How are you today Warrior? I hope you are ready to talk rewards and punishments because I’ve got the seventh installment of my Intuitive Exercise Series for you. If you are just tuning in, I’ve been using the ten Intuitive Eating Principles as a framework to show how Exercise Culture can be just as demonizing. (You can read the intro here and part one here.) The seventh principle of Intuitive Eating is to cope with your emotions without using food and on our exercise half of the coin, we need to realize that exercise is not punishment.
Ever been to a group exercise class post holiday weekend and the instructor says something like, “Let’s make sure we work off those calories!” Ever had a big fancy meal on the calendar and you spend three days doing extra cardio to earn the wine you want to have?
I think we have all been there. The extra peppy instructor or trainer is supposed to be motivating you. Or that extra gym time is supposed to make you feel better about indulging. They don’t, though.
Statements like those, whether from an external source or your own internal dialogue, frame exercise as punishment. Punishment for your body because your body wants to be the size and/or shape that is coded on your genes. And punishment for your mind because you dared to think about having a good time and enjoying something special.
So I’ll pose another question to you, Warrior. How badly do you want to do something that you view as punishment? Of course the answer is not at all. Why would you? The whole point of punishment is to be a deterrent from a certain behavior.
Using (or hearing) statements that frame exercise this way creates a lot of issues. The first is obviously that we don’t want to do things that we view as punishment. And regardless of goals, consistency is what makes exercise work. But you knew I was going to say that.
The second issue is that we begin to then use exercise as punishment. We have to keep ourselves in line because someone had a birthday and we ate a piece of cake. Or because the scale is reading up a few pounds and we feel the need to make sure our genes know who’s boss. A few more minutes at the gym here, an extra lap or two around the track there can turn into disordered habits very quickly.
Which, of course, has huge implications on our Mental Health. Not only are we trying to control our bodies through exercise, we are trying to control our minds. Don’t have wine and dessert with dinner, you’ll need to spend X number more minutes on the treadmill. Sounds like fun, huh?
When we frame exercise as punishment, we are creating a situation where we can’t appreciate movement for its own sake. We are also creating an environment where enjoyment is at constant odds with the shoulds. You know what I mean. I should look a certain way. I should not eat that. My body should move this way.
Challenging workouts are important. They allow your body to make progress. They teach focus and determination. But challenging workouts don’t have to be punishment. You can work up just as good of a sweat dancing with yourself in your living room as you can running two miles. If you’ve worked at a similar heart rate, you’ve gotten similar cardiovascular benefits.
Framing exercise as punishment also shames exercise and movement that is lower intensity. Low intensity lets the body recover. Low intensity allows the mind to relax. When exercise is viewed as punishment, we stop listening to our bodies. Maybe it is trying to tell you that a break is needed.
Viewing exercise as punishment shames anyone living in body that is different from the accepted cultural beauty standards. Again, those pesky genes have minds of their own. Is it more important to fit into a certain size or be a certain shape, or that your body actually be able to DO something? I will always be more impressed with someone’s bench press numbers than a pants size.
And this says nothing about exercise or movement that is fun. Now each of us has a different definition of that, but there is some type of movement that I am sure you can find that you’d label as fun. Fun movement takes away the shaming mental talk that exercise as punishment can create. By choosing to see it as fun, we enjoy it. We look forward to exercise and get something out of it beyond just calories burned.
I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: There is no prize for the best looking corpse. I would much rather spend my time exercising and moving in ways that I find fun and engrossing than doing something I hate just because Exercise Culture reveres how many calories it will burn. At least then I know I’ve done my best to keep my body in working order without doing harm to my Mental Health.
So, if you find a certain type of exercise engaging, then run with it. Just leave the talk about punishing your body at home.
Until next time, be well friends.
