Do we misuse exercise?
“Against Exercise,” the first essay in Mark Grief’s essay collection, “Against Everything,” challenges current cultural notions on the ways in which we participate in gyms and outdoor exercise. Comparing contemporary gyms to factory work, he counters ideas about the obligation to exercise intensely and in such a public way.
Yes, movement is important to our health, but much of what is pursued in gyms goes beyond the interests of health. This links in to challenging also our cultural ideas of how human bodies should look – the hyper muscular man and the emaciated woman.
He refers to exercise to for the purpose of altering one’s appearance and maintaining thinness even as the body clock marches forward, “as a practice that can become a kind of naked aggression against the body.” His statements lead me to wonder why in a society that has evolved in so many other ways, do we feel that one of the ultimate measures of success to maintain the body in one particular form?
I found myself also wondering, even when it comes to exercise, what if we could truly do it for the pleasure of it? To go for a swim or an outdoor walk just because it feels good? To engage in a football game or tennis match just for the challenge of it, rather than trying to quantify the impact it may have on our bodies?
Although he does not take the usual approach to body positivity, I found his arguments to be very encouragingly body positive. They provided impetus to continue to examine my own ideas of what I expect from my body and why.
And then also to continue to reflect on the questions than have been posed by those seeking body positivity:
- If we were to stop obsessing about what our bodies look like, what sort of space might open up in our lives?
- What would we occupy our thoughts and future hopes with instead?
- How might we be freer to enjoy the present?
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