Redbrick Issue 1496: Is the Fitness Industry Becoming Too Aesthetically-Driven?

1. Alex Kirkup-Lee discusses the influence of the fitness industry on a potentailly
unhealthy body-image ideal, and how aesthetics may be prioritised
Friday 26th October 2018
36
Health&Fitness: Is the Fitness Industry
Becoming Too Aesthetically-Driven?
SPORT
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Alex Kirkup-Lee
Sport Writer
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The desire to train for aesthetic
purposes is not new. Since the
first diet program, Weight
Watchers, opened in 1963, empha-
sis has been put on appearance
rather than actual physical and
mental health. Weight loss has
long been deemed as the ultimate
mark of success, especially for
women. Clients are weighed
weekly to see if they have lost
enough weight, and before an
after pictures reinforce weight-
loss, rather than athletic ability, as
the ultimate goal.
We are constantly reminded
by society that women are sup-
posed to be thin and men are sup-
posed to have muscle. Female
programs and nutrition are orien-
tated around weight loss and calo-
rie counting, whereas men’s nutri-
tion is based on building muscle.
This creates a society where we
are striving to achieve an image
that is impossible for many to
achieve. This can have profound
effects not only on physical health
but mental health too, as people
feel disheartened that often how-
ever hard they try their body
image is not ‘perfect.'
Social media has a huge
impact on the fitness industry. In a
way, the rise of Insta-fitness per-
sonalities is positive because it
makes fitness accessible for all,
and influences others to be active.
However, in many cases Instagram
stars do not have any qualifica-
tions but rather good genetics and
good looks, which enables them
to have a strong following and
therefore a large influence. It has
become completely normal to
scroll through your feed and see
pictures of half-naked people,
showing off their abs or their
bum, creating a completely false
sense of what being fit and healthy
looks like. Fitness no longer
seems to be measured by how far
you can run, or how much weight
you can lift, but rather how many
likes you can get on a half naked
picture. This hugely idealised
image of attractiveness is unach-
ievable for most and can result in
increased negativity, depression
and anxiety.
Bodybuilding competitions
encourage training for appearance
rather than strength or endurance.
Although competitors are ‘toned’
and have a six-pack, this isn’t
necessarily healthy. Having a
social life is virtually impossible,
as competitors have to stick to a
strict diet and training regime.
This creates an unhealthy rela-
tionship with food as competitors
will often starve themselves and
dehydrate their bodies before the
competition, and then binge eat
after.
Yo-yo dieting can have a neg-
ative effect on your athletic per-
formance, making you look good
in the short term, but losing
strength and skills you’ve gained
in the long term. It has also
become almost essential for
women to have breast implants if
they want to succeed in the bikini
fitness category. Why should we
allow others to rank and put a
number on how ‘good’ they think
you look?
Emphasis is also placed on
speed: with people’s lives getting
busier and busier and individuals
often now having multiple jobs or
side hustles, people do not want to
be spending hours in the gym all
year round. They want results
fast, and we are offered programs
that allow us to achieve a ‘sum-
mer body in 4 weeks’.
People will often just train to in
order to look good for a short
period of time on holiday, not
bothering to make fitness a life-
style but rather a temporary activ-
ity for a short-term goal. We are
surround by diets and detoxes and
supplements that we cannot even
pronounce, promising to give us
the body we desire in an incon-
ceivably short space of time.
Unfortunately, many fitness com-
panies are just trying to take your
money by making you believe a
supplement will help you ulti-
mately achieve your goals, when
in reality this is probably only the
case if combined with the right
training program and the right
diet.
However, training for aesthet-
ics is not all bad, and if the
thought of looking good naked is
encouraging people to go to the
gym rather than sit at home or go
out drinking then maybe it is not
having a completely negative
impact on society.
Instagram models can be help-
ful, inspiring people to workout
and enabling anyone to have
access to training ideas, as long as
they realise that these workouts
are generic, and alone will proba-
bly not allow you to achieve the
‘perfect’ body which you may
believe they themselves have.
Aesthetics and health do not
always have to be separate enti-
ties because you can train for your
health and enjoyment at the same
time as striving to look good. But
ultimately, appearance should not
be the be all and end all of fitness,
and simply training, enjoying
what you are doing and feeling
good about yourself should be the
main priority.
"Fitness no longer
seems to be
measured by how far
you can run, or how
much weight you
can lift, but by how
many likes you can
get on a half-naked
picture"
"Although
[bodybuilding]
competitors are
'toned' and have six-
packs, this is not
necessarily healthy"
email us at sport@redbrick.me
"The current media ideal for women
is achievable by less than 5% of the
female population – and that's just
in terms of weight and size. If you
want the ideal shape, face etc., it's
probably more like 1%"
(Fox,1997: Social Institute Research Centre)
Lorna Jane
Alexandr Podgorchuk/
Klops.ru