WHAT IS FITNESS?
In case you’ve missed us, we’ve been a wee bit busy over the last three weeks, preparing for, and starting to deliver, our latest 6 week health and fitness challenge.
We’ve had the pleasure to talk to over 100 people about our program, and it’s inherent benefits, and we’ve been very fortunate to have 16 people entrust us with working towards achieving their goals.
One of the constants during the selection process for our challenge was the topic “What is Fitness?”
It’s a Billion Dollar question and something we spend a lot of time talking to people about. A quick Google search of the question returns:
Fitness
noun
The condition of being physically fit and healthy.
In 2002, Coach Glassman, founder of CrossFit, wrote the article: ‘What Is Fitness‘. In it, the subject is discussed at length, with Coach Glassman concluding with the following definition:
This takes care of both the traditional, and the CrossFit interpretation of Fitness, but what about our interpretation of its meaning?
We look at Fitness, as the effect training in the gym has on your life outside the gym.
Do you experience increased levels of confidence and energy or maybe reduced levels of tiredness or three thirty-itess!
A couple of examples of what we believe fitness to be have presented themselves over the last few months. I’ve always known one of our male members to have a beard, so imagine my surprise when he arrived with his customary early timing, without said beard. Perplexed, I asked him why, to which he replied: “I like my face now, so thought I’d shave my beard off”.
This kind of confidence was well earned by a combination of attention to nutrition and consistent training.
It was also a very heartwarming revelation to hear and one I’ve shared with great pride.
Another example comes from one of our female Personal Training clients.
Initially terrified at the thought of coming to see us, this lady has thrown herself fully into her training program and has seen immense results in the gym, topping off last week with a 42.5kg pr deadlift.
The true realisation of this increase in strength and conditioning was made evident when, while at home freshening up her bedroom, she found herself for the first time being able to flip her mattress without needing her husbands help.
Something she was rightly proud of and happy to discuss at our subsequent training session.
So, whilst your performance in the gym is important, the true measure of your fitness is the effect it has in, and on, your real life.
Next time you’re creating a program, or having one designed for you, see if it actually benefits your real-life fitness, as there is no better place to test it.