a lot, and I find a lot of the messages being put fourth by completely different training modalities and health/fitness philosophies seem to be very similar…

“THIS IS THE BEST AND EVERYTHING ELSE IS SHIT.”

I don’t like these messages. I think they are de-motivating and perpetuate the idealistic ivory tower that can be pushed health and fitness professionals (and those that partake in the exercises).

So I’m here to encourage you as the reader to try and change these messages (I know a lot of my readers or in the health and fitness industry) or not listen to them if you’re coming here for fitness advice.

Then what are you suppose to listen to if you can’t listen to anyone!!!

It’s a really simple answer in my opinion…. Yourself J

If you’re seriously looking to change your health behaviours (I’m going to avoid saying “for the good” because I also think this perpetuates the idea of “I am better than you because I do x”), you need to seriously ask yourself what do YOU want?

What are your values? You only have one life (that we know of) unfortunately, so why not spend it doing what you enjoy and value.

I did a similar rant on behaviour change that you can peruse at your leisure here.

The long and the short of it is… there are A LOT of health, fitness, and training philosophies out there. Some of them lead to different results compared to others. Being muscular doesn’t make you better than the bendi yogi, being injured sucks, but if you had a hell of a good time getting injured, I really can’t see how that’s a bad thing, it’s your body.

And if you want to stay injured that’s your choice, if not, there’s lovely health professional people that can help. And if those lovely people tell you to stop doing something you love to do, that’s really your decision to make, that’s when it’s time to revisit your values and assess if your behaviours align with your overall view of yourself and what you stand for.

To me, that’s more motivating than messages like “lose 50lbs in 30 days” and “people that do Zumba suck, it’s not real training” and “I don’t understand spinners, sitting on a bike for an hour doesn’t make sense” and my favourite one that I hear around this time of year “don’t make New Years resolutions, just CHANGE, you’re doomed to fail if you make a resolution”… those messages don’t help anyone, make people self conscious, and just de-motivate those trying to have fun and try their best in this world.

So the end of my rant is… don’t be a dick buzz kill bro.

However, the ironic part of my rant is by listening to me are you really listening to you? I guess if you enjoy being a judgmental, demotivating, meanie person, you can do that to….

I guess.

Ok that’s all for now,

Stay strong and amazing

~Byn


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