THE MASSIVE FITNESS TREND THAT'S NOT ACTUALLY HEALTHY AT ALL

THE MASSIVE FITNESS TREND THAT'S NOT ACTUALLY HEALTHY AT ALL

By greatist.com - Jonathan Angelilli

The world can be a crazy place, we all know that. And giving in to the fear that is endlessly manufactured by the media is a constant temptation on the path to fitness greatness. It’s also true that sometimes sh!t gets real, and we need to be prepared to adapt instantly. Why? Because…

Life Is a Battle!

But (and it's a big fat booty butt) just because life is a battle doesn’t mean you have to destroy yourself every time you go to the gym. Any serious athlete knows that rest, recovery, and periodization (smartly modifying intensity based on goals, performance, and ability) are absolutely crucial to optimal performance (aka kicking ass).

There is a massive trend in the fitness industry to glorify exercise as an all-out war on the body. I call it the militarization of fitness—all the boot camps, Marine-inspired workouts, ridiculously intense body building routines, and general glorification of pain. Even our recovery and regeneration techniques are prioritized by how painful they are. (Got a knot in your hip flexor? Go roll that shit with a baseball!)

This trend is a symptom of a much larger disease. We live in a culture obsessed with aggression, and it has found its way into every facet of our lives, even our workouts.

Exhaustion Is Not a Status Symbol

Well, exhaustion actually is a status symbol in our culture. And that’s the problem—we’re working and training ourselves to death. From a young age, we’re bombarded with the message that to be successful, we must work overtime, sacrifice our health, friends, even happiness and sanity to achieve what we want.

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