Issue #387
Wednesday, December 14, 2022
Junk Fitness
by Lauren Thompson
Unhealthy food and unneeded possessions are what comes to mind for most of us when we hear the word “junk,” but we can fill our lives with all sorts of junk. In 2018, “junk values” became a hot catch phrase, in part from Johann Hari’s book Lost Connections. Hari attributed the rise of depression and anxiety to living in a culture of disconnection, particularly with being disconnected from meaningful values, and instead prioritizing “junk values.” It isn’t necessarily the objects themselves that are problematic, but the disconnection from meaningful connections that comes along with junk.
The appeal of junk is its ability to provide short-term satisfaction and it is often produced with the primary intent of making profit, not for the skill or the joy of the craft. We are inundated with junk on a regular basis – through food, stuff, fast fashion, and the various time commitments that can especially make this time of year feel like a blur.
Junk values are largely defined by a lack of connection with other people and the activities we engage in on a regular basis. Junk values promote extrinsic thinking that prioritizes an external motivator rather than the activity itself. Whether it is working just for the paycheck, studying to get a good grade, or seeking praise and recognition, the reward from these extrinsic motivators is fleeting and the quest for more is never-ending.
While extrinsic motivators may seem harmless because they are ubiquitous, we must be cautious about utilizing them to motivate people to exercise. Movement is intrinsically rewarding. Our bodies like to move. So, why do many people struggle to move enough? Where is the catch?
The overjustification effect occurs when intrinsically motivated behaviors begin to be externally rewarded. Then, when the external rewards stop, the intrinsic motivation and the person’s overall interest in the activity declines. The extrinsic motivators turn what was once an intrinsically rewarding experience into a chore or burden instead of being an experience of fun and play. The external reward affects self-determination to complete the same task now that there is less reward overall.
Extrinsic focus can also create junk fitness that degrades the intrinsic enjoyment of movement. What are some aspects of “junk fitness”?
A focus on junk values
We’ve all seen fitness advertisements that focus on appearances and rely on the prospective client to feel inadequate about themselves. As business owners, it seems like the easy way to bring in new clients. In my experience, the clients that stay have a joyful movement experience in our sessions and find a deeper understanding of themselves through movement. There is very little marketing effort to maintain those clients. They are individuals with whom I share a mutual enjoyment of spending time together.
Hari wrote that “If you are doing something not for itself but to achieve an effect, you can’t relax into the pleasure of a moment. You are constantly monitoring yourself.” How do we use our corrections to help our clients be more self-aware for the joy of it, not to achieve some external effect? Our love of form and awareness in Pilates can create an unattainable external ideal that leads our clients to be overly judgmental of themselves.
Our industry is susceptible to junk values because of how Pilates is viewed in our society. Disproportionately showing off long, lean bodies— even though that is a poor indicator of a person’s actual level of health. Showing off our fancy, often expensive, Pilates equipment. Unfortunately, “I’m going to Pilates” is often a statement of status instead of being an expression of dedication to awareness of self and movement.
Promoting disconnect
The more our clients focus on extrinsic goals, the more disconnected they will be from themselves and from their movements. Routines and instructors that do not allow space for clients to say “no” to a movement or that encourage them to work through the pain. These workouts can become shame-based and further disconnect the client from positive movement. As this disconnect goes beyond the studio and into their lives in general, we risk affecting their own intrinsic love of movement and self determination to have movement be a regular part of their lives.
Indifference to Injury
If your fitness routine is based in junk values, extrinsic motivators, and ignoring the messages your brain and body are telling you to obtain those extrinsic rewards, I think it is safe to assume that injury is in your future. Much like junk food does little to truly nourish us, junk fitness does little to increase our strength, mobility, and abilities.
However, this is where Pilates has the upper hand on many other forms of exercise. There is much about the Pilates method that inherently protects us from junking up our practice, particularly our focus on form and control.
We need to help our clients find those moments of intrinsic motivation with movement, like what a child feels while playing. Play allows for mistakes…actually, play allows for a world where there is no such thing as a mistake. Play is learning through exploration. How we give feedback to our clients can make a world of difference on whether we’re setting a tone of play and explorations or mistakes and corrections.
Let your clients define the goals of their sessions and take ownership of the work they’re doing. Overtly connect the work you’re doing to their goals. Tell your clients why you’ve selected a particular movement for them and how it connects to their bigger goals. This will reinforce that the client has autonomy in their sessions and that you are in tune with where they are now and where they want to be.
Heading into the New Year, instructors and business owners should be mindful to avoid giving our clients junk. With all junk, junk fitness included, overconsumption can hurt us. People are avoiding movement, at least partially, because many of their exercise experiences have centered around junk values. We need to be careful that we are not centering on those same values and perpetuating the cycle.
I hope we use this time to clear out the junk. Take the opportunity for deep reflection and evaluation. How do we feel about the last year? What needs to stay and grow and what needs to go? The goal of fitness shouldn’t be to achieve perfection or optimal status. Rather, we should focus on building quality connections and happiness. For the health of ourselves and our clients, as well as the health and integrity of our businesses, we need to avoid junking it up.
Lauren Thompson currently resides in Olympia, WA and is the owner of Thrive Pilates & Movement Studio in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. She has been teaching Pilates and yoga since 2007 and holds an MA in Counseling and Guidance. Lauren brings a unique, holistic perspective to her clients with her extensive background in both how the body moves and how our minds process. Her ability to make connections between mind and body and people and their communities helps her clients to improve both physically and mentally to achieve optimal health.