Fit for What? The myth of absolute fitness

[Guest guest]

Article Title: Fit for What? The myth of absolute fitness

Article Author: Tanja Gardner

Article Copyright: March 2005

Author Contact Email:

mailto:tanja@...

Formatted to 65 Characters per Line

Word Count: 702 words

FIT FOR WHAT? THE MYTH OF ABSOLUTE FITNESS

By Tanja Gardner, Optimum Life Ltd

Unless we're talking about our bodies, and the amount of exercise

they can do, we usually talk about being fit in relation to

something. An object is `fit for use', clothing is `fit to be

worn at work', and food is `fit to be eaten'. My parents used

to have a running joke that they were fit – fit to drop!

Everything else is fit 'for something'. So why do we insist on

describing ourselves as `fit' or `unfit' without relating the

concepts to anything else?

GENERAL PRINCIPLES

It's a basic truth that the human body wasn't made to sit still

for any length of time. We spent tens of thousands of years

evolving in an environment that required us to move – to find

shelter, to catch food, and to keep ourselves safe from

predators. We've only been living lifestyles that allow us

to be sedentary for the lesser part of a hundred years – not

nearly enough time for evolution to adapt our bodies to this

new environment. We see this constantly reflected in modern

rates of heart disease, atherosclerosis, chronic aches and

pains, and muscular and bone deterioration in people who have

become inactive as they age.

On top of this, activity has a very real effect on both stress

and energy levels. Our bodies have a `use-it-or-lose-it' way

with energy – if we don't constantly use and then replace energy

(with activity, followed by rest and good nutrition), we start

noticing our energy levels gradually draining away. We feel

tired, lethargic, and as though any amount of effort is just

too much to be worth it. And if we're also under stress –

for example, at work, or in a difficult relationship – we feel

the energy loss and the stress even more intensely.

These are general principles that seem to be true whoever we

are. But different lifestyles require different amounts of

energy, and exact different prices in terms of stress. We

enjoy doing, and our bodies are suited for, different kinds

of activity. It makes sense then, that the amount and type of

activity that will help us reach our optimum fitness, will

be different.

DIFFERENT STROKES

If that's the case, then getting `fit' without a frame of

reference seems like a meaningless concept. Unless we

know what we want to be `fit for' – what fitness means to us –

there's no reason for us to get or stay that way. If my life

is basically calm, quiet and easy-flowing, and I'm quite happy

to keep it that way, my `optimum fitness' is going to be very

different to someone who's discovered a deep fulfillment in

setting themselves goals and achieving them. Someone who'd just

like to be able to go for a walk with friends without getting

puffed is going to have a different optimum fitness level to

someone who wants to discover how it feels to finish a marathon.

On top of this, what people want often changes over time.

Perhaps at one point in your life, you enjoyed spending a

couple of hours a day exercising, but now you're finding there

are things you'd like to do far more with that time.

Alternatively, when you first started creating your optimum

life for yourself, it might have been enough for you to just

keep your body healthy. As you tried new activities though,

you might have discovered you were actually enjoying some of

them for their own sake, and wanting to get fitter so you

could do more of them. So at different times in your life,

you'd have a different optimum fitness level.

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE " FIT FOR " ?

Which brings us back to our original question – can we talk

about being fit, without knowing what exactly we're `fit for'?

The way we see it, your optimum fitness level depends

completely on what you want to be able to do in your daily

life, how you want to be feeling, how much energy you'd

like to have and how exercise fits in with the rest of

your life. So your first step in moving closer to optimum

fitness needs to be to make that all-important decision " What

do I want to be fit for? "

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

RESOURCE INFORMATION:

This article is an excerpt from a longer report, " What is

Optimum Fitness? " , available by request through Optimum

Life Ltd's personal training website,

www.trainerforce.com/optimumlife. To request your free

copy of the entire report, please click on the link, then

follow the request instructions.

Optimum Life Ltd (http://optimumlife.co.nz) is a company

dedicated to providing fitness and stress management services

to help clients all over the world achieve their optimum lives.

For more information on how we can help you move closer to

living your optimum life, please check out our website.

************************************************************