If you want to get healthy you go to the gym, lift weights, and get big and strong … right? Nope. This is a trap that a lot of people fall into, they believe the advertising campaigns rather than critically thinking about it. Don’t believe me? Ask 100 random people on the street to say the first word that comes into their minds when they are shown this photo of Arnold Schwarzenegger:
After tossing out the hollywood words like “movie star” and “Terminator” and the purely descriptive words like “Governor”, “bodybuilder”, and “big bicep”, you will get words like “Healthy”, “Fit”, “Virile”, “Vital” which is funny because professional bodybuilding is the antithesis of health. The Weider empire’s marketing department has succeeded in convincing us that strength equals health, but its not. Many strength trainers and bodybuilders at the gym look down their noses at a sport like Golf. Well, as it turns out I’m willing to bet the golfers are a lot healthier than the pro bodybuilders. Because of all the walking and precise motor skills required, golf is a great sport for health conscious people of all ages (no I’m not a golfer). Huge biceps and washboard abs do not mean health. Strength is just one very small part of what is required for health. If you want to find out what being healthy really means, please read “Are You Healthy?”
Don’t get me wrong. Lifting weights is important for health and it is an important part of fat loss programs – that is why half this website is about lifting. The point is that if your “fitness program” stops at the dumbbell rack then its not really a fitness program.