Strong is the New Skinny

Strong is the New Skinny

Physically and mentally, your body is the vehicle of which you must take care of and push to achieve the results you want. The human body was made to be active and well nourished and neglecting your body of this will cause significant damage.

We live in a day and age where social media has taken over our lives as we are bombarded with advertisements approximately 300+ times a day. For example, “buy this new supplement/product and you will lose x amount of weight in as little as a week,” attempts to reach society’s ideal of the skinny fashion model on a billboard flaunting her photo shopped body. For far too long “Skinny” has been given a positive connotation suggesting that if you are skinny, you will lead a much more happier and fulfilling life. The idea of being thin and aesthetically beautiful to be sexually attractive in order to compete with the same sex is a dangerous flirtation.

Being displayed as a sexual object through the media currently gives more status than other accomplishments such as athleticism, intelligence and leadership. This attitude must change!

Strength gained by nourishing your body with a well-balanced diet is much more effective compared to looking in the mirror everyday and starving yourself. Exercising whilst pushing your body to the limits, being mindful and reading books; that is how you create growth and real beauty, not only physically but mentally. You will be able to perform your work with more clarity, be emotionally stable and increase your self esteem by aesthetically looking good while having so much more energy to spare.

Crossfit, Yoga, HIIT(High Intensity Interval Training) and other forms of exercise have become very popular, focusing on performance goals like lifting x amount of weight, being able to do a pull up without assist or even a muscle up.

When your perception changes it can be seen that models you thought were beautiful actually shape their bodies to conform to consumerism and not for a better objective. Be inspired by women who train hard in the gym and are great fitness advocates, athletes mastering their sports.