{"id":31187,"date":"2022-01-04T11:16:02","date_gmt":"2022-01-04T19:16:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/?p=31187"},"modified":"2021-12-14T13:23:25","modified_gmt":"2021-12-14T21:23:25","slug":"fitness-has-become-a-luxury-item-it-doesnt-have-to-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/all-mfn\/fitness-has-become-a-luxury-item-it-doesnt-have-to-be\/","title":{"rendered":"Fitness Has Become a Luxury Item. It Doesn\u2019t Have To Be…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Something strange is happening to the fitness industry. Or maybe it already happened \u2013 years ago \u2013 and I\u2019m only just noticing now (having no social media presence can be a mixed blessing). There\u2019s a shift in how fitness is being packaged and sold, a shift that emphasizes an almost slave-like devotion to the self. During my lifetime the act of \u201cworking out\u201d was usually presented as democratic in nature, a basic right accessible to all. Now, it\u2019s being rebranded as a sort of mandatory luxury item for this generation of digital nomads.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hell, even the language has changed. Health is \u201cwellness\u201d; exercising is \u201ctraining\u201d; getting a massage is \u201cself-care.\u201d Forgive me for coming off as a younger Andy Rooney, but back in my day you\u2019d hit the gym a few times a week, either before or after work, and that was that. Maybe you\u2019d play some ball with buddies on the weekend, maybe run an easy 5K Sunday morning. Food mattered, but it wasn\u2019t something to stress over.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Today the expectation is to be up at 4 a.m. for morning meditation and journaling while riding out the final wave of your 12-hour daily fast. Breakfast \u2013 and every morsel that passes your lips thereafter \u2013 is posted on Instagram for the approval of the oh-so legitimate dietitians, trainers and food scientists who lurk in the comments section. Your workout is no longer just that, it\u2019s an \u201cexperience\u201d to be shared with your tribe\/team\/pod, one that we must pause and express gratitude for whenever possible (quick, grab your journal!).<\/span><\/p>\n

By now you\u2019re likely wondering what my point is. Hasn\u2019t the pursuit of physical perfection and ultimate longevity always been just a tad self-indulgent? And what\u2019s wrong with indulging the self anyway? My point \u2013 and my problem \u2013 is that entry into this cult of wellness comes at a ridiculous cost, in both the literal and metaphorical sense of the word. Forget for a moment the time commitment required; society is being duped into believing you need a Fitbit, compression shorts and a $200 pair of lifting shoes to get in shape, when a notebook, sweatpants and Chuck Taylors will do just fine.<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, there\u2019s always been a market that caters to the well-heeled.\u00a0<\/span>Peloton<\/span>\u00a0presents the most extreme example of this absurdity. Have you seen how much those bikes cost? And then there\u2019s the monthly membership to boot. You could fly first-class to France and tour the countryside on your own damn bike for the same price. The same goes for\u00a0<\/span>Equinox<\/span>\u00a0\u2013 not a gym, but a \u201ctemple of well-being\u201d that charges its parishioners thousands of dollars for the privilege of spilling sweat inside its walls.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pay attention to the way these products are being positioned.\u00a0<\/span>Peloton ads<\/span>\u00a0feature every day, average folks pedaling away on $3,000 machines in their unspectacular homes.\u00a0<\/span>Lululemon ads<\/span>\u00a0feature every day, average folks running and bending and lifting in outfits that cost more than most people make in a day. The message is clear, yet entirely incongruent with reality. At least Equinox has the decency to showcase their upper crust offerings in the proper context; in keeping with the tradition of aspirational luxury brands,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>their ads<\/span><\/a>\u00a0make\u00a0<\/span>no sense at all<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Getting in shape doesn\u2019t require a payment plan or a line of credit. I\u2019ve spent time in posh gyms and I\u2019ve spent time in musty warehouses and I can assure you there is next to no correlation between high fees and quality of service. In Toronto,\u00a0<\/span>Hone Fitness<\/span><\/a>\u00a0offers memberships for as low as $30 a month and you can bring a friend whenever you want.\u00a0<\/span>The YMCA<\/span><\/a>\u00a0has 120 fitness centers across Canada with fully-equipped weight rooms and loads of fitness classes; their membership subsidy program ensures everyone, regardless of income, can cycle their stress away. You may not be able to bathe yourself in eucalyptus-infused steam showers afterwards, but really who needs that anyway?<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Paul Landini<\/a> is a personal trainer, health educator and fitness columnist with The Globe & Mail. He specializes in making <\/em>fitness fun and accessible to all, regardless of their age, gender or abilities. Paul has been a long-time advocate for <\/em>plant-based nutrition and loves nothing more than dispelling the many myths surrounding vegan and vegetarian <\/em>diets. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Something strange is happening to the fitness industry. Or maybe it already happened \u2013 years ago \u2013 and I\u2019m only just noticing now (having no social media presence can be a mixed blessing). There\u2019s a shift in how fitness is being packaged and sold, a shift that emphasizes an almost slave-like devotion to the self. During my lifetime the act of \u201cworking out\u201d was usually presented as democratic in nature, a basic right accessible to all. Now, it\u2019s being rebranded as a sort of mandatory luxury item for this generation of digital nomads. Hell, even the language has changed. Health is \u201cwellness\u201d; exercising is \u201ctraining\u201d; getting a massage is \u201cself-care.\u201d Forgive me for coming off as a younger Andy Rooney, but back in my day you\u2019d hit the gym a few times a week, either before or after work, and that was that. Maybe you\u2019d play some ball with buddies on the weekend, maybe run an easy 5K Sunday morning. Food mattered, but it wasn\u2019t something to stress over. Today the expectation is to be up at 4 a.m. for morning meditation and journaling while riding out the final wave of your 12-hour daily fast. Breakfast \u2013 and every morsel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":403,"featured_media":29461,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[54,134,198,193],"class_list":["post-31187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-mfn","tag-exercise","tag-fitness","tag-fitness-professionals","tag-healthy-aging"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/403"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31187"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31187\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31188,"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31187\/revisions\/31188"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}