Why do YOU work out?
This Valentine’s Day I suddenly found myself buying a fitness club membership. Now I can't stop thinking that if someone would have told me a year ago that I’d be going to the gym regularly and enjoying it so much I would not believe them. Anyway, ever since I started working out I got a whole bunch of questions from all types of curious people. Their favorite one was: “Did you fall in love? This is the only reason why anyone would possibly start working out so much”.
Here’s an official reply: yes. I finally started falling in love with my life and the joys it can bring. I realized that there are some physical limitations on what I can get from my awesome life if I’m not fit enough, so I decided to change that. There’s more to it, too: I’m shaping myself to fit the life I want to have. You can’t get a lifestyle you want if you don’t fit in. Physical shape is just one of the aspects I work on though, although it is probably most visible to wider audiences.
But although my personal reasons might seem weird to most people out there, what really got me thinking was the fact that nobody (literally, NOT A SINGLE PERSON) who asked even thought that I can do it for myself. They automatically assumed that I’m trying to get in shape for some mysterious significant other, and only wanted to find out the name of that person.
So I started wondering - is it a cultural thing? Another reason for me to blame Russian Orthodox mentality and eastern norms and values that stress the importance of moral piety over physical appearance? Or is it a universal problem - do we only start thinking about the shape we’re in after we go through a painful breakup or when we meet someone new who we want to look good naked for?
My westernized liberal mindset leads me to an assumption that it is definitely connected with Russian cultural values. Or, in my case and that of my circle of friends, it’s norms and values of Russian intelligentsia and all sorts of intellectuals. Ever since we were little we have been taught that we should focus on our brain, on higher values like being noble, compassionate and educated. In addition, it has been combined with some traces of extreme Orthodox dogmas that deeply rooted in our society, like that one about physical suffering being tests from the Creator and the best path to self-advancement. Taking care of your physical body is vain, useless and sinful. And as a sociologist I know that one cannot simply disregard cultural norms they were raised in, no matter how much one disagrees with them; they can act out an opposite scenario, but these norms will always be their point of reference.
On the other hand, there are multiple assumptions (and even some psychological research) that people usually start to actively work out when they break up with someone (in order to make that someone jealous and sorry they left, I assume), or when they meet someone new and want to impress them.
So what is motivating us to work out and take care of our bodies along with our minds? Can we do it for our own good, or is it only because we want to impress someone else (or meet someone else whom we can impress later)? Is it because we have been oppressed by cultural norms and now that we are more capable of deciding for ourselves we are willing to shake these cultural limitations off? Do we only do it because our doctor told us to?
Why do you work out?
Here’s an official reply: yes. I finally started falling in love with my life and the joys it can bring. I realized that there are some physical limitations on what I can get from my awesome life if I’m not fit enough, so I decided to change that. There’s more to it, too: I’m shaping myself to fit the life I want to have. You can’t get a lifestyle you want if you don’t fit in. Physical shape is just one of the aspects I work on though, although it is probably most visible to wider audiences.
But although my personal reasons might seem weird to most people out there, what really got me thinking was the fact that nobody (literally, NOT A SINGLE PERSON) who asked even thought that I can do it for myself. They automatically assumed that I’m trying to get in shape for some mysterious significant other, and only wanted to find out the name of that person.
So I started wondering - is it a cultural thing? Another reason for me to blame Russian Orthodox mentality and eastern norms and values that stress the importance of moral piety over physical appearance? Or is it a universal problem - do we only start thinking about the shape we’re in after we go through a painful breakup or when we meet someone new who we want to look good naked for?
My westernized liberal mindset leads me to an assumption that it is definitely connected with Russian cultural values. Or, in my case and that of my circle of friends, it’s norms and values of Russian intelligentsia and all sorts of intellectuals. Ever since we were little we have been taught that we should focus on our brain, on higher values like being noble, compassionate and educated. In addition, it has been combined with some traces of extreme Orthodox dogmas that deeply rooted in our society, like that one about physical suffering being tests from the Creator and the best path to self-advancement. Taking care of your physical body is vain, useless and sinful. And as a sociologist I know that one cannot simply disregard cultural norms they were raised in, no matter how much one disagrees with them; they can act out an opposite scenario, but these norms will always be their point of reference.
On the other hand, there are multiple assumptions (and even some psychological research) that people usually start to actively work out when they break up with someone (in order to make that someone jealous and sorry they left, I assume), or when they meet someone new and want to impress them.
So what is motivating us to work out and take care of our bodies along with our minds? Can we do it for our own good, or is it only because we want to impress someone else (or meet someone else whom we can impress later)? Is it because we have been oppressed by cultural norms and now that we are more capable of deciding for ourselves we are willing to shake these cultural limitations off? Do we only do it because our doctor told us to?
Why do you work out?