The Exceptionalization of Fitness and Wellness Culture

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Protein. Creatine. Pilates Princess. Train Until Failure.12-3-30. More Protein. 

How about I just stay in bed?

Unfortunately, moving your body has now come with a set of rules and expectations. The gym has been dubbed as an exclusive club, with fitness influencers as the gatekeepers, cramming pseudoscience down your throat to keep you perpetually overwhelmed. How did it come to this? 

What prompted this line of thinking was a video I came across just the other week, a consequence of me liking too many form correcting techniques for my next session at the gym. This girl spoke about “results,” and how people just starting at the gym haven’t quite “earned” the freedom to drink on a night out, or have lunch with a friend.

I was so baffled as she was talking about this permissive way of life, only reserved for those who have worked for it in the gym. All I could think was, “What is the big deal?”

Is this where we’ve ended up? Putting fitness and wellness on such a pedestal that it’s now a pot to be earned from? What exactly are we facilitating? Is it motivation or is it defeat? As people are being told they’re wasting their time if they don’t eat their bodyweight in protein, the dialogue becomes, “Why should I go to the gym if I am not getting skinnier, muscular, losing weight?”

My question to that is: Does it all need to be so exceptional?

I suppose it does — for the people making money, of course. Where would the fitness influencers be if there was no end goal encapsulated in vanity? What would they sell? Who would they sell to?

Don’t get me wrong, vanity is a natural component of the human experience, but here’s my interrogation:

What if you went to the gym for the sole purpose of being sore the next day, without thinking about your protein intake? Or if you went for a run just to work up a sweat, without thinking about all of the things you shouldn’t have eaten that day? Or frequented yoga so you could have the core strength to go clubbing at the young age of 86 (shout-out to my great aunt). 

And this doesn’t just stop at fitness. Too many times has someone come to an abrupt stop on their wellness journey, surmounted by the sheer amount of rules and restrictions. Instead of focusing on nutrition, we focus on how many supplements we can fit into a handful.

Vitamins you’re not deficient in.

My point is, there is no right way to fitness. You can use the ability of your body for the hell of it. For your strength, for your flexibility, for connection. To dance, to climb, to walk. In taking fitness off the pedestal we’ve all put it on, there can be a shift in dialogue, and in time, culture.

Strike Out,

Orlando

Written By: Ziya Jalon Amaker

Edited By: Arsheeya Garg and Kaitlyn Clarke

Ziya is a staff writer for Strike Magazine Orlando. She's currently studying Writing and Rhetoric and Mass Media at the University of Central Florida and expects to graduate in 2027. In her free time, she enjoys reading, watching reality TV, and yelling at hockey games. When she's not screaming at the New Jersey Devils, she's trying new spots to eat with friends.