How Can We Create a More Inclusive & Varied Fitness Industry Within the Mainstream?
It’s that time of year again when the activities of Christmas past are weighing heavily on us (pun-definitely-intended). I’m not talking about the weight you may or may not have gained during the Christmas period, but the pressure of absolving our indulgences in a post-Christmas 8 week shred/ diet/ lifestyle change – whatever you want to dress it up and call it.
Christmas is no exception to the diet pressures of any other time of year – one cannot simply have their Mince Pie in peace. Think the ‘summer/bikini bod’, the ‘Christmas party bod’, the ‘I ate too many Easter eggs diet’ – it’s all out there, designed to make us think that one quick, go hard, lose it fast plan is all that stands between us our perfect bod. The industry loves to find the problem and sell you the solution.
But before you sign up to your first challenge, or buy that yearly discounted gym membership, consider this? ‘Health is for life, not just for Christmas’.
We are all too often sold the quick, one dimensional approach to fitness and exercise. After X weeks we are left floating in a small boat emblazoned ‘life after diet’ wandering what the hell to do now!
Surely, I can just go back to how it was before right?
Well, I’m glad you asked. Because falling on and off the wagon doesn’t have to be a thing, the wagon doesn’t even really exist, sssh I didn’t tell you that ok? I am here to tell you about a new generation of fitness trainers and why out with the old, and in with the new is potentially a better way for you to approach your 2021 fitness.
Over the last couple of years, I have invested time and energy in to curating a social media feed that is inclusive, anti-diet, diverse & in many ways a kind & safe space to be. This feels so important because of the amount of time we spend hanging out in this virtual space.
A little fact, the average internet user spends 144 minutes a day on social media sites – 2 hours and 24 mins of our precious life on earth, guilty! So, it’s fair to say that social media is a big ‘influencer’ (Pun intended) on the way we think and feel – but that’s hardly news-worthy knowledge is it?
The thing with curating the content you devour on the daily is that when you do stumble upon mainstream fitness propaganda you are taken aback by the overt fat phobic, fitspo, diet rhetoric represented by pictures of impossibly tight bodies that represent all of zero body diversity, how did I not see how wrong this was before?
I know so many trainers, & health professionals who are fighting the good fight for an intuitive, inclusive, diverse, body positive fitness industry. But these voices are undeniably drowned out by the much louder, more heavily marketed, weight loss, fat phobic, body insecurity industry – the old yawn fest of ‘you’re not good enough, buy this product you piece of worthless lazy dreg and maybe you’ll just about make it’. The worst part is the big dogs in fitness are cottoning on and they are taking 1 of two approaches; Jumping on board and label their calorie ‘controlled’ diet as ‘intuitive’ eating – one can’t help but to picture a wolf in sheep’s clothes or, using their virtual space to slam Intuitive eating & movement as an ineffective weight loss tool, which is a pretty fair comment because it isn’t a weight loss tool at all, still non-the-less the aim is for bad press, not to be informative.
Fat phobia is everywhere, and for those not sure what is meant by a ‘fat phobic industry’, here are some examples of what I’m talking about. firstly, when you type ‘home-work’ out in to YouTube the top results are in the realms of, 20 min Fat, Lean Body Workout, 30 minute fat burning home workout for beginners, 20 MIN BOOTY & ABS WORKOUT and Killer 10 Minute Fat Burning Bodyweight Workout. All these workouts are synonymous in the fact that they all focus on the aesthetic ‘benefits’ of exercise. None of them mention benefits outside of changing your body, which we will discuss further down.
Then we can look at how some of the biggest influencers in fitness market their programs, spoiler alert; mostly on the sole basis of weight loss & changing your body. Jo Wicks, ‘The body Coach’ for example used the catchy slogan, ‘Lean in 15’ to draw in customers, whilst Australian fitness guru, Kayla Itsines, markets her exercise program as ‘Bikini Body Guides’ – like, do we not have right to wear a bikini if we’re not a certain size?
For my third example, and perhaps the most depressing, just go to the comments section of any of Gym Sharks Instagram photos that feature a female model bigger than a size 8. It’s one way to lose faith in humanity. Comments about ‘promoting obesity’ and personal, quite frankly vulgar, comments that I refuse to give any more spotlight to.
All if this has me pondering, why can’t we package up, market and sell happiness? Confidence? Body positivity? Through intuitive movement and balanced nutrition. Why can’t that be your NEW YEARS Revolution?
Engaging in exercise doesn’t have to be weight loss focussed and that doesn’t mean trainers & coaches would become redundant? Because good trainers should and do focus less on pushing you in to a calorie deficit and focus on what 90% of their training was exercise and movement!
Big names in the industry spouting on relentlessly about a Calorie deficit perpetuates the rhetoric that you are not good enough unless you are thin, lean, skinny or toned and that fitness is intrinsically and exclusively linked to weight loss (*it’s not BTW) .
The evidence of health and body size is drastically unreliable, irrespective of that though, dehumanizing people and abusing them because of their body is NEVER acceptable, whether it’s dressed up in health concern or not. Anecdotally (at this point, because research is lacking) prejudice, discrimination & abuse are far more damaging to public health than weight, because it reduces the access of people in larger bodies to health services fitness, medical or other health & wellbeing services.
During lockdown Gyms protested having to close citing that they are vital to physical and mental health among the population, yet many people feel excluded from Gyms because of the body focus and intimidating environment of clashing metal, grunting men and ripped muscles on show.
Don’t worry, there is some good news. A well-rounded personal trainer can have many benefits whilst continue to be led by body positivity. They should support you to understand and achieve your goals, beyond, but including body composition. we must stop only drawing people in for the soul purpose of weight loss. A good trainer can empower you to achieve physical challenges, like lifting something heavy, running a distance, managing pain or improving your posture.
They encourage you to find ways to move in an exciting & novel way, movement not just ‘exercise’. A true trainer should educate you to navigate negative and wrong information about diets. They should Improve your relationship with movement, not create dependency or fear. In relation to nutrition they should provide neutral unbiased, general information. Most importantly they should refer to a registered nutritionist & dietician when the situation is outside of your knowledge base.
Personal trainers should not be handing out meal plans – full stop. If there’s one thing this industry is good at, it’s operating above their station.
We know that exercise has an incredible amount of health benefits way beyond weight loss, yet most people continue to be disenfranchised from exercise & fitness until they’ve made the decision, they ‘need’ to lose weight, maybe you haven’t been given the alternative option yet, but here it is.
So, It’s 2021, the year you were going to ‘make those changes’, ‘shift those pounds’, you’ve found the diet, you’ve found the trainer with their glowing promises and an insta page filled with before & afters. But before you input those payment details, from a personal trainer, I want you to remember this; You are good enough just as you are, getting healthy & happy isn’t an 8 week transformation, exercise doesn’t have to feel like punishment, a personal trainer shouldn’t guilt you in to buying their services. Everyone should feel free to move their body in whatever way feels good to them. All bodies are great and deserving and deserve to be included.
Written by Lucy Horrell
A non-weight focussed, body inclusive personal trainer who believes strongly that exercise should be removed from the weight-loss equation and that everybody can find join in movement.