Hey hey, Warrior! Today I want to start digging into ways that those of us in the exercise/fitness/diet/nutrition/wellness arena can be gatekeeping true wellness. True wellness is an active, whole person pursuit and there are many sticky spots or places that can trip us up. Let’s start with a big one: how hard we tell people to exercise.
My background and training falls largely in the exercise and fitness realm. And I want to point out that many of the things that I will be calling out throughout this entire series are practices that I myself have been guilty of engaging in. My aim in pointing these things out is not to “cancel” anyone. My aim is to call attention to the fact that these words and practices are actually counterproductive.
The majority of trained (key word here: trained) practitioners, I don’t believe, do these things with the goal of gatekeeping. When we go through our training (four year degrees, post graduate school in some cases, certifications, and continuing education), we rely on science backed information to guide us. And something that science can measure is amounts.
Many of the recommendations related to weight and sized based restrictive processes is simply because much of the research on chronic disease collects data on body weight and/or BMI. I won’t bore you with a discussion of statistics, suffice it to say that correlations between variables are often easy to find. Which has led many practitioners to recommend weight reduction methods as a way of helping clients optimize health and wellness.
Correlations between variables, however, do not mean that one variable caused the other. Simply that for some reason, they are related. And because of how scientific data is reported and taught, well, here we are.
Fitness and exercise experiments are often conducted on athletes, or at the very least, young, fit, men. See the problem? This group is fairly homogenous. Data can’t be translated to older, less fit, non-male populations.
Women, trans, and non-binary individuals (can) have very different hormone profiles, which changes how those bodies will react to similar stimuli. Older individuals may have already lost aerobic, anaerobic, max strength, power, and flexibility capabilities. The addition of chronic conditions through the aging process further complicates this.
Athletes and young, fit individuals have already done a lot of exercise work to get where they are. Depending on the level they are at, we are talking about people doing 80% of what they are doing for a one second or one pound advantage. There is certainly nothing wrong with this and we all marvel at the athletic prowess of these individuals.
But how many of us are there? And yet, when we walk into a gym or hire a trainer, the advice we receive is similar. Go hard or go home. Push yourself to a 9 out of 10 every workout. If you can’t dedicate two hours a day to this, what are you even doing?
Beyond the fact that most of us don’t have the time or energy bandwidths to allow for that sort of program, the all or nothing thinking actually promotes the idea of failure. If you can’t go intense, you are a failure. If you can’t be here for an hour, you are a failure. Too many fail after trying because that level of intensity or duration isn’t sustainable. And even more fail because they decide it isn’t worth it to try at all.
In both cases, whole person well-being suffers. Physical Health certainly suffers because the physical body benefits from regular exercise and movement. In more ways than I am going to list here. Mental and Emotional Health suffers. Who wants to toil away knowing that failure is probably inevitable? Talk about a mental burden to carry.
I’d argue Social Health suffers, too. Friendships and bonds are created and sustained around movement. Finding like minded individuals at a new fitness center can keep you looking forward to workouts. Or at least consistent when you might otherwise not show up. Bonding over family bike rides or walks with friends creates sustaining connections.
Environmental Health might suffer as a gym or workout time at home provides refuge from difficult life circumstances or places to feel in control during times of chaos. Financial Health can certainly suffer if an individual has to pay for more medication to manage a condition that might be helped through physical activity.
The simple idea that every workout must be intense or that it must be at least a certain amount of time keeps individuals who can’t meet those requirements at a distance from wellness. The truth is, if your body moves, then any activity is worthwhile. The single working parent may only have 20 minutes, and it is more valuable to take a walk than do nothing. An older individual may be nervous about strength training for the first time, but it is more valuable to do a handful of machine-based exercises to gain confidence than avoid the strength floor. Someone recovering from surgery may not be able to go hard, but it is more valuable to slowly build up intensity than to languish.
By demanding a baseline intensity or duration for a workout to “count” we are discounting the needs and wants of the majority of non-athletes. We need to meet our clients where they are and design programs that increase confidence and consistency. Those are the places where we help build wellness.
Until next time, be well friends.
