Why Getting in Shape is the Lowest Hanging Fruit

I understand that this train of thought might be problematic for some considering how popular the fitness industry has become. However, I’m not saying that the fitness industry itself is inherently bad. It can be, and is, quite a positive industry. However in recent years the influence of social media and influencer culture has made people believe that being fit is synonymous with talent, success, and achievement, and this is simply untrue. (It’s also an entirely different thing to have trained and become qualified as a PT or S&C coach, so please don’t conflate what I say here with those industries.)

Don’t get me wrong either, it takes a lot of work and consistency and discipline to get and stay fit. These are all commendable traits to have but they aren’t anything one can’t learn. Being fit doesn’t take talent, or some sort of ‘1 in a billion’ mindset to achieve. Yet, we put physical fitness (which isn’t necessarily always equal to health today) on a pedestal, and almost worship people who are outspoken about their fitness journey. Why is that?

You can generally gauge an accomplishment’s difficulty by the amount of people who achieve said accomplishment. You can assume it’s hard to win a Nobel Prize, for example, because very few people ever get them. Conversely, a large amount of people achieve physical fitness, and those who choose to document it online tend to suggest that being in shape is some sort of difficult achievement that only a certain few individuals can achieve. Well it’s not. It’s the lowest hanging fruit that also maximizes the attention you receive. It takes no talent, or special ability. It does take hard work and persistence, though.

This isn’t an attack on individuals. It’s more of a commentary on the culture we’ve developed. Instead of celebrating genuine achievements that are uncommon and difficult to obtain,, we worship superficial values that are more concerned with the vanity of looking good than they are with the outcomes of being healthy, and in the grand scheme of things which are hard to do, they’re quite easy. This is evident with how many influencers use steroids and other drugs to look a certain way. If your outsides look healthy but you’re insides aren’t, you are not healthy, you’re pretending to be.

Fitness shouldn’t be seen as some accomplishment. It shouldn’t be some sort of impressive feat that a person is in shape, it should be a basic requirement for good health. These days the internet likes to use the term ‘self-care’ as a good reason to allow yourself to fade into laziness, procrastination and excuse-making. If you really care about yourself as you should, the bare minimum you’d do is keep yourself in good health. We all care about our pets and make sure they don’t fall out of good health, yet we can’t do the same for ourselves. There’s an underlying issue there.

Fitness isn’t a talent, or some sort of unbelievable accomplishment, it’s a rudimentary form of self-respect. It shouldn’t be some state that we worship others for achieving, nor should it be something that you base your intrinsic value on.

If we are to believe the idea that is put forward by the fitness industry that ‘anything is possible if you put your mind to it,’ then all these influencer types should be achieving insane accomplishments in every aspect of their lives. The reality is that no one is, because some things require far more than just consistency, and a lot more drive than the desire to look a certain way. Fitness is a relatively easy thing to accomplish because the investment is low in comparison to the success of outcome. This can’t be said for every thing else. If you put your mind to getting fit, the chances of complete failure are very low, whereas failing is quite common in other, more difficult endevours.

Being in shape in incredible. It makes life far simpler, and allows you to lead a healthy life. But fitness should not be seen as the undertaking that it’s seen to be on Instagram. It doesn’t take a special mindset to get fit. Fitness should be seen for what it is; a requirement for maintaining good health. Get fit to be healthy, but I’d recommend against making fitness your entire focus in life.