\u201cCome on, ladies!\u00a0 Ten more to burn those extra calories!\u201d\u00a0 How many times have we heard an aerobics instructor shout something along those lines?<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s magazines hope to sell more copies with covers that shout \u201cGet the Body You Want \u2013 in 15 minutes a day!\u201d \u201cThe Easy \u2018Sexypants\u2019 Workout\u201d, or \u201cShrink Your Inner Thighs \u2013 in Six Minutes!\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s enough to raise the question: what does our society think the purpose of exercise is?<\/p>\n
And sometimes, the message that exercise is a means to achieve that ideal body shape is spelled out loud and clear.<\/p>\n
This message is what Fat Talk Free Week, a national initiative that took place Oct. 18-22, looks to alleviate.\u00a0 Fat Talk Free Week came to the 5Cs through multiple events at Scripps College\u2019s Sallie Tiernan Field House. Tamsen Burke, director of the field house, said the concept of Fat Talk Free Week is all about changing gym and exercise discourse.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not about fat, it\u2019s about being healthy,\u201d said Burke.\u00a0 Health\u2014not size or weight\u2014should be the primary reason to exercise.<\/p>\n
Burke said it is impossible to tell how many women come to exercise at the field house in pursuit of an ideal body as opposed to health and fitness.\u00a0 However, she said, \u201cwe do recognize all of the outside factors [media, magazines, culture] that are contributing to what girls believe is the \u2018ideal look.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Exercising gone wrong<\/em><\/p>\n Viewing exercise as a tool to shape your body can lead to over-exercising.\u00a0 The health library at Washington and Lee University defines over-exercising as \u201cexercising to get rid of body fat, cellulite and pounds that goes beyond \u2018healthy\u2019 exercising by taking over your life.\u201d<\/p>\n Sandra* is a student who has had problems with over-exercising in the past.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like a compulsive behavior,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cYou start feeling really guilty when you can\u2019t work out, the workouts just get ridiculous\u2026.I was spending over 15 hours in the gym each week.\u00a0 The gym was one of my highest priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n Sandra suffered from anorexia when she over-exercised.\u00a0 She said her muscle mass deteriorated so much as a result of overexertion combined with low nutrient intake that she had to quit her varsity sport.<\/p>\n The field house at Scripps has a number of programs, including a personal trainer program, in place to educate women about how much exercise is too much.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a number of people who think two hours is a really good workout \u2013 it\u2019s not, unless you\u2019re an elite athlete,\u201d said Burke.\u00a0 \u201cWe have a lot of people who think [working out] seven days a week is healthy \u2013 it\u2019s not.\u201d<\/p>\n Women are not always aware when their exercise habits begin to go awry.\u00a0 Burke said that a woman\u2019s friends are her \u201cbest allies\u201d in noticing the signs of unhealthy exercise habits such as excessively long workouts, or missing out on other activities to go to the gym.<\/p>\n Over-exercising can be a symptom of disordered eating, as a purging method in bulimia nervosa or the purging type subset of anorexia nervosa. It can also lead to stress fractures, fatigue, weakening, dehydration, and heart palpitations.<\/p>\n Exercise done right<\/em><\/p>\n When done healthfully, exercising is a good thing for the body and mind; the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services began promoting a healthy exercise regiment in 2008 when it started issuing physical activity guidelines to all Americans.<\/p>\n We can\u2019t control the outside influences of popular culture.\u00a0 But when we hit the gym, we can take the time to remind ourselves that exercise is something healthy, something fun, a stress relief, a physical outlet \u2013 not a ticket to a size [insert favorite number here] pair of jeans.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n *Name has been changed<\/p>\n <\/p>\n If you want to ensure a supportive workout environment, the field house at Scripps is \u201cfat talk free\u201d all year round.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fat-Talk Free Week at the Scripps Tiernan Field House is not just about encouraging positive self- and body image; it\u2019s about how being healthy is the best way to encourage positive self- and body-image.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[238,235],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","category-vol-4-issue-1"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/invisible\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/invisible\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/invisible\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/invisible\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/invisible\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/invisible\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/invisible\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/invisible\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/invisible\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}