Many modern gyms hurt your physical growth, here’s why…
If you live in a populated area, you are probably familiar with these gyms brands: YMCA, Planet Fitness, LA Fitness, Anytime Fitness, 24-Hour Fitness, Gold’s Gym or Life Time, just to name a few.
Health & Fitness Clubs in the US reached a peak market size in 2019, almost a $42 Billion dollar industry. The pandemic hit the industry hard, but its cruising back to the high of 2019.
Many of today’s gyms are a convenient way to achieve physical health for the population. These facilities typically contain a plethora of machines, equipment, and tools to better our physical health. We have a lot to be thankful for these businesses. However, some of the key features of these gyms hurt our rate of physical and mental growth.
Mirrors are a huge distraction.
As an opinion piece, we must battle the feature that makes the most sense. Mirrors gives us a sense of confidence, can allow us to critique our form, and allow photo opportunities.
Here’s why they take away from us; WE CARE TOO MUCH ABOUT HOW WE LOOK. Now, being vein isn’t necessarily bad, but it takes away from the purpose of a gym, which is to better ourselves through hard work. After observing many people flexing and taking photos in the gym, I believe this gives us a false sense of accomplishment while searching for a visual validation. In fact, our muscles look “larger” because of additional blood flow during exercise. Also noticing that there is a lot of time spent looking at ourselves in the gym. Those who have had successes in the gym know that growth occurs over a relatively long period of time.
Music is a false motivator.
This is mostly referring to the crappy music they play in gyms, but I also want to include our headphones too. There is no denying that music alters the energy within each of us. I understand the motivation that comes with music, but I am here to challenge our internal drive that can be carried over into any activity in our daily life. What happens if your phone dies, or your wireless earbuds die? Can your exercise quality be the same, or better? Or does it suffer? Can you adapt? Is music that necessary to drive your physical fitness?
It makes sense to have all of your senses focused towards your body and mind. Intrinsically using our capabilities to push ourselves to be our best.
TV’s have no place in the gym.
Why on earth would we put a form of entertainment in a “focused” environment? What benefit do TV’s have for the gym or the attendee? Does it keep us there longer, so we can spend more money? I truly don’t see the point of TV’s, let alone the content that is displayed on them. Televisions would only make sense if the TV’s gave exercise demonstrations on them, but I have yet to see that. My argument is similar to having music in the gym, by keeping your senses focused on your growth.
They lack incorporating community aspect.
Now there are some group fitness facilities such as F-45, Orange Theory Fitness, Solidcore or Cyclebar, that do a great job of bringing others together to form an “exercise community”. However, many gyms do not encourage others to get to know fellow gym-goers. I’m not saying you have to force people to like each other, but it would make sense from a business perspective to have guests be emotionally invested into other guests. The reason a community that is based on exercise is important is because everybody wins. These communities can create an environment that educates, motivates, holds accountable and pushes each other. This can lead to more people exercising in the long run.
I would love to hear your thoughts on what can modern corporate gyms do to create a better environment that encourages personal success!
