Our Unhealthy Relationship With Physical Activity
We hear all the time about America's obesity problem. I mean, it was basically Michelle Obama's purpose for 8 years, right? And usually, that goes into a place where we talk about food. Occasionally, we talk about physical activity, but usually, we talk about food. Well, today, I'm not going to talk about food. I'm going to talk about physical activity, and why we have a problem.
I'm a fairly healthy person overall, if I'd be so humble to say. I mean, yeah, I don't eat as much food as I'm supposed to (yeah, I know, the other way from most people), and I sometimes am not the kindest to my body in terms of relaxation and sleeping. But I have a veritable obsession with raw vegetables, and I'm so active that doctors always give me the "really?" when I tell them how much physical activity I get. As if I have to be lying or something.
But I wasn't always that way. Growing up, I didn't identify as an active or "sporty" person. I almost inversely identified with it. If you went to my thirteen-year-old self and said that some day, I would do 30-60 minutes of cardio a day, 10-15 minutes of flexibility a day, and full body strength training for 45 minutes each week, I would tell you that you were wrong. I would probably haughtily say, "You don't know me," and roll my eyes. But I actually do.
Here's the thing, if you don't know who I am, you probably pictured my workout routine wrong. Unless you know me, when I said I do 30-60 minutes of cardio a day, you probably picture running and treadmills and ellipticals. When I said I do full-body strength training, you imagined weight benches. Didn't you? It's all right. What if I told you that only run when something is chasing me, or I have something to run towards, and that I don't touch treadmills or ellipticals as a rule? I hate them. They don't make me happy. And one thing I did say as a teenager that I still adhere to on the subject, "I refuse to mindlessly run on a treadmill in the pathological fear of being fat." I don't weight lift. It seems extremely unappealing. I don't do gyms, basically. As a rule.
So what do I do? Well, I swim. I Irish dance for 30-90 minutes every day. I go rock climbing every Thursday. I go on walks. And these are things that I enjoy. And they are just as effective as treadmills and running and weights. Maybe not as effective as getting specific goals, but at achieving baseline health, they work.
Now, if you like treadmills, that's fine. If you like running, and you get an endorphin rush when you hit mile 5 or 10 or 15 or whatever, then I am all for you living your life way. If that's where your joy comes from, then you do it. If you get a sense of accomplishment from each new weight you add, then you keep lifting. Me? I'll just stick with me.
See, here's the problem. In elementary school, I had been convinced that I was a "not active" person. Eventually what I had to realize was that I was a person who hated two things: balls and running. and all of PE in elementary school was balls and running.
This isn't a very long treatise, but I guess what I'm here to say is that it's time for Americans to reclaim enjoyable activity. Because it's just not working this way. That's for dang sure.
I'm a fairly healthy person overall, if I'd be so humble to say. I mean, yeah, I don't eat as much food as I'm supposed to (yeah, I know, the other way from most people), and I sometimes am not the kindest to my body in terms of relaxation and sleeping. But I have a veritable obsession with raw vegetables, and I'm so active that doctors always give me the "really?" when I tell them how much physical activity I get. As if I have to be lying or something.
But I wasn't always that way. Growing up, I didn't identify as an active or "sporty" person. I almost inversely identified with it. If you went to my thirteen-year-old self and said that some day, I would do 30-60 minutes of cardio a day, 10-15 minutes of flexibility a day, and full body strength training for 45 minutes each week, I would tell you that you were wrong. I would probably haughtily say, "You don't know me," and roll my eyes. But I actually do.
Here's the thing, if you don't know who I am, you probably pictured my workout routine wrong. Unless you know me, when I said I do 30-60 minutes of cardio a day, you probably picture running and treadmills and ellipticals. When I said I do full-body strength training, you imagined weight benches. Didn't you? It's all right. What if I told you that only run when something is chasing me, or I have something to run towards, and that I don't touch treadmills or ellipticals as a rule? I hate them. They don't make me happy. And one thing I did say as a teenager that I still adhere to on the subject, "I refuse to mindlessly run on a treadmill in the pathological fear of being fat." I don't weight lift. It seems extremely unappealing. I don't do gyms, basically. As a rule.
So what do I do? Well, I swim. I Irish dance for 30-90 minutes every day. I go rock climbing every Thursday. I go on walks. And these are things that I enjoy. And they are just as effective as treadmills and running and weights. Maybe not as effective as getting specific goals, but at achieving baseline health, they work.
Now, if you like treadmills, that's fine. If you like running, and you get an endorphin rush when you hit mile 5 or 10 or 15 or whatever, then I am all for you living your life way. If that's where your joy comes from, then you do it. If you get a sense of accomplishment from each new weight you add, then you keep lifting. Me? I'll just stick with me.
See, here's the problem. In elementary school, I had been convinced that I was a "not active" person. Eventually what I had to realize was that I was a person who hated two things: balls and running. and all of PE in elementary school was balls and running.
This isn't a very long treatise, but I guess what I'm here to say is that it's time for Americans to reclaim enjoyable activity. Because it's just not working this way. That's for dang sure.
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