Fitness as Art

You may not think of fitness as an art. A science, perhaps, or just a thing on your to-do list. A passion project for some, for others a thing to be avoided.

I try to think of all endeavors where humans put their time, energy, creativity, and problem-solving into play as a form of art. After all, is not a beautifully designed, functional website as much a piece of art as a sculpture? Is fashion not just the art of getting dressed? Paintings were made as a way to decorate homes, but became a lense through which the artist showed their unique perspective of the world. It is a way to bring our internal experience out into the world and show it to the other people around us.

Therefore, fitness must be art, as our bodies are shaped by what we do.

Ballet is such an easy example of this. We have a fixed idea of what a ballet body looks like, and while some of it is shaped by the dance, some of it is also an image reinforced by ballet dancers, teachers, and audiences. Do you need a stereotypical ballet body to dance ballet? No, but if you want others to perceive you as a ballet dancer, you kind of do. The ballet body is both a result of years of specific movement, and everyday choices about food, exercise, and self care.

As a trainer, I have come to appreciate this deeply. People come to me after injuries, or with health issues, and their bodies are just expressing their whole lived experience. That stiff hip flexor or weak core is a result of a life spent sitting a great deal, which experts are telling us is worse than smoking for our health. But I try to take a less judgmental approach.

Some of us are sitting so much because that is where our art lives. We must sit because we are creating on paper, or a computer. And so while our body is hurting us, what artist has not suffered for their art?

We all make choices about how we treat our bodies based on our unique priorities, and is that not the greatest art? The art that lives with us until we die? An art shaped by the distinct life we are creating every moment of every day?

And so I am not a trainer so much as an art teacher. I give people new tools, new colors, new shapes, with which to shape their bodies and their lives. It is both a small thing, but the biggest thing I have ever done.

Bodybuilders are another obvious set of artists expressing themselves through their own body. They follow very specific workouts, diets, and even drug regimes to achieve a specific aesthetic goal. While genetics play a factor, anyone can be a bodybuilder, if they have several years of devoted training and diet. The methods bodybuilders use work for everyone, though not everyone can win competitions. But if the goal is build muscle, they have perfected the art building each muscle using weight lifting and diet.

There is a science to fitness, undeniably, just as there is science in making a sculpture from stone or clay. An artist in the human body needs to know how to build muscle and lose fat, how to build up certain kinds of movement or shapes, just as much as the painter needs to know how the human eye perceives color, how different mediums hold pigment, how chemistry makes their work possible. Just as with art, your knowledge does not always determine how successful your results are, but if you are committed to removing an obstacle that is getting in the way of expressing your true experience, knowledge, creativity, and grit will help.

This is part of the reason so many people are frustrated by fitness. They have not committed to the process. They want the result, but do not understand how much work will go into building the body they want, or that maintaining that art will be a continuous process. They sacrifice the health of their body for the desired aesthetic result, and while for that moment they have that art, it is as temporary as a sand mandala.

I am in the business of ever-evolving, healthy bodies, shaped by the life people truly want to live, not the life they think they should have.

I do not believe that jobs where sitting is a lengthy requirement are going anywhere, and so I want to think about how to make those jobs more friendly to the human body.

I see fitness professionals with bodies that are clearly their art. Strong, supple, with incredible endurance and agility, and I admire them greatly. But I also see mothers' bodies, shaped by the experience of making another human, and think this is just as amazing. And while I may worry for those I know sitting at computers for many hours each day, I also admire the incredible work they produce for the world, the organizations they are running and building, the communication and the creativity and the care they pour into those jobs, and while I know it takes a visible, predictable toll on their bodies, I also know that it may be worth it to them, a sacrifice for their own art.

We all have different mediums to express ourselves. Some of us need that time at the computer to do what we need to do to shape our work and life around us. This has a specific toll on the body, certainly, but we can alleviate suffering without getting in the way of passion. You do not have to have a body builder or ballerina physique to be happy, but pain from not moving will get in your way as much as any life-changing fitness regime. Striking a balance now will save time taken by poor health and injury later. Fitness does not have to take over your whole life, but you can either take care of your body and your health a little every day, or have it take over a lot of your life later on through injury, disease, and decline.

However, when the body begins to get in the way of your living and making the art of your choice (Remember, EVERYTHING IS ART), that is the real problem.

Movement should be part of your routine every day.

I always say it does not have to be complicated, and that something is always better than nothing.

As a human, your body requires a certain amount of movement. Walking, running, climbing, these are the things we are made to do. We can take hours to do these things each day, or we can incorporate a little, using weights and more focused mobility work, and achieve similar stimulation to keep the body pain-free and healthy. It is not a guarantee, but it does work better than doing nothing and hoping for good luck.

I'd rather be working for a paycheck than hoping to win the lottery, as Bright Eyes sang.

If you are losing the lottery, and wanting to figure out how to work for your "paycheck," I am happy to get your started, whether that is sharing resources or writing programming for you. Let me know by reaching out.

Has your body ever gotten in the way of your "art," your life? Tell me about it, comment, reach out. I would love to hear about your experience.