Why Are Americans So Fascinated with Extreme Fitness?
nytimes.com
nytimes.com
> It looks exhausting.
> It also looks fruitless. Why not join a roofing
> crew for a few hours instead?
People do high weight, low rep workouts because they take little time and provide high value. (Also for a segment of people the body releases endorphines in response to strenous activity.)
The author also manages to completely fail to build a logical connection between two things they wrote themselves:
> more than a little dangerous. (What if a sledgehammer slips
> paying .... watchful eye of a demanding authority figure
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If the author wasn't so earnestly clueless i'd think this is a troll article meant to engender annoyance in anyone with a little clue.
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That said, Crossfit could stand to lose some of its cult trappings.
Of course like any sport you need a certain degree of supervision to prevent injuries.
Where's the author getting at?
Well, this. Why is strength building considered worthwhile?
(and yes, this is a rephrase of the previous question because of your non-answer)
Every man (and woman) should be able to save their own life and possibly the lives of their loved ones -> http://www.artofmanliness.com/2009/09/15/every-man-should-be...
Strength also correlates with muscle mass (you need them to be strong) and muscle burns a lot of energy, which means you will both be less cold in winter AND be able to eat more food healthily. Food is tasty.
Bottom line, strength is good for you.
You can do 15 pull-ups? Well, then you don't have to worry about any emergencies. It'll save you if you get into a car accident, surely.
And yeah, sorry, but 'get more strength so you can eat more' isn't really very convincing.
And good cardio form helps with the old ticker not getting tired out too much after spikes in heart rate, spikes also tend to last less time.
Furthermore, scares won't give you a heart attack because high heart rate won't be a shock to your body (afaik heart attacks happen when the body gets shocked and things sticking to your artery walls get dislodged and travel to bad parts of your body to form clots).
And I guess you just don't like food all that much.
Don't get me wrong, I agree with exercising in order to be healthy, or to look good, or for fun if that's ones fancy. But the fascination with physical strength that seems to be fairly common boggles me.
An athlete wants to have as good a ratio between mass and strength as possible.
Thus when I was pursuing strength I was doing it for the sake of increasing my athletic performance.
Here's a practical one, not being winded at the top of the stairs. I work on the 3rd floor of a building. There's one elevator, it's painfully slow. Most people take the stairs. Every day people pass by my cubicle (near the entrance) winded from their walk across the parking lot and up the stairs. That's pathetic (having been there myself a couple years back, it's depressing too).
Have or want children? Wouldn't it be cool to be able to play with them for more than 10 minutes before feeling exhausted? Or to be able to carry them in from the car when they've passed out (or pretended to be asleep), even when they're older than 2 or 3?
Ever find your home office has filled with clutter and wanted to clean it out? Being able to carry out a box of trash or recyclables or giveaway stuffs without needing to stop every 10' or carry one item at a time is nice.
EDIT: I'm not in great shape, that's been my state for 10 years now. I am, however, in better shape now than most of that decade. Beyond the practical uses of this physical condition, it's helped me out in a number of other ways. I'm more alert. I sleep better (those two are, of course, related). I'm more attractive (hey, no more double chin!) which also helps with self-esteem. My mood is generally better (if you read my post history you'll find a history of depression, I won't say fitness has eliminated it, but it certainly is helping for me).
Back to (somewhat) practical uses of better strength. I'm able to help friends with tasks around their homes instead of trying to come up with excuses to avoid it (because I was, for a time, more of a drag in those cases than a help). I can go play laser tag without collapsing at the end (4 years ago, it was embarrassing). Bowling, not the most demanding of games, no longer exhausts my arms (I bowl both left and right handed).
From the article:
> By the ’90s, when the soft curves of Ursula Andress had been replaced by the hard bodies of Cindy Crawford and Elle Macpherson, you still worked out to prepare for the beach or the bedroom. These days, though, you aren’t preparing for fun or romance. You’re preparing for an unforeseen natural disaster, or a burning building, or Armageddon.
>“We have sought to build a program that will best prepare trainees for any physical contingency — not only for the unknown, but for the unknowable.” This dark talk passes for welcoming language on the website of CrossFit, the intense, ultracompetitive conditioning program whose motto, “Forging Elite Fitness,” reflects our current fascination with both elite athletes and elite military forces.
Your body is supposed to get moving.
Most exercise is an exercise (pun intended) in futility. Sure, running/swimming will burn calories and increase muscle mass (in the case of swimming)
Do you know what else burns calories? Muscle mass
But of course they buy the common mindset of this being dangerous, etc. I'd risk to say the risk of injuries in lifting weights is much less than in other sports (maybe except swimming).
This style of workout is aerobically exhausting (it leaves you breathless), like jogging, and I think this is what the author calls exhausting.
That's powerlifting or olympic lifting* Bodybuilding employs higher rep and lower weight hypertrophy workouts.
Power comes from fast-twitch type 2b muscle fibers, and the amount you have varies based on your genetic makeup [2]. Its possible to recruit the other types of muscle fibers to become fast-twitch type 2b but that requires continuous retraining of fibers through plyometrics; as soon as you stop your body will regress to its natural ratio of muscle fiber types. Fast twitch type 2b muscle fiber tires extremely quickly (I remember reading ~10s but I can't find a source) and is not something that can be trained using high-rep exercises [1].
Doing hang-cleans (never do these [3]), sloppy squats, "chin-ups" and other Crossfit staples for time in rapid succession and in high volume will only really help you lose weight and slip a disc in your back, but it will do very little to develop "power". If you want real power and explosiveness train like an Olympic sprinter: high-weight low-rep complex exercises and low-rep plyometrics [1].
Sources:
[1] http://smscsqlx.sasktelwebhosting.com/services/exphys/wts%26...
[2] Arabatzi, F, and K Eleftherios. “Olympic weightlifting training causes different knee muscle-coactivation adaptations compared with traditional weight training.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 26.8 (2012): 2192-2201.
[3] http://www.poliquingroup.com/ArticlesMultimedia/Articles/Art...
I do enjoy joking about WODs, though. "Okay - I'm gonna do AMRAP snatch on a bosu ball, and then do box jumps onto another bosu ball!"
I am perplexed by the degree of what I might call fitness elitism that exists in a nation as fundamentally unfit as the US (I'm American, BTW). I'm seeing a lot of comments about how simple exercise isn't effective and HIT is a necessity, etc. HIT is great, but it's a pretense to suggest that running, biking, or aerobics that raise your heart rate without being tortuous are not also effective exercises that can drastically improve one's health. I feel that there is an unnecessary focus on very intense exercise programs when simple cardiovascular conditioning that nearly anyone can do has the potential to drastically improve the health of so many.
20 Mins of HIIT = 60 minutes of Jogging.
It's all about maximizing results...
Also, there's a difference (and some overlap) between being healthy, and looking ripped. Eg you can be one without the other. One of the reasons I enjoy visiting countries that don't view a rushed and punishing car-commute as normal, is that everyone looks so happy and healthy.
I agree, I think that's the root cause. There are more things we'd like to do than time available, so people optimize.
> If we all slowed down we'd probably be more healthy as a people.
Probably true, but unfortunately we don't have much choice. We slave away most of our lives to keep the economy going, so it's hard to slow down. The problem isn't people having too much time for their hobbies.
Even leaving neurochemical pathways aside, our culture is like that in many aspects. I mean even selflessness is the way many people understand being a good person, doing something good that feels bad is supposed to be better than doing something good that also feels good. I don't agree with that view, but it's pretty much ingrained with out western culture.
Partly they do it because of the emotional reward from exhaustion, progressing overcoming challenges, feeling stronger or more capable, approaching an ideal appearance, comparing themselves to others, and maybe a couple others. I believe all of those things make people feel good and want to continue.
You also have to explain why now compared to a few decades ago, though, which the above doesn't explain.
I think the main reason is that the American environments surround us with gluttonous and unhealthy food and behaviors that, if we didn't work to make ourselves healthy, we could too easily slide down a slippery slope and become. The more junk food and labor-saving devices around us, the greater the temptation, therefore the greater need to resist, therefore the greater enthusiasm to work.
In principle you could test this hypothesis. It suggests that in communities with healthy food and active lifestyles, you'd find less extreme fitness and more regular fitness. In communities with unhealthy food and sedentary lifestyles, you'd find the people who pursued fitness would pursue it more extremely.
Yes. Deeper understanding of myself and others pays off in a lot of ways -- it helps me find other things I might like (and avoid things I probably won't), helps me predict the future, and helps me connect more deeply with others.
Traditional gym exercises are boring and hard.
Cardio is boring. 60 minutes on a treadmill, 5 times a week is really boring after a while. All that racking up weights and unracking is tedious. Bicep curls? Tedious. Situps? Tedious.
The reason why people are constantly thinking up new ways to exercise is simply to add a bit of variety and encourage people to keep working out. You can probably get similar results to a sledgehammer drill by doing a combo of situps, pullups and squats, but a lot of people would find that kinda dull and give up after a while.
When you add in the possibility that by doing these "new" exercises they might be getting fitter or stronger in less time than a traditional exercise, it's really quite motivating. It's not necessarily true (I've seen a lot of fads come and go), but if it gets them to keep on exercising, then it's probably worth it.
I think it's not just about boredom, it's about the time it takes. If you can trade 60 minutes on a treadmill 5 times a week for 20 minutes of HIT 3 times a week, that's over three productive hours a week saved already (and more likely 5-10, if you count going to and from gym, additional showering and the fact that it fragments your day if you're not smart about your daily routine).
I'm planning to start HIT for this very reason. I don't like exercising, I have many more interesting things to do, but I need to improve my health. Therefore I seek to maximize effect while minimizing time wasted.
This is why I don't run or cycle inside. The only reason I took to indoor cycling was because of a back injury that made riding a bike difficult/painful, it's healed up now. For running, the last few months have been fantastic on my usual trail. I've gotten to see flowers bloom and fade, grass go from brown (hot summer) to green again as the temperatures dropped and soon I'll get to see the leaves turn and fall.
First to be proved:
1. Americans are fascinated with extreme fitness.
2. That is either internationally or historically unusual and therefore noteworthy.
Said that, there are some people that take it to extremes, but that is just like in any other industry/sport.
If you view fitness as a means to an end (health/long life) then you've got to realize there are diminishing returns. There have been many studies showing the diminishing returns kick in very quickly (http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/07/30/running-just-5-minu...).
If you want to be an elite athlete that's fine, but you should at least acknowledge it's its own reward and not claim it's about health.
If the only reason you exercise is to be healthy in a long term, then a short workout a few times a week is enough.
If you want to be stronger/better at sports X/run marathons etc then no, aerobic classes are not enough.
It's not even aiming for 'elite athlete', just aiming to be fit (you won't be fit in my definition if you only do 3x40min of aerobic classes a week).
Why do americans push for extreme fitness? I don't know, I don't even know that they push for extreme fitness, most of them look very fat to me (a lot of us Europeans are following suit extremely quickly) so it's hard to say that a significant amount of the population is pushing towards anything in particular in regards to fitness.
BUT I think fitness is important. I work out multiple times a day and generally spend terrible amounts of time and mental energy towards fitness.
The best explanation, other than "it feels good", I've found about this is an old post by The Art of Manliness - every man (and woman) should be able to save their own life, possibly the lives of their loved ones: http://www.artofmanliness.com/2009/09/15/every-man-should-be...
Why? Because one day you might have to and how are you going to feel if you aren't able to?
If it works for high school athletes, it works for people who are ten years older, too.
Personally, I look at results. If you can be motivated by Richard Simmons, go for it - the guy is 15 years older than my dad and is still in damn good shape. If you can be motivated by Crossfit, go for it, as long as you aren't getting scoliosis for time. If you can be motivated by the standard bro-split, that's great. Everyone is different.
All I can say is that when I show up to the gym, I'm lifting heavy, and I'm lifting to get freaking tired. It's worked for me. If flouncing on the elliptical for half an hour and doing 3 reps of 10 to success isn't doing anything, you might want to consider changing it up.
I think the problem and criticism is that many of those programs aren't programs at all, and they aren't based on anything, not even personal experience. If you look at any elite crossfitter his training is more likely to look like traditional strength training with proper form lifting, plus maybe WOD for the conditioning part, than pure crossfit WOD centered training. Centering the training in whatever weaknesses he may have, and so on. And of course whatever exercise they are planning to compete on.
Of course if your trainer is a good trainer you are going to get that, in a normal gym or in a crossfit gym. The problem is that as a program the base crossfit program doesn't offer much to a novice, except for the community and the encouragement that comes with it to pursue high intensity training. But outside of that the program itself won't offer any proper guiding unless you have a trainer that provides that guiding outside the program.
I remember hating running suicides on the basketball court, but I got into better shape running those than I do running on the treadmill, which I find largely tedious and am constantly finding ways to keep my mind entertained/distracted.
There is also the team aspect. When we did conditioning, we had coaches sharing the same experience. I don't get that running, lifting by myself, doing P90x, or other solitary workouts.
I've never done Crossfit, largely because I find their power lifting routines dangerous, but I can certainly understand why more extreme group exercise is really increasing in popularity. I think a lot of people grew up exercising in similar conditions, know that it worked for them then, and want to find something similar later in life.
Instead of doing crossfit, why not just lift and do HIIT?
Perhaps an element of it is the daily novelty. Maybe people dislike going in and doing the big 3 or olympic lifts every session? I don't really know.
I see a lot of heavy lifters who start out solo, or lift in groups of 2 or maybe 3. They use their time efficiently and get a lot done, they don't spend the whole day in the gym and besides the casual chat with other people in the gym, they don't form a huge group. The heavy lifters do routines that seem impossible to start with. Nobody looks at a powerlifter and says 'sure, I'll do that'. You have to start small, and then good form is really important. Frankly it may even be a bit scary to step into the weight room and start with light weights, unsure of your form.
Then there's cross-fit. It's mostly done in huge groups by people of various levels of fitness. It's very vocal, it's very collective/team based. While exercises are done individually, they're done within a group, often with some form of coaching. Anyone can start, form isn't a priority and from what I've seen, form is adjusted to finish the exercise, meaning you can take shortcuts and use bigger weights and do more reps easier, without actually training as hard as when you'd have used 'proper' form.
It's inviting with low-barriers to entry.
The thing that surprises me is this, once you're doing cross-fit for a few months, get into it, do your reading on diet, resting and exercises, how the hell you can continue doing cross-fit is beyond me.
That having been said, a guy above this post said 'do whatever works for you'. And I really agree with that. Somehow some people really dig cross-fit and it's the only thing that gets them excited about exercise. If that's true, then great. I applaud cross fit for that reason alone. As long as they don't lift really heavy with bad form like I've seen some do, cause that can give you injuries you'll feel every day for the next 20 years. It's that bad.
When a woman sees an ideal woman, she makes a tumblr about how that ideal is not real, or not what men want, or a crazy obsessed person who hates themselves, etc.
Men climb the mountain to reach the top.
Women complain that there is a mountain top, and declare wherever they are to be the new mountain top