Working Out for the Wrong Reasons

The other day, when I was at the hair salon, my hairdresser said something that caught me by surprise. We were discussing our professions, and how we both enjoyed what we did for a living. I told her that I was a CrossFit coach, and she responded, “Good for you! I can never seem to stick to a workout routine for more than a few months. I’m skinny, so I don’t really need to workout.” I didn’t really know how to respond. Her words had really resonated with me, though. I thought to myself, “because she’s thin, she doesn’t think exercise is a priority?”

This is neither cute nor healthy...

I can’t lie though, I’m sure at one point when I was younger, I felt the same way. We have come to associate working out with the pursuit of losing weight. Someone who is thin must be healthy, too, no?

First of all, I want to just express how much I loathe the word “skinny.” Let me just read you some of the adjectives that I found when I looked up the word “skinny in the thesaurus: “undernourished,” “emaciated,” “scrawny,” “skeletal,” and “scraggy.” Do any of these synonyms sound desirable to you? I certainly don’t find any of those terms to be endearing. I would much rather be “lean,” “fit” or even “muscular.” The word skinny denotes weakness.

Exercise is about so much more than improving my body composition, in my opinion. I want to be able to be prepared for anything life throws at me, I want to defend myself against a potential attacker on the streets, I want to move heavy objects without fear of hurting my back in the process, and of course, I want to ensure that I will avoid decrepitude as I age! Vitality is so much more important than physical appearance.

Building a lean, fit body is a wonderful perk of exercise—I certainly can’t deny that. I have grown more comfortable with my body in the process, but I have also become healthier and more resilient.

UCLA physician Preethi Srikanthan surveyed more than 3,500 participants in her research. She found that those with more lean muscle mass had significantly longer lifespans than those who lower percentages of muscle mass. Additionally, she did not find any dramatic differences between those with higher body fat percentages versus lower body fat percentages. This means that muscle mass is more important than body fat in estimating one’s overall life expectancy.

We all want to live a long, fulfilling life, right? Exercise and a healthy diet are integral ingredients in the recipe for longevity. On the other hand, those who are sedentary and eat poorly have weaker tendons, more fragile bones, weaker immune systems, and shorter lifespans than their active counterparts.

Just remember: someone who is "skinny" is not necessarily healthy.


Sources:

1. Toss F, Wiklund P, Nordström P, Nordström A. Body composition and mortality risk in later life (2012)
2. Srikanthan, Preethi, and Arun S. Karlamangla. "Muscle Mass Index As a Predictor of Longevity in Older Adults." The American Journal of Medicine 127.6 (2014): 547-53. Web.