Is the Gym Getting in the Way of Your Fitness Goals?
I wouldn’t go so far as to say I had an existential crisis, but I was mid-set at the gym, and my whole worldview on fitness began to unravel.
As a Nationally Qualified competitive bodybuilder, I have learned the ropes around nutrition, gym equipment, muscle development, fat loss, and also know my gaps in the areas I can still grow my understanding. Fitness is the daily lifestyle, but showcased on stage during competitions. I decided to take some time off from the stage and develop a stronger off-season, but after nearly two years, certain things began standing out to me (about myself and others). Some people were coming to the gym, then heading to work, then going home. I had never thought twice about that kind of lifestyle. Because though I typically go hiking throughout the week, going to the gym daily for strength training was, after all, my life choice as well. In that moment I paused to ruminate over the fact that we humans go into a box to train, then measure our strength by how we level up inside that box. We feel strong, we look strong, but then what?
My mind was in this delicious space of challenging things I love, enjoy, and pursue.
What are we training for if not for the stage? When will I push 415 pounds with my legs except for in the gym? I realized that the stage that I love had (momentarily?) lost its luster for me and that playing outdoors for decades to come was why I wanted to maintain and progress physical fitness. While hiking, surfing, paddling, swimming, and running are my true fitness focus, my gym sessions are instinctively geared towards bodybuilding. I didn’t even realize that I was doing things out of habit without an intention. We can argue that my activity was still a health-focused lifestyle and there is nothing inherently wrong, but without intention I’m really just coasting.
I need to do some digging, because now I cannot unsee that I apparently have no defined purpose for going to the gym other than some lose terms like “health,” “longevity,” and “fitness.”
Has the term fitness been muddled? Some people say they want to get fit, yet they mean they want to lose body fat; While other people say they want to get in shape because they want to be healthier. What is fitness, but a loose term to define a loose dream?
Working in both the finance and the health industry has taught me one very clear thing about people: we do not always know what we really want. Without knowing what we really want, we grasp for clarity by latching on to short-sighted goals like “losing ten pounds,” when really our dream might be to feel attractive, to feel a certain way in clothes, and to be admired.
After reading the book Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life by Francesc Miralles and Hector Garcia, it opened up a whole new perspective for me on longevity. I was encouraged to question why I get up in the morning — well, my kids are why I get up, but beyond that, what do I want from myself in life?
I am not anti-gym, but I am pro know-why-you-go. Is it fitness, or is it beauty? Neither answer is wrong, but understanding your answer will help you hold on to your routine on days when you lose motivation.
