Ditch that bikini-ready approach to fitness
The fitness industry loves a good label and in spring the one that is all over the Internet is “summer body.” Instagram trainers will start hitting your feed with messages like “Get your summer body!” and “Six weeks til the beach!” They’ll advertise their get-lean-in-30-days or summer-shred programs promising you that if you follow their programs you will be ready by June. Those kinds of claims are bullshit but it doesn’t stop thousands of women, and men for that matter, from laying down their money in hopes of more confidence at the beach.
The whole “bikini-ready” mentality pisses me off for two reasons. The first is that the message is telling people that for you to put on a bathing suit, you must meet a certain physical ideal. That putting on a bathing suit has a weight requirement. This leads to women all over the country looking at themselves and judging whether or not society deems them worthy of showing their bodies. Many moms spend their summer days at the beach or the pool fully clothed and watching from the shore or the pool deck rather than splashing in the water with their kids.
The second reason this “bikini-ready” mindset irks me is that it flies in the face of what research has proven time and again about habits and lasting change. Spoiler alert - it’s not a six-week quick-fix workout program. Generally speaking, these programs are not sustainable. The amount of time of the workouts or the intensity is too much for most people who haven’t been strength training. In addition, the nutritional component leaves people hungry and miserable. By the time the program is over, most people immediately overindulge and head right back into the habits and behaviors that led them to get out of shape in the first place. Remember: if you can’t sustain it, you can’t maintain it.
Lasting habit change takes more time than most people in American culture are willing to wait to achieve better health. New habits take hold when they feel easy. When they are so small, or as James Clear calls them, “atomic”, that you almost don’t notice that you have changed your behavior. Here’s an example. Let’s say you want to increase your daily steps. If you’re a teacher like me, one day you decide to print remotely rather than at your desk. At first, the impulse to hit print without changing your destination will be strong. You’ll need to go in and change your default printer to the main copy machine in your staff room or building wing. Once that’s done, though, you’re all set. All your printing will now require that you get up and go get your copies.
Ta da! You’ve now gotten extra steps while doing something you were already doing. This same change could be implemented with errands or appointments. Allowing yourself an extra ten minutes in order to park further away will build an extra 20 minutes into your day of walking that you’ll hardly notice. Some people set their watch or use their phone to set an alarm, and they take walking “snacks” throughout the day. There is strong evidence to support this as a strategy for weight loss. Over time, you’ll instinctively choose the parking spot at the shopping mall that is farther away rather than circling and circling to wait for the closest spot you can find.
