Your Goal : Fitness or Looks ?

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  • Sreneesa
    Sreneesa Posts: 1,170 Member
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    Looks
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    I think they go hand in hand…if you are fit then you are going to look good, because you have that athletic/lean/shredded look….

    for me it is both...
  • salladeve
    salladeve Posts: 1,053 Member
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    I have to agree with ndj, I think they go hand in hand. If you are fit then you are going to look the very best you can.
  • lisalsd1
    lisalsd1 Posts: 1,520 Member
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    Both, but since I already look great...I'm working on fitness goals. I know how that sounds...but you asked for honesty!
  • sweetpea129
    sweetpea129 Posts: 755 Member
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    Looks.
  • Ejourneys
    Ejourneys Posts: 1,603 Member
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    Health, both physical and mental.

    I say health rather than fitness because of the range covered by "fitness." In 1995 I trained for and did the first Boston-New York AIDS Ride, bicycling 161 miles in 3 days. I rode over a dozen centuries that year, up to 137 miles in a single day.

    I couldn't sustain that level of performance. I gained all the weight that I had lost, plus.

    I lost the weight and turned to running in 2001-2002. Did 5Ks, 3.5-milers, and a 10K. I was training for a half-marathon when Life happened.

    I couldn't sustain that level of performance. I gained almost all the weight that I had lost.

    Now I've lost the weight again. I've been exercising throughout, but not at the same fitness level as before. I have recently returned to running. The difference this time around is that I am focused on sustainable practices, with respect to both diet and exercise.

    In other words, health, achieved through those sustainable practices and balanced with the rest of my life. Looks are a nice perk, but how I feel physically is much more important.
  • overcominglazy
    overcominglazy Posts: 19 Member
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    I have to agree with ndj, I think they go hand in hand. If you are fit then you are going to look the very best you can.

    I disagree. I have been fit enough to run a marathon in around 3h45mins and I had about 26-8% body fat. That was not the very best I could have looked but it was a level of fitness I will probably never achieve again. Just because you are physically fit does not mean you will look athletic or cut.
  • JL2513
    JL2513 Posts: 867 Member
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    Both! To be honest, I started this journey for the looks portion. But as you progress, fitness becomes increasingly important. I think a little of both is essential to keep you motivated in the long run.
  • 86myHeadache
    86myHeadache Posts: 44 Member
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    I want to be fit enough to do any activity i desire as a lifestyle. I want to look healthy to be respected in the healthcare professions.
  • amcsouth
    amcsouth Posts: 283 Member
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    Both... fitness is my main goal but I love what it's doing for my body. I mainly train for strength but improved aesthetics are a definite bonus. :smile:
  • Willbenchforcupcakes
    Willbenchforcupcakes Posts: 4,955 Member
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    Strength and fitness are far more important to me than simple looks. Yes the looks are a pretty sweet side effect, but I work hard in the gym to be able to live the rest of my life relatively pain free. The stronger I make the muscles, the less pain I'm in on a daily basis, and well, pain has been constant friend for the last 20 years.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    I started my fitness journey to look good. However, the intrinsic value of fitness surpasses some of the benefits of looking good. But, I can't lie, if I HAD to choose, I truly just want to rock my surfer shorts with no shirt.

    you can do both..!
  • RocaWilliams
    RocaWilliams Posts: 25
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    Looks. Definitely. I could care less about the fitness part of it.
    Think of it this way, if you could have a killer body, never have to work out and eat whatever you want, would that NOT be the dream?!
    If I could maintain a six pack while eating a diet of only fast food, I would never do another minute of cardio again.
  • BinaryPulsar
    BinaryPulsar Posts: 8,927 Member
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    I love reading all these answers!
  • contingencyplan
    contingencyplan Posts: 3,639 Member
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    Ever since I reached a healthy weight for my height and no longer had trouble fitting into "normal" size clothes I have been focusing exclusively on functional gains. I do not care one little bit about whether or not I see defined abs or anything else along those lines.
  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
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    Looks. Definitely. I could care less about the fitness part of it.
    Think of it this way, if you could have a killer body, never have to work out and eat whatever you want, would that NOT be the dream?!
    If I could maintain a six pack while eating a diet of only fast food, I would never do another minute of cardio again.

    no, that wouldn't be my dream, because I wouldn't be able to squat and deadlift 300lb+ kind of weights, which is my dream (dream with a plan, i.e. long term goal)

    actually I had this realisation a while back. I had chosen Camille double-barrelled-surname-crossfit-champion as my "person I want my body to look like" and I realised that if I had a straight up choice between looking how I did then (not obese, but not like a fitness model either) and being able to do all of what she can do, as in that level of strength and fitness, or I could have a body that looked as good as hers but only able to do what I could do at the time (this was before I did stronglifts, so my lifts were nothing to write home about) ...... well, I'd go for what she could *DO* every time. I don't even see the point of having a body that fit looking if you can't actually lift really heavy stuff for it. Of course, having her looks AND ability would be the best choice, but that's not the point of what I'm saying.... given a choice between beast amounts of strength and being extremely fit while looking average, or having an amazing looking body but lacking strength and fitness............... I would chose strength and fitness every time.
  • QuietBloom
    QuietBloom Posts: 5,413 Member
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    I have to agree with ndj, I think they go hand in hand. If you are fit then you are going to look the very best you can.

    I disagree. I have been fit enough to run a marathon in around 3h45mins and I had about 26-8% body fat. That was not the very best I could have looked but it was a level of fitness I will probably never achieve again. Just because you are physically fit does not mean you will look athletic or cut.

    Agreed. While running my best marathon, I was still passed by people carrying quite a lot of extra weight. I was thin and running 8.5's so, not exactly going slow.
  • veggiebuckeye
    veggiebuckeye Posts: 115 Member
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    I'd like to say it's all fitness for me ( which is very, very important) but the vain side of me says looks as well.

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