Why ‘No Excuses’ Fitness Culture Is Toxic

Apr 19

We hear this rhetoric all the time. It’s meant to motivate you and help you commit to fitness on those days when motivation is tougher to come by (we all have them!). I like to give my fellow fitpros the benefit of the doubt. Often when we hear this, they are simply parroting what they heard from their own teachers, certifications, and upbringing- or reverting back to what seems to have the most success in marketing— instilling fear.

Why You Should Reject No Excuses Fitness Culture

There are lots of valid “excuses”

Injury, exhaustion, illness... these might seem obvious, and you might think those things are natural assumptions, but the truth is, not everyone has a neutral relationship with exercise, and because the wellness industry glorifies listening to a guru over listening to our own bodies, it’s actually pretty common to take “no excuses” to heart, and ignore what your body needs. Even if you feel like you’re not easily manipulated by marketing and copywriting, it’s worthwhile to check in and make sure your motivation to move your body is coming from a positive place, not a potentially toxic one. If you feel like you have to work out or you’re being “bad” take a second and come up with some other motivation— if you can’t think of any, check out 20 Reasons To Work Out That Have Nothing To Do With Weight Loss, or maybe, take the rest day!

Rest affects your fitness too

Too often, diet culture centers weight loss as the primary reason to move, and in the process of doing so actually encourages behaviors that are detrimental to both your physical and mental health. If you feel like you have to work out to change your body, or that something is wrong with you, you might push through a workout even when you body actually needs more time to recover. It should go without saying, that rest is crucial for achieving fitness goals. We need days off so our bodies can regenerate and rebuild the muscles we use when we’re working out (and living our lives). Even competitive athletes don’t go hard every day- or they wouldn’t have any gas in the tank for the moments that it really counts. Not to mention, higher intensity doesn’t always equal a better workout! The cruel irony of diet culture fitness is that it convinces you you’re being healthy by “sucking it up” and “never missing a Monday”, when in actuality, If you don’t allow time for recovery, you could be setting yourself back from your fitness milestones at best, and at worst, end up injured.

It encourages compulsion/punishment

If you’re a fitpro and think, “Well, I don’t work with people with eating disorders”, trust me when I tell you that you do. A destructive relationship with exercise is way more common than you think, and the way we speak to our students, and ourselves can make a huge impact, so let’s make it a positive one! Disordered eating is so easily hidden within wellness because of our culture’s obsession with thinness, that they’re easy to miss, and not everybody “looks sick”. My friend, Zoe Weiner, interviewed me for Well + Good on this very topic and I recommend you check that piece out for more information!

Conclusion

I’m all for a regular movement practice- mine certainly plays an enormous role in keeping me sane and strong, and I encourage everyone I meet to find something that they WANT to do often. However, feeling like you HAVE to work out, despite what your body might need, is a recipe for shame, body dissatisfaction, and even injury. I created Helen Phelan Studio using body neutral cueing and a mix of pilates based mindful movement and cardio to help you get into a positive headspace and get a fun, challenging sweat— you can try out the library of 300+ classes for free for 10 days, here!