What is your main focus when it comes to physical fitness?

justrun52

Me and some friends went on a weekend hiking trip to Capitol Reef National Park in Utah, and we got on the topic of body image. I don’t remember what brought the topic up, but I have given a lot of thought to some of the things we discussed. One of those things was how loving your body for what it can do versus what it looks like is so much more gratifying and more importantly, sustainable. I’m no stranger to the impossible task of trying to achieve a “perfect” physique; however, I can honestly say that my attitude towards my body has drastically changed since I started my hiking lifestyle a year ago. Before that summer, I’d workout to look maintain a certain look. After completing my 100 hikes and looking back, I realized just how amazing my body was. I had done something I had never done before, or even thought I would do. I had hiked over 300 miles in just over four months. That was 300 miles and at least twice that many hours of sweat, dirt, blisters, and sore muscles.


Another thing we talked about is the definition of being “in shape”. For me, this means being able to do everything you love to do without restrictions because of your physical health. Of course, it’s important to clarify that there are some things you can’t control: age, genetics, disabilities, etc. There are many things though that you do have say in, and those are the things that you should focus on when it comes to physical fitness. There isn’t just one standard of physical fitness that constitutes being “in shape”, and anything that falls below that standard doesn’t mean it isn’t good enough. And while there are aspects about my body that fall below the widely accepted standard of a perfect body, there isn’t much that I haven’t been able to do physically. So I thought to myself, “If I can ascend a mountain like a boss, then why the heck should I be unhappy with my body?”.

Now I feel that exercise is more important than ever, but for a different reason other than looking good. Exercise is, I feel, can give someone so much more satisfaction and confidence in who they are, and it has nothing to do with how you look- that’s just icing on the cake. Every time I get sucked into the ridiculous and downright destructive views of society’s standard of beauty (this includes both being super thin and super fit) I remind myself just how far my legs have carried me and the incredible places I’ve been able to see because my body got me there. Look at how incredible these ladies are, we had hiked at least 10 miles in one day, and they weren’t easy miles.


So with all that being said, I don’t think you should put your main focus of physical health on looking better. This will only take you so far, and I promise you, that flame will eventually burn out. When it does, you’ll feel frustrated, angry and even more disappointed in yourself for not keeping up with the runway and fitness models. When you are healthy for the sake of being happy and being able to enjoy life, you gain non-physical characteristics and values (perseverance, determination, hard work, etc) that outlast your physical body.

If you want to see my full blog post, go here: https://www.facebook.com/notes/sassafrass-frontier/capitol-reef-oh-and-body-image/1740153189589905