EXERCISE - VITALITY vs VANITY

/ True Pilates Sydney Studio/
 Image sourced from www.fitnessmagnet.com

 

Image sourced from www.fitnessmagnet.com

Is looking good more marketable than feeling good?

When did fitness become all about abs and (very little) lycra? Speaking as someone from the fitness industry, this stereotype really grates. Especially when it advocates the least important benefits of exercise.

Exercising has many immediate and long-term health benefits. A recent study in Europe showed that exercise can increase your lifespan by 5 years. Studies have also found that exercise has positive effects on chemical levels in the brain such as serotonin, endorphins and stress hormones to help with depression and stress management. Other long term benefits are;

  • stronger bones, muscles and joints and lowers the risk of osteoporosis
  • reduces risks of diseases such as heart, type 2 diabetes

The more immediate benefits are fat loss, better sleep patterns — which in turn also helps with managing weight gain and moods.

Exercising should invigorate your nerves, muscles and mind. Fitness is about the overall health of your mind and body.

Having said all this, I am witnessing more and more people exercising for all the wrong reasons. The fitness industry has done well promoting the vanity aspect of exercise with adverts of toned tanned half-naked bodies with plastic faces and coiffured hair. It reminds me of the tagline of a popular Sydney Inner West gym “look better naked” — which I find amusing because of its brazen omission of superficiality. Which begs me to ask “Is looking good more marketable than feeling good?”

This culture of fashionable diets and exercise data assessing — albeit counting calories, logging in steps/ rides, measuring your heart rate — baffles me. I’m clearly not on the same page.

Logistics aside — exercising should invigorate your nerves, muscles and mind. Fitness is about the overall health and vitality of your mind and body. Exercise to feel challenged, inspired and alive. Most importantly - enjoy it. And yes for the long term, your health is worth going that extra mile and counting the added beats per minute. 

The body has 320 pairs of skeletal muscles —  undeniably a most fascinating machine so use it to its full potential! 

 

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Yung Ok Yoo

I spent most of my academic years studying Fine Art in various disciplines. I completed my Post graduate in Visual Arts majoring in Photography and minored in drawing. I continued this line of study into Visual Comunication and further my art skill base with Jewellery and Object making. During this time, I worked on commissioned paintings for corporate, commercial environments as an Interior consultant and decorator to which I also was commissioned to paint for for Private collections. My historical professional background stemmed in the hospitality industry - where I managed restaurants. It was during this time that I found Pilates having injured my back at work. In 2008, I started my apprenticeship under the tutelage of Master Teacher trainer Cynthia Lochard (2nd Generation teacher). My training was rigorous with culmative observational hours, training and practiced teaching of over 1000 hours before certifying. Since my Pilates certification in 2009, I maintain my weekly session with Cynthia Lochard and travel to New York every two years (most recently October 2014) to partake in intensive training at the Head Quarters for Romana's Pilates at True Pilates New York originally know as Drago's. It is here, I continue my tutelage with Master Teacher Trainers Jerome Weinberg & Cynthia Shipley who worked closely with the late Romana Kryzanowska herself. In NYC - October 2014 - I also had a chance to work with Peter Fiasca Founder of Classical Pilates. As well as NYC, I have travelled to Singapore, Paris, London and trained with international teachers. In 2013, I opened True Pilates Sydney Studio, because I felt there were very few Pilates studios in Sydney that focused on the True Pilates Method - hence I named the studio 'True Pilates Sydney'. Through my own teachings I hope to inspire, train and educate others in the art of Pilates as I have been inspired in my own training and journey.