Some fitness philosophy-or why you should get fit for the right reasons!

"The world does not need more pictures of women in bikinis."

      We are all enlightened enough to understand that Health is not just absence of disease and Wisdom is not just presence of knowledge.Yet there is a puzzling abundance of people who would reduce fitness to an absence of fatness which is not only wholly misleading but also dictates an inert ,bland recipe for an amazingly robust and versatile dish.

Two things to ponder over :

However if one leafs through any of the leading women's or health and fitness magazines,one gathers that fitness is only about attaining a certain look which is lean,svelte,sculpted-the more so the better."Four moves for a flat tummy!";"Six for slim hips!"-the catch lines scream.Looking airbrushed lean is designated as the sole goal of all exercise.Now ,if a desire to look leaner is an entry point for women (or men) into the realm of fitness I am all for it,it is a valid goal and was mine too.

Problem arises when this entry point becomes a girdlock.When impressionable young and not so young men and women want to get the look personified by sundry stars and starlets and overtrain,substance abuse,adopt starvation diets and worse.This obsession also fuels proliferation of  liposuctors,curls and curves clinics which promise loss of 10 inches in ten sittings,slim pill makers and dubious gadgets like weight-loss belts and morning walker!

The other aspect is that this "lookism" puts off many of my feminist friends who  love their bodies as they are and totally distance themselves from the 'vainglorious' fitness fad and thus forego an affirmative, joyous celebration of their bodies astounding capabilities .

So looking deeper at the many dimensions of fitness is essential for all of us.

If one of it is achieving your potential in body shape,yes,why not?.For though we may be born ectomorphs or endomorphs,anorexic and obese bodies are a consequence of our lifestyle choices and if we correct them our bodies will be grateful to us.

More importantly fitness enhances your capacity to do things that your body is designed to do whether it is physical movements   like sprinting,jumping ,punching,kicking,pushing pulling,throwing  ....or processes like healing,regenerating,coping ,growing ... and the two are intimately interconnected.

Fitness gives you a body confidence that goes way beyond the thrill (?)of fitting into size zero pants.It is the confidence that if life throws before you a bully you can punch him in the face,if there be a hurdle (whether physical or metaphorical)you have the strength and the reserves to climb it out or jump over it.And this confidence gives you a serenity,a feeling of profound well-being that we all would do ourselves a favour by seeking.

Fitness liberates, by amazing you with the things you never knew you could do.And you only have to crank some pull-ups to know that fitness uplifts-it makes you walk on the air!

So while some of us may aspire to be bikini models -fitness is not defined by that vapid goal-its offerings are dazzling and manifold.