Don't Do It
I am not a fitness person. I'm not overweight. I'm not out-of-shape. In fact, I'm very active. I just don't have a personal philosophy of miserably running on a treadmill in the pathological fear of being fat. I understand that a lot of people love it and get a real endorphin rush out of it. If you love it, then that's not why you're running on a treadmill, so that comment doesn't apply to you. But me? I like hiking, Irish dancing, kayaking. I don't like treadmilling or weight-lifting.
I also love yoga. However, I wanted the guidance of a yoga instructor. So, I went to go to a gym in Tooele (which shall remain nameless) in order to join yoga classes and maybe use the swimming pool. I signed up for the membership (for the yoga), but I was disappointed with the whole experience. Why? The sale's philosophy.
I told them up front that I was happy with my fitness and my body and that I wasn't interested in trainers, cardio or weightlifting. I wasn't interested in weight loss at all. I'm pretty much at my ideal weight for what I do and want. My health isn't compromised and I can do everything I want to do. I'm not an Olympic athlete, but I'm not out of shape either.
I get they're a business. I get they need to sell things. But I also know that me saying upfront that I'm not interested in a personal trainer, or cardio training or weight lifting does not entitle you to look me up and down and judge my body for thirty minutes. I get that I'm thick. Why?
1) That's how one of the genetic body types in my family is
2) I'm the one who sees myself naked, so I know just how much of that is fat, and just how much of that is simply flesh
3) I'm an IRISH DANCER. Yes, I have calves and thighs the size of a mountain. A lot of us do, and it's all muscle. It's a dance form based entirely on legs.
After touring through room after room of equipment I told them I had no intention to use, we get to the end where they get me to sign up for their membership. I wanted to do the yoga, so I bought the membership that gave me that. They tried to talk me into buying their 6-year membership (because they want me to get the best deal...), but I told them I didn't know where I would be in 6-years. After all the questions of why, which started to get quite personal, I got to the point where I wanted to say, "None of your darn business!"
Then, they tried to set me up for their "free training session," after I had told them I wasn't interested in training. And by trying to set me up, I mean writing my name on their schedule and asking when I was coming. When I asked them exactly what it entailed they told me that they'd go over my health risks and show me what my body could look like and give me my transformation plan. I firmly told them that I'd really rather not. I set my own goals. I'm a medical lab scientist and a family history-hobbyist, so I know all my own health risks. My family history health risks? From the Hatch side: thyroids. Not really anything I can do about that. It will quit when it chooses. From the Russell side: chemical dependence and diabetes. So, the chemical dependence is covered by me being a Mormon...I don't ever do any of those things. And the diabetes? It can be controlled by fitness. But really, with my family history, if I get it, it was going to happen anyways. We're talking like every member of some generations family history. And though I intend to not just resign myself to that fate, I also refuse to have my life consumed by that fear.
And the body transformation preview? The other body type in the family is rail thin. So, I don't need you to airbrush me so that I look like my sisters. They look like that naturally. I don't look like that. I know that. And cognitively, I understand that. But I'm not flawless or perfect, and sometimes I look at them and am jealous. You don't think I haven't heard about being the "thick" one before? I don't need you give me the plan of how to become them, when I know full well that my body won't and shouldn't be that. That's them. Not me. And I'm okay with it. When I finally said without question, "I'd really rather not." One of them said, "You don't have to. We just want you to be the best you!" Then the employees both looked at each other with a "what's her problem?" look.
Theirs is a sales policy based on making you feel like a pile of garbage under the guise of being validated with, "We just want you to be the best you!"
Thank you. But the best me is a lot more than body image. We wonder where society's body image problems come from? This industry. Not from models or anything like that. I want me to be the best me, too. That's why I focus on myself as a person, and a scientist, and a writer, and a dancer, and a daughter, and a sister, and a writer, and a daughter of God...(ET CET-ER-RYE, ET CET-ER-RYE, ET CET-ER-RYE).
It was a wholly awful experience. I left, got in my car and promptly started to cry. Hopefully the yoga's better.
I also love yoga. However, I wanted the guidance of a yoga instructor. So, I went to go to a gym in Tooele (which shall remain nameless) in order to join yoga classes and maybe use the swimming pool. I signed up for the membership (for the yoga), but I was disappointed with the whole experience. Why? The sale's philosophy.
I told them up front that I was happy with my fitness and my body and that I wasn't interested in trainers, cardio or weightlifting. I wasn't interested in weight loss at all. I'm pretty much at my ideal weight for what I do and want. My health isn't compromised and I can do everything I want to do. I'm not an Olympic athlete, but I'm not out of shape either.
I get they're a business. I get they need to sell things. But I also know that me saying upfront that I'm not interested in a personal trainer, or cardio training or weight lifting does not entitle you to look me up and down and judge my body for thirty minutes. I get that I'm thick. Why?
1) That's how one of the genetic body types in my family is
2) I'm the one who sees myself naked, so I know just how much of that is fat, and just how much of that is simply flesh
3) I'm an IRISH DANCER. Yes, I have calves and thighs the size of a mountain. A lot of us do, and it's all muscle. It's a dance form based entirely on legs.
After touring through room after room of equipment I told them I had no intention to use, we get to the end where they get me to sign up for their membership. I wanted to do the yoga, so I bought the membership that gave me that. They tried to talk me into buying their 6-year membership (because they want me to get the best deal...), but I told them I didn't know where I would be in 6-years. After all the questions of why, which started to get quite personal, I got to the point where I wanted to say, "None of your darn business!"
Then, they tried to set me up for their "free training session," after I had told them I wasn't interested in training. And by trying to set me up, I mean writing my name on their schedule and asking when I was coming. When I asked them exactly what it entailed they told me that they'd go over my health risks and show me what my body could look like and give me my transformation plan. I firmly told them that I'd really rather not. I set my own goals. I'm a medical lab scientist and a family history-hobbyist, so I know all my own health risks. My family history health risks? From the Hatch side: thyroids. Not really anything I can do about that. It will quit when it chooses. From the Russell side: chemical dependence and diabetes. So, the chemical dependence is covered by me being a Mormon...I don't ever do any of those things. And the diabetes? It can be controlled by fitness. But really, with my family history, if I get it, it was going to happen anyways. We're talking like every member of some generations family history. And though I intend to not just resign myself to that fate, I also refuse to have my life consumed by that fear.
And the body transformation preview? The other body type in the family is rail thin. So, I don't need you to airbrush me so that I look like my sisters. They look like that naturally. I don't look like that. I know that. And cognitively, I understand that. But I'm not flawless or perfect, and sometimes I look at them and am jealous. You don't think I haven't heard about being the "thick" one before? I don't need you give me the plan of how to become them, when I know full well that my body won't and shouldn't be that. That's them. Not me. And I'm okay with it. When I finally said without question, "I'd really rather not." One of them said, "You don't have to. We just want you to be the best you!" Then the employees both looked at each other with a "what's her problem?" look.
Theirs is a sales policy based on making you feel like a pile of garbage under the guise of being validated with, "We just want you to be the best you!"
Thank you. But the best me is a lot more than body image. We wonder where society's body image problems come from? This industry. Not from models or anything like that. I want me to be the best me, too. That's why I focus on myself as a person, and a scientist, and a writer, and a dancer, and a daughter, and a sister, and a writer, and a daughter of God...(ET CET-ER-RYE, ET CET-ER-RYE, ET CET-ER-RYE).
It was a wholly awful experience. I left, got in my car and promptly started to cry. Hopefully the yoga's better.
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