Hey!
As you know, unit 8 "Space is the Place" is all about movement and action, something which we know can be sometimes challenging to express in English with sufficient accuracy.
The unit itself was initiated by me enquiring "what is your movement like?/ how well do you move?" and, while contents having to do with physical exercise per se are going to be tackled in detail in the present unit (for they ALL involve a great deal of movements and actions taking place in space and time), I believe that the concept of "movement" is far more comprehensive and, thus, more important. Sure, I think in this day and age of modern comfort and ubiquitous technology and gadgets galore, it is necessary to include in our routine scheduled/regulated (that is, subjected to rules and standards assessing their correct or ill-performance) physically demanding activities (i.e.: exercising either indoors or outdoors and giving our heart, lungs, joints and muscles some extra work to do), but I also believe the greater service or disservice we are doing to our bodies and health occurs out of the gym, the occasional 10k run, the spinning class or the Paddle tennis game.
Of course, the way we eat (aka: "our diet") is going to play a CRUCIAL role in the way we look and feel, but I also think little attention is paid to our everyday/routine NON-exercise movements.
I mean, have you ever wondered why some people brag about eating like a horse and look consistently lean while others moan about not skipping one single day at the gym, putting the work and doing whatever their Zumba/CrossFit/Body Pump/ Cardio instructor tells them to, sticking to a sucky, life-depriving diet, and yet, keep struggling to make their bodies reflect even slightly the effects of such a Spartan discipline? Many will thank or curse their genetics for one or the other, whilst others will point at their "shitty" metabolism ("man, just breathing makes me fat!")
I have a couple of pet theories about this rather banal issue (which may be not 100% right, for they are PET theories ;-)). First, neither the lean guy/girl eats that much, nor does the person struggling with their weight eat that little; well, that's my impression, but there might be exceptions, OF COURSE. But more importantly: just look at the skinny/lean guy/girl and the way they move throughout the day (ever heard the words/phrases "fidgety", "live wire", "hyperactive" "that who cannot stand still if their life depended on it????"), I mean, some are just terribly active when they're not doing sport (walking, cycling, taking the stairs, getting up, cooking, cleaning, picking up things, being irrepressibly expressive and gesticulating....) and, not surprisingly, I'm afraid that is going to OUTWEIGH (pardon the pun!) that 6 to 7 aerobics class at your neighborhood's fitness centre.
Again, just don't call me superficial for giving certain importance to something some might label "shallow/trivial/banal/ frivolous/ worth of Instagram-obsessed dorks" (besides, it's not "body types" that we're discussing here! That is far more complex); I might be concerned about my own body, but I'm rarely concerned about anybody else's. It's the effect this may have on someone's health (physical, mental, emotional, mood, self-confidence, wellbeing...) which interests me way more.
I suggest you take your time and read this article, which incidentally deals with the same matter.
"I move, therefore, I am"
Interesting post and article ! I should add that the point is not only about eating more or less in depending how your lyfe style is. It is also important be aware of some foods and drinks could slow down your metabolism in depending on how (the way you cook or mix them ) and what time and many times you normally eat each day. Btw, thanks for saving me from a furtive visit to the fridge tonight !
ReplyDeleteAs I am nuts about the ancient Greek and Latin cultures, I like to compare their way of life with ours and, most of the times, it’s funny to notice how similar they are, how much we’ve inherited from them. Regarding this topic, the fact that nowadays physical appearance seems to have become second to none, I don’t really think this is really new stuff, since in ancient Greek beauty was highly appreciated, as we can infer from the concept "καλοκαγαθία", a compound word from καλός (good) καὶ (and) ἀγαθός (beautiful), which brings to light how important it was for them the pursuit of the balance between physical and psychological/emotional health; this idea was also present among Romans, whose far-famed aphorism "mens sana in corpore sano" gathers the basic spots for a person to be happy.
ReplyDeleteHaving said so, for me intellectual skills are crucial for a person to be worth talking to, but you can’t afford to neglect your body, since it’s your wrapper, it’s where you live, thus, it’s up to you to take care of it. And, of course, it also works the other way round: people who care so much about their bodies should work on their minds every now and then. The ideal option, then, would be a well-balanced combination of both.