Fitness in Lockdown: We're Fighting a Pandemic, Not Our Bodies
FITNESS IN LOCKDOWN: We are fighting a global pandemic - now is not the time to be fighting our own bodies as well.
Let me tell you about a video that I saw on TikTok this week. Picture the scene; a flat-lay of clothes on a bed, happy music playing in the background. The caption: “Walking out of quarantine like...”.
A woman enters my screen (stage left) and launches herself backwards to land on top of the clothes, for that all-too-perfect outfit swap transition we’ve seen a thousand times before. Except this time, she lands on the clothes. No transition? Instead, at that pivotal moment we all expect the transition to take place, a message flashes on the screen: “ERROR: CLOTHES TOO SMALL”. She tries for a second time, and the same error message flashes up. Again and again this women jumps and lands on the bed, all the while my screen is being flooded with pop-ups: “ERROR: CLOTHES TOO SMALL”.
Now don’t get me wrong, this isn’t me hating on TikTok. Nor am I hating on this woman, whose name I cannot even remember, for making such a video.
This is me hating on Diet Culture:
Diet Culture is a set of beliefs that: (1) Promotes a ‘thin ideal’, equating it to ultimate health and moral virtue, (2) Promotes weight loss as a means to achieving happiness and high status, (3) Demonises certain ways of eating and attributes moral value (for example, ‘good’ and ‘bad’) to particular foods and food groups and (4) Oppresses those who do not fit this body ‘ideal’.*
At the time of writing this, the world is mid-global pandemic. And yet, more than ever before, I am being bombarded with online content promoting weight loss, fitness challenges and body transformations. Without sounding boorish, do we not have slightly more pressing issues to be worrying about amidst this crisis than who can emerge from lockdown with peachier glutes, a smaller waist or a new personal best on their press ups?
It’s no surprise that we’re all feeling a bit overwhelmed by the amount of home-workout content being shared online at the moment. The hashtag #stayinworkout - launched by Sport England at the start of lockdown to promote physical activity “in and around the home” - has amassed almost seventeen-thousand posts already. What I find even more shocking is the list of popular related hashtags Instagram then prompts you to view, and the sheer quantity of associated content; #lockdownfitness (19k posts), #covidworkout (14.5k posts), #leaninlockdown (7k posts), #quarentoned (1.4k posts) and #isolationtransformation (also 1.4k posts).
Spend just two-minutes scrolling through these # feeds and you will see endless posts promoting 30-day exercise challenges, cutting body-shaming memes, and various post-workout selfies tagged with #nogymnoexcuses. Somehow social media has taken this global pandemic and re-packaged it as an world-wide physique competition, and I’m not sure I’m okay with it. Did I really just read “#isolationtransformation”?
This unprecedented time is not one in which we should be thriving. This is a time simply for surviving. Yes, ‘surviving’ will look different for everyone, but gaining weight during lockdown isn’t something to be demonised. The same way that changing your exercise habits shouldn’t be demonised. The same way that completely taking a break from anything that requires more exertion than a gentle stroll shouldn’t be demonised. Take into consideration our new ways of working, socialising and generally just existing at the moment, and haven’t we already got plenty of change and uncertainty to be navigating? Add to that the additional ‘stress’ of gaining a few pounds because we’re not hitting our ten-thousand steps every day, or apparent ‘failure’ of losing a few kilos off the bar in the gym due to detraining - what idea of ‘health’ are we trying to promote here?
It’s not social media’s fault, really. The real culprit at the heart of this pandemic-come-physique-competition rhetoric is: diet culture. It is diet culture that has influenced the fitness industry at large and tries to convince us that we should be using all available time and energy to better ourselves - and by this it means making ourselves smaller and therefore happier and desirable in the eyes of modern society. It’s easy to lose perspective of what really matters when you only have me, myself and the internet for company. But in reality, if you can come out of lockdown having survived months of social distancing - maybe even total isolation - as a physically and mentally healthy individual, and the absolute worst that has happened is you’ve gained a few pounds, you did it - you won.
This isn’t a public service announcement in which I conclude by telling you all to stop exercising immediately in order show diet culture who’s boss. Exercise is ultimately a really important part of a living a healthy lifestyle. Aside from the physical benefits, it’s a fantastic mood-booster when you find something you enjoy, and that in itself is invaluable during a time when we’re all living on this ‘coronacoaster’ of emotions.
This is more of a gentle reminder that the situation we are all currently facing supersedes the need to be striving for constant progress in any area of our lives at the moment, but most especially; health and fitness. This ‘new normal’ is becoming less ‘new’ and more ‘normal’ as the weeks go on, and the ‘where’ and ‘how’ of exercise will continue to evolve into something very different to the ‘where’ and ‘how’ that we all knew three-months ago. Home workouts are here to stay, be that solo or as part of a virtually-distanced online class.
When it comes to exercise, try where possible to block out the noise of diet culture and focus your attention on yourself alone. Do you really want to do that live workout at 7am, that zoom class after work or go for that run? Or do you actually want to just sit on the sofa and process the day and maybe go for a walk to enjoy the fresh air? Just because most of us are at home for more hours of the day than before, it doesn’t make weight gain or ‘unfitness’ inevitable.
And to end on a more positive note, it has never been easier to find your groove with fitness, when you’re ready. The local fitness scene has become global, with most fitness instructors, gyms and boutique studios taking their classes online. Take this opportunity to find a way of moving your body that you love and that fits in with your lifestyle. Something that moves you, and makes you want to move! Then move because it feels good to do so, not because you’re seeking happiness in a smaller size of jeans.
We are all trying to fight a global pandemic. Now is not the time to be fighting our own bodies as well.
Written by Molly Williams
Hello! I’m Molly - or ‘Moll’ to most. I’m a 26-year old, originally from Devon, currently living in Bristol. I work full-time in social media marketing, but I am also a qualified personal trainer. It's this knowledge which I now use to inform my writing, where I try to share a slightly different, more positive, approach to fitness and wellbeing.