Monday, May 4, 2009

So what does fitness mean anyway?

I've been a little sedentary lately - who knew having your leg cut open and the varicose veins pulled out would hurt quite that much?

In retrospect I suppose I should have expected something of the kind; but meh - still worth it in the long run I think and the stitches come out Wednesday ;)

I've been in a slightly retrospective mood today - I've been moderating the Fitness forum on caloriecount.about.com for a few years and made some great friends - some who've moved on, but I still remember them fondly; got and given a lot of help in the process, lost 63lbs of fat and gained a fair few pounds of muscle, maintained my loss for a year. Oh, going back to school was a big thing too, and has been keeping me busy from time to time, but... yeah; I've discovered new passions in the course of this.

And I am still thinking that - yeah; I should do more to make people see that Fitness is not one thing. It's about answering the question: "What do you want to be fit for".

Choose to be fit for your life. It's not about how much you squat or bench press, it's not about how fast your run or how high you jump, it's not about how many goals you score or the medals you collect. It's about being alive and being comfortable in your skin and feeling capable of living joyfully in your body.

I think this gets lost sometimes.

It's not about looking fit; it's about being fit - for your life.

So tell me - what does fitness mean to you?

2 comments:

JavaChick said...

Came here by way of MizFit. Oddly enough, I just wrote a post on this a couple of days ago. I do agree that fitness should be about being fit for your life and I think also it's about building a good foundation for the future - As I get older I want to be able to stay active. But it's hard not to judge by how we look (or the number on the scale) or against specific activities. In my case I feel like I should be able to run, even though deep down I know that it's not essential to be a runner. Have not figured out how to let go of this yet though.

Oystein said...

Oh, I have some vanity goals and performance goals as well, they're hard to avoid once you start to see how you can reshape yourself.

I just think fitness is multidimensional, and it's far too easy to get caught up in doing one thing, and one thing only. Substituting sports performance for life fitness - it's no question a marathon runner or a power lifter is in amazing sports-specific shape, but their life fitness can still suck.

It's always a balancing act like everything else in life; and I'm not sure I've found any real answers other than the one Mizfit has - to just keep bumbling on and try things to see what works ;)