There is an ‘i’ in exercise for a reason.
People often claim to ‘exercise for me’. Nobody else, their own mental health and happiness - and I believe it (not always a cynic).
On the other hand, exercise can come with a certain arrogance and ego. Doing it to look ‘good’; seeking physical results and achieving visible goals is complimented with success.
To play devil’s advocate, when it comes to our best interests, is exercising ‘for us’ truly any healthier than doing it for the validation of others?
What if ‘me’ is not in a ‘healthy’ headspace - what if 'me' is doing it not out kindness but criticism? Brains hardwired around diet culture thoughts, exposure to unattainable expectations and disordered rules. Encouraging yourself not with self-love but self-criticism, picking out parts of your body you don’t like, ‘feeling fat’ or influenced by appearance-based comments.
‘Doing it for me’ is probably more dangerous than doing it for others, inner dialogue being the most powerful motivator. Telling yourself you ‘need’ to go to the gym because you skipped yesterday and need to burn off dinner, or you ate ‘less healthy’, ‘feel lazy’ or simply ‘should’ go ‘to be good’ - and you will feel better about certain insecurities and/or current challenges as a result (sly endorphins). Often doing it not at all because it is what you really want to do at that moment but because it’s part of the routine.
I recently read a quote which made me question a lot about my own behaviour: If exercise had no impact on our body’s appearance whatsoever, would you still do it?
Selfishly, I only exercise for me; to the end that I allow the negative voice in my head to dictate and sacrifice parts of my life - eating out, socialising, food choices alike - to ensure I maintain a rigorous diet and workout schedule. All that affects others - because I say no to plans - and yet mostly me because I am the one that misses out on experiences in favour of spending time trying to fix myself.
Are we all wired the same way? Telling ourselves to move and eat like this not only to maintain a comfortable weight, what feels and looks ‘right’ to us, but also to avoid internal fears coming true - weight gain, losing muscle, gaining softer skin and folds - what we as society are too proud to admit to.
On hearing friends, family, peers, influencers say they ‘need’ to workout - not for anyone else, for their mental happiness, apparently - I get it, often tell myself the same.
I also appreciate there is a spectrum, how one feels about sleeping through their alarm and missing a workout and the effect it has on their day and mental health (possible guilt and/or anxiety). Some people will not care (hats off to you), others do, from as little to a lot. Caring less about current beauty standards and what we 'should' be doing, instead of really listening to our needs, is hard. I wonder how lifestyle habits would change then.
Because if you had to pick one driving force to workout - maintaining aesthetics or emotional release - I believe you can have both but which one takes priority?
Doing it for ourselves is an easy response to potentially deeper-rooted intentions. Only you know the real answer. In my circumstances, I still slip up - exercise is empowering but equally, probably on more days than not, not as ‘good’ for me as I like to think. (Perhaps also called ‘ex’-ercise for a reason).
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