When someone asks you to go to the gym, does it fill you with enthusiasm, apathy or dread? For many Americans, the gym is like the grocery store or gas station: part of a series of places visited on a weekly or daily basis, but not a visit given extraordinary amounts of thought. However, going to the gym is a unique part of American culture.
According to Time magazine, Americans spend around $19 billion on gym memberships every year, yet “a third of Americans are obese, and another third count as overweight by the Federal Government's definition.” So if Americans are such avid gym goers, then why aren’t they also characteristically slim?
Fitness-related advertisements bombard the public on a daily basis, proclaiming that this is the year where that simple stapling surgery will change your life or this series of food delivered to your door shall nix all your jiggles or that shiny piece of equipment will magically grant you the celebrity physique you have always wanted.
These claims are ones we largely discredit; we have a sense that they are too good to be true and too expensive to be reasonable. However, the gym is a facet of popular culture that people are more likely to get on board with.
There are definite benefits from taking some alone time and rocking out to fast-paced, motivating songs, but a 2009 study done by the Public Library of Science in conjunction with Louisiana State University suggests exercise can be deceptive on the road of hopeful weight loss.
The study found that groups of women, whether they participated in 72, 176, or 194 minutes of exercise a week, all lost about the same amount of weight by the end of six months, with some women gaining up to 10 pounds. Conclusively the researchers commented, “The basic problem is that while it's true that exercise burns calories and that you must burn calories to lose weight, exercise has another effect: it can stimulate hunger. That causes us to eat more, which in turn can negate the weight-loss benefits we just accrued.”
The average American might be hitting the gym regularly, but he or she might be getting into trouble with liberal rewards.
However, what the PLOS study doesn’t draw attention to is that the gym is also a public forum people visit for multiple reasons. While weight loss perhaps inspires a person’s enrollment in a health club, it’s not always why he or she continues that membership. Yes, the loud clamor of weights hitting mats proclaims a commitment to health, wellness and hotness, but anyone who has ever spent time in a gym also knows it can be a very social place. Singles go there to check out potential partners, busy moms meet up with other busy moms, friends support each other’s eternal quests to lose those extra pounds and athletes prepare to compete against other athletes, exchanging training tips and strategies along the way.
Going to the gym quickly becomes a soothing routine, even if you aren’t losing a lot of weight. It’s a place to repent for all the birthday cake and alcohol you let past your gates over the weekend, an escape from demanding schedules and a place to meet up with friends who are just as frazzled and desirous of a new jeans size as you are.
Regardless of motive, it is likely you will still be allured by all that gym-going offers, in addition to all the potential benefits your visits are based upon. Whether gym goers are exchanging phone numbers, boyfriend/girlfriend horror stories, or calories for muscle, they are taking part in public fitness rituals that appear to have staying power if nothing else.
Defend your gym memberships at abethancourt@asu.edu
