THE FITNESS INDUSTRY DOES NOT ALWAYS GET IT RIGHT

I understand that fitness companies want to advertise their businesses.But often their strategy involves propagating a feeling of guilt andphysical inadequacy in society. Statements like:Get your beach body now!Fit into your bathing suit in 10 days!

Get a six-pack in 14 days! Overindulged?   Take this product! These campaigns all imply you don’t fit the idealised body. They also imply their superior product offers a magical ‘quick fix’ solution to your problem.

Their focus is always on the extreme examples thatare usually unattainable and target the masses, rather than focusingon the individual and creating sensible goals that apply to the person’sunique situation Only the unscrupulous organisations hook clients in with enforced 12-month lock in contracts.

Their business model is built on non-attendeesand they will do anything to get them to sign on the dotted line. How does that make you feel? Like a faceless number? It’s aggravating, isn’t it?

On top of this, their websites show perfectly sculpted bodies. They propagate the message that looking good is the most important thing in life. The images that make up their publicity campaigns are smoke and mirrors, and represent a very small percentage of people who often make a living from their looks. Those images are not realistic for most people. Even those few who do dedicate a lot of time to attend the gym, are still left feeling miserable and ignored when their gym does nothing to help them achievetheir goals.

These companies do not cater for the real person balancing busy schedules trying to find time and genuine help for their own health.

There are a range of ‘normal’ people that need slow, steady, solid andsustainable progress for their health. Loads of different body shapes fit into the ‘normal’ category and ‘normal’ is completely underrated in my experience.In more recent times, I have seen positive shifts in the industry where workouts are becoming more functional.

This means that even though some of these workouts seem repetitive and boring, theirfocus is on strengthening core muscles and the body as a whole. I alsolove that many places are now showing the practical value of transformingone’s health through games, and I believe this should be the role of thefitness industry. It sounds simple, but the joys of running, jumping and moving you felt as a child, can be found again by freeing up and strengtheningthose muscles.

Fitness is fun so let’s bring back playtime! I encourage you to take everything you read or hear with a grainof salt and I invite you to test and measure to find out if it’s true for you.